Carlyle sells Grupo Palacios to MCH, Ardian

Unquote understands that the deal gives the company an enterprise value of €300m, which equates to 10x its 2018 EBITDA of €30m.

Spanish GP MCH, French private equity house Ardian and co-investors including Unigrains bought a combined 80% stake in the food producer. Meanwhile, the company's management, led by CEO Pedro Domínguez, reinvested in the business and retained the remaining 20%, Unquote understands.

LGT European Capital, the private debt arm of LGT Capital Partners, also participated in the equity and mezzanine tranches of the deal, complementing the financing provided by ING, Santander, Natixis and Bankia.

Ardian deployed capital from its Ardian Co-Investment V fund, which targets €800m and reached a first close on €447.5m in December 2017, Unquote understands.

MCH and its co-investors intend to boost the company's organic growth, develop its product offering and support its internationalisation plan. In addition, the company will pursue a buy-and-build strategy by targeting additional acquisitions to further expand its range of products and market position.

The sale ends a four-year holding period for Carlyle, which bought the company via its €3.75bn Carlyle Europe Partners IV fund (CEP IV) from ProA Capital, Partners Group and Talde.

Previous funding
ProA Capital acquired a 60% stake in Palacios (then known as Embutidos Palacios) in July 2009. The deal was reportedly worth €100–120m at the time.

Following completion of the deal, Partners Group held a 20% stake and Talde 15%, while the remainder was owned by the company's management.

Subsequently, ProA invested a further €1.47m in growth capital in the business in October 2010.

Company
Established in 1960 and headquartered in Logroño, La Rioja, Palacios specialises in producing and distributing cured meat, refrigerated and frozen pizza, ready meals, salads, omelettes and desserts. The group operates four production plants across Spain and one in Florida, US. It employs 800 staff and generated EBITDA of €30m from revenues of €200m in 2018.

People
The Carlyle Group – Alex Wagenberg (managing director).
MCH Private Equity – Jose Maria Muñoz (partner).
Ardian – Carole Barnay (managing director).
Grupo Palacios – Pedro Domínguez (CEO).

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• Topics
• Buyouts
• Exits
• Southern Europe
• Consumer
• MCH Private Equity
• Ardian (formerly Axa PE)
• Carlyle Group
• Spain
• Secondary buyout