French PE-backed Ludendo buys Hamleys

Greg Gille
18 September 2012

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Ludendo, a French toy store chain backed by NiXEN Partners and other French private equity players, has acquired iconic UK-based toys retailer Hamleys in a deal believed to be worth ТЃ60m.

NiXEN and CDC acquired all of Siparex's shares in Ludendo Groupe in 2010. The private equity houses reinvested to fund this latest transaction, alongside FSI Régions, CDC, and a mezzanine contribution from Acto Mezzanine.

Natixis, BNP Paribas, HSBC, LCL, Arkéa, Barclays and Société Générale provided a debt package to finance the deal.

Hamleys has gone through a rocky ownership sequence in recent years. It was first bought by Icelandic retailer Baugur for £58.7m in June 2003; Baugur subsequently went under and its stake in the company was taken over by Icelandic bank Landsbanki, which itself was nationalised in 2008.

Landsbanki reportedly owned 65% of Hamleys prior to the transaction, with another significant stake being held by Tory party donor David Rowland.

Company
London-based Hamleys was founded in 1760. The toy retailer operates 22 stores across nine countries but is mainly known for its flagship store on London's Regent Street.

Established in 1977, the Ludendo group operates 300 stores in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Morocco and Spain. It employed 2,000 staff and generated a €450m turnover prior to the Hamleys acquisition.

People
Pierre Rispoli, Frédéric Mimoun and Sébastien Ferrand worked on the deal for NiXEN. FSI Régions was represented by Jacques Solleau and Alexis Mahieu. Emmanuelle Gervais and Emeline Parry led the transaction for CDC. Acto Mezzanine was represented by Stéphane Bergez, Arnaud Faure and Christine Martinovic.

Advisers
Acquirer - Trianon Corporate Finance, Jane Coblence (Corporate finance); Rothschild, Fabrice Martineau, Mathilde Paoli, Artur Volkov (Corporate finance); Mayer Brown, Laurent Borey, Jean-Philippe Lambert, Olivier Aubouin, Carole Sabbah, Nathalie Jacquart, Maud Bischoff (Legal); Travers Smith, David Patient, Tom Coulter, Barry Newman (Legal); Eight Advisory, Stéphane Vanbergue, Victoria Sapojnic (Financial due diligence); Zolfo Coopers, Martin Lewis (Tax); Marsh, Christian Short (Insurance due diligence).