Banks underwrite €635m of debt for Pamplona deal

Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan have underwritten a €635m debt package to back the buyout firm's acquisition of OGF.

Pamplona Capital Management's buyout of French funeral business OGF from fellow private equity group Astorg Partners will be underpinned with €635 million in debt, it emerged on Thursday.

Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan have underwritten the package to fund the buyout, which is worth €900 million in total.

The banking pair will seek to syndicate the debt to leveraged loan investors, with the initial meeting to occur in London today, Reuters reported.

The debt package stands at about 5x OGF's €110 million EBITDA. It will comprise about €575 million of term loan B debt paying interest at 450 bps over Euribor.

Prior to the sale being agreed, Astorg is understood to have mulled a dividend recapitalisation of the business. It acquired the business using capital from its fourth buyout fund in 2007 from Vestar Capital Partners in a €780 million deal backed by €710 million of debt.