09 Jun 2005 Disposal of Buffet Crampon By The Music Group
Rutland, the UK private equity partnership, announces that one of its portfolio companies, The Music Group Limited (“TMG”), has completed the sale of its Buffet Crampon clarinet business for €37 million (approximately £25 million). Following a competitive sale process, the business has been sold in a secondary buy-out to Argos Soditic, a French private equity house.
The Music Group was formed to acquire the music instrument manufacturing business of Boosey & Hawkes PLC for £33.2 million in February 2003.
Buffet Crampon is a leading music industry brand and is internationally renowned as the world’s leading clarinet brand. It is based in Mantes-la-Ville in France, sub-contracts the manufacture of certain instruments to Schreiber (also part of TMG) in Germany and distributes its products globally. TMG is selling the French holding company, Buffet Crampon Holdings SAS, and its US and Japanese distribution companies The Music Group Inc. and Buffet Crampon Japan Limited.
TMG will use the sale proceeds to repay the remainder of its external group debt and to make a distribution to Rutland. An element of the proceeds will also be retained by TMG pending a restructuring of TMG’s two remaining businesses, Schreiber (woodwind instruments) and Besson (brass wind instruments). These two TMG companies will continue to benefit from supply and distribution agreements entered into with the buyer.
The sale of the Buffet Crampon related businesses completes the latest stage in the restructuring of TMG and follows the earlier disposal by TMG in 2004 of Rico Holdings Inc. ($22.2 million) and the sale of the Hofner and Winter businesses to their respective management.
The deal was coordinated on behalf of Rutland by Nick Morrill and Ben Slatter.