Darby exits Sirma to Danone

The vendor's Darby Converging Europe Mezzanine Fund (DCEMF) signed an agreement to exit its majority stake and mezzanine holdings in Sirma to Danone.

French company Danone, the owner of Evian, is to acquire a 50.1% stake in Sirma and plans to expand the brand's presence in the Turkish market.

DCEMF first made a mezzanine investment in Sirma in 2010 to provide long-term funding for the growth of the company. The fund made a follow-on equity and mezzanine investment in 2011 in order to finance Sirma's new factory.

Sirma is Darby's third exit in Turkey and it is the eighth exit overall for the fund. DCEMF is focused on providing growth capital to mid-market companies in Central and Eastern Europe.

Company
Founded in 1991 and based in Istanbul, Sirma is a Turkish manufacturer of bottled water and beverages. The company has a turnover of approximately €100m.

People
Robert Graffam is senior managing director for Europe at Darby. Nicholas Kabcenell and Burak Dalgin are both managing directors at Darby.

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