PE-backed Alan Afflelou aiming to list before year-end

Greg Gille
19 October 2016

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Alain Afflelou, a French opticians chain owned by Lion Capital and other financial backers, has announced its intention to float on the Paris stock exchange before year-end.

Afflelou has registered its intention to float and document de base with French regulator AMF, paving the way for a listing.

IPOs have been few and far between so far this year in France, and mostly at the lower end of the scale. French homeware brand Maisons du Monde, backed by Bain Capital since 2013, did list with a €769m market cap in May but Afflelou is expected to exceed this figure should it list successfully.

Afflelou has a long history with private equity, with Apax France and its quoted vehicle Altamir Amboise originally backing the secondary buyout of Alain Afflelou in May 2000 – a deal valued at €137m. The transaction provided an exit for a group of investors led by Alpha and including Marine Wendel France, AlpInvest and Sapla.

Bridgepoint bought the business from Apax in 2006 for around €500m, with the previous owners reinvesting in the company.

Lion Capital then bought the company from Bridgepoint, Apax France and Altamir Amboise in a deal believed to be valued at nearly €800m in 2012. Caisse des Depots and Placements du Quebec (CDPQ) also invested in the deal, while Apax reinvested just a few months later for a minority stake.

To date, Lion owns 37.7% of the business, with CDPQ holding 28.6% and Apax 13.4%. The founders' holding also has a minority stake (13%), as does staff and management (7%).

At this stage, the company has not disclosed information pertaining to the size or potential pricing of the offering. It has, however, stated that the IPO would lead to a debt restructure, whereby it would refinance the high-yield bonds used as part of the 2012 buyout (originally amounting to around €440m, unquote" reported at the time) and its existing revolving facilities.

BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Caisse Régionale de Crédit Agricole Mutuel de Paris et d'Ile de France, JP Morgan, HSBC France and Natixis would arrange a new senior debt package amounting to €270m and a new RCF worth €30m.

The company is aiming to reduce its debt burden, which currently stands at €426m or 5.7x EBITDA.

Established in 1972, Afflelou is an optical retailer headquartered in Paris. The group operates retail stores across France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Morocco, Lebanon and Ivory Coast. It posted revenues of €346m for the year ending July 2016, with adjusted EBITDA of €74m.