Safic Alcan (France) - Dec 2007

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01 December 2007

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ING Parcom has backed the secondary buyout of rubber and specialty chemicals business Safic Alcan, providing a very satisfactory exit for Alpha Associés Conseil. The private equity firm, which won this deal thanks to an unsolicited pre-emptive offer, took a significant majority stake in the business, part of it which might be syndicated at a later stage. Natixis refinanced the existing debt and arranged a new two-tranche senior debt package, while Euromezzanine provided €20m of the €22m mezzanine strip, with Natixis providing the remainder. Leverage was described as moderate. In 2004, Alpha Associés Conseil had backed the company’s original buyout from German chemical specialist MG, acquiring around half of the equity. The remainder was held by DLMD, the founding family’s private holding. In 2005, Safic Alcan’s natural products division, which generated 70% of revenues and was less profitable, was sold to UK-based ED&F Man. At the time, the management of the remaining fine chemicals division of Safic Alcan took charge of the company.

Company

Puteaux-headquartered Safic Alcan is a specialty chemicals distributor founded in 1847. The group has a significant presence in the synthetic rubber market and is particularly active in France, Spain, Germany and the UK. With 300 staff, the company generated sales of around €250m in 2007, with EBITDA of €13m. Growth is expected to be both organic and via acquisitions of small competitors with complementary geographies or products.

People

Denis Le Chevallier, Thomas Babinet and Adrien d’Auriol worked on the transaction for ING Parcom. Roger Albaret and Jean-Manuel De Josnières arranged the debt package for Natixis, while Thierry Raiff and Ajit Jayaratnam prepared the mezzanine for Euromezzanine. Florence Fesneau negotiated the exit on behalf of Alpha Associés Conseil.

Advisers

Debt - Salans, Frédéric Gros, Isabelle Maury (Legal)Equity - Constantin & Associés, Claire Fondville, Isabelle de (Financial Due Diligence)Equity - Dewey & Leboeuf, Jean Goncalves, Louis Neret (Tax)Equity - PricewaterhouseCoopers, Alain Calmé, Antoine Kimmel (Other Due Diligence)Management - Lamartine Conseil, Fabien Mauvais, Olivier Renault (Legal)Vendor - Brandford-Griffith & Associés, Guillaume Kessler (Legal)Vendor - Ernst & Young, Paul Gerber, Stephane Séguin (Financial Due Diligence)