Apax France sells Sylpa to ActoMezz-backed management

Pascal Fournet-Fayard, founder and president of Sylpa, increased his stake in the company, as did managing director Olivier Godefroy and six other managers. They were supported by Andera Partners via an investment of around €10m from Acto Mezzanine.

The €187m fund focuses primarily on SBOs and MBOs of companies with a value in the €20-150m range. It deploys tickets of €5-12m composed of mezzanine and equity.

In addition, a debt package was provided by Banques Populaire Rives de Paris, LCL and CIC to support the acquisition.

Following this deal, Sylpa intends to accelerate its organic growth and extend its geographic expansion across France.

The sale ends a four-year holding period for Apax France, which owned a stake in the company via its Apax Development fund.

Under Apax France's ownership, Sylpa doubled its turnover, and pursued a buy-and-build strategy with the acquisition of Entra and its subsidiary IECF in 2017.

Previous funding
CM-CIC backed the company in an MBI inked in 2006. Subsequently, Siparex invested in Sylpa in an OBO via its Siparex Entrepreneurs 1 fund in 2011. Under Siparex's ownership, the company acquired high-tension network specialist Vernet in 2011 as well as Bosser and SGEA in 2014.

Apax France, at the time known as EPF Partners, acquired a stake in Sylpa in 2015 from Siparex, which reaped a 2x return on the sale. The GP bought the company through EPF IV, subsequently merged in Apax Development.

Company
Established in 2006 and headquartered in Rungis, Sylpa specialises in electrical engineering; it provides installation and maintenance of high and low voltage systems for the transport, network infrastructure and industrials sectors.

The group is composed of ETT; VB Energies et Services, which was acquired in 2011; SGEA, bought in 2014; and ENTRA et IECF-Pesier, added in 2017.

Sylpa employs 320 staff across six plants located in France, and generated EBITDA of €3.5m from revenues of €51.7m in 2018. It expects to reach revenues of around €60m in 2019 and €140m by 2023.

People
Andera Partners – Arnaud Faure (partner).
Apax France – Isabelle Hermetet (partner).
Sylpa – Pascal Fournet-Fayard (founder, president).

Advisers
Company – Capitalmind (corporate finance); CRB Avocats (legal); Arsene Taxand (legal).
Acquirer – Advance Capital (corporate finance); Villechenon (legal).

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• Topics
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• Apax France SA
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