At 53 years old, businessman Moez-Alexandre Zouari, who currently owns 49% of the capital of the frozen products brand Picard, will become its sole shareholder. The investment company IGZ (Invest Groupe Zouari) announced, on Monday, September 30, that it had signed a commitment to purchase the 51% owned by the British investment fund Lion Capital since 2010.
The transaction amount is “confidential”, indicates Mr. Zouari’s entourage. According to certain sources, the operation would value the company between “nine to ten times” its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda). Picard’s accounts are not public but the specialized press estimates the value of the company at more than 2,000 million euros.
Moez-Alexandre Zouari, rising star in distribution, owner of the Maxi Bazar and Stokomani boutiques, completes a good move here. Picard is, with its 1,185 points of sale, the French leader in frozen products. The brand, whose first store opened in 1974 in Paris, had a turnover of 1.8 billion euros during its 2023 financial year, closed at the end of March.
Entered a stake in Picard in 2020
An illuminating detail about customer loyalty: more than 80% of purchases come from people with a loyalty card. In short, the group is a gem and its journey is part of success storythat of Glacières de Fontainebleau, an ice cream delivery man born in 1906 in the town of Seine-et-Marne. The business was purchased in 1920 by a man named Picard. His son, Raymond Picard, took over the management in 1962 and changed the name of the company (Les Établissements Picard), later launching the marketing of freezers and frozen products at retail.
Zouari entered the market in 2020 by purchasing 44.5% of the capital of the Swiss investment fund Aryzta, before gradually increasing it to 49%, together with the British investment fund Lion Capital, the majority shareholder. Above all, he had obtained a purchase option from Lyndon Lea, famous co-founder of Lion Capital, with a certain aplomb and without speaking a word of English.
The negotiation had begun during a quarter-hour meeting in London and had been rushed into Mr. Lea’s agenda, Mr. Zouari confided to World in 2022. To convince the financier that he would be the right partner for Picard, he explained that “reducing costs is easy. But when there is no juice left, there is no point in squeezing the lemon. “I propose to lift the hood of the car and work on home delivery, on the offer, on the rejuvenation of the customer base.”
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