Mademoiselle Desserts

Mademoiselle Desserts is a leading manufacturer of frozen industrial finished and semi-finished pastry in France.

Founded in 1984, Mademoiselle Desserts has been successful in building a strong range of innovative products for its retail customers and is one the major players in Europe, with nine manufacturing sites: five in France, three in the UK and one in the Netherlands.

VALUE CREATION

Equistone supported the management team’s plans to expand its product offering and increase exports, as well as to actively pursue its strategy for external growth by targeting acquisitions in complementary businesses. As a result, Mademoiselle Desserts completed three successful add-ons, all made with no additional equity from Equistone:

• The Handmade Cake Company, a specialist in traditional English and American recipes, was acquired in November 2014.
• In October 2016, Quality Pastries, a Dutch producer of chilled and frozen pastries was also integrated into the group.
• The acquisition of Ministry of Cake in December 2016 led to Mademoiselle Desserts becoming a UK leader in frozen pastry.

Since Equistone’s investment, Mademoiselle Desserts has seen its revenue increase from €135m in 2013 to €225m budgeted for 2018 and EBITDA is forecast to almost double. The workforce has also grown to 1,400 people.

THE EXIT

Equistone sold its Fund IV investment in Mademoiselle Desserts to IK Investment Partners.