EDS 1

Borrower Overview

• Leading industrial printing company in the CEE, providing printing services to retailers expanding to the region and publishing houses
• Core competencies are the production of advertising material, magazines, journals and high-quality books

Deal Description

• Printing market characterized by overcapacities and pricing pressure but showing growth in retail, which is EDS’s core market
• Partly ageing machinery and need for active market consolidation required sensible yet aggressive investment
• Certain transaction “fatigue” of historical senior lenders and complex SFA post restructuring

Kartesia Contribution

• In a 1st step, takeover of governance & ownership via mezz to equity swap and negotiation with senior lenders to achieve a sustainable financing structure
• In a 2nd step, stabilisation of the senior syndicate after the lead-bank decided to leave for strategic reasons via acquisition of debt
• In a 3rd step, whilst working with management on the operational restructuring and strategic repositioning of the company, taking the leadership position also in the senior debt through add-on acquisitions of debt
• In a 4th step, while overseeing the sale process of EDS, kicked off in April 2017, we identified the opportunity to stay invested in a well known asset and deploy further capital at very attractive terms, whilst facilitating its acquisition by a new investor

Results

• Whilst the full exit of KCO III’s investment of EDS would have delivered already exceptional returns, we managed to improve the risk/return profile further through a full-de-risking upon Closing

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