Buyout Investments

Grands Moulins de Paris

Activity

Grand Moulins de Paris (GMP) is the second largest milling group in France behind Soufflet/Grand Moulins de Pantin and a European leader in frozen bakery-pastry-cake products.
Its sales in France and in Europe are made up of:

• 66% flours and “mixes” intended for independent bakeries, mid-size and large stores and food industry customers;
• 34% semi-finished or finished frozen bakery-pastry-cake products intended for catering professionals, mid-size and large stores or end consumers.
• GMP’s production facilities, considerably renovated, include 17 mills and 13 bakery-pastry-cake plants (6 of which are outside France).

Context

Grands Moulins de Paris was founded in 1920 by the Vilgrain family.
From 1978 GMP diversified by introducing a range of frozen products.
In 1982 bakery-pastry-cake products moved into the export market under the international label “Delifrance”.
In 1989 Bouyges bought GMP from the Vilgrain family with the main objective of carrying out a property transaction (GMP occupied a valuable site at Tolbiac in Paris).
From 1990 to 1997, the business undertook a major program of modernization of its production facilities, in particular the opening of the Gennevilliers site in 1997.

Strategy

In 1998 Bouygues sold the controlling interest in GMP to a group of financial investors led by AXA Private Equity Fund. The GMP management was largely involved in this buyout.

GMP has two major objectives:

• Extend its leadership in the flour market in France, by extending its geographic coverage and developing sales of value added products.
• Continue to develop bakery-pastry-cake activities internationally principally by supporting the Delifrance brand.

On both lines of strategy, AXA Private Equity Fund contributes to the increased value of the group by identifying and approaching certain foreign acquisition targets, negotiating their purchase and financing.

Divestment

In May 2001, AXA Private Equity Fund and its co-investors sold the entire capital to a consortium of management employees from Unigrain and Champagne Cereales. These companies contributed their milling activities to the project thus enabling Grand Moulins de Paris to become the leading French milling group.