Grupo Serlima (Portugal) - Jan 2008

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01 January 2008

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Buyout house GED has invested €3m for a 22.97% stake in Grupo Serlima. This is GED’s first round of funding to Serlima and GED Sur’s second investment. Further rounds of financing are foreseeable dependent on targets being met. GED had been considering backing the company, but the process was delayed by the closing of its fund GED Sur, which happened in 2007. GED’s involvement in this capital expansion deal came about through an invitation by Portuguese private equity house Inter-Risco, that manages the Caravela fund. This move follows the scheduled entry of a foreign sponsor set at the time of the initial investment by Inter-Risco. The Portuguese house is an arm of Banco BPI and first backed the company in 2006 with a €3m investment, taking a 30% stake in the firm.

Company

Grupo Serlima was founded in 1983 and employs more than 3,000 staff. The group, headquartered in Funchal (Madeira), also operates in Lisbon, Porto and the Algarve. It provides cleaning and maintenance services to hotels, hospitals, offices, airports, retail outlets and industrial sites, as well as industrial laundries. The expansion capital operation aims at the progressive build-up of the company. The firm will buildon the synergies between industrial cleaning and laundry services to strengthen its position in the Iberian Peninsula. The investors plan to pursue further acquisitions in Portugal via and establish an international presence via entry into Spain more precisely in Andalucía and Extramadura. Joaquim Hierro Lopes, managing director of GED, will join the board as administrator. Grupo Serlima reported a turnover of approximately €35m in 2007 a significant rise on the €20m reported in 2006.

People

GED managing director Joaquim Hierro Lopes, Ioana Lazar of GED and Afonso Oliveira Barros from Inter-Risco led the deal.

Advisers

Equity - Gonçales Pereira, Castelo Branco & Asociados Li, Francisco Costa (Legal)Equity - Mazars, Justino Romao (Corporate Finance)Vendor - Vieira de Almeida & Associados, Andre Costa (Legal)

Sourced from: Southern Europe unquote" 71 (Feb 2008)