Arcapita wraps up CEPL

Hot on the heels of Converteam and Cegelec, the holiday period saw Sagard announce its deal to cede portfolio company Compagnie Europeenne de Prestations Logistiques (CEPL) to Arcapita Bank. CEPL is a warehouse logistics service provider that operates 20 sites in France as well as another three in Germany. The company has an enterprise value of EUR550-600m.

The transaction saw the management up their stake from the initial 25% they already held. Sagard initially purchased the company along with the management in a EUR174m buyout deal in 2005 via their fund Sagard I (March 2005, Page 24).

The deal was sourced via auction process which was run by Rothschild & Cie. After an initial 21 bids in the first round, the second round was disputed between Invest Corp, Goldman Sachs, Carlyle Group, CVC Capital Partners, Doughty Hanson & Co and winner Arcapita. Debt for the deal was provided via a EUR265m staple financing, which was arranged with a classic A and B senior tranche, provided by RBS, Societe General, Calyon and ING, and a mezzanine tranche provided by European Capital and Intermediate Capital Group.

With Arcapita being a Bahrain-based investment firm, the deal seems to reconfirm the views that French GPs will start to face tougher competition from abroad, especially funds and investors from the Middle East.

The acquisition is in line with Arcapita's portfolio interests. In May 2008, the investor purchased Pinnacle, a Prague-based company focused on leasing warehouses, and owns a landbank of 1.5 million square meters in the Czech Republic. Arcapita owns 5 million square meters globally (page 34).

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