Thom Europe launches €760m dividend recap after failed sale

Jewellery retailer Thom Europe has launched €760m of leveraged loans to refinance existing bonds and pay a dividend to shareholders, it announced on Thursday.

The financing launched after a failed attempt to sell the business, banking sources said.

Thom, which is majority owned by private equity firm Bridgepoint alongside France-based Apax, hired Rothschild and Goldman Sachs for a dual-track sale or IPO process last year, valuing the company at around €1bn.

An exit via a sale was the focus and an auction process kicked off in February 2017.

However, after failing to strike an agreement with a buyer, shareholders are now set to extract value with a dividend payment of around €100m, the sources said.

The loan comprises a €670m term loan B and a €90m revolving credit facility and will refinance €536.8m of existing senior secured notes due 2019, the announcement said.

BNP Paribas, ING, JP Morgan, Societe Generale and UniCredit are leading the dividend recapitalisation and a bank meeting is set to take place on Monday to show the details to investors, when full details of the financing, such as pricing will emerge, the sources said.

Created from the 2010 merger of French chains Histoire d'Or and Marc Orian, Thom Europe purchased Italy's Stroili and Germany's Oro Vivo last year.