Cerea backs packaging specialist Axium

As part of the deal, BPI France bought a minority stake in the company, alongside Axium CEO Yves Cury and his management team, who reinvested significantly in the business.

A bank loan to support the transaction was arranged by Caisse d’Epargne and also subscribed by Banque Postale, CIC, Banque Populaire and Crédit Agricole.

Unquote reported earlier this month that Cerea had signed exclusivity for one new deal in the packaging sector and was expecting to close it by the end of June.

To finance this acquisition, Cerea drew capital from Cerea Capital II fund, which held a final close on €225m in January 2017, surpassing its €200m initial target. The vehicle is currently more than 80% deployed. 

Cerea plans to launch a third buyout fund with a €250m target and €300m hard-cap by the end of the year. 

Cerea Capital III will acquire majority stakes in European companies with enterprise values in the €30-150m range. It will deploy equity tickets of €10-25m and make co-investments with its LPs for larger deals.

Like its predecessors, the fund will target deals across the entire food and beverage value chain. Geographically, it will deploy a large portion of its capital in France, but also look for opportunities in Italy and Spain, where the firm has teams of senior advisers, and in western Europe.

Previous funding
Siparex provided Axium with an investment in 2000 and exited the business in 2005.

Rhône-Alpes PME and Garibaldi Participations, the investment arm of Banque Populaire Loire et Lyonnais, invested in Axium in 2009. Subsequently, the company was bought back by its management team and founders in December 2015.

CM-CIC Investissement invested in the business in 2016. The company used the fresh capital to finance its buy-and-build strategy with the acquisition of plastic injection specialist Lapac and German air-blown injection expert KKT.

Company
Established in 1968 and based in Andrézieux-Bouthéon, near Saint-Etienne, Axium designs and manufactures plastic packaging, primarily flasks, plugs and boxes, for the food, healthcare and cosmetic industries.

The group employs 400 staff across five production facilities, three of which are located in France, one in Germany and one in the Czech Republic. The company generated revenues of €60m in 2019.

People
Cerea Partners - Antoine Peyronnet (managing director).
Axium - Yves Cury (CEO, president).

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• Topics
• Buyouts
• France
• Industrials
• Cerea Partners
• BPI France
• Credit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank
• Credit Mutuel Equity (ex CM-CIC Investissement)
• France