Argan’s Delsey completes €100m refinancing

The instrument was jointly underwritten by Avenue Capital Group, Pemberton Asset Management and Permira Debt Managers.

The fresh debt will refinance Delsey's existing facilities, which the business secured from lender European Capital when it was bought by Argan Capital in February 2007.

At the time, European Capital provided a €120m single tranche unirate bond; the facility covered all the debt needs of the LBO, which was leveraged at around the 66% mark, according to unquote" data.

More than eight years later, European Capital will reap €91.4m in proceeds from the new refinancing. In addition, the deal will see the lender provide Delsey with an additional €7.8m in subordinated mezzanine bonds.

Along with the new unitranche debt, European Capital's mezzanine package will finance Delsey's expansion both in France and abroad.

The company expects to hit the €220m revenue mark by the end of 2015, a reported 34% uptick on the 2014 figures. According to Delsey, the jump has been driven by a 160% sales boost in the Asian market, which currently accounts for a third of its operations.

The refinancing is the second to involve Permira's debt arm so far in November. Earlier on in the month, the firm drew £32m from its second direct lending fund to support the £50m refinancing for Primary Capital's Paperchase alongside Lloyds.

Company
Founded in 1946, Delsey manufactures suitcases, cabin bags and other travel luggage items.

Its wares are sold via a 6,000-strong network of sales outlets across more than 100 countries. In addition to its Paris headquarters, the company operates out of Baltimore in the US and in Hong Kong.

The business foresees to reach €220m in revenues by the end of 2015.

People
Guenther Trieb is currently CEO at Delsey.

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• Topics
• France
• Restructuring
• Consumer
• France
• Refinancing