Ambienta's Aromata buys Nactis, creates flavourings group

Alessia Argentieri
13 January 2020

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Ambienta's Aromata has bolted on France-based Nactis Flavours, a producer of aromatic raw materials, ingredients and flavours for the food and beverage industry.

Unquote understands that Nactis has an enterprise value of around €50m. The combined group will be rebranded as Nactarome and will generate EBITDA of around €15m and revenues of approximately €110m.

Nactarome will be 80% owned by Ambienta, while the remainder will be controlled by Aromata and Nactis minority shareholders and managers.

The GP bought Aromata in November 2018 and subsequently expanded its portfolio company's market position with the acquisition of breadcrumbs and food ingredients maker Industrie Prodotti Alimentari Manenti (IPAM) in July 2019.

With the merger of Aromata and Nactis, Ambienta intends to create a platform focused on the natural flavours, colours and aromatic raw materials market, with a customer base of 4,000 clients.

To finance this acquisition, the GP deployed capital from its Ambienta III fund, which held a first and final close on €635m in May 2018, hitting its hard-cap and exceeding its original €500m target.

Ambienta plans to expand Nactarome into new market segments, strengthen its sustainable products offering and continue to pursue an intense buy-and-build strategy across the European food flavours mid-market.

Following the deal, Nactis founder Hervé Lecesne will be appointed as non-executive chair of Nactarome, while Aromata founder Hans Udo Wenzel will become CEO and chair of the combined group.

Company
Established in 1998 and headquartered in Bondoufle, Nactis is a producer and distributor of natural flavours, colours, blends, ingredients and aromatic raw materials for the food and beverage industry.

The company operates five production facilities located across France and Belgium, and serves 2,500 clients, including global players in the food and consumer goods sectors, as well as small and artisanal food producers. Nactis generated EBITDA of around €5m from revenues of €50m in 2019 by selling its products in 80 countries worldwide.

People
Ambienta – Mauro Roversi (partner, chief investment officer).
Nactarome – Hans Udo Wenzel (CEO, chair); Hervé Lecesne (non-executive chair).

Advisers
Equity – Oaklins Italy (corporate finance); Roland Berger (operational due diligence); KPMG (financial due diligence); Studio Facchini Rossi & Soci (tax); Pedersoli Studio Legale (legal); De Pardieu Brocas Maffei (legal).