French VC XAnge to merge with Siparex

Siparex would acquire its majority stake from current majority shareholder La Banque Postale. The vendor's parent, the La Poste Group, will reinvest to secure a 20% stake.

The merger will enable Siparex to expand its reach towards early-stage financing with the XAnge brand, while the core Siparex business will continue to focus on mid-market and regional investments. The resulting group will have a combined €1.5bn in assets under management.

The merger is expected to go through in Q3 this year, pending approval by the relevant regulatory bodies.

Established in 2004 by former Afic chairman Hervé Schricke, XAnge has offices in France and Germany. It focuses on innovation financing and growth capital for SMEs via a range of institutional and retail funds. The firm employs a team of 15 people.

In July last year, the VC held a final close for its XAnge Capital 2 fund on €62m, surpassing its €60m target. The vehicle is the second from XAnge to focus solely on the digital economy. Its predecessor was launched in January 2003 and closed just four months later on its €50m target.

Founded in the late 1970s, Siparex currently has €1.2bn in assets under management. It operates across France and also maintains a presence in Spain and Italy. The GP held a final close for its MidMarket III vehicle on €200m, exceeding its €150m target, in February last year. The GP had launched the vehicle in June 2012, days after closing its MidCap II vehicle on €130m.

Several mergers in the past few years have been seen as crucial steps in consolidating the French private equity space. ACG Private Equity has been particularly busy, most recently buying Acto Mezzanine and fund-of-funds Quartilium – the remaining entities of Groupama Private Equity – in early 2013. The group also bought French secondary investment firm BEX Capital in June 2012, following the acquisition of both Viveris Management and Gimar Capital Investissement in 2011.

Meanwhile, Fondations Capital acquired fellow French GP LBO Partners from CM-CIC Capital Finance, the private equity arm of the Crédit Mutuel-CIC banking group, in 2013. Back in late 2011, troubled mid-cap GP Atria Capital Partenaires merged with counterpart Naxicap.

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• Topics
• GPs
• France
• Siparex
• XAnge Private Equity