Paris, May 29th, 2020 – Kersia, a global leader in biosecurity and food safety, announces the completion of the acquisition of Holchem from Ecolab. With this important milestone, Kersia becomes a leader in the UK hygiene sector and the second largest player in Europe. Holchem will join Kersia’s global operations platform that spans across Northern Europe, North and South America, the Middle East and China. The Holchem acquisition is being supported by additional capital from Ardian, one of the world’s leading private investment houses.

Based near Manchester, Holchem is the leading provider of hygiene and food safety solutions and technology in the UK. A large majority of the company’s sales are directed to the food, beverage and dairy industries, with additional sales to the food service, retail, institutional and farm sectors. With a turnover of approximately €55 million, Holchem operates from two industrial sites located in Bury and Liphook, primarily serving the UK market.

Following the acquisition of Kilco in July 2018, which enabled Kersia to penetrate the UK livestock sector (dairy, poultry and swine), the Holchem transaction allows Kersia to continue its development in this key geography, leveraging Holchem’s strong positioning to provide leadership in the British Food&Beverage Hygiene market.

Joined together, Kersia and Holchem will be able to benefit from major growth opportunities in the context of high global health and food safety standards, which are continuously rising. In the UK market, Kersia and Holchem are truly complementarity, both in terms of geographies and sectors, offering an important synergy opportunity, especially as country-specific standards and customer requirements become increasingly more stringent. Both companies share common values via their strong focus on environment and social responsibility and offer innovative digital solutions to enable their clients’ productivity.

During the ongoing Covid-19 public health crisis, both companies have been and remain strongly committed to supporting their customers and wider communities by refocusing operations towards the traditional products which have been most in demand, such as disinfectant and hand-hygiene solutions, while also continuing to support the rising demand for biosecurity protocols and enabling knowledge-sharing and best practices.

Kersia was formed as a new company in 2016 after Hypred acquired Antigerm, LCB Food Safety, G3, Kilco and Choisy Laboratories, each acquisition carefully chosen for their respective technologies and leading and complementary market positions. Kersia aims to improve the performance of the agricultural and food industries by preventing the spread of animal and human diseases, often caused by contamination in the food supply chain. The company offers also solutions to the healthcare sector. Following this acquisition, Kersia will operate in more than 120 countries with a workforce of over 1,500 people and a turnover of more than €300 million.

Sébastien Bossard, CEO of Kersia declares: “We are thrilled to welcome the Holchem teams to the Group. Their DNA, the quality of their work, the experience of their employees, their solutions, their services, strongly oriented towards the food industry in the UK and Ireland, make them very complementary to our current operations. This merger will enable us to make new solutions and services available to Kersia’s customers throughout the world, and in the same way, will provide Holchem’s local teams and customers with Kersia’s solutions to help combat contamination by pathogens of the food chain in one of the world’s largest food processing regions. We look forward to working together with Holchem Management team and employees and continuing Holchem’s successful development.”

Stuart Middleton, Managing Director of Holchem adds: “Over the years, Holchem has built a prominent position in the hygiene and food safety solutions market in the UK and Ireland thanks to its comprehensive and innovative offering. We can be proud of what our managers and employees have achieved. We are very excited to join the Kersia Group of companies, which has become a global leader in food safety in a few years, and we look forward to contributing to Kersia Group’s growth, both in our home markets and globally. We believe that this important transaction will bring many opportunities to all our employees and our customers in the combined organization.”

Thibault Basquin, Head of Americas Investments for Ardian Buyout, concludes: “Once again, we are extremely proud to support Kersia in this major deal, marking a new stage in the Group’s development. This is the sixth build-up Kersia has made in less than four years. The partnership with Holchem will enable Kersia to become truly global and Europe’s second largest player in food safety. The group is now more capable than ever to become a trusted partner in a rapidly growing market and will continue to work tirelessly to meet the global demand.”

Kersia is a global leader in biosecurity and food safety with value added products and solutions to prevent diseases or contamination in both animals and humans at every stage of the food supply chain.  The company offers also solutions to the healthcare sector
Following the acquisition, Kersia will operate in more than 120 countries with a workforce of over 1,500 people and a turnover of more than €300 million.

Holchem Group Limited is a food safety specialist providing hygiene solutions and technology primarily to the food, beverage, dairy, food service, institutional and retail sectors. Holchem operates in the United Kingdom and Ireland with a turnover of approximately €55 million.

Ardian is one of the world’s leading private equity firms with $96 billion under management and/or advisory in Europe, America and Asia. The company, which is majority owned by its employees, has always placed entrepreneurship at the heart of its approach and offers its international investors top-tier performance.
Through its commitment to sharing the value created with all stakeholders, Ardian contributes to the growth of companies and economies around the world. Based on its values of excellence, loyalty and entrepreneurship, Ardian benefits from an international network of 680 employees in 15 offices in Europe (Frankfurt, Jersey, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Zurich), North America (New York, San Francisco), South America (Santiago) and Asia (Beijing, Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul). The company manages the funds of 1,000 clients through its five investment pillars: Funds of Funds, Direct Funds, Infrastructure, Real Estate and Private Debt.
Follow Ardian on Twitter @Ardian

Buyer :

Kersia: Sébastien Bossard, Stéphane Le Dallic, Béatrice Texier, Alban Houssin
Ardian: Thibault Basquin, Nicolas Darnaud, Alexandre Vannelle, Alexis Manet, Jean-Baptiste Hunaut

Advisors :

M&A advisors:

Evercore (Tom Massey, Greg-Henri Bize, Maximilian Rempel)  

Legal advisors:

Corporate
– Brodies (William McIntosh, Alasdair Dunn, Gina Malone, Jennifer Sim)
– Latham & Watkins (Gaëtan Gianasso, Timothée Brunello, Aymerick Fradin)
Financing
– Latham & Watkins (Xavier Farde, Carla-Sophie Imperadeiro)
– Structuring – Latham & Watkins (Olivia Rauch-Ravise, Yann Auregan)

Buy-side due diligence:
Finance: Accuracy (Frédéric Loeper, Andrés Rothschild)
Commercial: Bain (Jérôme Brunet, Andrea Gondekova, Ghofrane Maaroufi)
Operations: Advancy (Jérôme Salomon, Vincent Delaeter)
Legal & social: Brodies (William McIntosh, Alasdair Dunn, Gina Malone, Jennifer Sim)
Tax: Arsene Taxand (Mirouna Verban, Terry Khayat) and Alvarez & Marshal (Ian Flemming, Jagdip Bharij, Gurvinder Vim, Amish Patel)
Environmental: Malcolm Hollis (David Smith, Elliott Lockyer)
Regulatory: Socotec (Patrick Levy, Nazanin Golbamaki, Valérie Migaud-Sapin)

Porto, January 16, 2020 – Ardian, a world leading private investment house, announced today that, with the support of Frulact’s management team, it is acquiring Frulact to the Miranda Family. Frulact is an innovative producer of natural fruit-based and plant-based specialty ingredients for the Food & Beverage industry. The company counts on an extensive product portfolio based on fruit & vegetables preps for dairy, ice-cream, desserts, beverages, flavors and plant-based alternatives.

Headquartered in Maia – Porto, Frulact employs more than 750 people, operates 9 facilities across Europe, Africa and North America and sells its products in more than 40 countries, generating nearly €115 million of turnover. The company, founded by the Miranda family in 1987 and led by João Miranda, has a solid track record of growth relying on both organic and acquisitions initiatives.

Ardian will support the management of the company to accelerate its strategic plan and consolidate the group as one of the global leaders in the food ingredients industry, supporting the existing business activities and enhancing its capabilities in adjacent niches and ingredients. Ardian’s strong knowledge of the food ingredients industry, its worldwide network and the support that a leading international private investment firm can offer make Ardian the best partner to identify and promote growth opportunities to transform Frulact into a global leader.

Ardian will rely on the current management team, which will continue being led by Duarte Faria as Chief Executive Officer, to develop its project. Additionally, João Miranda will continue as Non-Executive Chairman of the group.

João Miranda, Non-Executive President of Frulact, commented: “I join all Frulacteans to welcome Ardian and begin this new chapter in Frulact. We’re very pleased with this agreement and partnership, considering that Ardian will bring considerable financial and strategical resources to boost Frulact to become a strong platform, that will aggregate and integrate other adjacent businesses and activities in the added value ingredients industry, and consequently consolidate Frulact’s project, supported by our Human Capital, and allowing the company to exploit a sustainable global footprint”. In addition, he added: “Frulact will continue operating as usual, with the same management team, developing our future growth, innovation, and sustainability strategy, using our Headquarters in Portugal, to bring the company to the next stage of development and rising to a bright future ahead and to bold our aspirations”.

Gonzalo Fernandez-Albiñana, Head of Ardian Buyout Spain (advisor to Ardian France), said: “Frulact and its Management team have the know-how, capabilities and ambition required to consolidate the company as a leading natural food ingredients provider at global level, by expanding and enhancing its technical capabilities and geographical reach. Ardian will support the management in this endeavor with its expertise, network and resources”.

Philippe Poletti, Member of the Executive Committee and Head of Ardian France, said: “This transaction is a good example of Ardian’s expertise in supporting transformation and growth projects in industries we master, while maintaining the legacy of what has been created by the Miranda Family. Our experience helping companies enter new territories, combined with our understanding and respect for the tradition and the corporate values of family businesses make Ardian a preferred partner for family buyouts or carve-outs”.

Frulact is the first investment of Ardian’s Buyout team in 2020. With 50 employees across seven offices in Europe and New York, the buyout team invests in high-quality mid- and large-cap companies, applying transformational strategies to become world leaders in their niche markets.

Frulact is a business group, established in 1987, positioned as a top-ranked innovative company in the supply of added value ingredients for the food & beverage industry, namely fruit & vegetables preps for dairy, ice-cream, desserts, beverages, flavors and plant-based alternatives. From the classic and typical to the most exotic combinations, Frulact has the knowledge and experience to create customized and innovative products to serve its customers’ needs. The Group has a global presence across three continents, with nine business units in five countries (Portugal, Morocco, France, South Africa and Canada), and it is ranked among the world’s top five companies in its business.

Ardian is a world-leading private investment house with assets of US$96bn managed or advised in Europe, North America, Asia, and South America. The company is majority-owned by its employees. It keeps entrepreneurship at its heart and focuses on delivering excellent investment performance to its global investor base.Through its commitment to shared outcomes for all stakeholders, Ardian’s activities fuel individual, corporate and economic growth around the world.

Holding close its core values of excellence, loyalty and entrepreneurship, Ardian maintains a truly global network, with more than 640 employees working from fifteen offices across Europe (Frankfurt, Jersey, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Zurich), the Americas (New York, San Francisco and Santiago) and Asia (Beijing, Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul). It manages funds on behalf of more than 1,000 clients through five pillars of investment expertise: Fund of Funds, Direct Funds, Infrastructure, Real Estate and Private Debt.