Nixen exits Ceva Santé Animale

Ceva's management, as well as around 1,000 employees, have upped their stake in the business and retained the position of majority shareholder.

Sagard and Euromezzanine, existing backers of the company, have also reinvested to remain significant minority shareholders. Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek has entered into the capital structure of Ceva to become its largest minority shareholder and largest investor after management and employees.

As well as this, Chinese asset manager CDH Investments has invested as part of the deal.

Ceva mandated Lazard to explore a possible sale last October, with plans of executing a deal around this time of year. The sale is understood to value the business at close to €1.5bn, with valuations in the 12-13x EBITDA range not uncommon in the sector, a source close to the situation told unquote" at the time.

Previous investment
Formerly a division of laboratory Sanofi, Ceva has been no stranger to private equity in the past decade. PAI partners first backed the company's spinout in 1999. The GP acquired a 90% stake in the newco, while the management team, led by Philippe du Mesnil, retained the balance.

In September 2003, IK Investment Partners backed the company's secondary buyout in a transaction that valued the business at around €200m. Management took around 40% of the equity on that occasion. Natexis Banques Populaires, Euromezzanine and ICG supplied the debt package. PAI generated an IRR of 35% from the sale. In May 2006, IK ran a €208m recapitalisation for the business.

The management of Ceva acquired a majority stake in a tertiary owner buyout backed by Euromezzanine and Nixen in 2007. The financial sponsors invested both equity and junior debt instruments. The transaction provided an exit for IK, which generated a money multiple of around 3.5x and an IRR of 40%.

In 2010, Sagard invested €100m in the business in exchange for a 25% stake.

Company
Established in 1999 and headquartered in Libourne, Ceva is a veterinary pharmaceutical company that develops vaccines and pharmaceutical products for animals. The business is present in 110 countries and has 13 R&D centres and 21 production sites.

The company employs 3,500 staff – 1,160 of whom are based in France – and generated turnover of €700m in 2013.

People
Marc Prikazsky is the CEO of Ceva.

Advisers
Company – Lazard, Geoffroi de Saint Chamas, Isabelle Xoual, Vincent Thillaud, Guillaume de Freminet (Corporate finance); Natixis, Imed Ben Romdhane (M&A); Weil Gotshal & Manges, David Aknin, Gautier Elies (Legal); Callisto, Hervé Couffin, Paul-François Lorenzoni (Management investment structure).
Equity (Temasek) – Morgan Stanley, Alban de la Sablière (M&A); Linklaters, Thierry Riguet, Marianick Darnis Lorca (Legal).
Equity (CDH) – Cleary Gottlieb, Charles Masson (Legal).
Equity (Euromezzanine) – SJ Berwin, Maxence Bloch, Isabelle Meyrier (Legal).
Equity (Sagard) – Mayer Brown, Guillaume Kuperfils, Olivier Aubouin (Legal).

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• France
• Exits
• Healthcare
• France
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• Sagard Private Equity