Caterer Compass seals €1.5bn acquisition from Bridgepoint
FTSE 100 group buys Dutch food services business Vermaat
Compass, the London-listed catering group, has sealed its biggest ever acquisition with a €1.5bn deal to buy Dutch food services business Vermaat from private equity group Bridgepoint.
The FTSE 100 business, which provides food for work and school canteens in about 30 countries, said on Tuesday the deal would help it expand in Europe and diversify away from North America, which accounts for about 70 per cent of revenues.
Shares in Compass, which has a market capitalisation of about £45bn, rose 4 per cent in early trading in London after it announced the transaction and upgraded its full-year guidance, saying other recent deals were performing better than expected.
Vermaat, established in 1978 as a Utrecht delicatessen, now has more than 700 outlets including in France and Germany, key growth markets for Compass.
Bridgepoint has sold its full stake in the group, having acquired a majority holding in the company in 2019. Partners Group Holding, which first acquired Vermaat in 2015 and remained a minority shareholder after Bridgepoint’s investment, has also sold its stake.
The deal marks the latest in a string of acquisitions by Compass, which has been spending heavily in Europe to tap into booming food service demand for concerts, festivals and sporting events. It has spent €1.1bn on deals in its current financial year, including €355mn to acquire 4Service, a catering and facility management services business in Norway.
On Tuesday the company said the integration of its recent acquisitions was progressing ahead of expectations, helping to push up its annual outlook. Compass is now expecting underlying operating profit growth to be towards 11 per cent, compared with an earlier forecast of high single-digit growth.