Sun European sells DBA for €400m

The asset has been on the block for a while; at the end of May last year, news arose of Sun European halting the attempted sale of DBA due to a lack of sufficient offers.

French media at the time stated that DBA had originally been put up for sale in June 2012, when Sun European hired Morgan Stanley to oversee the process. The firm originally presented the company with a €600m price tag, understood at the time to be 10x EBITDA.

The sale had initially attracted around a dozen interested parties, though this was whittled down to just two in December 2012, both of which then dropped out.

The deal represents Hanes' first direct entry into the European market. According to the US firm, the acquisition is expected to add more than $875m in annual sales and around $125m in adjusted operating profit.

Hanes and DBA were both formerly divisions of US consumer goods company Sara Lee Corporation, from which Sun European acquired DBA in February 2006. In the same year, Hanes span out from Sara Lee to become an independent business.

The US company was founded in 1901 and is based in Winston-Salem in North Carolina. It generated revenues of $4.5bn in 2012 and employs 51,500 staff.

Company
Founded in 1953 and headquartered in Rueil-Malmaison, DBA designs and manufactures men's and women's underwear and hosiery. Its brand portfolio includes Wonderbra, Playtex and Dim.

The company sells its products across 16 countries, with 45% of sales generated in France and 15% in Germany and Austria. Italy, Spain and Portugal collectively account for 20% of revenues. It employs 7,500 staff.

People
Christian Duval is the CEO of DBA, while Richard Noll is the chairman and CEO of Hanes. Lionel de Posson is the vice president of Sun European.

Advisers
Acquirer – JP Morgan (Corporate finance); Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton (Legal).

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Exits
• France
• Consumer
• France
• Sun European Partners
• Trade sale