St Tropez
Deal Summary
Catalyst advised the management of St Tropez on a development capital injection supported by private equity firm LDC.
St Tropez is the leading self tan brand in the UK, positioned at the premium end of the market reflecting its professional heritage.
Its routes to market are through professional salons, Boots and high end department stores, with a modest level of sales outside of the UK, mainly in the USA. The product range has been broadened in recent years to encompass a new wet product and innovative spray application equipment.
The development capital injected into the business will fund further new product development together with a significant penetration of both the North American and European markets.
What difference did we make?
Due to Catalyst’s strong regional contact network, we had high visibility of St Tropez as a business and the unique opportunity it presented.
Our belief was that whilst the business was a very attractive asset, there were a number of challenges which meant running a standard auction process would not achieve best results for any party.
Through our relationships we were able to promote private equity (PE) as the 'best fit' solution for the existing shareholders as it would deliver a meaningful cash value at completion, provide funding to allow the business to fulfil its potential and attract high quality management resource as well as allowing the shareholders to participate in the future growth and value.
To maximise the likelihood of the shareholders choosing a PE solution, we effectively acted as principal and negotiated a deal with the shareholders before presenting it to selected PE houses. We then assessed whose appetite and style would work best with the shareholders and incumbent management to deliver a partnership deal.
We worked with the chosen PE firm, and incumbent and incoming management to further develop the business plan we had already outlined to them, raise mezzanine and senior debt facilities and negotiate the finer detail of the deal.
Subsequent to completing the deal we have supported the business by seconding one of our deal team on a full-time basis to assist in the implementation of the 100 day plan.
