Epiris announces the sale of its interest in Kalle

POSTED 29 April 2016

Epiris is pleased to announce the sale of Electra Private Equity PLC’s (“Electra”) interest in Kalle, the global manufacturer of artificial sausage casings and sponge cloths, to Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals.

Upon completion Electra is expected to receive proceeds of £22 million (based on current exchange rates), Together with proceeds from the refinancing of Kalle in 2013, Electra’s total proceeds from the investment will be £27 million. This equates to a return of 3.0x original cost, an IRR of 21%.

Headquartered in Wiesbaden, Germany, Kalle is one of the world’s leading producers of artificial casings for processed meat products. The firm has a portfolio of high quality products which include viscose, textile and plastic artificial sausage casings as well as sponge cloths.

Kalle was acquired by Silverfleet Capital in September 2009 for €213 million. In March 2010, Silverfleet syndicated part of its investment with Electra investing £9 million in the business. This broadened the investor base and provided increased firepower for Kalle to execute its buy and build strategy.

Charles Elkington, Partner at Epiris, said:

“This is another excellent example of Epiris’ flexible investment strategy at work. Our ability to co-invest alongside another private equity firm allowed us to support Kalle’s international growth strategy.”

Charles Elkington and Rhian Davies were responsible for Electra’s investment in Kalle.

This investment continues a busy start to Electra's financial year, which has seen realisations of more than £300 million and new investments or commitments to invest of over £200 million. Realisations announced since October include the exits of Daler-Rowney, MIMS and Zensar Technologies and the proceeds from the refinancing of the Park Resorts Group at the time of its merger with Parkdean Holidays. New investments and commitments to invest include the buyouts of Photobox Group and Grainger Retirement Solutions, the acquisition of Bowlplex by The Original Bowling Company and investments in two CLOs.

Epiris refers to Epiris LLP acting on behalf of its client Electra Private Equity PLC.

Ends

For further information please contact:

Andrew Honnor and Matthieu Roussellier, Greenbrook Communications
+44 (0)20 7952 2000

Nicholas Board and Andrew Kenny, Epiris
+44 (0)20 7306 3902

Note to Editors:

About Epiris LLP
Epiris is an independent private equity fund manager with over 25 years' experience in the mid-market. During the last 25 years it has invested in excess of £4.5 billion in over 200 deals. As at 30 September 2015, the firm had funds under management of over £1.8 billion including capital available for investment of nearly £350 million.

Epiris' flexible investment strategy allows it to invest broadly across the private equity market with a particular focus on Buyouts and Co-investments, Secondaries and Debt. In addition to this, its long-term capital base means it is not constrained by expiring investment periods or exit pressure driven by fund raising cycles and is therefore able to realise investments only when returns are maximised for its investors.

The firm's major client is Electra Private Equity PLC ("Electra"), a private equity investment trust which has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 1976. Electra's long-term investment performance has been consistently superior to private equity and other benchmarks. Over the ten years to 30 September 2015, Electra has seen diluted NAV per share growth of 244%. This is seven times the NAV per share return of the Morningstar Private Equity Index (ex. Electra). It is also equivalent to a ten-year annualised return of 13%, at the upper end of Electra's target range of 10-15% over the long-term.

For further information please visit www.electrapartners.com.

Epiris LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.