Created in 1982 from the merger of seven industrial laundries, RLD is the third-ranking French B-to-B specialist in the rental and laundering of work-wear, flat linen and hygiene services.
“Given the major industrial dimension of our performance improvement plan, we chose Sagard as the best partner to bring us added value in its implementation.”
Daniel Desage
CEO RLD
Investment rationale:
- An attractive industry benefiting from strong barriers to entry and from a regular growth, driven by the on-going outsourcing trends.
- Significant value creation to be sourced from the Various operational improvement plans.
- Appropriate competitive positioning to pursue the consolidation process of the industry.
Description:
From its 24 production sites, spread all over the country, the company picks up and cleans more than 100 000 uniforms and 200 tons of linen per day and delivers some 15,000 customers through 1,000 rounds. RLD benefits from a large client portfolio. The end-markets targeted by the Group range from the car or food manufacturing industries to healthcare providers (private hospitals and retirement homes mainly), from the hotel and catering businesses to service industries.
RLD has demonstrated its capacity to offer a high quality service and to deliver both local and national customers throughout the French territory just like its two major competitors.
The quality of RLD’s customer relationships accounts for the high customer retention rate, RLD thus benefiting from a good visibility on future revenue of a given year.
Key financials:
RLD reported revenue of €148.2 million in 2010, with around 1,800 employees.
Management:
RLD is managed by a solid and well-experienced team led by Daniel Desage since 2004.
Sagard’s position:
Sagard, along with RLD’s management, acquired 100% of the Group’s shares in April 2006.