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<p>Publisher of consumer magazines including the Radio Times <br /><br />GE Capital’s Leveraged Finance Team acted as Mandated Lead Arranger and Bookrunner alongside two other banks arranging senior facilities to support Exponent’s acquisition of BBC Magazines from BBC Worldwide (“BBCW”). <br /><br />BBC Magazines is the third largest consumer magazine business by Retail Sales Value in the UK. Under the terms of the deal Exponent will acquire, in full, Radio Times and a number of magazines less closely aligned to the BBC, as well as the rights to publish BBC-branded titles under licensing and contract arrangements. <br /><br />Completion is expected to take place in the autumn, following clearance from the Office of Fair Trading.</p>
<p>GE Capital's Leveraged Finance unit acted as Mandated Lead Arranger and Bookrunner alongside thee other banks, arranging a £71 million all-senior refinancing of The Regard Partnership. The facilities have refinanced existing debt and provided additional expansionary capex/acquisition lines.</p>
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<p>Founded in 1994, The Regard Partnership is one of the UK’s leading providers of high to medium acuity residential and supported living care to adults & children. The group has grown steadily both organically and through acquisitions and now operates across 119 sites across the UK, providing 761 beds.</p>
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<p>The Regard Partnership is owned jointly by MML Capital and management following MML Capital’s initial investment in 2007. </p>
<p>GE Capital's Leveraged Finance unit has funded the acquisition financing in support of Altamont Capital Partner’s simultaneous acquisition and merger of McLarens Young International and Airclaims. GE arranged and underwrote the senior facilities in a club deal.</p>
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<p>MYI is a leading independent global loss adjustor, focussed on complex commercial claims, with a particular expertise in property. Airclaims is the leading global aviation loss adjustor, with extensive technical expertise in large commercial aviation. ACP acquired Airclaims from Lloyds Development Capital.</p>
GE Capital European Leveraged Finance Team acted as Bookrunner and Mandated Lead Arranger on the upsized senior facilities for Acorn Care & Education (“Acorn”). £55MM of add-on facilities were arranged to support Acorn’s acquisition of Pathway Care, refinance the existing mezzanine debt and provide funding for future growth opportunities. In January 2010, GE Capital acted as Mandated Lead Arranger on the £69MM senior facilities in a club deal to support Teachers’ Private Capital’s acquisition of Acorn from Phoenix Equity Partners. Acorn is a leading provider of fostering services and schools for children in the UK with challenging and complex learning disabilities and the acquisition of Pathway Care further strengthens its position within the independent fostering sector.
GE Capital acted as MLA & Bookrunner for the provision of new add-on acquisition facilities for the Civica Group in support of their ongoing growth aspirations. <br /><br />Civica is a market leader in specialist systems and business process services for the public sector. Civica supports customers across a number of sectors including local government, housing and asset management, education, health, public protection and enforcement.<br /><br />3i bought Civica in May 2008<br /><br /><br />Phill Rowland, CFO said “<em>Civica’s acquisition strategy is key to the group’s future development, and GE Capital thoroughly understood our requirements and were extremely proactive and supportive throughout the whole process.</em>”<br /><br />
GE Capital European Leveraged Finance Team as Mandated Lead Arranger and Bookrunner supported Cinven’s buyout of SLV, the German lighting group. The total senior facilities were €295 million. <br /><br />SLV is based near Aachen, and it provides residential and technical lighting products for indoor and outdoor use. Cinven is buying the firm from Hg Capital.
In May 2010, HgCapital acquired Lumesse (formerly StepStone Solutions) from Axel Springer for €110MM. In August 2010, Lumesse (formerly Stepstone Solutions) acquired MrTed, a key competitor in the European recruitment software market. The acquisitions were funded with equity and a bridge loan. <br /><br />GE Capital European Leveraged Finance Team, as one of four Mandated Lead Arrangers, provided €73MM of Committed Senior Facilities to refinance the bridge loan and support continued strategic acquisitions through a €15MM committed acquisition facility. There is also a €15MM uncommitted acquisition facility. <br /><br />Lumesse is a global company making talent management solutions work locally. Its products include talent management (performance management and learning management) and talent acquisition (e-recruitment). Lumesse is one of the biggest European software-as-a-service companies with offices and partners in more than 40 countries covering EMEA, the Americas and Asia-Pacific. Lumesse works with over 1,700 customers in over 70 countries. Lumesse is a rapidly growing, profitable and successful business.
GE Capital European Leveraged Finance Team as Mandated Lead Arranger completed the £68MM add-on financing for the Survitec Group. Survitec has made two bolt-on acquisitions and in support of these, Survitec will be adding new senior debt to its existing capital structure and GE Capital has committed to the additional facilities. <br /><br />Survitec Group is the global leading designer & manufacturer of safety and survival equipment for the defence, marine & offshore oil & gas markets. The business is split in 4 divisions: Defence and Aerospace; Marine; Service and Distribution; Customer Logistics Support. The two acquisitions will enhance the Group’s Marine product offering and position Survitec as the global #1 life raft manufacturer by installed base. <br /><br />GE Capital European Leveraged Finance Team was part of the original club deal that completed in January 2010 when the business was acquired by Warburg Pincus.
GE Capital European Leveraged Finance Team as Mandated Lead Arranger and Bookrunner have underwritten a €135 million all-senior loan financing supporting Waterland’s acquisition of RHM Group, a German provider of rehabilitation and inpatient care.<br /><br />Waterland bought RHM at the end of last year. The firm operates 13 specialised clinics for rehabilitation and acute psychiatric care and eight nursing homes across Germany.
GE Capital European Leveraged Finance Team acted as Mandated Lead Arranger of the £62MM all-senior facilities in a club deal to support of Barclays Private Equity’s acquisition of The Mill from The Carlyle Group.<br /><br />Michael Wolfson (Finance Director) commented, “During the due diligence and credit stage GE Capital took a very structured and organised approach to their enquiries. The team was exceptionally pragmatic throughout the preparation of the loan documentation and provided huge support to the equity provider enabling their tight timetable to be delivered.”<br /><br />The Mill is an award-winning video content business for global brands and advertising agencies such as Nike, Ford, WPP, Publicis Groupe, AMV BBDO, Ogilvy and BBH. The Mill also works for broadcasters and television production companies such as the BBC, Shine and Impossible Pictures on dramas including Doctor Who, Merlin and Primeval and for games developers and publishers including Sony Computer Entertainment and EA.
GE Capital European Leveraged Finance Team supported Duke Street’s acquisition of wagamama as Mandated Lead Arranger and Bookrunner of the £115m senior debt facilities. The business was acquired from Lion Capital for an undisclosed consideration. GE Capital European Leveraged Finance Team arranged and underwrote a senior debt package to support the acquisition as well as working capital and capex facilities to support the continued roll out of new restaurants. <br /><br />Antony Perring (Finance Director) commented, “We are delighted that GE Capital is supporting wagamama during its next phase of growth as an arranger and underwriter of our senior debt facilities. The GE Capital team displayed an efficient and professional approach both during the deal completion process and the execution of the senior debt syndication.” <br /><br />wagamama is the leading chain of Japanese-style noodle bars in the UK. Since its establishment in 1992, the chain has grown to 70 restaurants in the United Kingdom, three restaurants in the United States and a franchise operation with 36 restaurants in 16 countries across Europe, the Middle East and Australasia.
GE Capital European Leveraged Finance Team was Lead Arranger for the new super senior revolving credit facility which was put in place to refinance an existing revolving credit facility. <br /><br />Grohe is Europe’s largest and the world’s leading single-brand manufacturer and supplier of sanitary fittings, offering a broad range of products for handling water in bathrooms and kitchens. It focuses on the medium to high-end mass-markets for sanitary fittings and sells its products in more than 130 countries. Grohe was acquired in 2004 by funds advised by DLJ Merchant Banking and Texas Pacific Group.
GE Capital European Leveraged Finance Team acted as Mandated Lead Arranger for The Priory Group’s £70MM Super Senior Revolver and Co-Manager on the £425MM Senior Secured Notes provided to support Advent International’s acquisition of the business from The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc. <br /><br />The Priory Group is the largest independent provider of mental health, specialist care and specialist education services in the UK by number of beds. The Group runs 66 facilities with c. 3,400 beds/places, focusing on acute psychiatry, secure and rehabilitation services, complex care, specialist education and elderly care.
GE Capital European Leveraged Finance Team was Lead Arranger on the €209MM loan supporting Axa Private Equity’s buyout of Novacap. The new facility also funded an add-on acquisition. Axa bought the business from Bain.<br /><br />Lyon-headquartered Novacap is a diversified group producing and selling mineral and organic chemical products, with a turnover of roughly €470 million in 2010.
GE Capital European Leveraged Finance Team has co-led a banking club to provide senior debt facilities in Westbury Street Holdings Limited (“WSH”). Minority equity capital was provided by ICG plc. The funding supports WSH’s recent capital reorganisation which positions the business very well for its next phase of growth.<br /><br />WSH was founded in 2000 and through a combination of organic and acquisition has in ten years grown to be the fourth largest contract caterer in the UK and the largest independent. WSH operates the subsidiary companies BaxterStorey, Caterlink, Holroyd Howe, Portico and benugo, with each business tasked with delivering best in class service in the market in which they operate. The businesses employ over 9,800 staff and serve clients including Barclays, the V&A, Oracle, Edinburgh Castle and Deutsche Bank.
GE Capital European Leveraged Finance Team acted as Mandated Lead Arranger of the £410MM Senior Secured Loan Facilities for Towergate Partnership Limited ("Towergate") backing Advent International's £200MM investment in conjunction with a refinancing of the company. <br /><br />Towergate is Europe’s largest independently owned insurance intermediary. Since being founded in 1997 the business has acquired over 170 underwriting and broking firms and now employs around 4000 staff across 100 UK offices. Towergate is the most significant provider of insurance to the SME market and is engaged in all roles of the insurance supply chain except the provision of capital.
The Kalle deal team is pleased to announce the closing of the add-on financing to support Kalle Group’s acquisition of Jif-Pak Manufacturing. <br /><br />In 2009, GE Capital European Leveraged Finance Team supported Silverfleet Capital’s €206MM acquisition of Kalle Group as MLA. Kalle Group is Germany’s largest producer of synthetic sausage casings and holds a leading position globally. Silverfleet Capital is pursuing a buy and build strategy. Jif-Pak Manufacturing will strengthen Kalle Group’s position in the strongly growing US and value adding casings market.
GE Capital European Leveraged Finance Team has underwritten USD500m of European factoring and US asset-based lending facilities to support the future working capital requirements of Alcan Engineered Products, an aluminium products manufacturer. <br /><br />The financing supports the new joint venture company to be created by Apollo Management, Fonds Stratégique d'Investissement and Alcan’s current owner Rio Tinto. <br /><br />The financing includes a EUR300m accounts receivable (factoring) facility in France, Germany and Switzerland, and a USD100m asset-based lending arrangement in the US.
