Groupe Mertz (France) - Jan 2008

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01 January 2008

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Argos Soditic associated itself with an external manager and current director Jérôme Begey to acquire Mertz SA and Mertz Conteneurs, collectively know as Groupe Mertz, in an MBI deal of undisclosed value. Argos Soditic and the management acquired Mertz from the founding family of the same name and reunited the company with former affiliate Mertz Conteneurs, which was acquired from IGF Capital Retournements. Argos Soditic took around a 90% stake in the two companies via its Argos Soditic V fund, while management took around 10%. The senior debt was provided by Banque Scalbert Dupont CIN (CIC BSD-CIN), Société Générale and Crédit Agricole Normandie.

Company

Mertz was founded in 1944 by the Mertz family and was being managed by the second generation. Jean-Maurice Mertz remains on the advisory board. The split of the group occurred when Le Havrebased Mertz Conteneurs was sold to IGF Capital Retournements in 2006. Mertz Conteneurs focuses on the land-based transportation of shipping containers while Mertz, which was retained by the founding family, specialises in the land-based transportation of fuel, petrochemicals and other dangerous substances. Groupe Mertz has 400 employees and owns 300 tractors for its transportation purposes. The companies had a combined turnover of €43m in 2007.

People

Gilles Mougenot, Gilles Lorang, Bastien Guelton and Jérémie Falzone worked on the deal for Argos Soditic, while Maxime Laurent, Dominique de la Charrière and Marie-Hélène Guillemin worked on the deal for IGF Capital Retournement; Mathieu Sollet and Gérald Miray for Banque BSD-CIN; Dominique Leroy for Société Générale and Monsieur Soulbieu for Crédit Agricole Normandie.

Advisers

Equity - Aon Mergers and Acquisitions Group, Christian Mergier, Patrick Rouit (Insurance Due Diligence)Equity - Arthur D Little, Didier Schreiber, Raymond Amour (Other Due Diligence)Equity - Cabinet Orsay, Frédérique Milotic (Legal)Equity - PricewaterhouseCoopers, Didier Sidois, Xavier Klein (Financial Due Diligence)Equity - SJ Berwin LLP, Augustin Fleytoux, Isabelle Meyrier, Maxence Bloch, William Robert (Legal)Equity - SJ Berwin LLP, Arsène Taxand, Frank Chaminade, Frédéric Donnedieu de Vabres (Tax)Equity - Wagram Corporate Finance, Paul Le Clerc, Stéphane Préfol (Corporate Finance)Vendor - Bird & Bird, Emilie Barbezieux, Sandra Matas (Legal)