Gilde sells Synbra to trade for €117.5m

Oscar Geen
16 February 2018

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Gilde Investment Management has sold Dutch plastics producer Synbra to Nordic particle foam product supplier Bewi for €117.5m.

The sale ends an 18-year holding period for Gilde, which acquired the company in a €160m buyout in December 1999.

NPM Capital has also made an exit through the sale, selling a 14% interest, which it had held since 2000.

Simultaneously, Synbra has agreed to sell 66% of its German subsidiary to Hirsch, while Bewi takes the other 34%.

Bewi is headquartered in Sweden and is owned 50% by VC firm Verdane Capital and 50% by the Bekken family. It reported EBITDA of SEK 108m from SEK 1.6bn sales in 2016.

The group will finance the acquisition with cash from its balance sheet, a directed share issue and a bond.

Previous funding
Gilde acquired a stake in Synbra in a carve-out transaction from Tencate in December 1999. Gilde committed €53m in equity from Gilde Buyout Fund II, a €600m vehicle. The transaction had an enterprise value of €160m.

NPM acquired a 13% stake in Synbra in June 2000. The GP acquired a further stake in the company from Tencate for €39m in August 2006, drawing capital from the same fund.

Company
Founded in 1999, Synbra is a producer of foamed plastic packaging products, fish boxes, food packaging products, hobby products, lost foam moulds, technical molded components and horticultural trays. Synbra employs 710 people, not including its German subsidiary, and generated net sales of €233m in 2017. The company has 10 production facilities in the Netherlands, Denmark and Portugal.

People
Gilde Investment Partners – Tom Muizers (partner).
Synbra – Rik Dobbelaere (CEO).

Advisers
Vendor – Lincoln Internatinoal (corporate finance); Rabobank (corporate finance); Loyens & Loeff (legal); Deloitte (financial due diligence); Roland Berger (commercial due diligence); ERM (ESG due diligence).
Acquirer – Arctic Securities (corporate finance); Advokatfirman Lindahl (legal).