Alouette (France) - Nov 2007

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01 November 2007

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IPO has acquired a minority stake in Alouette, a radio station broadcasting in the Western part of France. The listed private equity company injected €2.6m in equity and convertible bonds and shares a 20-22% stake with co-investors CIC Banque de Vizille and Océan Participations. Management retains majority control. The deal, which means an exit for SAS Saint-Dominique Radio (of the Natixis group), was sourced via corporate finance boutique L’Lione & Associés. A pool of lenders comprising Crédit Mutuel Océan, CIO and Crédit Atlantique de Vendée (CAAV) provided a two-tranche debt package to support the transaction.

Company

Alouette is a radio station which was founded in 1981 and has about 420,000 daily listeners across 10 French departements, rising to 485,000 in the summer. The recent allocation of new frequencies to radio stations will enable Alouette to expand into Brittany, the South-West and the Centre regions. The current format, which involves a generalist programme, will remain unchanged, as will the mix of programmes and commercials. Acquisitions of competitors are also possible. Alouette employs around 40 people, generated around E5m in 2006 and is profitable.

People

Badri Ben Grine and Thierry Pastre were in charge of the investment for IPO, while Thierry Martin and Pierre Collet represented CIC Banque de Vizille, and Philippe Bricault worked for Océan Participations. Didier Jalaber, Mickaël Perrin and Stéphane Moullet arranged the debt for Crédit Mutuel Océan, CIO and CAAV, respectively. Bertrand de Villiers is Alouette’s CEO.

Advisers

Equity - Grand Auzas & Associes, Sigmund Briant (Legal)Equity - Grant Thornton, Frédéric Zeitoun (Corporate Finance)Equity - Intuity, Pierre Jouglard (Legal)Vendor - Fidal, Mathieu Luciani (Legal)Vendor - L’Lione & Associés, Marc O'Neill (Corporate Finance)

Sourced from: 0 unquote" 87 (Jan 2008)