24 Nov 2008
Barclays Private Equity and Investcorp, the asset management firm specializing in alternative investments, announced today that they have completed the acquisition of N&W Global Vending, the leading pan-European manufacturer of food and beverage vending machines from Argan Capital and Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity. Investcorp and Barclays Private Equity will own the company on an equal basis, with management retaining a minority stake in the company. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Headquartered in Valbrembo, Italy, N&W Global Vending is the largest manufacturer of food and beverage vending machines in Europe and has a significant global presence with offices in Argentina, Brazil and China. The company manufactures products in three core areas: hot and cold beverages; snack and food as well as can and bottle vending machines. N&W Global Vending was formed in 2000 through the merger of two leading European vending machine manufacturers, Necta and Wittenborg. The group generated pro-forma revenues of €395m in 2007.
James Mahoney, a Managing Director in Investcorp’s European Private Equity team, commented: “We are pleased to be able to announce the completion of this deal. Current market conditions make the execution of transactions of this size particularly challenging, and as such we are grateful for the continued support of our excellent relationships within the lender community. N&W Global Vending benefits from a very strong and growing leadership position in Western European markets and is rapidly expanding its broader international presence. We very much look forward to working with the excellent senior management team already at the company.”
Emanuele Cairo, Head of Barclays Private Equity Italy, also commented: “We are pleased to have invested in N&W Global Vending S.p.a., an Italian champion in the European manufacturing industry, with a great potential to grow worldwide thanks to its unique coffee culture and its long established technological leadership in vending machines, where Italian producers have historically proven to be best in class worldwide. We think the company is set to take advantage of the current market environment to profitably pursue its buy and build path. A strategy started very successfully by the current management team in recent years and perfectly in line with Barclays Private Equity investment policy.”
Antonio Cavo, CEO of N&W Global Vending, added: “Both Investcorp and Barclays Private Equity have an extensive record of being a supportive, value-added investor in companies such as ours in Europe and internationally. They will be strong partners to work with over the next stage of N&W’s growth, as we continue to grow our core business, expand our product and application range and extend our overseas presence.”
The senior debt financing was jointly arranged by Bank of Ireland, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Calyon, ING, Intesa SanPaolo, Natixis and Société Générale. The mezzanine financing was fully underwritten by ICG.
Barclays Private Equity and Investcorp were advised by Compass Rondelli Advisers (M&A), PriceWaterhouseCoopers (accounting and tax), NCTM (legal and tax) and A.T. Kearney (commercial); Argan Capital and Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity were advised by Merrill Lynch International and Rothschild (M&A), Banca Intesa and Société Générale (financial co-advisers), Gianni Origoni Grippo & Partners and Debevoise & Plimpton (legal), Deloitte (accounting and tax) and Bain (commercial).