Buyout Investments

Bénédicta

Activity

Bénédicta is number 1 on the French specialty sauces market and number 2 in France for mayonnaise sauces. The company offers a wide range of products in France and (to some extent) in the UK. The company employs 235 people (including 180 in production and 24 sales staff) at 3 sites: Seclin, Pont-de-Briques and Rueil-Malmaison (head office). The company now earns nearly 85% of its revenues with products under the Bénédicta brand compared to only 60% five years ago.
Building on the reputation of its sales force and on its know-how, Bénédicta is also, since 1 July 2005, exclusive distributor for products carrying the Italian brand name Carapelli, well known for its various types of olive oil.

History

In 2000 with the support of the management team, Barclays Private Equity bought out Bénédicta, which at that time was a division of the Unilever group, in an initial Buyout. Since then, Bénédicta has demonstrated its significant capacity for innovation, both in traditional products (new packaging, new recipes) and in new product ranges (e.g. the success of the “Oh Ouizz!” range). Bénédicta has therefore won its bet and hoisted itself from no. 3 position to no. 2 on the French mayonnaise market. To achieve this, nearly € 7m was invested between 2001 and 2004 in the production plant at Seclin (59).

Strategy

The objective over the coming years is to use Bénédicta as a platform for development, by increasing marketing and product innovation efforts with the launch of new products and new types of packaging, by developing export activity, by concluding new manufacturing agreements and by pursuing an active acquisition policy so as build up a diversified food processing group in the area of salted goods by making use of brands with a strong image and with complementary products