Nord Capital, IRD acquire Gaz Service from Neothermie

Alice Tchernookova
14 July 2016

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Croissance Nord Pas-de-Calais, part of Groupe IRD, and Nord Capital Partenaires have backed the management buyout of Gaz Service the northern France branch of parent company Neothermie.

The GPs wholly acquire the company's capital alongside seven executives and the company's CEO since 2013 – Sylvain Kwiathowski – from Neothermie owner Milestone Capital. Nord Capital and Croissance Nord Pas-de-Calais become joint majority shareholders and together will inject €2m into the company to support growth.

With the transaction, Gaz Service takes back its autonomy from holding group ENS France and intends to extend its presence on the French territory.

Senior debt was provided by Banque Populaire and CIC Nord Ouest for the deal.

Previous funding
In November 2010, Milestone partnered with heating sector veterans Bruno le Rouzic and Yvan Thorin to acquire four companies and form ENS France, taking a majority stake by supporting the company's management buy-in.

The transaction, estimated at €22m, was supported by senior debt provided by BNP Paribas and Societe Generale, and included mezzanine debt from Tikehau Investment Management's Tim Mezzanine FCPR vehicle.

Company
Founded in 1971 and based in Marly, Gaz Service is specialised in the installation of heating systems and associated services. It provides both for private and shared living spaces. The company operates via five agencies all based in France's Nord department (Valenciennes, Lille, Cambrai, Douai amd Maubeuge). The group generated a €10m turnover for 2015 and employs 130 people.

ENS France, under the brand Neothermie, is a network of residential boiler maintenance and replacement technicians in France. The business initially consisted of four family-owned companies (Journo, Gaz Service, ATC Bernard and ATS) in the Paris area and in the north.

ENS France was formed when in 2010, Milestone founded the group by acquiring the above-mentioned heating specialist firms. The newly formed entity generated joint turnover of €15m. Headquartered in Paris, the firm counted 15 branches, 100,000 customers and 70,000 maintenance contracts at the time of acquisition.

People
Nord Capital Partenaires – François Truffier (investment director).
Croissance Nord Pas-de-Calais – Laurent Hau (investment director); Grégory Sion (associate).

Advisers
Equity – EY Transaction Advisory Services, Matthieu Jaud de la Jousselinière, Bastien Geiler (financial due diligence); EY Société d'Avocats, Benoît Losfeld, Maxime Roussel, Agathe Senlecq, Julie Vennarucci (legal).
Vendor – Mazars Corporate Finance, Stéphane Pithois, Matthieu Maquet (corporate finance); Jeantet et Associés, Pascal Georges, Jean-Guillaume Follorou, Philippe Matignon (legal).