Category: Deals

Joffe & Associés (Thomas Saltiel, Rudy Diamant, Paddy Pascot and Clémence Bressolin) is advising ITK on its acquisition by leading livestock services provider Innoval. The group, based in Noyal-sur-Vilaine, is acquiring a stake in ITK, a company specialising in artificial intelligence for agriculture.

 

Based in Ille-et-Vilaine, the Innoval cooperative group has 30,000 member farmers and employs more than 1,800 people in 26 French départements, mainly in the Grand Ouest region. In 2022, Innoval is forecasting sales of almost €210,327,000. ITK uses science and artificial intelligence to develop solutions aimed at improving the technical, economic and environmental performance of agricultural production systems, through its 3 production sites: Rennes, Montpellier and San Francisco.

 

On Tuesday 31 October 2023, Innoval announced that it had become the majority shareholder in ITK. This transaction marks the withdrawal of Starquest and the EDF group, which had increased its stake in December 2021. The founder and chairman of ITK, Eric Jallas, who returned to head the company last January, has been replaced.

 

With this acquisition, Innoval Group aims to accelerate the modernisation of its customers’ farms. Yann Lecointre, the group’s founder, believes that by joining forces with ITK, the group is strengthening its capacity for innovation, moving from observing events on farms to anticipating them.

Read the official press release on the Inverto website.

 

Joffe & Associés (Thomas Saltiel and Antoine Lamy) advised Quadrille Ingénierie SAS, an independent French software and services provider, on the acquisition of 100% of its shares by Inverto, a provider of reception equipment and video streaming solutions.

 

Inverto is a leading global provider of broadcast reception equipment and video streaming solutions to major Direct-To-Home (DTH) operators worldwide. The company’s strong research and development (R&D) and software capabilities have positioned it as a leader in a number of cutting-edge technologies. Quadrille Ingénierie, on the other hand, is an independent French software and services provider, particularly well known in the field of over-the-air content delivery.

 

Both companies are pleased to announce that Inverto has acquired all the shares in Quadrille, and that they intend to merge their activities. Christophe Perini, CEO of Inverto, stressed that this acquisition enriches their portfolio of solutions in the field of content delivery, with a common vision of becoming the connectivity partner of choice for their customers through advanced technological leadership.

 

Xavier Battas, President of Quadrille, added that this strategic alliance is a crucial step in their strategy to create a customised digital platform for audiovisual solutions and services. Commenting on the acquisition, Christophe Perini, President of Inverto, said: “Quadrille’s technology complements and advances our portfolio of content delivery solutions. Our shared vision is to be the connectivity partner of choice for our customers through cutting-edge technology leadership. We will combine our complementary solutions, our strong R&D base and above all our customer-focused values to connect our customers in the future”.

 

Quadrille Ingénierie will, however, continue to operate from its head office in Paris.

For further information on CFNews, click here.

 

On 21 September, Epoca announced that it had raised almost €10 million to develop its homecare solution for complex patients using connected technologies. The company’s aim? To improve the care of elderly people at home through remote medical monitoring and connected objects.

 

A medical and care team and publisher of an open remote monitoring platform, start-up Epoca has announced that it has raised a total of €10 million, including €3.5 million in bank debt. The deal was led by a consortium of investors, advised by Joffe & Associés (Thomas Saltiel and Rudy Diamant) and including Mutuelles Impact (a fund backed by Mutualité Française and managed by XAnge), Ring Capital, Orange Ventures and Investir&+. These new investors have joined existing investors Makesense and Elzeard in backing the start-up.

 

Epoca was founded in 2019 by Elise Cabanes, a geriatric doctor and emergency physician, and Mariana Fernandes, a nurse specialising in geriatrics. Their conviction was that many of the patients they saw in geriatric emergencies could benefit from care at home thanks to continuous medical monitoring.

 

To make this vision a reality, they developed a remote monitoring platform based on the use of connected medical devices. These devices collect data which is then analysed by medical and paramedical care managers. These professionals are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and their role is to assess the person’s state of health and design a personalised care plan accordingly.

 

With this injection of funds, Epoca intends to continue deploying its solution, not only for patients at home, but also in independent residences, homes for dependent elderly people (EHPAD) and hospitals. The company’s aim is to monitor almost 2,000 patients by the end of 2023; it currently employs 30 people, including 15 healthcare professionals.

 

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• Purchaser or Investor : INVESTIR& + , Andréas Gall , RING CAPITAL (RING) , Daphné Dupont Gurs , ORANGE VENTURES , Mathieu de la Rochefoucauld , BUSINESS ANGEL(S) , MAKESENSE , Léa Zaslavsky , ELSAN (EX VEDICI) , Jérôme Nouzarède
• Company Investment banker / M&A advisor : BLUEPRINT PARTNERS , Marc Chancerel , Eric Plantier , Elaine Yisi Wen
• Company Corporate Lawyer : DUMON PARTNERS , Bastien Moraga
• Purchaser Corporate lawyer : JOFFE & ASSOCIES , Thomas Saltiel , Rudy Diamant
• Acq. DD Financial : ACD CONSEILS , Cyril Doukhan

Caeli Énergie, an energy transition startup specializing in deeptech, is on a mission to replace polluting air-conditioning systems with low-carbon technology designed entirely in France. The company has just closed its second fundraising round, reaching a total of 10 million euros this Tuesday, September 5, 2023. The deal was jointly led by Asterion Ventures, Rise PropTech as well as Starquest and Bpifrance, both advised by Joffe & Associés (Thomas Saltiel, Charlotte Viandaz and Carla Ferron). The funds raised will be used to accelerate the production of their latest-generation products and to expand their commercial activities in France, and subsequently throughout Europe.

 

After developing several prototypes, Caeli Énergie took charge of the industrialization process itself. Rémi Perony points out that “not all the industrial partners we approached could fully satisfy our specific requirements”. The current objective is to improve the efficiency of its industrial process and, above all, to reduce costs with a view to the commercial launch scheduled for 2024. After successfully raising 2.1 million euros in January 2022 for the development of prototypes, the company has just completed a second round of funding.

 

It recently secured 10 million euros in financing from investors including Asterion Venture, Starquest, the French Tech Seed fund (managed by Bpifrance on behalf of the French government as part of France 2030). The company currently has 19 employees and aims to achieve sales of one million euros by 2024. To accelerate its growth, it also plans to recruit 15 people over the next 18 months.

 

Caeli Énergie has developed a revolutionary patented technology in partnership with the CNRS. Their air conditioner, manufactured in France, is based on indirect dew-point adiabatic technology. This technology operates without the need for refrigerant, without heat emission to the outside, and without the need for an external cooling unit. What’s more, its energy efficiency is five times greater than that of the best air conditioners currently on the market.

The website designer and digital solutions integrator is gearing up for acquisitions with the arrival of a new shareholder, Socadif, which will replace the former minority shareholder, Alliance Entreprendre, while CEIDF CI reinvests. Thanks to this operation, Chairman Stéphane Hudyma will become the majority shareholder in the company.

 

Following a new Management Buy-Out (MBO), Webnet is now under the control of its Chairman, Stéphane Hudyma. In this new operation, the majority of the capital of this company, which specializes in website design and the integration of digital solutions, already belonged to the management team. Prior to the MBO, Stéphane Hudyma held 50.1% of the capital, while two former non-operational executives owned the remainder. However, the latter left the company completely by selling their shares, enabling Stéphane Hudyma to increase his stake to 52%. In addition, five other managers took over around 7% of the shares.

 

The former minority investment fund, Alliance Entreprendre, which had been part of the company’s capital, was replaced by Socadif, while Caisse d’Epargne Île-de-France Capital Investissement reinvested. Stéphane Hudyma explained that the search for a new partner was due to the end of the investment cycle, and not to any urgent need for an exit.

 

The transaction, which was managed by DDA & Company, was arranged with senior debt provided by BNP Paribas and Caisse d’Epargne d’Île-de-France, corresponding to a small leverage of less than three times Ebtida.

 

Following this new MBO, Webnet plans to carry out two to three external growth operations over the next six years. These operations will preferably be aimed at targets representing 30 to 50% of the company’s size, enabling it to further expand its presence in the territory. Webnet currently employs 180 people in the Paris region, Lyon, Nantes, Lille and Bordeaux. Future plans include expansion into Europe.

 

Joffe & Associés (Virginie Belle and Paddy Pascot) advised SOCADIF and CAISSE D’EPARGNE ILE DE FRANCE CAPITAL INVESTISSEMENT on this transaction.

 

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Target company : WEBNET

Transaction date: 07/26/2023

Buyer or Investor : MANAGER(S) , Stéphane Hudyma , SOCADIF CAPITAL INVESTISSEMENT , Emmanuel David , CAISSE D’EPARGNE ILE DE FRANCE CAPITAL INVESTISSEMENT , Guillaume Guin , Tom Lorin

Vendor : SEVENTURE PARTNERS , Thibaut Canton , CAISSE D’EPARGNE ILE DE FRANCE CAPITAL INVESTISSEMENT , Guillaume Guin , Tom Lorin , MANAGER(S) , Stéphane Hudyma

Company Investment banker / M&A advisor : DDA & COMPANY , Anthony Wimbush , Charles-Antoine Cayez

Corporate Lawyer : LAMARTINE CONSEIL , Philippe Barouch , Périne Estephan

Tax Law firm : LAMARTINE CONSEIL , Bertrand Hermant

DD Financial : ADVANCE CAPITAL , Olivier Poncin , Mehdi Adyel , Prescillia Dard

Purchaser Corporate lawyer : JOFFE & ASSOCIES , Virginie Belle , Paddy Pascot

Debt: BNP PARIBAS (FINANCEMENT) , David Eyraud , Germain Pardon , Daniel Ardeljan , CAISSE D’EPARGNE ILE DE FRANCE (CEIDF) , Camille Borie

Lyon-based deeptech company Mob-Energy has taken a major step forward in expanding its horizons. After moving into new industrial premises at USIN Lyon Parilly, it has just announced a €10 million fund-raising round to support its growth.

 

After three years since its launch, Mob-Energy sees Charles, the very first autonomous recharging robot deployed in Europe, which charges 10 to 20 cars a day wherever they are parked with a single mobile “terminal”, as well as Eiko, a scalable recharging solution for private company and government parking lots, public parking lots, logistics hubs and airports, benefit from further financial backing. At a time when the start-up is beginning to industrialize its recharging solutions, which are manufactured in Lyon, France, it is closing a major €10 million fund-raising round, three years after a seed round.

 

The fund-raising was orchestrated by Axeleo Capital and organized by the investment bank Wagram Corporate Finance. It brings together a consortium of investors including a fund managed by Santander AM, Bpifrance, UI Investissement, Crédit Agricole, Fonds Énergies CMA CGM, EIT InnoEnergy and two private investors. This fund-raising marks an important turning point for the company, which also plans to expand internationally outside Europe in the coming years.

 

“The year 2023 marks a turning point for Mob-Energy. This Series A is our passport to an exciting and challenging chapter: industrial ramp-up. We made a choice in 2018 (date of the company’s creation, editor’s note) to have a share of industry in our project, a choice that today is bearing fruit. The know-how we’ve built up over the past five years, particularly in the reconditioning of used car batteries, gives a great deal of strength and meaning to the project“, says Salim El Houat, co-founder and president of Mob-Energy.

 

Joffe & Associés (Thomas Saltiel, Charlotte Viandaz and Rudy Diamant) advised AXELEO CAPITAL, BPIFRANCE INVESTISSEMENT and SANTANDER ASSET MANAGEMENT on this transaction.

Read the original article in Les Echos Capital Finance here.

 

Joffe & Associés (Christophe Joffe, Charlotte Viandaz, Clémence Bressolin and Clément Peillet), advises Aktid on the opening of its capital to Initiative & Finance Tomorrow, for its international development.

 

Against a backdrop of growing ecological awareness and legislative constraints, Aktid, the French leader in sorting center design, celebrates its 18th anniversary by opening up its capital to a financial investor for the first time. Following a process led by Mazars CF, this Savoie-based SME, founded by Pierre André Payerne in 2005, has chosen to entrust between 30% and 45% of its capital to Initiative & Finance’s new mid-cap fund, Tomorrow.

 

This fund specializes in investments in mid-cap companies committed to the environmental transition. Crédit Agricole des Savoies, the company’s long-standing banking partner, is also participating by co-investing via its regional private equity structure, C2AD, and co-arranging senior debt with Arkea and Caisse d’Epargne Rhône-Alpes.

 

Proudly claiming its number-one position in the market for the design and construction of sorting and recovery facilities for non-hazardous solid waste, Aktid has seen remarkable growth in its sales, which have doubled in just one year, from 40 to 80 million euros in 2023. This significant increase can be explained in part by the company’s high visibility on its order book and its ability to anticipate the increase in its activity by actively recruiting some thirty employees over the last few years, bringing its workforce to around one hundred.

With the support of Kresk, Isatis and Bpifrance, the Mulhouse-based engineering consultancy, which generates revenues of €65 million, strengthens its competencies by acquiring Grenoble-based Automatique & Industrie, which posts sales of €12.7 million.

 

Following the acquisitions of Toulouse-based BTM Consultants, Enerjia and Altitem, C-Beyond, the parent company of engineering consultancy B-Hive, is continuing its growth by acquiring Grenoble-based Automatique & Industrie for just over 20 million euros. This transaction was made possible by unconfirmed financing lines that had been provided for in last year’s LBO.

 

In 2018, Pascal Mioche, chairman of the Isère-based company, had anticipated the transfer of the business by putting in place an OBO (Owner Buy-Out), involving executives Arnaud Vanden Borre and Régis Ruckert, as well as Crédit Agricole Sud Rhône Alpes’ 10% shareholding, and the participation of four employees at a very minority level. Régis Ruckert, Managing Director of Automatique & Industrie, explains: “To accelerate our growth and move from an SME to an ETI, it was necessary to be backed by a group larger than our own”.

 

As part of this sale, the members of the management team will reinvest in the C-Beyond holding company, while the managers and employees will retain their respective positions. Pascal Mioche, who is nearing retirement age, will occupy cross-functional positions within the Group.

 

Joffe & Associés (Aymeric Dégremont, Romain Soiron) advised Automatique & Industrie (A.I) and its shareholders on this transaction.

Read the original CFNEWS article here.

 

Joffe & Associés (Christophe Joffe, Océane Christman and Clémence Bressolin) advises Avignon Ceramic on welcoming Capza Transition as lead investor. Capza Transition will invest between 10 and 20 million euros to acquire the majority of the company’s shares from the management team.

 

Five years after completing its first buyout with Adaxtra and Ouest Croissance, who invested around €4 million to acquire a majority stake, the Chérier-based manufacturer of technical ceramic parts and cores is aiming to take the next step with the help of Capza Transition.

 

The selection process, led by Mazars CF, was won by this small cap fund from the multi-strategy platform, which plans to invest between €10 and €20 million to take control of this SME, in partnership with its management team led by Philippe Coulon.

 

“The manager examined the two possible scenarios: industrial backing and a second buyout (LBO bis), with the main objective of preserving Avignon Ceramic’s specialized know-how in France and Europe, in order to counter the domination of the main American competitor”, explains Matthieu Boyé, partner at Mazars CF.

 

Founded in 1870, Avignon Ceramic has undergone a gradual evolution, moving from decorative ceramics to an industrial niche focused on the design of ceramic cores and technical parts. These products are mainly intended for critical applications in engines used in civil and military aeronautics, the power generation sector and the medical field. This Cher-based SME is forecasting sales of 12 million euros this year, with average growth of 10%, excluding the negative effects of the Covid-19 crisis. More than half of these sales are generated in the aerospace sector.

 

Avignon Ceramic’s objective is to pursue the diversification already begun in turbines for the energy sector, as well as in the medical field. At the same time, the company is studying external growth opportunities. Emmanuel Bonnaud, partner at Capza Transition, which is making its thirteenth investment under its first fund, explains this strategy.

The specialist in OLED microdisplay design signs a third round of financing of almost 21 million euros. Advised by Joffe & Associés (Thomas Saltiel, Camille Malbezin and Oriana Castelli), Jolt Capital and Bpifrance are leading this round of financing in front of historic shareholders, as part of Microoled’s drive to increase production capacity and fuel research and development.

 

A new series of full-color, high-brightness glasses for professionals and the first for the general public. Microoled is now seeking to justify a new round of financing to strengthen and diversify its business development, almost three years after its €8 million Series B round.

 

The Grenoble-based industrialist, led directly by Jolt Capital and Bpifrance, has mobilized the Innovation Défense fund to sign a third round of financing worth 21 million euros.

 

“We seized the opportunity to invest in a high-tech company that already has a broad industrial customer base,” managing partner at Jolt Capital, alongside a long-standing shareholder, Cipio Partners, with whom we have already invested.” Ventech, which joined in 2023 with the German-Luxembourg fund, is also back in the pot. MicroOled, which generated sales of almost €23 million in 2021, 95% of which were exported to 25 countries, now wants to take advantage of its new capital to increase capacity at its production unit in Grenoble.

 

 

Recent announcements about new consumer headsets, due to be available in 2024, are boosting the overall market for augmented reality, for all applications, including industry and security. And while it’s possible to use a smartphone or tablet as a gateway to this technology, glasses will eventually be unavoidable.

 

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Buyer or Investor : JOLT CAPITAL , Pierre Garnier , BPIFRANCE INVESTISSEMENT , Nicolas Berdou , CIPIO PARTNERS , VENTECH

Company Corporate lawyer : JOFFE & ASSOCIES , Thomas Saltiel , Camille Malbezin

Purchaser Corporate lawyer : MAGS AVOCATS , Johann Charmette , Gabriel Joseph-Deparis