ESSLP’s investments are made through the Ares European direct lending team, Ares Capital Europe, and GE Capital, primarily in the form of unitranche loans.
The £120 million refinancing of Notemachine, a portfolio company of Corsair Capital and a leading owner and operator of ATM machines across the UK and Germany, was the first credit facility upsize for the ESSLP. In January 2014, the ESSLP originally provided Notemachine with a £76.5 million debt package, and today’s announced upsizing of the facilities will support the company’s acquisition opportunities in the forex and payments services markets as well as continued growth in its core ATM business.
Mike Dennis, Partner in the Direct Lending Group of Ares Management, said: "Today’s announcement represents an important milestone in our partnership with GE and is reflective of the significant and growing demand from European businesses for the type of financing ESSLP provides. We are also pleased to have been able to support Notemachine through its next stage of growth. This transaction demonstrates the ability of the ESSLP programme to upsize facilities to businesses requiring additional capital in a compressed timescale."
Howard Sharp, Head of Origination & Sponsor Coverage at GE Capital, said: "Hitting our tenth transaction within two years of launching this pan-European programme highlights the strength of the partnership with Ares as well as the strong appetite from corporates, such as Notemachine, and their sponsors for flexible debt financing to drive growth. We look forward to building on this relationship in the future."
Mike Kingston, Finance Director at Notemachine, said: "When we decided to refinance at the start of the year, we looked to Ares and GE Capital to provide a unitranche financing package because of their flexible approach and commitment to provide follow-on financing. The ability to quickly upsize the debt facilities has been of real value, enabling us to move rapidly as we identify growth opportunities."
The ESSLP has provided financing to support Private Equity backed businesses across Europe that span a wide range of sectors, including the recent financings for Hillarys owned by European Capital, Infovista owned by Thoma Bravo, Parkdean owned by Alchemy and Montagu’s acquisition of Dutch Ophthalmologic Research Centre (D.O.R.C).
