Ardian underwrites €255m facility for Ceva buyout

Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek took a stake in Ceva last month to become its largest minority shareholder and largest investor after management and employees. Nixen sold its stake in the business as part of the management buyout, which saw previous backers Sagard and Euromezzanine reinvest. Chinese asset manager CDH Investments also invested as part of the deal.

Ardian is no stranger to Ceva, having already provided a mezzanine investment in 2007 and additional growth financing in 2012.

Prior to the June MBO, Ceva had already undergone a refinancing earlier this year, which stood out as the first fully European cov-lite deal since the financial crisis. The business was understood to have secured around €800m from Crédit Agricole, Natixis, Nomura and Goldman Sachs, with the fresh facility eschewing debt-to-earnings ratios and including a payment-in-kind (PIK) element.

Established in 1999 and headquartered in Libourne, Ceva is a veterinary pharmaceutical company that develops vaccines and pharmaceutical products for animals. The business is present in 110 countries and has 13 R&D centres and 21 production sites.

The company employs 3,500 staff – 1,160 of whom are based in France – and generated turnover of €700m in 2013.

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• Topics
• France
• Financing
• Healthcare
• France
• Ardian (formerly Axa PE)