Category: Deals

Read the original news on CFNews here.

 

European Digital Group, an acquisition platform owned by Montefiore, through its conversational data analysis arm Semantiweb, has acquired Social Wire, a social network data analysis agency with twenty employees. Joffe & Associés (Romain Soiron, Virginie Belle and Paddy Pascot) advised Social Wire and its founders on this transaction.

 

European Digital Group is strengthening its Data & AI division, which includes Equancy, a data strategy and management consultancy acquired a few months ago, and previously formed through the acquisition of a majority stake in Semantiweb, a conversational data analysis agency. It was through this latter company that the Montefiore-owned group acquired Social Wire, an agency specialising in the analysis of content and comments on social networks.

 

Virginie Barbieri, co-founder of Semantiweb, explains: “We work closely with EDG’s M&A department, particularly in identifying potential targets to strengthen or diversify our expertise. EDG also benefits from a flow of opportunities, particularly from investment bankers. This is the case with Social Wire, which has also received several bids. To manage a competitive sales process, the target called in Astero Partners, an investment bank founded in 2016 by Alexis Nohen, former General Secretary Europe and Africa at Lagardère Sports.

 

This integration into the EDG group consolidates the decryption capabilities of the Meta, YouTube and TikTok platforms, with a major addition focused on video analysis. With a team of over 10 different nationalities based in Paris, Social Wire has been working with clients such as LVMH, Givaudan, Sanofi, Nestlé and Nespresso for 7 years.

Read the official press release on the Kardham Group website here.

 

The Kardham Group, an independent and integrated French leader in the professional property sector, announces that GENEO Capital Entrepreneur and Bpifrance have strengthened their positions in its capital. These partners have been working alongside management since 2020 for GENEO Capital Entrepreneur and 2016 for Bpifrance. Joffe & Associés (Aymeric Dégremont, Romain Soiron & Paddy Pascot) acted as advisor to GENEO Capital Entrepreneur.

 

This transaction gives the group the human and financial resources it needs to support the acceleration of the major changes underway in the global property industry, namely decarbonisation and digitalisation.

 

Kardham’s objective is clear: to consolidate its position as an independent market leader, while strengthening its areas of expertise through a targeted external growth strategy. The company also wants to accelerate its international expansion. With more than 600 employees in France, Germany, Spain, Portugal and Morocco, and working with more than 50 European countries, the group will have sales of nearly €150 million by 2023.

 

Kardham anticipates strong growth in the decarbonisation of buildings, a major trend for the coming years, with a focus on optimising workspaces and creating intelligent buildings. They have already completed some landmark developments, such as BPCE’s headquarters in the Duo towers in Austerlitz (Paris 13th) and the Well22 tower in Luxembourg, which focuses on employee well-being and energy efficiency.

 

To support this growth, Kardham is strengthening its governance under the leadership of Jean-François Couëc, extending the responsibilities of David Habrias and Roman Coste on the management committee, and appointing new managing directors.

 

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STAKEHOLDERS

 

Investors

GENEO Capital Entrepreneur (François Picarle, Marie Kirch), Bpifrance Investissement (Axel Piriou, Vincent Charles),

 

Legal advice for managers

Bolze et Associés (Eric Bolze) – Conseil financier Dirigeants : G2 Invest (Guillaume Somekh)

 

Investor legal advice

Joffe & Associés (Romain Soiron, Aymeric Dégremont, Paddy Pascot) – Due Diligence financière : Advolis (Damien Bourg, Marion Bernadou).

 

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.