European Senior Secured Loan Programme (ESSLP), a joint venture between affiliates of Ares Management L.P (NYSE:ARES) and GE Capital, announced that it has reached a total of €1 billion in commitments since inception in 2012 with the completion of its landmark 10th transaction. 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).
The European Senior Secured Loan Programme (ESSLP) was formed in 2012 to invest in the senior secured debt of European middle-market companies in order to meet the growing demand for one-stop financing to replace traditional senior and junior debt financing. The Programme is a joint venture between the Ares Management European Direct Lending team, Ares Capital Europe, and GE Capital. The ESSLP was modelled after the Senior Secured Loan Program (SSLP), the North American joint venture founded in 2011 between Ares Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: ARCC) and GE Capital.
Ares Management, L.P. is a leading global alternative asset manager with approximately $79 billion of assets under management and approximately 700 employees in more than 15 offices in the United States, Europe and Asia as of June 30, 2014.
GE Capital International is a leading, global provider of specialist finance to the mid-market, with headquarters in London and serving customers from 30 markets across EMEA and Asia Pacific.