European Capital supports Asmodee acquisition by Eurazeo with €42.5 million in unitranche bonds and equity co-investment

St. Peter Port, Guernsey, 28-1-2014 — /EuropaWire/ — European Capital Limited and its consolidated subsidiaries (“European Capital”) announced today that they arranged together with Tikehau Investment Management the €65 million unitranche financing supporting Eurazeo Capital’s (“Eurazeo”) acquisition of Asmodee (the “Company”). In this transaction, European Capital invested a total of €42.5 million in unitranche bonds and an equity co-investment.

“We are extremely pleased to arrange the financing of the acquisition of Asmodee which is the type of success story we like to support in its international development,” said Tristan Parisot, Managing Director of European Capital Financial Services Limited (“ECFS”). “We remain focused on originating high quality private debt opportunities in midcap businesses with underwriting capacity of up to €100 million across Europe. This investment demonstrates again our ability to originate and provide tailor-made financing solutions in the private debt area to top-tier European sponsors like Eurazeo.”

Asmodee is a leading independent publisher and distributor of games and trading cards in Europe with its main operations in France, the UK, Belgium, the USA, Germany and Spain. The Company has built a unique business model based on strong game origination expertise that enabled it to pioneer the development of modern social games and capture most of the bestselling board and card games (including Dobble, Jungle Speed, Time’s Up) in France over the last 15 years. Between 2002 and 2012, Asmodee managed to grow its sales from €4 million to €110 million. During that time, the Company also significantly broadened its geographical reach with more than half of its sales generated outside France, thus becoming a must-have partner for retailers as well as game authors across Europe.

“We are delighted to support a highly experienced and passionate management team,” said Etienne Haubold, Managing Director of ECFS. “In particular, over the past few years, this team has managed to greatly expand operations outside the Company’s home market.”

“We were also strongly convinced by Eurazeo’s commitment to making Asmodee an international player, which combined with management’s ambitions, should turn the Company into a global leader in a few years from now,” added Olivier Meline, Investment Director at ECFS.

“European Capital has positioned itself as a trusted financing partner for Asmodee, due to their comprehensive understanding of the key stakes and future challenges for the Company,” said Stephane Carville, CEO of Asmodee. “We also value their cross-border coverage, operating resources and industry expertise which could prove useful in some of our future developments.”

“Eurazeo is very pleased to partner once again with European Capital,” said Eric Schaefer, Executive Director at Eurazeo. “We appreciated European Capital’s capacity to value the management team’s strategic rationale and understand the business’ main challenges, while being responsive and creative in customizing their offering to this transaction’s specific needs, and therefore positioning themselves as a partner of choice for the Company.”

ABOUT EUROPEAN CAPITAL
European Capital is an investment company for pan-European equity, mezzanine and senior debt investments with €1.0 billion in assets under management. European Capital is a wholly-owned affiliate of American Capital, Ltd (“American Capital”). It is managed by European Capital Asset Management Limited (the “Investment Manager”), a wholly-owned affiliate of American Capital. The Investment Manager has offices in London and Paris with 55 employees. Since its inception, European Capital Limited has invested €3.5 billion in over 100 companies in Europe. In France, European Capital has invested €1.2 billion in 30 companies. European Capital and its affiliates will consider senior, mezzanine and unitranche debt investment opportunities from 10 million to 100 million in either euros or sterling and up to 400 million for One Stop Buyouts®. For further information, please refer to www.EuropeanCapital.com.

ABOUT AMERICAN CAPITAL
American Capital (Nasdaq: ACAS) is a publicly traded private equity firm and global asset manager. American Capital, both directly and through its asset management business, originates, underwrites and manages investments in middle market private equity, leveraged finance, real estate, energy and infrastructure, and structured products. American Capital manages $20 billion of assets, including assets on its balance sheet and fee earning assets under management by affiliated managers, with $117 billion of total assets under management (including levered assets). Through an affiliate, American Capital manages publicly traded American Capital Agency Corp. (Nasdaq: AGNC) with approximately $10 billion of net book value and American Capital Mortgage Investment Corp. (Nasdaq: MTGE) with approximately $1 billion of net book value. From its eight offices in the U.S. and Europe, American Capital and its affiliate, European Capital, will consider investment opportunities from $10 million to $750 million. For further information, please refer to www.AmericanCapital.com. 

ABOUT EURAZEO
With a diversified portfolio of over €4 billion in assets, Eurazeo is one of the leading listed investment companies in Europe. Its purpose and mission is to identify, accelerate and enhance the transformation potential of the companies in which it invests. Eurazeo is present in several private equity segments through its four business divisions – Eurazeo Capital, Eurazeo Croissance, Eurazeo PME and Eurazeo Patrimoine. Its solid institutional and family shareholder base, its lack of debt and its flexible investment horizon enable Eurazeo to support its companies over the long term. Eurazeo is either a majority or key shareholder in Accor, ANF Immobilier, APCOA, Elis, Europcar, Foncia, Moncler, Rexel, Fonroche Energie, 3SP Group, IES, Ideal Residences, Peters Surgical, Cap Vert Finance, Leon de Bruxelles and Dessange International. Eurazeo is listed on the NYSE Euronext Paris.

CONTACT: + 33 1 40 68 06 66
Etienne Haubold, Managing Director
Olivier Meline, Investment Director