Pamplona sells 30% OGF stake to Ontario

José Rojo
18 September 2015

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Pamplona Capital Management, the majority shareholder of French funerary service Groupe OGF, has exited a 30% stake in the company to Canadian pension fund Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan.

Pamplona – OGF's majority owner since a buyout in September 2013 – will keep a controlling stake in the business following the partial sell-off.

Meanwhile, Teachers', which invested via its private equity arm Teachers' Private Capital, is aiming to increase its 30% stake to 40% over time.

The transaction is expected to complete on 25 September and mirrors a previous transaction between Pamplona and Teachers'. In October 2014, the pension fund picked up a 29.7% interest in US commercial laundry service CSC ServiceWorks, owned by Pamplona since May 2013.

Previous funding
According to unquote" data, the buyout is the fourth seen for OGF since 2004. The business was first carved out from US corporate Service Corporation International by Vestar Capital Partners. The GP secured a 65% stake, while OGF's management and employees co-invested to hold 10%.

The funerary service, valued at around €300m in the 2004 buyout, was worth €780m when Astorg acquired it from Vestar three years later. The SBO, sealed in August 2007, saw Astorg draw equity from its €800.5m fourth fund. Management and employees were again given a chance to co-invest.

After six years of ownership, Astorg offloaded its majority stake in OGF to Pamplona. The deal, announced in July 2013, was understood to represent a €900m total value, €635m of which came via a debt facility arranged by JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs.

Company
Founded in 1844, OGF provides funerary services. Headquartered in Paris, the business operates under the brands PFG, Roblot, Henri de Borniol and several local entities grouped under the Dignité Funéraire name.

According to its figures, 5,500 professionals are employed across a network of 1,000 agencies, 460 funeral homes and 51 crematories in France. The company most recently reported revenues in the region of €540m.

People
Teachers' managing director for the EMEA region Jo Taylor coordinated the deal on the behalf of the pension fund. Pamplona was represented by partner Markus Noé-Nordberg. Philippe Lerouge has been OGF's CEO since 2000.