Inflexion Doubles Up on Cheese

Inflexion Private Equity, a UK lower mid-market private equity firm, has sold its investment in Ilchester Cheese, an English producer and exporter of speciality cheeses.

Ilchester Cheese was sold to Tine, a Norwegian milk co-operative and the maker of Jarlsberg cheese, for an undisclosed sum. PwC Corporate Finance advised on the sale.

Inflexion said that the exit represented a multiple of more than two times and a mid-twenties internal rate of return on its December 2004 acquisition of Ilchester Cheese, in which it invested £5m through a combination of ordinary shares and loan notes, with senior debt and mezzanine provided by Singer & Friedlander.

Ilchester produces Applewood, Mexicana and Five Counties cheese brands. The company has achieved an 11% CAGR in revenue during Inflexion’s investment period.

Source: Thomson Merger News