Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

The bank was a lead fiscal adviser in a syndicate of four banks that backed global VGRR leader Belron’s acquisition of Safelite Group Inc in the United States.

With the acquisition price and related funding provisions, the deal stacked up to more than £1/2 billion.

Belron’s global brands include Autoglass which operates throughout East Anglia.

The acquisition is being entirely financed by Belron through the issuance of new debt instruments, on its own financing capacity.

It fits perfectly with Belron’s US strategy which supports its global objective of delivering profitable growth.

The acquisition of Safelite allows Belron to achieve immediate national geographic coverage with an established 60 year old business that has already developed excellent long term relationships with insurance and fleet customers.

The integration of Belron Inc, the current US subsidiary of Belron s.a., and Safelite operations is already underway.

This acquisition will enable Belron to maintain all customer-facing operations while it integrates its current US back office with Safelite’s central support functions.

In addition, Belron will seek to further leverage its global scale in key functional areas while also sharing best practices both with the Safelite business and from Safelite across its global operations.

Belron’s entry into the US market started in 2005 with the acquisition of Elite Auto Glass Inc. in Colorado followed by the acquisition of Auto Glass Specialists Inc. in Wisconsin later in that year.

Since these initial acquisitions, Belron has continued to explore various options to expand its geographic presence.

The acquisition will take Belron’s sales revenue over the EUR 2bn mark – a greater than two-fold increase since its acquisition by D’Ieteren in 1999 – and enhance its profits.

Founded in 1947, Safelite is the leader in the US VGRR market, with sales revenue of around $592m for the year ended March 31, 2006.

Neil Mackie, regional director for Lloyds TSB in Cambridge said: “This transaction caps a momentous 12 months for our team.

“This is our largest ever deal and reflects how we have ramped up our capability for the region’s large corporate players in recent times.”