Ardian sells Indigo to Mirova and Meag

Francesca Veronesi
28 March 2019

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Ardian has entered into exclusive negotiations over the sale of its 50% stake in France-based car-parking and cycle-sharing business Indigo Group to Mirova and Meag.

Natixis Investment Managers' sustainable investment affiliate Mirova will acquire a stake of around 35% via its Core Infrastructure Fund II (and its co-investment vehicle). Meag, the asset manager of Munich Re and Ergo, will buy a 15% stake, after concluding a proprietary sale process.

Crédit Agricole Assurances will retain its stake in the business and the remaining shares will be held by the group's management and employees.

The deal was sourced in a proprietary fashion and the company's current debt is maintained, Unquote has learned.

The transaction would mark an exit for Ardian's 2013-vintage Axa Infrastructure Fund III.

Under Ardian's ownership, Indigo launched its new mobility and digital services, and sold a group of Indigo's car parks located across Europe to Saba Infraestructuras, a Spanish car park operator controlled by Criteria Caixa.

Mirova and Meag intend to help the group develop in China, alongside Crédit Agricole Assurances.

Previous funding
Ardian acquired the Vinci Park division from Vinci for an enterprise value of €1.96bn in 2014. Vinci retained a 25% stake via its Vinci Concessions unit.

Ardian held a 37.5% stake in the newco, while Crédit Agricole Assurances acquired a similarly sized stake.

Ardian and Crédit Agricole acquired Indigo's remaining 24.6% stake in Vinci Park in 2016. Following the transaction, Ardian and Crédit Agricole owned equal stakes of 49.2%, while the remaining 1.6% stake was held by group employees and management.

Company
Paris-headquartered Indigo was founded as the parking subsidiary of Paris-based Vinci in 2001. The company operates both on- and off-street parking facilities, and provides cycle sharing and electric scooter sharing services in around 750 cities, employing 20,000 people across 10 countries.

It manages 5,000 car parks and 3,000km of managed on-street parking. The business generated a €897.5m turnover in 2017, Unquote understands.

People
Indigo Group – Serge Clemente (CEO).
Ardian Infrastructure – Laurent Fayollas (senior managing director).
Mirova – Gwenola Chambon, Mounir Corm (head of infrastructure funds).
Meag – Holger Kerzel (managing director).

Advisers
Vendor – Ardian Nomura (corporate finance); Weil Gotshal & Manges (legal, tax); PwC (financial due diligence, tax, legal); BCG (commercial due diligence); Siaci Saint Honoré (insurance due diligence).
Equity – Natixis (financial due diligence); Linklaters (legal); Allen & Overy (legal); KPMG (financial due diligence); Fidal (tax); AT Kearney (commercial due diligence); Marsh (insurance due diligence); LEK (commercial due diligence); Clifford Chance (legal); Munich Re/Arcadis (insurance due diligence); EY (financial due diligence; tax); Operis (financial due diligence).
Management – Scotto Partners (legal).