Pillarstone completes first Greek deal

Pillarstone, the pan-European investment platform established by KKR Credit, has completed its first transaction in Greece through the restructuring of Famar, a provider of contract manufacturing and development services to the pharmaceutical and health & beauty industries.

The announcement comes swiftly after Pillarstone was formally approved by the Bank of Greece towards the end of last week. All four systemic Greek banks – Alpha Bank, Eurobank, National Bank of Greece and Piraeus Bank – are lenders to Famar.

Established in 1949, Famar has a network of 12 production sites in five European countries and North America, together with four development centres and three distribution centres offering services in pharmaceutical production, pharmaceutical development, health & beauty R&D and production and logistics to more than 140 customers.

In March, Pillarstone and Famar’s lenders gave the company access to long-term capital investment to stabilise the capital structure and provide long-term support for growth. The agreement was unanimously approved by stakeholders.

Last month, the firm acquired a manufacturing site from Bayer in Pointe-Claire, Canada, to expend its presence in North America. It also hired Markus Hoelzl, who spent six years as CFO at German films supplier Kloeckner Pentaplast, as its new CFO.

Famar is now set to implement a long-term business plan with the support of the Pillarstone platform. Pillarstone co-investor and CEO John Davison and partner Dan Haxby have joined the Famar board with the aim of establishing a strong governance structure. Further senior executive hiring is underway.

Pillarstone was launched in 2015 by KKR Credit, with John Davison as co-investor and CEO, to team with European banks to manage their exposures to non-core and underperforming assets on their balance sheets, providing long-term capital and operational expertise.

Davison was global head of the strategic investment group at Royal Bank of Scotland from 2011 to 2015.