NEWS
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06/11/2019
Cerea acquired by its team
Cerea Partners has been acquired on 25th October 2019 by its management team. The firm was previously owned by Unigrains, its sole shareholder since its inception in 2004. Following this transaction, the team now owns 87.0% of the management company's share capital. Two historic Limited Partners of Cerea funds, MACSF and SMABTP, have lent their support to the team and now own, respectively, 8.7% and 4.3% of the management company. The transaction will not affect day-to-day business as its 26 employees will continue to channel Cerea funds through new investments and on-going coverage of the 44 companies currently under portfolio.
The transaction is fully endorsed by the Cerea team and has been welcomed by the Limited Partners of the funds, who unanimously approved the buyout. Unigrains remains a Limited Partner of the existing funds and is expected to commit to the next generation of Cerea funds, which confirms the strong relationship the two firms have established over time and their mutual desire to maintain close links going forward.
Cerea has developed strongly during the last years and has become a multi-strategies player. Cerea supports small and mid-size companies across the entire food & beverage value chain by providing them with buyout, mezzanine and senior debt financing. Assets under management have rocketed from € 275 million in 2014 to € 1 billion at present.
The transaction paves the way to a new development phase for Cerea. While the company is set to continue building on its food & beverage expertise, it is now strongly placed to pursue new goals, such as expanding its fundraising base and strengthening its European footprint, primarily in Italy, Spain and the BeNeLux. In consideration of these goals, the company's name has been changed to Cerea Partners. Furthermore, in order to better reflect the needs of companies, entrepreneurs and investors alike, the team intends to continue diversifying Cerea's investment offering in terms of target company size as well as investment products.
"Fifteen years after its inception, Cerea is now independent. Cerea is fully appreciative of the essential support which its historic sponsor, Unigrains, has provided during its initial development phase. A new page of the firm's history now opens, in line with the wider trends experienced by the private equity industry. This new shareholding base will allow Cerea to be more flexible and reactive, to accelerate its development, to attract new Limited Partners and talents and to achieve the entrepreneurial goal of the team: being a leading European player in the financing of Agrobusiness companies" says Michel Chabanel, CEO of Cerea Partners.
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