Barclays Private Equity and Bahrain-based alternative asset manager Investcorp have completed the acquisition of N&W Global Vending, a pan-European manufacturer of food and beverage ve
Barclays Private Equity and Bahrain-based alternative asset manager Investcorp have completed the acquisition of N&W Global Vending, a pan-European manufacturer of food and beverage vending machines, from Argan Capital and Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity.
Investcorp and Barclays Private Equity will own the company on an equal basis, with management retaining a minority stake in the company. The terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
Headquartered in Valbrembo, Italy, N&W Global Vending is the largest manufacturer of food and beverage vending machines in Europe and has a significant global presence with offices in Argentina, Brazil and China.
The company, which manufactures vending machines for hot and cold beverages, snacks and foods, and cans and bottles, was created in 2000 through the merger of two European manufacturers, Necta and Wittenborg, and generated pro forma revenues of EUR395m in 2007.
‘Current market conditions make the execution of transactions of this size particularly challenging, and we are grateful for the continued support of our excellent relationships within the lender community,’ says James Mahoney, a managing director in Investcorp’s European private equity team.
‘N&W Global Vending benefits from a very strong and growing leadership position in western European markets and is rapidly expanding its broader international presence. We look forward to working with the excellent senior management team already at the company.’
Emanuele Cairo, head of Barclays Private Equity Italy, says: ‘N&W Global Vending is an Italian champion in the European manufacturing industry, with a great potential to grow worldwide thanks to [the country’s] unique coffee culture and long-established technological leadership in vending machines, where Italian producers have historically proven to be best in class worldwide.
‘The company is set to take advantage of the current market environment to profitably pursue its buy and build path – a strategy started very successfully by the current management team in recent years and perfectly in line with Barclays Private Equity investment policy.’
N&W Global Vending chief executive Antonio Cavo adds: ‘Both Investcorp and Barclays Private Equity have an extensive record of being a supportive, value-added investor in companies such as ours in Europe and internationally. They will be strong partners to work with over the next stage of N&W’s growth, as we continue to grow our core business, expand our product and application range and extend our overseas presence.’
The senior debt financing was jointly arranged by Bank of Ireland, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Calyon, ING, Intesa SanPaolo, Natixis and Société Générale. The mezzanine financing was fully underwritten by ICG.
Barclays Private Equity and Investcorp were advised by Compass Rondelli Advisers (M&A), PricewaterhouseCoopers (accounting and tax), NCTM (legal and tax) and A.T. Kearney (commercial). Argan Capital and Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity were advised by Merrill Lynch International and Rothschild (M&A), Banca Intesa and Société Générale (financial co-advisers), Gianni Origoni Grippo & Partners and Debevoise & Plimpton (legal), Deloitte (accounting and tax) and Bain (commercial).
Founded in 1982, Investcorp is a provider and manager of alternative investment products with more than USD17bn in assets under management at the end of June. The firm, which has offices in London, New York and Bahrain and is traded on the London and Bahrain stock exchanges, is active in private equity, hedge funds, real estate, technology investment and Gulf growth capital.
Barclays Private Equity was established in 1979 and now has four European offices. Over the past nearly three decades it has invested in more than 350 businesses, typically investing around EUR750m annually through 10 to 15 investments ranging from EUR10m to EUR200m in companies with enterprise values of between EUR25m and EUR250m. The firm is currently investing the EUR2.4bn Barclays Private Equity European Fund III, which closed in September 2007.
