Paris Office Advises PAI partners in Contemplated Sale of CEP

PAI reaches exclusivity agreement to sell its controlling stake in French loan insurance broker CEP to J.C. Flowers & Co. LLC.

On May 6, it was announced that Willkie client PAI partners has reached an exclusivity agreement to sell its controlling stake in French insurance broker CEP (Compagnie Européenne de Prévoyance SAS) to U.S. fund J.C. Flowers & Co. LLC. The transaction includes a significant reinvestment by the founder, Hubert Guillard, and the company’s top managers. PAI partners, a leading European private equity firm, manages and advises dedicated buyout funds with an aggregate equity value of €6 billion. Last month, Willkie advised PAI in its contemplated €535 million acquisition of Kiloutou, and in March assisted PAI in the $1.1 billion sale of its 50 percent stake in Yoplait to General Mills and in its pending $1 billion sale of UK automotive repair company Kwik-Fit Group Ltd. to Japanese trading house Itochu Corp.

The current deal was handled by partner Christophe Garaud; special European counsel Jeffrey Fouts, Philippe Grudé and Paul Lombard; and associates Grégory de Saxcé and Élise Carrera.