Virgin France (France) - Dec 2007

Butler Capital Partners has acquired an 80% stake of the Virgin brand in France from Lagardère Services in a deal worth around €100m. Lagardère Services retains a 20% stake.

Company

Lagardère Services bought the Virgin France group in 2001 for around €150m. Virgin is a leading retailer of music, books and media products in France. The group has 47 outlets, including 35 under the Virgin brand and 12 under the Furet du Nord bookshop name. The group also holds the secondlargest music and video download platform in France, VirginMega of which Lagardère will retain 49% of the shares. Virgin had estimated turnover of around €400m in 2007 and employs 1,900 people. Virgin France management and employees voted in favour of the deal however Virgin-South employees demanded a pact to ensure worker retention and improved work conditions.

Company

Arnaud Lagardère is CEO of Lagardère Média. Laurent Parquet and Arnaud Leleux worked on the deal for Butler Capital Partners.

Advisers

Equity - Clifford Chance LLP, Thierry Schoen (Legal)Equity - KPMG, Florence Steck (Financial Due Diligence)Vendor - Jones Day, Alexandre de Verdun (Legal)Vendor - Société Générale, Charles Bedier, Partick Coze (Financial Due Diligence)

Sourced from: France unquote" 88 (Feb 2008)

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• Topics
• France
• Buyouts
• Consumer
• France