Cinven's Camaïeu in €500m debt restructuring

Following the deal, Ardian and Centerbridge will have a combined stake of around 55% in the group.

Cinven, which alongside French hedge funds Polygon and Boussard & Gavaudan will retain a 45% stake in the group, had announced its intention to refinance the group in April this year, mandating Lazard for the transaction.

The agreement comes after several months of negotiation and marks the second debt restructuring completed by the group over the last three years. Some shareholders had previously offered to re-inject €50m in equity into the group in 2013.

With this new transaction, half of Camaïeu's €1bn in outstanding debt has been converted into equity, enabling it to recover around half its capital and postpone the repayment of its debts until 2019.

Following the restructuring, the group's debt is now down from a 10x EBITDA multiple to 5x, which should help it make a fresh start after facing challenging market conditions. For 2016, the group predicts EBITDA of €80m, down from €115m last year.

Camaïeu will now look to renovate and modernise its shops in France and abroad, and to expand its online sales, which currently account for 10% of its revenues.

Previous funding
In January 2005, members of Camaïeu's management team joined the Torck and Giraud-Verspieren families in selling their stakes in the company to Financière Addax, a company owned by Axa Private Equity (now Ardian). Financière Addax owned a controlling block of 39.8% of Camaïeu's capital and 55.1% of the voting rights following the acquisition. These percentages were to be eventually raised to 39.6% and 54.7% respectively.

In December of the same year, Ardian led a €82m expansion round for the group.

Two years later, Cinven invested in the company, taking a 65% stake for an estimated €1.6bn via the Fourth Cinven Fund. Ardian thus became minority shareholder in the group, and provided mezzanine funding for the transaction.

In 2011, unquote" reported that Cinven would take a further 30% in Camaïeu, bringing its stake to 95%. The GP had reached agreements to buy 1,811,058 shares at €214.46 per share, valuing the transaction at €338.4m and giving the group a €1.27bn market cap. The GP planned to take the business private before June 2011.

Company
Based in Roubaix and founded in 1944, Camaïeu sells ready-to-wear clothing for women aged 20-40. The group reported a €850m turnover for 2015, with 1,000 and 6,000 staff members under management. 

The group currently generates around 25% of its revenues from international sales in Italy, Belgium and Poland. 

People
Cinven – Benoît Valentin, Xavier Geismar (partners).

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• Topics
• France
• Consumer
• Restructuring
• France
• Ardian (formerly Axa PE)
• Cinven