Weinberg's Alliance Automotive in high-yield refinancing

The financing was arranged by Goldman Sachs and was syndicated to a small group of institutional investors as opposed to a wider issue. The bond came with a 7% coupon, according to French publication Capital Finance.

The seven-year bond (with bullet repayment) will refinance existing facilities and enable the group to use its free cash flow to fund external growth.

WCP backed the management buyout of Groupe Alliance Industrie from its parent company Group Auto Union in 2006, following a limited auction process run by Lazard. The transaction was leveraged by a traditional debt package underwritten by RBS and comprising three tranches of senior debt and a mezzanine facility, according to unquote" data.

Company
Established in 1989, Alliance Automotive is a distributor of spare auto parts in France and the UK. The group operates under the brands Groupauto France, Groupauto UK, Partners and Précisium.

Alliance has completed 22 bolt-ons in the past seven years. It has 3,500 employees and expects to post a €1.2bn turnover in 2013 – up from €540m at the time of the original buyout.

Advisers
Company – Eight Advisory, Justin Welstead (Financial due diligence); Roland Berger, Sébastien Amichi (Commercial due diligence); Goldman Sachs, Vincent Catherine, Luke Gillam (Corporate finance); Lazard, Nicolas Constant, Geoffroi de Saint Chamas (Corporate finance); Linklaters, Alain Garnier, Kathryn Merryfield, Luis Roth, Edouard Chapellier (Legal).
Debt – Shearman & Sterling, Arnaud Fromion (Legal).

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• Topics
• France
• Restructuring
• Industrials
• France
• Weinberg Capital Partners
• Refinancing
• high yield