European Capital and its consolidated subsidiaries have received proceeds of EUR25.5m from exiting their investment in Biscuits Poult.
European Capital's exit comes as Poult sold 100 per cent of its Polish subsidiary (Dr Gerard) to Bridgepoint and used related disposal proceeds to prepay in full the acquisition facilities put in place in 2006 to support LBO France's secondary buyout of the Company.
At that time, European Capital invested EUR12.5m in the mezzanine and second lien facilities. In December 2012, it acquired EUR7.5m additional senior and second lien facilities on the secondary market. This repayment allowed European Capital to realise a c. 1.8x money multiple on its total investment, representing an IRR of 13.9 per cent over the life of the investment.
Founded in 1883, Poult is a French private label manufacturer of sweet biscuits. Poult customers include all of the large mass retail and hard discount chains in France. Headquartered in Toulouse, the company operates five production sites and employs approximately 875 people.
"We are extremely pleased with the outcome of this transaction," says Tristan Parisot, managing director of European Capital Financial Services. "We continue to actively seek attractive private debt opportunities in midcap businesses that have leading positions in growing markets with enterprise values of up to EUR500m. With its undisputed leadership in France, evidenced by a 35 per cent share of its addressable market, Poult perfectly illustrates this positioning."
"European Capital expressed a strong interest in Poult's strategic orientations and quickly developed an in-depth understanding of the company's business. We really appreciated having them as a financing partner and valuable board member," says Carlos Verkaeren, chief executive of Biscuits Poult.
"We were pleased to work with European Capital over our seven year commitment to Poult and we valued their support and contribution to the business," says Thomas Boulman, partner at LBO France.
