Altona Althome

SAB Group takes over the AltonaAlthome Group specializing in garden equipment Selling advisor : TwinL Banque d'Affaires (Frank LOUBARESSE, Laurent LOUBARESSE, Sevim CESIM) Legal advisor: Theimer Avocats (Alain THEIMER, Géraldine COMPAIN) Purchaser's legal affairs and due diligence: Coregest (Christine BERLIOZ) TwinL, advises ALTONA-ALTHOME (sales: €15m) on its sale to the SAB Group (Etablissements André Bondet). The TwinL team was entrusted by management with the overall management of the divestment process: for this mission, TwinL first approached the main players in the home furnishings market in France and Europe, before leading discussions and negotiating agreements with the SAB Group through to closing. Interview with Francis Cadreils : Q : Altona-Althome, a great success story, why did you decide to sell your Group ? Our business is international, which means we have to work hard and travel a lot. Our Group has made considerable progress over the last 5 years, and at an age close to retirement, we need to remain clear-headed about our physical capabilities. As none of the children of the shareholder families wished to take over the company, the best solution was to sell the Group in order to ensure the continuity of all our employees, some of whom have been involved in this incredible adventure for over 20 years, and to increase the value of our investment. Q: Why did you initially decide to work with an investment bank like TwinL ? Our success over the last 20 years has been based on the principle of doing well what we know how to do, and outsourcing what we don't, so that we can concentrate on the essentials. When the time came to sell our Group, it was important to be accompanied by real professionals. What's more, we didn't have the time or the expertise to carry out this operation. Q: One year on, do you still think it was useful to be accompanied in the sale process by an investment bank, and why ? Even more so than when we made our choice and signed the Mandat de Cession! It's clear to us now that if we'd sold the Group on our own, we'd have made a number of communication errors and certainly made the wrong choices. Given our high-growth situation, we were too "in the headlights" to be lucid and logical in our choices. Twinl's expertise helped us a lot in our choices. Q: Would you recommend the TwinL team to other company owners who are thinking of selling their businesses ? Without a doubt, because a few months ago, apart from the Altona-Althome Group, we sold the Foresta Group (3 production plants (in France and Romania) in the garden shed sector), and we were doubly impressed by the TwinL team's professionalism. They were always very honest in the interests of both parties, resulting in a high level of respect from the buyers, a key element in the confidence and success of these 2 transactions.