Friends Ivory & Sime Private Equity acquires 20% stake in bonmarche.

Investee Company – bonmarche Group Ltd

Investee Company Business Type – Ladies retailer

Type of Financing – Partial sale and refinancing

Equity Providers – Friends Ivory & Sime Private Equity

Equity Leader (Individual) – Mark Advani, Director – New Investments, Friends Ivory & Sime Private Equity

Debt Providers – Bank of Scotland

Debt Type – Bank Loans and Credit

Debt Leader (Individual) – John Brimelow of Bank of Scotland

Equity Amount – £7.3 million

Total Deal Value – £41.3 milliom

Other Advisors – Hammond Suddards Edge, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Pinsent Curtis Biddle, and Addleshaw Booth & Co.

Comments – Privately-owned ladies retailer bonmarche has completed a partial sale and refinancing of its business in a deal worth £41.3 million.

The deal was lead by the Birmingham office of Friends Ivory & Sime Private Equity, who will invest £7.3 million, acquiring 20% of the business. The remainder of the deal is being financed by the Bank of Scotland who are providing a further £34 million in bank loans and credits.

Founded around twenty years ago by the Chima brothers, Gurchait and Gurnaik, the business has experienced significant growth over the years and there are now two hundred and twenty five bonmarche stores nationwide.

With this deal, the Chima family has agreed to sell the business in exchange for cash and shares and will retain 70% of the shares, with 20% held by Friends Ivory & Sime and the remaining 10% by other members of the bonmarche board.

Mark Advani, director of new investments for Friends Ivory & Sime Private Equity, who will join the board of bonmarche said: “This is a tremendous retail business with a focused trading format which clearly appeals to its target customer group. With our provision of additional financial resources, we can work together to achieve a significant acceleration of bonmarche’s development”.