Sagard invests in Flight Simulator developer Asobo Studio

Greg Gille
21 January 2021

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Sagard NewGen has secured a minority stake in Asobo Studio, a French video game developer that notably worked on the latest version of Microsoft Flight Simulator.

The transaction was structured so that Sagard secured a minority stake from the studio's 12 founders, while opening up the shareholder base to more employees.

This is the second deal for the Sagard NewGen fund, following its investment in pharmaceuticals company Laboratoires Delbert in September. Sagard launched its NewGen vehicle in July 2020 with a €300m target and held a first close just south of €150m. It expects to hit its target and hold a final close by the end of 2021.

The fund is led by three founding partners: Bérangère Barbe, Agnès Huyghues Despointes – both formerly partners in Sagard MidCap fund – and Guillaume Lefebvre, who joined the team from Keensight Capital.

The vehicle invests in majority and minority stakes of European companies operating across the healthcare and technology sectors, generating EBITDA of €2-15m and revenues of up to €150m. The fund deploys equity tickets in the €10-50m range.

Company
Established in 2002 and based in Bordeaux, Asobo is a video game developer that has worked on 24 projects since inception. Standouts include the latest entry in the Microsoft Flight Simulator franchise, as well as adventure game A Plague Tale: Innocence and racing game Fuel. It employs 220 people.

People
Sagard NewGen – Bérangère Barbe, Agnès Huyghues Despointes, Guillaume Lefebvre (partners), Louis Gosselin (associate).

Advisers
Equity – Lincoln International, François Carlot, Antoine Leclere, Michel Bsarini (M&A); Roland Berger, Jean-Michel Cagin, Cyrille Vincey, Yaroslav Stetsenko (commercial due diligence); Eight Advisory, Fabien Thièblemont, François Gallizia (financial due diligence); Paul Hastings, Olivier Deren, Charlotte Dupont, Vincent Nacinovic, Allard de Waal, Thomas Pulcini, Claire Jondot (legal, tax); EY Avocats, Bertrand Araud, Faustine Carriere, Sophie Muyard (legal).
Vendors – Alantra, Olivier Guignon, Nicolas Viénot, David Kieffer, Clement Michel, Florian Dumas (M&A); MBA Avocats, Igor Doumenc, Dorothée Traverse, Julien Brouwer (legal); Advance Capital, Olivier Poncin, Thomas Récipon, Malek Benteldjoune, Clément Fructus, Louis-Michel Diaz (financial due diligence).