Equistone buys engineering consultancy specialist Vulcain

Alessia Argentieri
24 June 2019

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Equistone Partners Europe has acquired a majority stake in French engineering consultancy Vulcain Ingénierie from Nixen Partners and Initiative & Finance, while the management retained a minority holding.

The GP intends to boost the company's growth in the French market and support an international expansion strategy. It plans to strengthen Vulcain's focus on the energy, environment, pharmaceutical and infrastructure sectors, as well as expanding its scope into other segments.

Equistone deployed capital from its sixth buyout fund, Equistone Partners Europe Fund VI, which held a final close in March 2018 on its €2.8bn hard-cap, surpassing its initial target of €2.5bn. The fund invests equity tickets of €25-200m in mid-market companies based in western Europe – primarily France, Germany, Switzerland and the UK – with enterprise value in the €50-500m range.

Idinvest provided a unitranche facility to support the deal.

Previous funding
Nixen Partners acquired a majority stake in Vulcain in 2014 via its €164m Nixen II fund, with Initiative & Finance taking part as a minority shareholder. The company's founder, Laurent Thomas, retained a minority stake in the group. Societe Generale supported the deal with a €13m senior debt facility, while Idinvest provided €7m in mezzanine financing.

Subsequently, the company restructured its debt package with a €40m unitranche provided by Idinvest in 2016.

Company
Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Paris, Vulcain is an engineering consultancy group serving the energy and pharmaceutical industries. It provides project management, project coordination, contracts, planning, cost control and process engineering services. The company has a presence in 36 countries worldwide and employs 1,000 staff.

People
Equistone Partners Europe – Stanislas Gaillard, Grégoire Châtillon (partners).
Vulcain Ingénierie – Alban Guilloteau, Frédéric Grard (co-CEOs).
Nixen Partners – Jean-Paul Bernardini (president).

Advisers
Equity – Paul Hastings (legal, tax); EY (financial due diligence).
Vendors – DC Advisory (corporate finance); Goodwin Procter (legal).