Nixen Partners et al. acquire Carré Blanc in SBO

The company management also reinvested as part of the transaction, which was led by Nixen.

MML and Qualium acquired Carré Blanc in a tertiary buyout in December 2007 in a deal that valued the company at €70m, according to unquote" data. The firms acquired the business from CIC LBO Partners and CIC Finance, which generated an IRR of 50% and a 2.5x money multiple from the sale.

CIC LBO and CIC Finance had acquired Carré Blanc in May 2005 for an estimated €40m from 3i and Initiative & Finance. CIC LBO bought its stake in the company via its CIC LBO Fund. Carré Blanc's management held the balance in equity.

The company was first acquired by private equity in June 2000. According to unquote" data, 3i provided around €19.2m for the buyout and Initiative & Finance supplied €1.5m, with an undisclosed debt package provided by IKB Deutsche Industriebank.

Debt
A debt package for this latest deal was provided by Crédit Lyonnais, Société Générale, Banque Palatine, Banque Européenne du Crédit Mutuel, Caisse Régionale de Crédit Agricole Mutuel Loire – Haute Loire and Caisse Régionale de Crédit Agricole Mutuel Centre Est. Mezzanine funding was supplied by Idinvest Partners and OFI Asset Management.

Company
Founded in 1983, Carré Blanc is headquartered in Paris and employs 650 staff. The company recorded turnover of approximately €75-80m in 2012.

Carré Blanc is a distributor of household textiles, currently with 240 franchises – more than 180 are located in France, with the remainder overseas. Products on offer include tea towels, aprons, bed sheets, cushions and bath towels.

People
Claude Jantet is the president of Carré Blanc. Nixen managing director Pierre Rispoli, investment director Sébastien Ferrand, director Frédéric Mimoun and analyst Laurent Brossaud-Monty worked on the deal. For BPI France, investment director Emmanuelle Gervais and Romain Gauvrit worked on the transaction, as well as Carvest managing director Hans de Breda and Frank Lefebvre.

Advisers
Equity – Paul Hastings, Olivier Deren, Pascal de Moidrey, Mounir Letayf, Arnaud Levasseur, Allard de Waal, Laurent Ragot (Corporate finance, legal); Pinot de Villechenon & Associés, Gilles Roux (Legal); Marsh, Jean-Marie Dargaignaratz (Insurance due diligence); Eight Advisory, Stéphane Vanbergue, Boris Bignon, Marc de la Fayolle, Alba Ferracci (Financial due diligence); Euclyd, Didier Long, Claire Gourlier (Internet due diligence); Dia-Mart, Cédric Ducrocq, Isabelle Mayneris, Alexia Dumas (Market due diligence, strategic due diligence); PwC, Sylvain Lambert, Emilie Bobin (Social due diligence).
Vendors – Canaccord Genuity, Laurent Bory, Grégoire Le Sourd, Myriam Hosri (Corporate finance); Ayache, Salama & Associés, Bernard Ayache, David Ayache, Sophie Savois (Legal); Lamartine, Olivier Renault, Stéphane Rodriguez (Legal).

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• Topics
• France
• Buyouts
• Consumer
• France
• NiXEN
• MML Capital Partners
• Secondary buyout