Monier gets €1bn haircut as PAI loses control

After a protracted negotiation process, ownership of roofing company Monier has slipped away from PAI Partners and into the hands of its lenders. The restructuring will see senior lenders to the company extend a €150 million credit line to the businesses, reduce its cash debt by over a half and reduce its interest payments by around 80 percent.

The three largest shareholders in the business post-restructuring will be Apollo Global Management, TowerBrook Capital Partners and York Capital Management – known as the ATY consortium.

Following the restructuring, which is due to be completed around September according to a source close to the situation, Monier’s cash debt will be reduced from €1.7 billion to €650 million.

The consortium gained approval from the requisite majority of Monier’s lenders – 75 percent – late on Friday.

The three senior executives at the head of Monier’s group management board, led by chief executive officer Pepyn Dinandt, will remain in place after the restructuring. Dinandt said the deal illustrated “that lenders are prepared to invest in fundamentally robust companies” in a statement.

Monier was acquired by European buyout house PAI Partners in 2007 for €1.6 billion and the business had been hit hard by the decline in residential construction since the onset of the credit crunch.

In June PAI sent a a letter investors in its fourth buyout fund saying that it had written its €256 million equity investment in Monier down to zero.

The restructuring deal comes after two proposals from PAI – the latter of which would have seen the buyout house inject €135 million and retain 50 percent of the equity – had been rejected by lenders.