cp-compagnie-fruitiere-en

Capital increase for Compagnie Fruitière
Compagnie Fruitière is completing a minority share increase, with Unigrains and Crédit
Agricole (IDIA Capital Investissement and Sofipaca) as lead underwriters, and Société
Générale Capital Partenaires as co-investor.
Compagnie Fruitière is a family company created in 1939 that is majority owned by the
founding family. It is based in Marseille, generates revenue of more than €700m and
employs 18,000 people. The Group operates across the whole of the fruit value chain, from
production to distribution, via transporting, importing and ripening:

producer in Africa operating more than 9,000 hectares of plantations in the Ivory
Coast, Cameroon, Ghana and Senegal,

logistics operator equipped with dedicated terminals in Africa/Europe and a fleet of
eight specialised ships, making it a market leader in the transporting of ACP fruit and
vegetables,

fruit distributor in Europe and banana ripener in France, the United Kingdom, Spain,
Portugal and Morocco.
The group is the foremost producer of bananas and pineapples in the ACP (Africa,
Caribbean and Pacific) region, with total production of 450,000 tonnes of fruit and
vegetables. It is one of Europe's leading distributors of fruit and vegetables such as bananas,
pineapples, mangos, avocados, lychees, citrus fruit and potatoes.
Compagnie Fruitière is heavily committed to CSR through a programme involving the
building and maintaining of hospitals, schools, nurseries and housing for employees at its
African plantations.
"Unigrains is pleased to assist Compagnie Fruitière with its international investment
programme. This flourishing French mid-sized company has been managed for 75 years by
the founding family, which is active and known in West Africa for fruit farming, transporting
and logistics", note Didier Bosc and Sébastien Haselint, Investment and Development
Director and Investment Director at Unigrains.
"We were won over by the resilient business model based on complete control of the fruit
value chain and a strong presence in production. Compagnie Fruitière also presented us with
ambitious plans for the company based on the development and deepening of the synergies
between the different businesses", add Arnaud Pradier and Manuel Leal, Associate Director
and Investment Director at IDIA.
Thanks to this capital increase, and after its disposal of the US operator Dole Food Company
in May 2014, Compagnie Fruitère now has the resources needed to pursue and finance
proactive, ambitious growth.
PARTICIPANTS:
COMPAGNIE FRUITIERE - Jérôme Fabre, Jan van Opstal, Stéphane Muffat
IDIA CAPITAL INVESTISSEMENT - Arnaud Pradier, Manuel Leal
UNIGRAINS - Didier Bosc, Sébastien Haselint, Fabrice Quéniat
SOCIETE GENERALE CAPITAL PARTENAIRES - Marc Diamant, Bruno Lacombe, Sylvia
Pinero
SOFIPACA - Yves Besset
INVESTOR ADVISORS:
Legal: PAUL HASTINGS - Guillaume Kellner, Mounir Ait Belkacem,
Claudia Wagner
Legal DD: PAUL HASTINGS - Guillaume Kellner, David Lacaze, Stéphane Henry
Financial DD: GRANT THORNTON - Thierry Dartus, Damien Moron
Tax DD: GRANT THORNTON - Alexis Martin
COMPAGNIE FRUITIERE ADVISORS:
Financial advice: SOCIETE GENERALE - Pascal Bridier, Jérôme Choupin, Kevin Debrabant,
Augustin Héron
Legal: CMS BUREAU FRANCIS LEFEBVRE - Christophe Blondeau, Alexandre Morel
About IDIA
IDIA Capital Investissement is a division of Crédit Agricole Capital Investissement & Finance (CACIF).
It hosts Crédit Agricole S.A.'s minority growth capital activities dedicated to the agri-food sector, the
farming word, agri-industries and the winegrowing sector. IDIA Capital Investissement also manages
the Crédit Agricole group's land, forestry and vineyard interests and the monitoring of Crédit Agricole
S.A.'s investments in specific funds.
IDIA Capital Investissement's assets total €1.5 billion.
Find out more at www.ca-idia.com
About UNIGRAINS
UNIGRAINS is a French company specialised in the agri-food and agri-industry sectors and majority
owned by cereal professionals. For the last 50 years, UNIGRAINS has been assisting companies in
these sectors by providing their managers with bespoke equity and quasi-equity financial solutions and
with its recognised sector expertise. UNIGRAINS manages more than €1 billion of assets, alongside
its subsidiaries, and is a partner to nearly 200 companies, contributing to various stages of their
development, and particularly capital restructuring, strategic investments and acquisitions, ensuring
their national and international development.
Find out more at www.unigrains.fr
About SOCIETE GENERALE CAPITAL PARTENAIRES
The specialised subsidiary Société Générale Capital Partenaires (SGCP) invests amounts of between
€300,000 and €10m in French SMEs on the Société Générale Group's behalf. For more than 30 years,
it has advised and supported companies at key moments such as when they enter new development
phases, reorganise their shareholder structure, optimise their financial structure or transfer their
ownership.
SGCP's teams are an integral part of the French Retail Banking network and are able to work closely
with French SMEs through its Investment Directors in Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux, Lille, Strasbourg,
Rennes and Marseille. In 2014, SGCP invested some €50 million in around fifteen deals, confirming its
commitment to the financing of companies and the economy.
Find out more at http://capitalpartenaires.societegenerale.com
About SOFIPACA
Sofipaca was created in 1984 as a subsidiary of Caisses Régionales de Crédit Agricole Alpes
Provence et Provence Côte d’Azur. Sofipaca assists companies in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
region with their growth and buyout capital projects. As a long-term financial investor and minority
shareholder, Sofipaca adapts to each company's project and participates in strategic planning and its
implementation.
Find out more at www.sofipaca.fr