Alpha Private Equity sells Vertbaudet to Equistone

Harriet Matthews
26 July 2021

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Alpha Private Equity has sold children's clothing and accessories retailer Vertbaudet to Equistone Partners Europe.

In January 2013, Alpha Private Equity entered into exclusive negotiations to acquire Vertbaudet and Cyrillus (Cyrillus-Vertbaudet Group (CVG)) from Redcats for €119m. The GP invested via Alpha Private Equity Fund 6, which held a final close in June 2012 on EUR 700m. EMZ Partners provided mezzanine debt to back the deal, according to Unquote Data.

Unquote sister publication Mergermarket first reported in August 2018 that Alpha had mandated Rothschild to explore sale options for the Cyrillus part of CVG. Cyrillus and Vertbaudet were likely to attract different buyers, sources told Mergermarket, due to their differing sales profiles; Cyrillus targets a higher end market and generates a smaller proportion of its revenues online compared with Vertbaudet. Cyrillus was to be marketed based on EBITDA of EUR 2m-5m and revenues of EUR 100m.

In March 2020, Mergermarket reported that Canacccord was advising on a process for the sale of the whole of CVG. Sources told Mergermarket that the previous process to sell only Cyrillus had not met Alpha's valuation expectations and that the carve-out was ultimately considered to be too costly for Vertbaudet.

CVG was to be marketed based on EBITDA of EUR 19m for 2019 and the group posted EUR 400m in revenues at the time. Mergermarket reported that Alpha would accept offers for each individual business, or CVG as a whole.

Special situations investor Alandia Industries and MGA Paris acquired Cyrillus from Alpha in April 2021, as reported.

Capital Finance reported in May 2021 that Equistone was in exclusivity to acquire Vertbaudet.

Under Alpha's ownership, Vertbaudet developed its online sales channels, which now account for 80% of the company's revenues.

Equistone is currently deploying equity via Equistone Partners Europe Fund VI, which held a final close on March 2018 on EUR 2.8bn. The fund was 53% deployed as of June 2021, according to Unquote Data. The vehicle makes equity investments of EUR 25m-200m, backing companies with enterprise values of EUR 50m-500m.

The acquisition of Vertbaudet is Equistone's sixth platform investment of 2021, following its acquisition of France-based modular construction business GSCM in an SBO from Orfite in July 2021.

Company
Founded in 1963 and headquartered in Tourcoing, Vertbaudet is a children's clothing, toys and accessories retailer that sells its products via 75 stores in France, and through a digital platform. Digital sales in Germany, the UK, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal account for 75% of the company's revenues, while 80% of total turnover comes from its online platform. The company expects to generate revenues of EUR 330m in 2021 and currently generates EBITDA of EUR 25m.

People
Equistone Partners Europe – Arnaud Thomas, Grégoire Schlumberger (partners).
Alpha Private Equity – Edoardo Lanzavecchia (managing partner); Patrick Herman (head of France and Benelux, partner); Paolo Magni, Pierre Olivier Desplanches (partner).
Vertbaudet – Thierry Jaugeas (president); Mathieu Hamelle (CEO).

Advisers
Equity – Messier & Associés, Driss Mernissi (corporate finance); Goodwin Proctor, Thomas Maitrejean (legal); Marlborough Partners, Romain Cattet (debt advisory); EY, Laurent Majubert (financial due diligence); Damien Dixsaut (legal, tax); Roland Berger, Stéphane Tubiana, Sébastien Manceau (commercial due diligence); ERM, Julien Famy (environmental due diligence); Mazars, Jérôme Gertler (legal, tax).