Andera, Omnes buy majority stake in Spherea

Alessia Argentieri
16 May 2019

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Andera Partners and Omnes Capital have acquired a combined majority stake in French simulations and electronic tests specialist Spherea.

The company management team, alongside existing shareholders Ace Management (a subsidiary of Tikehau Capital) and Irdi-Soridec Gestion, reinvested in the business and retained a minority stake.

Andera deployed capital from its Winch Capital 4 fund, which held a final close on €445m in December 2018, while Omnes invested via €210m its Omnes Croissance 4 fund.

In addition to the equity drawn from the funds, the deal was financed with a €40m senior debt package provided by LCL and HSBC, according to press reports.

The GPs plan to strengthen the company's position in the energy and rail markets, accelerate its international expansion, particularly in Asia and the US, and intensify its buy-and-build strategy with new acquisitions in France and the rest of Europe.

In addition to this, they intend to broaden the company's technological offering by developing new features, including predictive maintenance, anticipating diagnostics, decision support, portable soil testing and on-board maintenance.

Previous funding
Ace Management and Irdi-Soridec Gestion acquired Airbus Group's Test & Services business in July 2014, and renamed it Spherea. Ace Management invested via its €150m aerospace-focused vehicle Aerofund III.

Company
Established in 2014 and headquartered in Toulouse, Spherea is a simulations and electronic tests provider for the aerospace, defence, energy and transport sectors.

The company employs 600 staff across France, Germany, the UK, the US and Asia, and serves 600 companies, including Airbus, Lufthansa Technik, Thales, Comac, EDF, Schneider Electric and SNCF. It generated revenues of €130m in 2018, of which 50% came from outside France.

People
Andera Partners – Antoine Le Bourgeois (partner); Pierre-Yves Poirier (partner).
Omnes Capital – Stéphane Roussilhe (partner).
Spherea – Christian Dabasse (CEO).

Advisers
Equity – AlixPartners (corporate finance); Grant Thornton (financial due diligence); DLA Piper (legal, tax).
Company – Deloitte (financial due diligence); Opléo (legal); Orsay (legal).