Smithuis Bakeries (Netherlands) - Jan 2008

unquote
01 January 2008

Tweet
Facebook
LinkedIn
Google plus
Send to

Fortis Private Equity and the existing management team have jointly acquired industrial bakery J.M. Smithuis Pré Pain and Bakkerij J.M. Smithuis. The transaction was sourced via a PricewaterhouseCoopers-led auction process that took approximately three months before closing on 8 January 2008.

Company

Based in Oldenzaal, Pré Pain specialises in the international bake-off bread segment while Smithuis focuses on fresh bread in the eastern part of the Netherlands. Together these bakeries produce around 50,000 tons of bread products a year. Smithuis’ customers include well-known Dutch retail organisations and large gourmet and bakery wholesalers. The bakeries work together closely with Bake Five, a nationwide industry organisation, and post annual sales are some €50m with a combined workforce of more than 300 people. According to Fortis’ Arthur Tjon, although ‘bread’ is an extremely mature market, the industry is in fact undergoing changes in several areas. Bread is a key category for retailers and suppliers have an increasingly important role in assisting supermarkets in meeting and anticipating changing consumer behaviour and higher expectations in terms of product range and quality. From a growth perspective, the bakery industry is still undergoing a transformation from an artisanal mentality to a professional industry. Combined with the industry structure, which is still fairly fragmented, this offers ample opportunities for growth.

People

Arthur Tjon and Kenneth Depuydt led the transaction for Fortis.

Advisers

Equity - Deloitte Debt Advisory, Alexander Olgers (Other Consulting)Equity - Deloitte Transaction Services, Arthur Goedkoop, Oscar Snijders (Financial Due Diligence)Equity - Excellent Trading, Hans van den Bighelaar (Commercial Due Diligence)Equity - Houthoff Buruma, Michiel Pannekoek (Legal)

Sourced from: Benelux unquote" 56 (Jan 2008)