Achieving the refinancing of France’s number 2 distributor of hygiene products

SO-MG Partners enabled a €1.5 million bridging loan to be arranged pending global refinancing of the group.

A major player for the manufacture and distribution of hygiene products for more than 75 years, the group is number 2 in France with a 7% market share.

In 2017, the group rolled out a strategy of renewed financial equilibrium for its French subsidiaries with the appointment of a new Managing Director and the renewal of the local management team. The strategy took the form of two phases:

1 – Optimisation of costs and processes:

• Investment in the deployment of an ERP system shared by all the group’s French locations in order to achieve standardisation of processes and improved administrative productivity;
• Renewal of the purchasing team and renegotiation of contracts with the subsidiaries’ historical partners;
• Implementation of centralised supply chain arrangements with the creation of a central Supply Chain Department and the setup of a central hub;
• Renewal of personnel (with the recruitment of 107 persons to strengthen the management team).

2 – Restructuring of the customer offering:

• Reduction of the number of product references from 11,000 to 6,000;
• Creation of a shared and better structured product range.

The second phase resulted in the signature of larger contracts leading to a larger financing requirement given the need for investment in new machinery.