BC Partners bets on Italy’s Tex Mex restaurants chain Old Wild West. The paneuropean private equity firm announced yesterday that it signed an agreement to acquire an 85% stake in the capital of Cigierre  (Compagnia Generale Ristorazione spa), the Italian company owning The Old Wild West  brand as well as Cantina Mariachi, Arabian Kebab, Wiener Haus e Kukkuma Cafè brands  (download here the press release),
An information memorandum was sent to about ten potential bidders last September by Cigierre’s financial advisor Rotschild  (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The company has been valued about 300 million euros and the buyout will be supported by a 150 million euros loan arranged by Unicredit (globalcordinator. bookrunner and sole underwriter), MF Milano Finanza writes today.
Cigierre is now controlled by private equity firms  L Capital(36.27%), Paladin Capital Partners (33.78%, being the same fund controlling the Modena-based Fini group, the tortellini pasta maker) and Camelot Holding (25.35%), while the rest of the capital is owned by the founder and ceo Marco Di Giusto. The three private equity funds will exit their entire stakes while Di Giusto will reinvest in the company ad long as other few private investors.
Founded in 1995 in Udine, Cigierre operates more than 180 casual dining restaurants across Italy, both directly operated and through franchising. The company offers food from a variety of international cuisines at affordable prices through different formats, including the popular Old Wild West and Wiener Haus brands. Cigierre has grown at an impressive pace over the past four years, opening 70 new restaurants and delivering revenue and ebitda growth of about 40% per year,
Cigierre is expected to reach 130 million euros in revenues this year with a 33 million euros ebitda, Lending banks in the previous byout were Bpm, Bper, Friuladria and Banco Popolare and their credit exposure to the company is now down about 33 million euros,
Rothschild and Nctm were advising the sellers’ while Cigierre’s management was advised by Studio Molaro-Romanellli-Pezzetta-Del Fabbro. BC Partners was advised by DVRCapital and UniCredit and supported by Bonelli Erede and Dickson Minto on legal, PWC on accounting, Facchini, Rossi & Soci on tax and Reno on commercial. The transaction is being financed by UniCredit.
BC Partners has invested in Italy for almost 30 years, most recently through its investment in the Italian leading apparel retailers Coin and Ovs, with the latter that has been successfully listed on the Milan Stock Exchange earlier this year, and has strong casual dining expertise, having recently acquired Côte Restaurants, one of UK’s fastest growing restaurant chains,
