N&W Vending close to decision

Finals bids for N&W Vending are due imminently, according to leveraged finance sources working with private equity firms active in the auction.

Bain, CD&R, Permira and ML Private Equity are expected to table bids for the company, which is up for sale from Compass Partners. Lehman is running the auction and the business is tipped to sell for around €600m. Merrill Lynch Private Equity is bidding jointly with Bank of America, while the other firms are acting separately.

The auction started around a month ago and is one of only a few buyouts expected to conclude in August. Despite the emergence of a series of large-scale deals in the last few weeks and a busy first half generally, bankers and private equity firms say the market will slow down for the rest of this month and that backlogues are lighter for the rest of the year.

N&W Vending is a known quantity in the debt markets, having been recapitalized by Compass just six months ago. The €310m deal was arranged by CIBC and SG. The institutional carveouts of the B and C tranches were more than twice oversubscribed and the bank tranches were also oversubscribed.

The debt was split between €235m in senior and €75m in mezzanine. Senior debt comprised a €100m seven-year term loan A at 225bp over Libor, a €52.5m eight-year term loan B at 275bp, a €52.5m nine-year term loan C at 325bp and a €30m revolver at 225bp.

Compass initially bought out the business from Electrolux Zanussi, when it operated as Necta.