IK sells Aposan to Ardian-backed Santé Cie

Santé Cie's senior banks have provided debt financing for the transaction via a senior term loan top up, a source close to the situation told Unquote. Ardian and Santé Cie's co-investors have also provided new equity for the acquisition.

Santé Cie will have revenues of more than €300m following the acquisition, with 1,850 employees and serving more than 180,000 patients annually.

According to a statement, both companies are expected to benefit from the transaction and will build on each other's product offering and expertise. The acquisition is also part of Santé Cie's internationalisation strategy.

Anders Petersson, managing partner at IK Investment Partners, told Unquote about the timing of the process: "We invested in Aposan in October 2016 and came to the conclusion towards the end of 2019 that 2020 would be the year when we would really consider an exit. March to May was not the best time to launch, but there was ongoing good interest, and Santé Cie progressed quite quickly through the process. We had interest from both trade buyers and sponsors."

"Aposan fared well in the last few months; we have not experienced any impact from coronavirus at all," Petersson said. "There was continued development which was comparable to previous years."

IK acquired Aposan via IK Small Cap I Fund, which held a final close on its hard-cap of €77m in March 2016. The fund made 12 investments; Aposan will mark the sixth of these to be fully realised, according to Unquote Data.

The company's revenues and EBITDA doubled during the investment period.

Ardian acquired a majority stake in Santé Cie in January 2020, alongside existing shareholders HLD and UI Gestion, having first invested in the company in 2015. The deal was valued at around €950m, according to Capital Finance. Ardian invested via Ardian LBO Fund VII, which is currently on the road and has a €6bn target.

Company
Founded in 1991, Aposan is a home medical assistance company that provides pharmaceutical products and services, generally assisting those with chronic illnesses who require treatment at home. Its products include outpatient parenteral antibiotic therapy, parenteral and enteral nutrition and ophthalmic injectables. Aposan facilitates coordination between the patient, doctor, medical facility and medical insurance provider.

The company reported revenues of €36m in 2018, according to publicly available documents. According to sources cited by Unquote sister publication Mergermarket, the company generates around €12m in EBITDA.

People
IK Investment Partners – Anders Petersson (managing partner); Ingmar Bär (associate director).
Ardian – Yann Bak, Nicolas Darnaud, Alexander Friedrich (managing directors).
HLD – Jean-Bernard Lafonta (chairman).
UI Gestion – Olivier Jarrousse (managing partner).
Santé Cie – Larbi Hamidi (chairman).
Aposan – Rainer Schmitz (CEO).

Advisers
Vendor – Alantra, Wolfram Schmerl, Christopher Jobst (M&A); Renzenbrink & Partner, Ulf Renzenbrink, Marc Kotyrba (legal); Alvarez & Marsal, Georg Hochleitner (commercial due diligence); Ebner Stolz, Claus Bähre (financial due diligence).
Acquirer – Weil Gotshal & Manges, Barbara Jagersberger, Benjamin Rapp (legal); LEK, Stefan Schrettle (commercial due diligence); Eight Advisory, Murat Deniz, Jan Ole Burchert, Marc Bernstein (financial & IT due diligence, tax); Clifford Chance, Peter Dieners (legal); Euro Transaction Solutions, Jürgen Reinschmidt (legal).

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• Topics
• Expansion
• Exits
• DACH
• Healthcare
• Build-up
• Acquisition finance
• Germany
• IK Investment Partners
• Ardian (formerly Axa PE)
• UI Gestion