18 Aug 2008 Press Release
 

Arcapita announces the acquisition of CEPL, a leading European warehouse logistics operator

Atif A. Abdulmalik, Arcapita’s Chief Executive Officer.
Atif A. Abdulmalik, Arcapita’s Chief Executive Officer.
  • Text size
  •  
  •  

Manama, 18 August 2008: Arcapita BankArcapita BankLoading... B.S.C.(c), a leading international investment firm headquartered in Bahrain, today announced that it and its affiliates have signed a definitive purchase agreement to acquire Compagnie Européenne de Prestations Logistiques ("CEPL"), a leading European warehouse logistics service provider, from French private equity firm Sagard, and current management. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed but the deal ranks as the largest LBO in France this year.

CEPL, headquartered in Béville le Comte, France, operates across 23 sites in France and Germany, and has approximately 2,200 employees.

Founded in 1998, CEPL provides clients with a single managed central location from which it prepares detailed orders for individual retail outlets on a national, pan-European or global basis. The current management team, led by Thierry Ortmans, CEO and founder, and Akim Lamrani, COO, will continue in their current roles and have increased their equity investment in the business.

Atif A. Abdulmalik, ArcapitaArcapitaLoading...'s Chief Executive Officer, said "This is one of the few transactions of this size in Europe to have secured LBO financing in these tough market conditions, which attests to the quality of the business, as well as the strong reputation that ArcapitaArcapitaLoading... has built within Europe."

ArcapitaArcapitaLoading... managed the transaction out of its London office. Mounzer Nasr, head of ArcapitaArcapitaLoading...'s European Corporate Investments added "Through their dedication to exceptional levels of service and operational excellence, Thierry Ortmans and his highly motivated management team have built up a very high quality portfolio of customers within a short time frame. ArcapitaArcapitaLoading... currently owns more than 5 million square meters of industrial warehouse facilities globally, and the acquisition of CEPL has the potential for significant synergies with our existing portfolio of logistics investments. We look forward to working with the current management team and employees, and investing in CEPL's next phase of growth." ArcapitaArcapitaLoading...'s portfolio of industrial warehouses is one of Europe's largest, and it has recently added Pinnacle, a fast growing industrial warehouse developer and operator in Central and Eastern Europe, to its existing investments in the sector.

Thierry Ortmans, CEO and founder of CEPL said: "We are extremely pleased to have secured investment from an international partner of the caliber of ArcapitaArcapitaLoading.... This is an important milestone in the development of CEPL and we believe that with their experience in the sector, ArcapitaArcapitaLoading... will be a valuable partner as we continue the international growth of CEPL."

Financing for the transaction was provided by a consortium of banks including RBS, SocGen, CalyonCalyonLoading... and ING.

-Ends-

About Arcapita
ArcapitaArcapitaLoading... is a global investment bank headquartered in Bahrain with offices in Atlanta, London and Singapore, and operates across four lines of business: Corporate Investment, Real Estate Investment, Asset-Based Investment and Venture Capital. Since its foundation in 1997, ArcapitaArcapitaLoading... has completed 73 transactions with a total value of almost $27 billion and has a balance sheet footing of over $5 billion. ArcapitaArcapitaLoading... recently reported a net income of $362 million for its fiscal year 2008. ArcapitaArcapitaLoading...'s portfolio of investments covers numerous industries, in particular business services - which includes logistics -, retail, consumer products, energy, specialized manufacturing and healthcare.

Full details of ArcapitaArcapitaLoading... can be found at www.arcapita.com

About CEPL
CEPL, headquartered in Béville le Comte (France), is specialised in automated preparation of multi-reference orders (detailed picking). CEPL has prestigious clients in sectors such as perfume, cosmetics, sportswear, shoes, apparel, and high-tech goods, who have all outsourced their logistics to CEPL.

CEPL has created an unmatched reputation within its market based around specialised know-how, a high quality service for the client and a workforce incentivised through profit sharing schemes.

CEPL is well positioned to benefit from the increasing trend for companies to outsource their logistics and offers clients the opportunity to have a single European logistics site for the preparation of detailed orders for each individual point of sale from a single central location. CEPL's clients have all succeeded in improving their service levels while reducing their costs.

The ability of CEPL to work within extremely short timeframes and with service levels above 99.8% allows manufacturers and retailers to reduce their levels of inventory while satisfying the demands of their end-customers.

Enquiries
Financial Dynamics
Jon Earl

© Press Release 2008

from Arcapita Bank
x DISCLAIMER

Zawya is a distributor (and not a publisher) of content supplied by third parties and subscribers. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers, or other information or content expressed or made available by those third parties, including information providers, subscribers or other users of the Service, are those of the respective author(s) or distributor(s) and not of the Company. The Company neither endorses nor is responsible for the accuracy or reliability of any opinion, advice or statement made on the Service by anyone other than authorized Service employee spokespersons while acting in their official capacities. The Company is not responsible for any infringement of intellectual property rights or breach of any applicable law or regulation, including regulation in relation to financial services or the distribution of financial products, defamation, data protection, telecommunications (including regulations relating to excessive use, spamming or other abusive activities) or obscene, offensive or illegal content). Under no circumstances will the Company be liable for any loss or damage caused by a member's reliance on information obtained through the Service. It is the responsibility of member to evaluate the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, opinion, advice or other content available through the Service. Please seek the advice of professionals, as appropriate, regarding the evaluation of any specific information, opinion, advice or other content.

Read the full Member Agreement
http://www.zawya.com/legal/NewsLetter.cfm?name=disclaimer
Access to this article is subject to specific terms and condition.
 
 

Post a Comment

 
  • Comment Title (optional)
  • Express your views or tell us more about this article
  • First Name
  • Last Name
  • Email Address
  • Company Name (optional)
Leave this field empty
 
 
Zawya Comment Policy
 
  1. Zawya encourages you to add a comment to this discussion. You agree that when you add content to this discussion your comments will not:
    1.1   Contain any material which is libelous or defamatory of any person, is obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory or causes damage to the reputation of any person or organisation.
    1.2   Promote sexually explicit material, violence, discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age or any illegal activity.
    1.3   Be made in breach of any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence.
    1.4   Be threatening, abuse or invade another's privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety.
    1.5   Be used to impersonate any person, to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person, or be likely to deceive any person.
    1.6   Give the impression that they represent Zawya.
    1.7   Advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act such as (by way of example only) copyright infringement or computer misuse.
  2. The content posted on www.zawya.com is created by members of the public. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not those of Zawya. Zawya reserves the right to review all comments prior to posting and edit or delete any contribution, but Zawya is not responsible for and can not be held liable for any content posted by members of the public on www.zawya.com.
  3. Zawya is not responsible for the availability or content of any third party sites that are accessible through www.zawya.com. Any links to third party websites from www.zawya.com do not amount to any endorsement of that site by Zawya and any use of that site by you is at your own risk.
  4. By submitting your comment, you hereby give Zawya the right, but not the obligation, to post, air, edit, exhibit, telecast, webcast, re-use, publish, reproduce, use, license, print, distribute or otherwise use your comments worldwide, in perpetuity.