Butler Capital takes over Anovo

Butler is understood to be injecting €22m into the group, including €20m for the France-based operations. Equity was drawn from Butler's France Private Equity III fund, which closed on €325m in 2005.

Trading for Anovo shares – which was hitherto listed on the Paris stock exchange – was suspended in July, as the company went into administration. The final bidding round pitched Butler against trade player Regenersis – Butler's all-equity offer was reportedly well-received by Anovo employees.

According to Butler, the deal will allow it to save 4,400 jobs globally, including 758 out of 1,040 in France. The Italian and Swedish subsidiaries are, however, not part of the rescue plan.

By resuming activity and strengthening the service offering, Butler expects the group to post a €5-10m profit in 2012. Anovo is currently loss-making.

Debt
The deal was not leveraged.

Company
Beauvais-based Anovo was founded in 1987. It works with operators, manufacturers and retailers of high-tech equipment to provide a full range of logistics, repair and regeneration solutions.

Anovo has operations in 12 countries, with 24 facilities in Europe and South America. It posted a €343.9m turnover and €6.7m EBITDA in 2010.

People
Walter Butler, Laurent Parquet, Mael de Calan and Arnaud Leleux worked on the deal for Butler.

Advisers
Equity – Weil Gotshal & Manges, Philippe Druon, Jean-Dominique Daudier de Cassini, Sandra Beladjine, Morgan Neuffer, Charles Cardon, Karine Tollemer (Legal); Accenture, Xavier Gazay (Commercial due diligence); Duff & Phelps, Fabrice Keller, Guillaume Masseron, Cédric Hetzel, Paul Guerrier (Financial due diligence).

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