Towerbrook clinches Bruneau auction – report

The auction for Bruneau was won by Towerbrook with a bid valuing the business at €475m, French daily L'Agefi reported.

The report, which did not reveal its source of information, said that Capza Expansion is also planning to invest in Bruneau for a minority stake.

The report claimed that Towerbrook beat competition from private equity firms Lone Star and Platinum. Bruneau was put up for sale by PE owner Equistone in early March with advisers Rothschild and Macquarie Capital, with the latter also providing a €305m staple financing. The report noted that Bruneau reported sales of €375m last year with an EBITDA of €65m. The company has 800 employees.

Equistone declined to comment when contacted by Unquote.

Equistone entered exclusive negotiations with Weinberg Capital Partners for the acquisition of Bruneau in 2017. The GP invested through Equistone Partners Europe V (EPEF V), which closed on its hard-cap of €2bn in 2015. The transaction valued Bruneau at around €250m, representing a 6x EBITDA multiple, Unquote reported at the time. EBITDA stood at around €37m at the time of the transaction.

The transaction was supported by a senior debt package provided by Crédit Agricole CIB, BNP Paribas and La Banque Postale, while CM-CIC Private Debt provided mezzanine debt. The total leverage represented around 4x EBITDA, Unquote reported.

Weinberg acquired Bruneau in 2015 alongside investment companies Halisol Groupe and SGPA, in a deal thought to be valued at €150m.

Founded in 1955, Bruneau is an online B2B distributor of office furniture and supplies.

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• Topics
• Buyouts
• Exits
• Industrials
• France
• Towerbrook Capital Partners
• Equistone Partners Europe
• Capzanine
• Secondary buyout