Ardian exits Berlin Brands stake to Bain

Bain's growth investment is made up of both equity and unitranche financing.

The deal values Berlin Brands at more than USD 1bn, according to a statement.

Berlin Brands' founder, Peter Chaljawski, and the company's executive team are to retain a majority stake in the company.

Ardian invested in Berlin Brands (formerly known as Chal-Tec) in July 2015, acquiring a 40% stake in the business. Ardian deployed equity via Ardian Expansion Fund III, which held a final close in April 2014 on EUR 500m. The vehicle makes buyout and growth deals, deploying equity tickets of EUR 15m-50m and investing in companies with enterprise values of up to EUR 500m.

Further realisations from Ardian Expansion III include the EUR 150m trade sale of Gantner, an Austria-based company that produces electronic systems for automatic and contactless identification.

Unquote sister publication Mergermarket reported in March 2021 that Ardian was expected to sell its 40% stake in BBG, with GCA Altium advising. The company was expected to be marketed based on EBITDA in the EUR 40m-50m range.

Mergermarket reported in July 2021 that Ardian had launched the process, which had seen interest from sponsors, particularly given that the company is said to be a potential IPO candidate.

During Ardian's investment period, BBG increased its revenues fivefold, according to a statement.

The company announced in January 2021 that it intended to commit EUR 250m to the acquisition and further integrate consumer e-commerce brands. Targets would include Amazon sellers and companies with revenues of EUR 500,000-3m. At the time, the company had made six acquisitions. BBG confirmed in April 2021 that it had secured EUR 200m in debt from a banking consortium.

Company
Founded in 2005, BBG is an e-commerce company for direct-to-consumer brands. The company acquires, develops and scales brands, providing services including manufacturing, distribution and marketing. The group currently has 14 brands, including home appliances from Klarstein and sports equipment label Capital Sports.

BBG generated adjusted EBITDA of EUR 9.8m and EUR 216m in revenues in 2019, compared with EBITDA of EUR 6.5m and revenues of EUR 187m in the previous year, according to the company's latest publicly available accounts.

According to a statement, the company posted 2020 revenues of EUR 334m, versus EUR 217m in 2019. Berlin Brands employs 900 staff across five countries.

People
Berlin Brands Group – Peter Chaljawski (CEO).
Ardian – Marc Abadir (managing director); Yannic Metzger (director); Janine Paustian (analyst).
Bain Capital – Miray Topay (managing director).

Advisers
Equity – Deutsche Bank (corporate finance); Kirkland & Ellis (legal).
Vendor – GCA Altium, Tobias Schultheiss (corporate finance); Willkie Farr & Gallagher, Maximilian Schwab (legal); Raue, Andreas Nelle (legal); Deloitte, Tanya Fehr (financial due diligence); Taxess, Gerald Thomas (tax); McKinsey, Holger Klärner (legal).

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• Topics
• Expansion
• Exits
• DACH
• Consumer
• Germany
• Ardian (formerly Axa PE)
• Bain Capital