A Bristol-based cross-border corporate team from international legal practice Osborne Clarke has advised leading mid-market private equity house LDC and the management team at Ministry of Cake on its sale to Mademoiselle Desserts.
Osborne Clarke originally advised LDC on its investment in Taunton-based Ministry of Cake in May 2014 through an £11m management buyout in which chief executive Chris Ormrod took the reins of the leading manufacturer of UK-produced hand finished cakes, puddings and desserts.
Mademoiselle Desserts’ acquisition of Ministry of Cake means the French and UK patisserie and cake producer becomes a €210m group with production sites across France, the UK and the Netherlands. Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed.
Ministry of Cake, which last year turned over £30m, supplies desserts to chains such as JD Wetherspoon and TGI Friday.
Mademoiselle Desserts UK customers include Marks and Spencer Food. It employs more than 1,400 in eight production sites in France, the UK and the Netherlands.
The Osborne Clarke team advising on the transaction was led by Bristol-based partner Al Livingstone, pictured right, and Paris-based partner Catherine Olive, pictured below left. 
They were assisted by colleagues across both offices including associate director Chris Yeo and senior associate James Taylor, both based in Bristol, and associate Eve Huchon.
Ministry of Cake employs 400 people at its Taunton and Torquay factories. Its roots stretch back as far as 1865 as Maynards Sweets in Yeovil.
Chris Ormrod said:“It has been an absolute pleasure to work with the team at Osborne Clarke.
“They were with us at every step of the deal and helped us through some of the inevitable darker moments with good humour and fortitude. I always appreciated their advice and would happily choose to work with them again in the future.”
The deal is one of several transactions which highlight Osborne Clarke’s international cross-border capabilities, including acting for global B2B digital music and radio services company 7digital on its acquisition of Snowite, the leading French digital streaming music provider.
