Eurazeo reaps 1.7x multiple in Elis partial exit

Alice Tchernookova
31 May 2016

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Crédit Agricole Assurances has acquired 11.4 million Elis shares from Eurazeo for a total of €192m, representing 10% of the company's share capital.

The transaction follows an IPO that took place in February 2015 and a recent accelerated book building with institutional investors in April 2016.

Credit Agricole invested via its subsidiary Predica, which will retain 9.2% of the voting rights after the transaction.

Eurazeo will hold, directly and via holding company LH 27, 14.2% of the company's share capital, compared with 22.6% prior to the transaction. Eurazeo LPs' co-investment vehicle ECIP Elis also agreed to sell 437,897 shares as part of the transaction.

Crédit Agricole Assurances has committed to a 90-day lock-up period expiring on July 18 for the Elis shares granted by LH 27 and Eurazeo in the accelerated book building. The Elis shares that continue to be held by Eurazeo and LH 27 will remain covered by this lock-up commitment.

Crédit Agricole Assurances will propose a supervisory board member as a replacement to one of the four Elis supervisory board members appointed by Eurazeo.

The sale will generate around €160m in proceeds for Eurazeo – excluding Eurazeo Partners' portion – which will thus realise a 1.7x return on its original investment.

In 2007, Eurazeo had backed the tertiary buyout of Elis in a deal valuing the company at around €2.3bn or 10.3x the company's EBITDA. The buyout house invested €393m in equity, while ECIP, a co-investment vehicle for Eurazeo's LPs, injected €75m. Eurazeo and ECIP together owned 98% of Elis as a result of the transaction – 16.3% of which was held by ECIP.

From 2007-2015, Elis boosted its revenue by 68% to reach €1.4bn, while its EBITDA increased by 63% to €446m.

Company
Elis is a multi-services group for the rental and maintenance of linen and professional clothing, as well as hygiene appliances and well-being services.
With 21,000 employees across 13 countries, Elis services 240,000 businesses of all sizes in the hotel, catering, healthcare, industry, retail and services sectors.

People
Eurazeo – Wilfried Piskula (executive director).