PAI and Baring Asia buy WFCI from Greenbriar

Oscar Geen
08 May 2018

Tweet
Facebook
LinkedIn
Google plus
Send to

PAI Partners and Baring Private Equity Asia have jointly acquired World Freight Company International (WFCI) from Greenbriar Equity Group.

PAI drew equity for the deal from its buyout fund, PAI Europe VI, which held a final close on €3.3bn in March 2015.

Financial details have not been disclosed, but the fund generally targets equity investments of between €100-300m.

Greenbriar acquired the company in a deal thought to be worth €120-130m in March 2015. However, the company has expanded considerably since then and Greenbriar expected an enterprise value of up to €600m when it launched the sale in March, according to Unquote sister publication Mergermarket.

The senior management teams of all the operating subsidiaries of WFCI will continue in their existing leadership roles.

Previous funding
IDI, combined with subsidiary IDI Mezzanine, and Acto Mezzanine both invested €20m in the secondary buyout of World Freight Company (WFC) in 2008. IPE made a full exit after completing the original LBO in 2004.

3i acquired a minority stake in the company in April 2011, investing €33m alongside ActoMezz and IDI Group. All three investors sold their stakes in the company to US private equity firm Greenbriar in March 2015, in a transaction thought to be valued between €120-130m. Ares Management and Avenue Capital provided an €80m unitranche to support the deal.

Company
WFCI is based in Paris and operates as a general sales and services agent for freighter cargo in the aviation industry. The company was established in 2004 and manages more than €1.3bn of freight annually, with 1,100 employees in 200 offices worldwide.

People
PAI Partners – Nicolas Holzman (partner).
Greenbriar – Noah Boy (managing partner).
World Freight Company International – Vikram Singh (CEO).

Advisers
Equity – Rothschild (corporate finance); Evercore (corporate finance); Willkie Farr & Gallagher (legal); Ropes & Gray (legal).
Vendor – Deutsche Bank (corporate finance); Kirkland & Ellis (legal).