Ardian sells Diana to Symrise for €1.3bn

The sale had been in the works for around a year, with plans to divest the asset first emerging in May 2013. The business was expected to fetch around €1bn at the time.

Symrise is a German supplier of fragrances, flavorings and cosmetic ingredients. It will initially complete the transaction with bridge financing, before refinancing the purchase at a later date.

At 14x EBITDA, the trade sale is one of the largest seen in France in recent years – the last time private equity-backed businesses went to a corporate buyer for a higher enterprise value was in 2011. That year, Barclays Private Equity and LBO France sold 90% of French power conversion and engineering company Converteam to General Electrics for $3.2bn – around 13x EBITDA. PAI partners also sold its 50% stake in French yoghurt-maker Yoplait to General Mills in 2011, in a deal that valued the company at €1.6bn – around 12x EBITDA. The French private equity firm reaped a little more than €800m for its stake.

Previous funding
Ardian (then Axa Private Equity) bought Diana Ingredients from Motion Equity Partners (then Cognetas) in 2007, a transaction that valued the company at €710m (around 12x EBITDA at the time).

Motion Equity, which made more than 4x its money and an IRR in excess of 60%, reinvested €80m in the SBO as a minority shareholder via its fund Cognetas II. Hawkpoint and BNP Paribas ran a hotly disputed auction process that attracted interest from more than 10 private equity firms and several industrial buyers.

BNP Paribas and Royal Bank of Scotland arranged a debt package that comprised A-, B- and C-tranches, as well as capex and revolver facilities. The all-senior debt package was valued at around €415m, or 7x EBITDA.

Since then, Diana embarked on an agressive acquisitive growth strategy. It notably bought four businesses in the space of six months in 2012, culminating in the purchase of Givaudan's vegetables, wines and vinegars extracts range in November that year. More recently, Diana acquired sales and marketing services provider Confoco International in October 2013.

Company
Diana is a supplier of natural ingredients for the food, pet food and pharmaceutical industries. Headquartered in Vannes, Diana employs 2,000 staff and generated a €451m turnover in 2013, with an EBITDA margin of around 21%. This is up markedly on the €254m in revenues and 1,000 headcount at the time of Ardian's acquisition in 2007. The group operates in 23 countries.

People
Philippe Poletti represented Ardian on the deal. Olivier Caix is president and CEO of Diana.

Advisers
Vendors – JP Morgan (M&A); Lazard (M&A); Weil Gotshal & Manges (Legal).

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• Topics
• France
• Exits
• Consumer
• Ardian (formerly Axa PE)
• France
• Trade sale