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Reuters
Published
Apr 2, 2015
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Advent seeking buyers for Douglas perfume retailer

By
Reuters
Published
Apr 2, 2015

U.S. private equity firm Advent International is planning to put on the market its 80 percent stake in perfume and cosmetics retailer Douglas, the head of its French unit Nocibe said on Thursday, confirming a previous Reuters report.

"The Advent fund came in 2002 and wants to get out today," Nocibe head Isabelle Parize said at a news conference.

douglas

"Three options are available: either an initial public offering, a sale to another fund or a sale to another industry player."

In early March, sources familiar with the deal said Advent had appointed JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs to organise a sale or a listing.

They said they expected Douglas to post 2015 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) of roughly 300 million euros ($325.65 million) on sales of about 2.5 billion euros.

The sources said they expected Douglas' valuation to be much higher than when it was previously listed as it was now a dedicated perfumes group rather than a conglomerate.

Parize said Douglas hoped to be valued at more than 10 times EBITDA and that Advent aimed to complete the sale by the summer.

€1 = $1.09/£0.73

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