Equistone-backed Novares Group in pre-receivership

FHB is running the process, according to a report from Capital Finance.

CEO Pierre Boulet told Les Echos in April 2010 that 40 of the group's production sites had been shut down due to the coronavirus lockdown, leading to a daily loss of €4m for the company.

BPI France owns a 20% stake in the company, while Equistone owns a majority stake, which it acquired in January 2016. The GP invested via its fifth fund, which held a final close in April 2015 on €2bn. The fund was 93% deployed as of December 2019.

Novares was originally founded in 1955 as Mecaplast and was acquired by US-based competitor Key Plastics in 2016 to form Novares.

According to a report from Unquote sister publication Debtwire, the buyout of Key Plastics was set to consist of a $35m RCF and a five-year $130m term loan.

The company has 9,400 employees and reports revenues of €1.3bn. Based in Monaco, it has 47 operational subsidiaries, along with 45 production sites and nine technical centres across 23 countries in Europe, Asia and the US. At the time of the sale to Equistone in 2016, the company reported revenues of €725m and employed 6,000 staff.

A source close to the situation told Unquote: "Equistone and BPI have committed to additional funding in the coming days to enable the group to continue its immediate operations and continue discussions with the creditor banks to find a business continuity solution."

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Investments
• France
• people moves
• France
• Equistone Partners Europe
• coronavirus