SVP sells IWP International for €180m

SVP reaped a money multiple of around 2x its investment, which represents an IRR of 15%.

IWP's Polbita unit has been sold to Interchem, a portfolio company of private equity firm Resource Partners, while haircare brand Batiste and make-up manufacturer Collection 2000 have been exited to household products manufacturer Church & Dwight and Hong Kong-based retail sourcing business Li & Fung respectively.

Previous funding
IWP was delisted from the Dublin and London Stock Exchanges in 2006. In March, SVP acquired the company, including the €120m of debt it owed for €90m, together with fellow investors Cognis Capital and Marathon. SVP assumed around €58.5m to this amount for a 65% stake, while Marathon and Cognis took 10-15% each. Merill Lynch was also said to have been involved in the debt-for-equity swap.

Under SVP's ownership, the company underwent an operational restructuring, which involved the closure of a manufacturing base in the north of England and a loss-making division in Canada. Two UK-based business units were also merged, IWP's Dutch manufacturing facility was sold to the management and its Polish retail chain was repositioned.

Company
Lancashire-based IWP manufactures and markets personal care products, including cosmetics, soaps, fragrances, perfumes and toiletries. Polbita is the owner and operator of Drogerie Natura, a major Polish personal care retail chain, while Batiste sells dry shampoo products and Collection 2000 sells makeup and cosmetic beauty products. The company was founded in 1980 and employs 1,600 people.

People
Founder Victor Khosla represented SVP on the deal. Pawel Chodakowski-Malkiewicz is the CEO of Interchem.

Advisers
Vendor – DC Advisory Partners, Tod Kersten, Kai Ingo Seidel (Corporate finance).

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• Topics
• Exits
• Consumer
• UK / Ireland
• Resource Partners Sp. z o.o.