Advent International to buy French telecoms business Circet

The GP will acquire the asset from its current majority backer CM-CIC Investissement, the founders, the management team and partially from Omnes Capital. The latter will retain a 4% stake in the business, Unquote understands. 

Advent plans to partner with Circet's management for the transaction. 

The GP made an offer in the region of €1bn for the asset, with a debt package of around €550m, a source close to the deal told Unquote. 

Advent is currently investing from its latest flagship vehicle, GPE VIII, which closed on $13bn in early 2016.

A source familar to the situation disclosed that US-headquartered Advent was chosen as a successor to CM-CIC, being better positioned to foster the international growth of Circet. 

Previous funding
CM-CIC backed the MBO of the French telecommunications infrastructure business from its founding shareholders with a €40m investment in 2015. The capital structure reshuffle saw CM-CIC secure a majority stake in the business, while the company's management, investing alongside the GP, remained as minority shareholders.

Omnes sold its stake in French fibre-optic and cable business Capcom to Circet in early 2017. It reinvested proceeds from the sale in the group resulting from the merger, retaining a 5% stake. Omnes' backing represented the fifth investment from its Omnes Croissance 4 fund. 

Company
Established in 1993, Circet is a telecommunications company outsourcing network deployment and maintenance services for fixed and mobile telecommunications operators, local authorities and equipment vendors in France. Headquartered in Sollies-Pont, France, the business employs 3,000 people and generates revenues of €700m. This compares with 1,000 staff and a €225m turnover at the time of the 2014 buyout.

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• Topics
• Buyouts
• Exits
• Technology
• France
• Advent International
• Omnes Capital
• Credit Mutuel Equity (ex CM-CIC Investissement)
• France
• Secondary buyout