Peninsula Capital to close Kiko deal

Following the deal, the company's founders, the Percassi family, will retain a majority stake.

According to press reports, the GP will invest between €80-100m in the business, valued at approximately €220m, equating to 7.6x the company's 2017 EBITDA of around €29m.

Talks between Kiko and Peninsula started in April this year when the company was looking for a partner to strengthen its financial position after a decline in its profit and a drop in its sales abroad.

Following this downturn, the company's US subsidiary, Kiko Inc, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January 2018, and announced the closure of 24 stores located in the US. According to CEO Frank Furlan, the business was suffering "extremely high operating costs and continually depressed profits in recent years due to challenges from declining online sales and mall traffic".

Kiko received a line of credit from a pool of banks composed of Intesa Sanpaolo's Banca Imi, Unicredit, Mediobanca, BNL and Societe Generale in 2013 for up to €150m, of which €100m has been deployed so far. In addition to this, Kiko issued a €100m senior secured bond in 2014, listed on the Irish stock exchange and subscribed to by Generali, which is due in December 2020. The total debt of the company amounts to around €200m.

Established in 1997 and headquartered in Bergamo, Kiko specialises in producing cosmetics, beauty accessories, skincare products, fragrances and body treatments. The company sells its products via its online platform and in 950 stores located in 21 countries. Kiko generated revenues of €610m in 2017.

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• Topics
• Expansion
• Southern Europe
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• Italy