Magician
Forumer attivo
Ciao Biagio, come promesso se trovavo un commento di un analista lo mettevo , è di Exane
Given the terms proposed by Groupe Bertrand, we recommend to hold both the secured (=) and unsecured FRN (=, upgraded from -) and to consent to amendments to the change of control provisions.
Exclusive negotiations with Groupe Bertrand - bondholders’ consent required – HOLD both bonds (unsecured upgraded from SELL)
While financial investors had recently looked in pole position in the race to take over Quick, an industrial buyer will finally swallow the Franco-Belgian fast-food chain.
Qualium Investissement (owner of Quick) and Groupe Bertrand (Burger King France’s majority shareholder) have entered into exclusive negotiations for the acquisition of Quick by Burger King France.
We do not have any financial profile available for the acquirer (Burger king France) while the extent of financial support from its ultimate shareholder (Groupe Bertrand) is also uncertain. However, it is worth mentioning a number of points:
- Groupe Bertrand is a mid-size restaurant and hotel chain, founded by Olivier Bertrand in 1997 who remains the majority shareholder in the company alongside Naxicap Partners (Natixis private equity arm) which took over L Capital’s 37% stake in 2012.
- Groupe Bertrand owns 280 restaurants, including Brasserie Lipp (acquired in 2002), Bert’s, Café Leffe and Angelina. It is also the exclusive franchisee for Burger King in France and is behind the reentry of the brand into the French market in 2013. It also owns two hotels: the Saint-James and Relais Christine, both in Paris. Groupe Bertrand’s total consolidated revenues of EUR620M broadly match Quick’s EUR600M.
- The strategy would be to transform Quick restaurants (509 as of end-June) into Burger King restaurants in France, thereby accelerating the expansion plans of the US fast-food chain which would become the 2nd largest fast-food chain in France behind Mc Donald’s. In Belgium, Luxembourg and outside Europe, the Quick banner would remain.
Quick’s valuation and the consideration paid by Burger King France have not been disclosed.
However, we expect the equity value to be relatively limited (probably below EUR50M) while a large part of the financial investment made by Burger King France will be through a cash contribution made to Quick in order to fund the redemption of EUR90M of the secured and unsecured tranches (total outstanding amounts of EUR440M and EUR155M respectively).
Moreover, the proposed acquisition is conditional on three factors:
i) The EUR90M redemptions,
ii) The renewal of the RCF for EUR30M+ with a looser leverage covenant
ratio and a maturity until at least 30 June 2018,
iii) Consent of bondholders to give up on the change of control provision included in the bond documentation and which otherwise would have allow ed bondholders to put their bonds at 101.
It is worth mentioning that Quick will need to obtain the consent from a majority of each series of notes. The deadline is set for 7 October and the consent fee is 25bp.
