Alpha Associés invests in ECS Group MBO

Greg Gille
20 March 2013

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Alpha Associés Conseil has taken a stake in the secondary management buyout of French services provider to the air transportation industry European Cargo Services Group (ECS) from Chequers Capital, Equistone Partners and Indigo Capital.

Alpha invested via Alpha Private Equity Fund 6, which was launched in early 2011 with a €750m target. A banking pool coordinated by HSBC and Société Générale provided debt facilities to finance the transaction. Capzanine contributed mezzanine financing.

ECS will now pursue its growth strategy, through both organic development and targeted acquisitions mainly aimed at expanding its footprint in South America and Asia.

Corporate finance house Leonardo handled the transaction on behalf of the vendors.

Previous funding
Chequers backed the €95m take-private of ECS in 2005 – the GP initially acquired 95% of the business then syndicated 19.6% of the shares to Equistone. The acquisition was supported by senior debt facilities arranged jointly by Société Générale and Natexis Banques, and by a mezzanine facility provided by Indigo.

Since then, the company notably pursued a strategy of targeted acquisitions, mainly in northern Europe and Italy.

Company
Established in 1998, ECS is a general sales and services agent providing outsourced services for airfreight operations. ECS aims to enable airlines to maximise their cargo capacity and sales yield, while reducing their costs.

People
Olaf Kordes, Paul Vaissié and Benoît Bousquié worked on the deal for Alpha. Guillaume Planchon represented Chequers.

Advisers
Equity – Easton Corporate Finance, Philippe Guezenec, Julie Duvillier (M&A); Field Fisher Waterhouse, Philippe Netto, Jean-Baptiste Van de Voorde, Hélène Lefèbvre (Legal); Bain & Company (Commercial due diligence); Ernst & Young (Financial due diligence, tax).
Vendors – Leonardo, Louis Huetz, Joseph El Khoury (M&A); Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, Ariel Harroch, Judith Raoul-Bardy (Legal); Arthur D Little (Commercial due diligence); PwC (Financial due diligence, legal).