Signature Foods tightens talk on €341M buyout term loan

Price talk on the €341 million term loan backing Pamplona Capital Management's buyout of Signature Foods BV has been revised tighter to E+375 with a 0% floor, offered at 99.50-99.75. Replies remain due by 10 a.m. London time on Jan. 29 via physical bookrunners J.P. Morgan (left) and ING, alongside joint bookrunners Barclays and Goldman Sachs.

Updated talk gives a yield of 3.85%-3.89% and compares with guidance given at launch of E+400 with a 0% floor, offered at 99, that suggested a yield of 4.24%. The seven-year deal comes with six months of soft call protection, and PHM SF Dutch Bidco is the borrowing entity. A €62 million revolver rounds out the debt.

Ratings have emerged from S&P Global Ratings at B/B2 for both issuer and issue with a 3 recovery rating.

Pamplona agreed to buy Signature Foods, a provider of chilled convenience foods, from IK Investment Partners in a deal announced Dec. 23, 2020. The deal exits IK from an investment dating from January 2016, and the company has since expanded (including through four acquisitions) to achieve revenue in excess of €300 million. Pamplona is expected to continue the buy-and-build strategy for Signature to help consolidate the chilled food sector across Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg and other parts of Europe.

Signature is an existing borrower and was last seen in May 2017 when it completed a repricing that left the margin on its €158.5 million covenanted term loan at E+350, with a 0% floor.

The firm is headquartered in Hilversum, the Netherlands, and employs more than 600 people across seven manufacturing sites in the Netherlands, Belgium and Poland. Signature operates in both the branded and private label sectors, and its portfolio includes well-known local brands such as Johma and Hamal.

Houlihan Lokey is advising Pamplona on the financing.