Financière Poult in Acquisition of Banketgroep Group by Poult Group

Cleary Gottlieb advised Financière Poult, a portfolio company of Qualium Fund, in connection with the acquisition of Banketgroep Group by the Poult Group along with co-investors and top management of both Poult Group and Banketgroep Group.

The acquisition was financed through equity, senior debt and PIK bonds. It closed on July 28, 2016, and will create the European market leader in the private label biscuits segment.

The newly formed group will employ 1,200 people and will operate 11 production plants producing 100,000 tons of biscuits a year.

Based in Tilburg in the Netherlands, Banketgroep is the leading European producer of caramel and fresh egg (Belgian) waffles, with a 50 percent market share. The company employs 400 personnel working on six production sites and produces €120 million in revenues, of which 46 percent are made in the Netherlands and 54 percent in the rest of Europe. 

Poult Group is France’s leading private label manufacturer of sweet biscuits and the No. 2 overall French biscuit manufacturer. Poult Group customers include all of the large mass retail and hard discount chains in France. Headquartered in Toulouse, Poult Group operates five production sites and employs approximately 800. 

Qualium Investissement is a subsidiary of Caisse des Dépôts, managing a portfolio of eight active investments, representing combined sales of more than €1.4bn and totaling around 10,000 employees. For more than 15 years, the funds managed by Qualium Investissement have invested in more than 50 companies across a wide spectrum of industries.