European Capital Concludes Sale Of Farrow & Ball For £275 Mln - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - European Capital Ltd., a wholly-owned affiliate of American Capital Ltd. (ACAS), has closed the sale of its portfolio company, Farrow & Ball, to Ares Management (ARES) for 275 million pounds or 347 million euros or $433 million.

European Capital received 236 million pounds in equity proceeds and realized a gain of 138 million pounds from the transaction. European Capital's compounded annual rate of return earned on its debt and equity securities over the life of its investment was 22%, including interest, dividends, realised gains and fees. European Capital received 5.4 times its equity investment and realized a compounded annual rate of return of 23% over the life of its equity investment, including dividends, realized gains and fees.

European Capital purchased Farrow & Ball in August 2006 in a One Stop Buyout, underwriting the entire purchase price requirement by investing 86 million pounds in senior term loans, senior subordinated debt, institutional loan notes and common equity.

"Our partnership with Farrow & Ball over the past eight years has yielded a very positive outcome for European Capital with both turnover and EBITDA tripling since our acquisition," commented Benjamin Suquet, Director of ECFS.

European Capital was advised by Rothschild and DLA Piper.