Advent secures Nocibé deal

Although the buyers ultimately intend to merge Nocibé and Douglas, the former will be acquired by AI Perfume SAS, a newco controlled by Advent and the Kreke family.

The sale process for Nocibé had been underway for several months and was believed to have stalled at the beginning of September. The business was expected to fetch a price tag of around €550m.

French GP LBO France, which was in the race for Nocibé, was understood to be contemplating a joint bid with Chinese conglomerate Fosun at the start of the summer.

Charterhouse backed the €490m secondary buyout of Nocibé from Bridgepoint and TCR in 2005.

Advent acquired Douglas via a public tender offer last year – the deal valued the business at around €1.5bn. The German retail group operates five divisions, including the Douglas perfumeries.

Company
Founded in 1984, Nocibé operates a chain of stores selling perfume and beauty products. Based in Lille, the business has 455 stores, making it the third largest player in the sector in France by footprint. It posted a €470m turnover in 2012 and employs 3,000 staff.

Following the merger with Douglas, the enlarged group would count 625 stores and 4,000 members of staff.

People
Advent worked on the deal via both its Paris and Frankfurt offices.

Advisers
Equity - EY (Financial due diligence).

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• Topics
• France
• Buyouts
• Consumer
• Exits
• France
• Secondary buyout
• Charterhouse Capital Partners
• Advent International