Charterhouse reaps 2.4x on sale of Comexposium

French insurance company Crédit Agricole Assurances will hold a majority stake after the transaction. Other shareholders in the business are the group's historical backer, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Paris Île-de-France (CCIR), and the management team. 

Charterhouse has fully exited the investment, generating returns of 2.4x money invested and a 27% IRR, a person familiar with the situation told Unquote.

Although the GP had been considering a secondary transaction on the remaining assets of Charterhouse Capital Partners IX (CCP IX), this is now less likely to happen due to the sale of Comexposium, one of the assets in the portfolio, Unquote understands. The portfolio now comprises Bartec, Skillsoft, Nuova Castelli and Mirion Technologies, according to Unquote Data.

CCP IX, closed on €4bn in 2009 and has now delivered nine exits, returning 2.9x and 34% IRR to date, Unquote has learned.

Under Charterhouse's ownership, the group has completed 16 add-on acquisitions, including, most recently, France-based Adhesion Group and Spanish business World Bulk Wine Exhibitions.

Previous funding
In April 2015, Charterhouse bought a 51.% stake in Comexposium in a deal that valued the company at €550m. Charterhouse acquired the stake from commercial property company Unibail-Rodamco. CCIR, which co-owned Comexposium with Unibail-Rodamco prior to the deal, retained its stake in the group.

ING and Natixis provided debt to the company during its buyout by Charterhouse in 2015, alongside Societe Generale CIB and Crédit Agricole CIB. Press reports at the time mentioned that the deal was financed at around 50% with a senior debt facility.

A first refinancing was co-arranged by ING and Natixis in Q4 2016. The €394m debt package was composed of a B tranche of senior debt and a €20m revolving credit facility. The arrangement also included an €80m capex line. The original capex line, of a similar amount, had already been used quite extensively (€54m), mainly for the bolt-on of SIAL.

In March this year, the business secured a second refinancing, with ING, Natixis, Deutsche Bank and Societe Generale providing a term loan B facility of €355m. The facility was priced at 375 basis points and is due to mature in 2025, Unquote reported at the time.

Company
Paris-based Comexposium is an exhibitions specialist established in 2008, when Unibail-Rodamco and CCIR merged their respective event organisation businesses, Exposium and Comexpo. The business organises 67 events in 30 countries, covering 11 business sectors, including events such as: SIAL, Intermat, Paris International Agricultural Show, SIMA and Foire de Paris. The company's EBITDA stood at €72m in 2017.

Annually, in exhibitions around the globe, Comexposium claims to bring together more than 48,000 exhibitors and attract 3.5 million visitors. The business, employing 800 people worldwide, generates a €350m turnover.

People
Comexposium – Simon Foster (CEO); Renaud Hamaide (president).
Charterhouse – Robert Leeming (partner).

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