Advent backs Spanish dental group Vitaldent

Alessia Argentieri
10 June 2019

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Advent International has acquired a controlling stake in Spain-based dental clinics network Vitaldent from JB Capital Markets, which will retain a minority holding in the company.

Advent deployed capital from its Advent International GPE IX fund, which has recently held a final close on its $17.5bn hard-cap after six months on the road. The fund invests in buyout transactions across North America, Europe and Asia and deploys equity tickets of between $100m-1bn for companies with enterprise value in the $200m-5bn range.

In addition to the equity from the fund, a debt package was provided by Pemberton to support the deal, Unquote understands.

Advent intends to accelerate the company's organic growth and strengthen its market position via a buy-and-build strategy. Vitaldent's management team, led by CEO Javier Martin, will continue to lead the company.

Previous funding
Intermidiate Capital Group (ICG) provided Vitaldent with a €100m debt package in December 2013 to support the consolidation of its market share and broaden its network. ICG arranged the debt financing, while Mediobanca acted as sole coordinator of the debt facility.

JB Capital Markets and ICG backed Vitaldent in November 2016 when they bought a 70% and a 25% stake in the company, respectively. According to press reports, they acquired the company, which had been previously valued at around €350m, for only €18.5m, following the arrest of its founder and owner Ernesto Colman for fraud and money laundering.

Company
Established in 1990 and headquartered in Madrid, Vitaldent operates 300 proprietary and franchised dental clinics across Spain. The company offers a wide range of services, including surgery, implants, endodontics, cosmetic dentistry, dental prosthesis and paediatric dentistry.

People
Avent International – Gonzalo Santos (head of Advent in Spain).
JB Capital Markets – Rafael Garabito (managing director).
Vitaldent – Javier Martín (CEO).

Advisers
Equity – JP Morgan (corporate finance); Garrigues (legal); EY (financial due diligence).
Vendor – Uría Menéndez (legal); KPMG (financial due diligence).