Omnes Capital and BPI France exit Grain d'Or Gel

Omnes Capital and BPI France, which had invested in the group through a management buy-in in 2008, fully exited Grain d'or Gel (GDG) in the deal.

The new entity formed by the merger between GDG and Lubrano & Fils will be named Novepan, and represents around €50m in turnover. It will be majority-owned by Azulis Capital, which supported company heads Marc Lévy and François Lubrano in the transaction. The management team increased its stake in the group on this occasion.

The deal also sees other backers enter the new group: BNP Paribas Développement, Arkéa Capital, Swen Capital Partners and Pactinvest. Altogether, the GPs own around 80% of the company's capital.

During Omnes and BPI's nine-year holding, GDG nearly doubled its revenues, with its most rececnt turnover figure amounting to €25m. The group expanded by enlarging its client portfolio and product range, with a shift in particular towards pre-cooked products, and modernised its production facilities.

The merger with Lubrano is intended to enable GDG to improve the quality of its products. Lubrano will bring its expertise in the production and use of yeasts, feeding into the group's production of bread products and pizzas.

Debt
The transaction was supported by a senior debt package arranged by LCL and mezzanine financing provided by Céréa Mezzanine.

Previous funding
In 2008, Omnes Capital and BPI France acquired a stake in the company by supporting the group's management buy-in alongside company director Marc Lévy. Omnes completed the transaction through its small-cap buyout and growth capital subsidiary.

Company
Based in Lomme, near Lille, and founded in 1965, Grain d’Or Gel is a maker of bake-off products.

The company produces a range of frozen products, including raw white and speciality bread doughs, pre-cooked products, raw and ready-to-cook pizza dough and ready-to-cook snacks. Its products are sold to supermarkets and hypermarkets for in-store bakeries and hot food counters, to food service operators and, to a lesser extent, other industrial clients. GDG generated sales of €25m in 2016 and has 106 employees across three production plants in northern France and the Seine-Maritime region.

Lubrano & Fils is a family-owned bakery specialised in high-end bread production. The group was founded in 1934 and is based in French southern town Gigean, near Montpellier. It currently generates around €25m in sales.

People
Omnes Capital - Laurent Espic (partner).
BPI France - Jean-Yves Duriez (investment director).
Azulis Capital - Pierre Jourdain (managing partner); Julien Hess (investment manager).
BNP Paribas Développement -Arnaud Lavril (investment director); Jean-Marc Dussourd (investment director).
Arkéa Capital Investissement - Cyril Miller (regional manager); Etienne Simonnet (investment director). 
Swen Capital Partners - Thibault Richon (investment director), Diego Aponte Vargas (investment director).
Pactinvest - Francis Velius (CEO); Claire Marcilhacy (financial analyst).
Céréa Gestion - Fabrice Vidal (managing director).
Céréa Partenaire - Alexandre Durst (associate).

Advisers
Equity - Grant Thornton, Frédéric Zeitoun, Rémy Brocquet, Antoine de Chomereau, Alexis Martin (financial due diligence); Indefi, Julien Berger, Nicolas Lamour (commercial due diligence); Marsh, Margaux Rocher (insurance due diligence); ERM, Julien Famy, Amandine Carrage) (environmental due diligence); Goodwin, Thomas Maitrejean, Benjamin Garçon, Hind Badreddine, Marie-Laure Bruneel, Adrien Paturaud, Laurent Bonnet (legal). Vendor - Transcapital, Pascale Mayer, Thierry Guérin, Alexandre Briand (corporate finance); Reinhart Marville Torre, Philippe Torre, Guillaume Dupont (legal); Scotto & Associés, Nicolas Ménard-Durand, Franck Vacher, Cristina Narvaez (legal); Pricens, Jean-Romain Rapp (legal); KPMG, Eric Delebarre, Antoine Bernabeu (financial due diligence).
Debt - Allen & Overy, Jean-Christophe David, Zined Bennis (legal); Hogan Lovells, Sabine Bironneau, Isabelle Rivalin, Claire Fruchet (legal).

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• Topics
• Exits
• Buyouts
• France
• Consumer
• France
• Omnes Capital
• BPI France
• BNP Paribas
• Azulis Capital