Law firm White & Case has advised the first new fund raised by Arle Capital since its spin out from Candover in 2009 on its acquisition of the Innovia Group for an enterprise value of EUR498 million.
Headquartered in Cumbria, Innovia is an international manufacturer of high quality, speciality film for its key markets of labels, overwrap, packaging and polymer banknote substrate. It employs around 1,600 people worldwide and, earlier this year, won the Bank of England contract to supply substrate for the new polymer GBP5 and GBP10 notes.
The White & Case team, led by long-term adviser to Arle Ian Bagshaw, was appointed to advise Arle Capital as manager of the newly raised Arle fund vehicle.
The transaction involved the acquisition of Innovia from the Candover 2001 Fund who were separately advised.
The newly created Arle fund structure enables investors to acquire assets using Arle’s platform on a deal by deal funding basis as opposed to putting up funds in a “blind pool” at the outset. Accordingly, the deal involved an acquisition process running alongside a fund-raising and investor diligence process.
Bagshaw says: “It is exciting to be part of this highly innovative deal which combined fund raising, fund structuring and a leveraged buy-out, and I am delighted we were able to advise long term clients Arle and Innovia on this landmark transaction.”
Arle has managed Innovia since 2009 and earlier in 2014 refinanced the business and raised EUR340 million via a high yield bond issue which White & Case also advised Innovia on.
John Arney, managing partner of Arle, says: “The team at White & Case were integral to the delivery of a smooth and efficient process that complemented the team at Arle and allowed us to complete this multi-faceted transaction in relatively short order.”
