NORWALK, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 24, 2006--GE Antares Capital today announced that it is sole lead arranger and bookrunner of a $202 million senior secured credit facility for Farley's & Sathers Candy Co., a leading branded candy manufacturer. Farley's & Sathers is a portfolio company of Catterton Partners.
The credit facility consists of a $35 million first lien revolving credit facility, a $127 million first lien term loan, and a $40 million second lien term loan. Proceeds from the credit facility were used to help finance the recent acquisition of the Trolli brand of candies from Wm Wrigley Jr. Co., pay a dividend and refinance certain debt.
Farley's & Sathers is a leading branded candy manufacturer, re-packager and marketer of non-chocolate confectionery products to the food, drug, mass retail and convenience store channels in the U.S. The company was formed in 2002 with the acquisition by Catterton of the Farley's and Sathers brands from Kraft Foods Inc. and has grown organically and through acquisitions of select candy brands from The Hershey Co. and Bob Candies, among others.
"The credit facility allowed us to lower our financing costs while providing the company significant flexibility over the next several years," said Craig Sakin, a Managing Partner at Catterton. "The GE Antares team did exactly what they said they would do - they provided us a very attractive credit facility in terms of both cost and structure while executing within a tight time frame."
Added Ethan Miller, Senior Vice President of GE Antares, "We are pleased to be building a strong relationship with Catterton Partners and Farley's & Sathers and look forward to working together and bringing all the resources to the firm that GE has to offer."
Catterton Partners is a leading private-equity firm with an exclusive focus on providing equity capital to growing middle-market consumer companies in North America. Its combination of investment, capital, strategic and operating skills and industry network has resulted in the creation of numerous market leading companies.
About GE Antares Capital
GE Antares Capital is a unit of GE Commercial Finance - Global Sponsor Finance. With over $8 billion in assets, and offices in Boston, Chicago, London, New York, and San Francisco, GE Antares offers a "one-stop" source for GE's lending and other services offered to the private equity sponsor middle market. Visit www.geantares.com.
About GE Commercial Finance
GE Commercial Finance, which offers businesses around the globe an array of financial products and services, has assets of over $190 billion and is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. GE (NYSE: GE) is Imagination at Work - a diversified technology, media and financial services company focused on solving some of the world's toughest problems. With products and services ranging from aircraft engines, power generation, water processing and security technology to medical imaging, business and consumer financing, media content and advanced materials, GE serves customer in more than 100 countries and employs more than 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit the company's website at ge.com.
Contacts
GE Commercial Finance, Norwalk
Ned Reynolds, 203-229-5717
[email protected]
Britta Kons
GE Healthcare Global Services
[email protected]
1-203-400-1892