Abénex, Cathay Capital to sell Surys to trade

Francesca Veronesi
29 August 2019

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Abénex and Cathay Capital have entered exclusive talks with IN Groupe to sell France-based Surys, an anti-counterfeiting technology company previously known as Hologram Industries.

Surys generated revenues of €92.8m in 2018, according to its website, and posted an EBITDA margin of around 27-30% that year, Unquote understands.

The sale process started in Q1 2019, was orchestrated by Lazard and attracted interest from both private equity and corporate players, a source close to the situation told Unquote.

IN, formerly known as Imprimerie Nationale, is a specialist in identity and secured digital services. It generated a €314.2m turnover in 2018 and employs 1,000 people. The group's services are used in 77 countries and the company partners with 28 governments.

Completion is expected by the end of the year.

Previous funding
Surys listed on the Paris Stock Exchange in 1998 and was taken private in 2013 by Abénex and Cathay. The GPs invested in the business as minority investors, while the management retained a majority stake. The deal implied an equity valuation of €189m, Unquote reported at the time.

At the time, Abénex used its Abenex IV fund, which closed in 2010 on €295m.

Company
Founded in 1984, Surys is a technology company providing anticounterfeiting products based on optical and digital sciences. The company's services ensure that identity documents, banknotes and fiduciary documents are easy to authenticate and hard to counterfeit. Surys also provides a range of authentication and traceability services for brands and products.

Headquartered in Marne-la-Vallée, the business manages two production facilities in France and in the US, R&D facilities in France and Germany, and a branch focusing on automated verification of identity documents in the Netherlands. The group employs 400 people.

People
Abénex – Olivier Moatti (managing partner).

Advisers
Acquirer – Sekri Valentin Zerrouk, Franck Sekri, Emmanuelle Vicidomini, Anne-Lise Derouet (legal).
Vendors – Lazard, Charles Andrez (corporate finance); DLA Piper, Xavier Norlain (legal); King & Spalding, Laurent Bensaid (legal).