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Published
Jul 10, 2011
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Jack Wolfskin buyout backed by 500 mln euro loan

By
Reuters
Published
Jul 10, 2011

July 11 - U.S. private equity firm Blackstone's buyout of German outdoor brand Jack Wolfskin is backed by a 500 million euro ($725.4 million) loan, bankers said on Wednesday.

Wolfskin
A Jack Wolfskin store in Paris on the rue de Rivoli

Blackstone has mandated Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, IKB and UBS to arrange the debt, and a bank meeting was held last Friday to launch syndication of the deal to early-bird investors.

The loan is split between a 420 million euro, seven-year term loan B that pays 450 (basis points) bps over EURIBOR, and an 80 million euro revolving credit facility that pays 400 bps over EURIBOR.

A source told Reuters previously that Blackstone was willing to pay more than 700 million euros for the brand, whose rivals in the fast-growing market for outdoor clothing and equipment include VF Corp-owned The North Face.

Quadriga Capital, which co-owns Jack Wolfskin with Barclays Private Equity, said in a statement recently that all parties were aiming to conclude negotiations in the third quarter of 2011.

Quadriga bought Jack Wolfskin in May 2005, with 95 million euros of loans arranged by Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, which was joined by Bank of Ireland, KfW, LBBW and three mezzanine investors. A 130 million euro add-on facility was raised in October 2005 to back a dividend recapitalisation and to take out the mezzanine tranche, according to Thomson Reuters LPC data.

(Reporting by Claire Ruckin; Editing by Will Waterman)

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