MML, Metric Capital unite to acquire GPS in EUR 260m deal

In August 2022, UK-based private equity firms MML Capital Partners and Metric Capital Partners opted for a partnership for the deal. They acquired around 70% of GPS in a secondary buyout, which valued the company at around EUR 260m, according to a source familiar with the deal.

Metric bought around 25% of GPS through its Metric Capital IV vehicle, which held a final close on December 2019 on EUR 1.15bn. MML acquired around 45% via its Fund VII, which collected a total EUR 670m on July 2021, the same source said.

The consortium acquired GPS in cash and bonds, and opted to refinance the company’s debt with a banking pool comprising — among others — Arkéa, CIC Sud-Ouest, and Crédit Agricole Aquitaine, the source said. A EUR 40m senior banking loan was raised as a CAPEX facility, they added.

Cerea Capital, Bpifrance, Arkéa Capital, BNP Paribas Developpement, and Etoile ID, which entered the company in 2017, sold their stake this August, this source added.

The deal put an end to a process launched in February 2022 by the historic sponsors and the management, led by founder and chairman Benoit Arnaud, along with CEO Jean-François Baus, according to the source familiar.

The auction was limited to slightly above three potential new financial partners and started as a potential financing deal before evolving to a restructuring of the shareholding structure, they said. In Spring 2022, MML and Metric entered exclusive negotiations that closed last month, they added.

The alliance between the two private equity firms will enable them to keep funding the company, as well as benefitting from pan-European expertise from Metric while MML operates mainly in the UK, the US, and French markets, the source said.

Until this recent buyout, the company had mainly grown organically, but GPS could now consider external growth opportunities as well, they said. Potential targets would be companies specialising in managing complex logistic flows, with no limits in terms of sizing set for now, according to this source.

Metric Capital declined to comment, while MML Capital Partners and GPS did not reply to a request for comment.

Company
GPS offers leasing of returnable pallets and metal crates as well as fleet management according to its website. The company, which employs 240 staff, started in 1994 as a wooden crate and pallet provider but pivoted towards metal crates in the 2000s, according to an official press release.

Headquartered in Villenave d’Ornon, in the Bordeaux region of France, GPS has 50 warehouses globally, including in Asia and in the US, the same source said.

The company, which posted EUR 90m revenue in 2021, plans to reach revenues of more than EUR 100m this year, they said. It registered EUR 20m-EUR 30m EBITDA last year, they added.

The company has less than 10% exposure to the Russian market, which led potential bidders to reassess the risk they would take by acquiring the company after the Russia-Ukraine war started on February 24, they said.

GSP’s main competitor is Singapore-based Goodpack, which has been owned by US-based investment firm KKR since 2014, the original source said.

People
Metric Capital – Nicolas Angelier (associate); Bjorn Tessiore (partner);, Louis Robert (managing director); Diego Prada (managing director).
MML Capital Partners – Andrew Honan (head of infrastructure); Henry-Louis Merieux (managing partner); Charles le Texier (investment manager).
Global Packaging Solutions – Benoit Arnaud (founder, chairman).

Advisers
Equity (MML Capital Partners) – DC Advisory (corporate finance); PwC Finance (financial due diligence); PwC Strat& (strategy); Shearman & Sterling (legal); DLA Piper (tax).
Equity (Metric Capital) – White & Case (legal).
Vendor – Edmond de Rothschild (corporate finance); Ingefin (corporate finance); Mazars (financial due diligence), Advention Business Partners (strategy); Altair (legal)

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• Topics
• Buyouts
• Exits
• France
• Industrials
• France
• Secondary buyout
• MML Capital Partners
• BNP Paribas Développement
• BPI France
• Cerea Partners