Ardian buys majority stake in Staci from Cobepa

The transaction values ​​Staci at €600m, the trade journal CF News reported.

Cobepa owned 80% of Staci, according to the GP's website. French bank Societe Generale and management owned minority stakes in the business, according to Belgian publication De Tijd.

Ardian has acquired a substantial stake in the business (over 70%) and approached Cobepa in a proprietary fashion, Unquote has learned. 

The buyout sees French bank Societe Generale reinvest in the company, Unquote understands. 

Ardian has declined to comment on the transaction. Cobepa was not available for comment at the time of publication.

Previous funding 
The company has been privately owned since 2004, when founder Jean-Pierre Masse and Initiative & Finance completed a take-private valued at €42.6m, according to Unquote Data. Subsequently, Astorg Partners took a 60% equity stake in the business in 2006, via its fund Astorg III for an equity investment of €50m, while Initiative & Finance reinvested in the secondary buyout and took a 14% stake while management retained 26%.

Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) then backed Staci in 2014, investing alongside management and the founder. ICG also provided a mezzanine financing facility for the deal, French publication Capital Finance reported at the time, while LCL and existing lender CIC provided a senior debt package.

Three years later, Cobepa and Societe Generale Capital Partenaires backed the management of Staci in a fourth-generation buyout. The company had been marketed by Natixis Partners with an EBITDA of around €20m, seeking valuation of €200m or more, according to Mergermarket, a sister publication of Unquote.

CM-CIC Conseil and Crédit Agricole provided debt financing for the transaction. Natixis and LCL were also involved in providing a debt package, consisting of a term loan of €98m, rolling credit facility of €5m and capex facility of €15m, as per Debtwire, another Unquote sister publication. 

Company 
Founded in 1989, Staci provides retail logistics services to large clients, including oil companies, hotel and restaurant operators, banks and insurance companies. It specialises in promotional advertising logistics, namely promotional campaigns, point-of-sale advertising and loyalty programmes.

Staci is headquartered in Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône and has subsidiaries in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, England and the US. It operates 43 sites, including 26 in France, employing 1,700 people. According to its website, the business went from generating a €78m turnover in 2006 to €253m this year.   

Staci bolted on France-based peer Eurodislog in Q4 2018. 

People
Staci – Thomas Mortier (CEO). 

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• Topics
• Buyouts
• Exits
• France
• Industrials
• France
• Ardian (formerly Axa PE)