PAI's Labeyrie taps high-yield market for double bolt-on

Greg Gille
01 March 2016

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Labeyrie Fine Foods, a French business owned by PAI Partners since 2014, has acquired Père Olive and King Cuisine in the Benelux region.

The expected total cash purchase price of the two bolt-ons is €79.5m. To finance the purchase, Labeyrie once again turned to the high-yield market, an avenue that had already been tapped for the acquisition of the business by PAI in 2014. The business issued temporary senior secured notes worth €80m, maturing in 2021 and with a 5.625% coupon.

Once the acquisitions have cleared, the temporary notes will be exchanged for corresponding additional notes to the June 2014 issue. These notes come with the same 5.625% coupon.

A portion of the purchase price was also financed via cash on Labeyrie's balance sheet.

The two bolt-ons add to several acquisitions completed by Labeyrie last year. In January 2015, the business acquired an indirect 25% ownership interest in Canada-based Les Pêcheries Marinard for €3.3m. In July, Labeyrie bought 75.4% of French company Salés Sucrés for €1.3m. In November, it acquired 50% of the share capital of France-based Groupe Aqualande from Société Coopérative Agricole des Aquaculteurs Landais.

Previous funding
In June 2014, PAI acquired a stake in Labeyrie from LBO France, with the aim of becoming an equal shareholder in the business alongside French food cooperative Lur Berri. The transaction was understood to have been valued in the region of €500m – equivalent to 8.2x EBITDA. Ahead of the purchase, Labeyrie had issued €275m of senior secured notes to refinance its existing facilities.

Company
Netherlands-based King Cuisine produces fresh food for the retail and food service markets. Products include appetisers, pestos, chutneys, hummus, dips, olives and toppings. King Cuisine operates both through its own brand names, including King Cuisine, Tapas & Friends, Chef's Best and Dip't, and through private labels. King Cuisine generated a €28.9m turnover and €3.4m EBITDA in 2015.

Based in Belgium, Père Olive focuses on Mediterranean products such as fresh table olives, dried tomatoes, peppers, garlic and capers. Like King Cuisine, the company operates own-name brands and works with private labels. It posted gross sales of
€33.2m and EBITDA of €4.9m last year.

Founded in 1946 and headquartered in Came, Labeyrie is a producer of luxury food products such as smoked salmon, foie gras and blini. The company is believed to be targeting €850m in revenues for the 2015 financial year – up from €757m at the time of PAI's acquisition.

People
Labeyrie Fine Foods – Xavier Govare (CEO).