Céréa Partenaire holds €300m first close for Céréa Dette II

Francesca Veronesi
18 April 2018

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Céréa Partenaire’s Céréa Dette II has held a first close on €300m, after seven months on the road.

Céréa Dette II's hard-cap was set at €350m and the GP does not intend to surpass it - the final close is therefore expected to take place shortly.

The fund is already larger than its predecessor Céréa Dette I, which closed in early 2016 on €268m. The fund was put to work across 30 investments at a good pace, which encouraged a quick fundraising process for Céréa Dette II, Céréa Partenaire CEO Michel Chabanel told Unquote.

Céréa Dette II is a debt vehicle which complements Céréa's offer of mezzanine and subordinated debt, via the Céréa Mezzanine III fund, closed on €200m in December 2016.

Investors
The fund attracted institutional investors including insurance companies, pension funds, funds-of-funds and banks.

Unigrains, a shareholder of Céréa Partenaire and recurrent sponsor of its funds, as well as backer of Céréa Dette I, committed to the new vehicle.

The fund has welcomed new LPs, which at this stage represent around 20% of the backers.

Investments
Céréa Dette II will finance buyout operations, growth investments and business funding in the agribusiness sector.

As reported in the GP's recent Unquote profile, Céréa focuses on agriculture and related sectors, with 40% of its deals done purely in food and beverage companies. The remaining 60% spans the food and beverage value chain, including equipment, packaging and logistics.

The vehicle will provide senior debt through private placements, credit or unitranche financing, underwriting between €10m and €60m.

The vehicle targets companies at different growth stages: around one quarter of portfolio companies will generate a turnover of less than €100m, more than half will post a turnover in the €100-350m range and the remainder will generate higher revenues.

As Céréa Dette I has recently been fully deployed, investments will start being completed via Céréa Dette II straight away.

People
Céréa Partenaire - Michel Chabanel (CEO); Fabrice Vidal (executive managing director).