Advent to buy Corialis from Sagard, Ergon

Ellie Pullen
01 August 2014

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Advent International has entered exclusive negotiations to acquire Belgian aluminium systems developer Corialis Group from Sagard and Ergon Capital Partners.

The transaction is to be structured as a management buyout.

Previous funding
The deal will mark Corialis's fourth stint under private equity ownership. Sagard and Ergon acquired the business in January 2007, picking up a 75% stake while the management retained the balance, according to unquote" data. The deal was worth around €430m; according to Belgian daily De Standaard, Sagard held a 51% stake in Corialis while Ergon owned 21%.

Sagard invested via its €808m Sagard II fund, which closed in December 2006 and typically invested in companies with enterprise values of more than €60m. Royal Bank of Scotland provided a senior debt package for the deal, while Ardian supplied mezzanine financing, according to unquote" data.

The deal came about through an auction process intermediated by ABN Amro. At the time, Corialis was known as Aliplast Group.

Sagard and Ergon acquired the business from Motion Equity Partners, which was known as Cognetas at the time of the sale. At the time of the original acquisition, the GP was part of Electra Private Equity.

According to unquote" data, Motion picked up the asset in February 2004 in a deal valued at €205m, which included an equity ticket of €72m provided by Motion through its Electra European Fund.

The GP had bought the business from AAC Capital Partners, which backed Corialis in June 2001 with a €12.6m equity ticket as part of a €16.57m deal, according to unquote" data. AAC secured an 8.5% stake for its contribution, while Mercator & Noordstar invested €3.97m for an 11.08% stake.

At the time of AAC's investment, Corialis (then Aliplast) employed 400 staff and generated turnover of €125m with an EBITDA of €20m.

Company
Founded in 1984, Corialis is headquartered in Lokeren, with bases in the UK under Smart Systems, France under Profils Systèmes, Poland under Aliplast Poland, China under Aliplast China and French island Réunion under JMD.

The group supplies aluminium systems for windows, doors and conservatories to retailers and installation firms. It completes its entire manufacturing process in-house from design to assembly.

Corialis generates revenues of €375m and employs 1,300 staff. Its Belgian business, Aliplast Belgium, employs 320 people.

People
Ergon partner and managing director Wolfgang de Limburg sat on Corialis's board of directors alongside Sagard partner Rik Battey.