MSPEA leads acquisition of Korres

Nissos, an acquisition vehicle set up by MSPEA and Profex, will buy a 6.6% stake from the company's founder, Giorgos Korres, and 45.7% from other shareholders, according to a filing.

MSPEA and Profex will respectively own 56% and 14% of Nissos. Giorgos Korres and members of his family will exchange their remaining 30% interest in the company for an equal share in the acquisition vehicle.

Once these transactions have been completed, Nissos will hold more than 82% of Korres and launch a mandatory takeover offer for the entire company. The offer price will be €5.08 per share, valuing the entire business at approximately $69m. Korres's stock closed at €4.91 on December 27, the day the deal was announced.

MSPEA and Profex are expected to invest €10m to support the future expansion of Korres. Meanwhile, the company has entered into an exclusive licence-and-supply agreement with Profex covering mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.

MSPEA is currently investing its fourth pan-regional fund, which closed on $1.7bn in 2014.

Recent activity includes the sale of Chinese convenience store chain Hi-24 to several strategic investors and a proposed $172m privatisation of Nasdaq-listed power-steering components supplier China Automotive Systems.

Company
Established in 1996, Korres develops products based on natural ingredients through cooperation with local farmers.

The company now has a portfolio of 400 herbal products that are distributed to 30 countries in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and North America. Sales came to €54.6m in 2016, up 0.1% year-on-year, while adjusted EBITDA was unchanged at €8.2m, and the net loss widened from €1.4m to €2.3m.

People
Korres – Giorgos Korres (chairman).

This article was originally published in unquote" sister publication AVCJ

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