Ace, CM-CIC sell Spring Technologies to trade

The business has been bought by Sweden-based Hexagon, which specialises in sensor technologies, software and data orchestration.

Founded in 1992 and listed on Nasdaq Stockholm, Hexagon has approximately 18,000 employees in 50 countries and net sales of approximately €3.5bn.

Spring will operate within Hexagon's manufacturing intelligence division as part of the CAD/CAM and production software business currently led by the Vero Software brand.

Ace Management and CM-CIC were not available for comment on whether they have fully exited their investments.

Previous funding
In May 2003, Spring secured funding from Vizille Capital Innovation and its management team to buy the stake held by German group Cenit. Management invested the bulk of the capital for a majority stake, with Vizille supplying €680,000 to acquire the remaining shares in the company.

Ace Management and CM-CIC injected €5m into Spring in 2014. CM-CIC used its investment holding CM-CIC Capital Innovation, with €80m under management, and its €170m CM-CIC Capital Privé FCPI fund to take part in the transaction. Ace invested via its Aerofund III vehicle.

Company
Founded in 1983, Spring is headquartered in Paris with additional offices in the US, Germany and China. The company develops software for computer numerical control (CNC) machines used by manufacturing companies.

The business employs 100 people.

People
Hexagon – Ola Rollén (CEO).
Spring Technologies – Gilles Battier (CEO).
CM-CIC Investissement – Emilie Lidome (director).
Ace Management – Delphine Dinard, Pierre Morisseau (directors).

Advisers
Equity – Paul Hastings, Sébastien Crépy (legal).
Vendor – CM-CIC Conseil, Cyril Serratrice, Marc Goudemand (corporate finance); Fieldfisher, Pascal Squercioni, Christopher Mesnooh, Liora Jakubowicz (legal).

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Exits
• France
• Technology
• France
• Credit Mutuel Equity (ex CM-CIC Investissement)
• Trade sale
• ACE Management