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The Belgian investors Cobepa and Sofina have made an initial selection of candidates for the acquisition of the logistics beverage giant Hillebrand. The price tag of the deal could be up to 1.5 billion euros.
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The German group Hillebrand, which was founded in 1844, specializes in logistics services for the (spirit) drinks sector. It mainly transports its customers’ goods by ship. Hillebrand had a turnover of 1.4 billion euros last year.
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Hillebrand’s shareholders have selected a handful of candidates to advance to the next bidding round. According to the Reuters news agency, these include investment funds CVC, Onex, Rhone and Lindsay Goldberg, but those names have not been confirmed. The bids would be nearly 13 times Hillebrand’s gross operating profit (EBITDA). Because the logistics beverage giant is counting on an EBITDA of 120 million euros this year, there is a price tag that can rise to 1.5 billion.
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That is good news for Belgian investors Cobepa and Sofina, among other things. Cobepa, majority owned by the AB InBev de Spoelberch family, already invested in Hillebrand 15 years ago and owns 58 percent of the shares. In 2016 the Boël family also came on board via Sofina
. The holding of the Boël family then acquired 20.9 percent of the capital. The Hillebrand family and management retained the remaining shares.
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The shareholders’ pact between the two Belgian investors came to an end earlier this year. Hillebrand is Sofina’s sixth largest participation, according to the holding’s 2020 annual report.
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Families
Since it broke away from BNP Paribas in 2004, more than half of Cobepa has been in the hands of the AB InBev De Spoelberch family. The German pharmaceutical family Boehringer and descendants of the banking family Benjamin de Rothschild also own Cobepa shares, as does the British Caledonia Investments.
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