Advent exits Circet to ICG

Alessia Argentieri
24 May 2021

Tweet
Facebook
LinkedIn
Google plus
Send to

Advent International has sold its stake in French telecommunications network service provider Circet to Intermediate Capital Group (ICG).

The deal gives the company an enterprise value of €3.2-3.3bn, according to French press reports. This would equate to around 9.1-9.5x the company's EBITDA, which is understood to amount to approximately €350m, according to press reports.

Advent launched the sale of the business in March 2021, attracting the interest of several bidders, including Bain Capital, EQT, PAI Partners, Cinven and CVC, according to press reports. However, the number of bidders looking at the business narrowed, due to the complexity of the asset and the amount of due diligence that was required to make an offer, according to Unquote sister publication Mergermarket.

Following the deal, Circet's founding team and managers will further increase their stakes in the company.

The sale ends a three-year holding period for Advent, which bought the company in a secondary management buyout from CM-CIC Investissement, the founders, the management team and partially from Omnes Capital. The latter retained a 4% stake in the business. The GP made an offer in the region of €1bn for the asset, with a debt package of around €550m.

Under Advent's ownership, the company increased its revenues from €775m in 2017 to €2.2bn in 2021, and its staff from 3,000 people to 10,600 people during the same period.

Circet has entered seven new countries during the last three years: Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, the UK, Ireland and Morocco, and completed 10 add-ons.

Previous funding
CM-CIC backed the MBO of the French telecommunications infrastructure business from its founding shareholders with a €40m investment in 2015. The capital structure reshuffle saw CM-CIC secure a majority stake in the business, while the company's management, investing alongside the GP, remained as minority shareholders.

Omnes sold its stake in French fibre-optic and cable business Capcom to Circet in early 2017. It reinvested proceeds from the sale in the group resulting from the merger, retaining a 5% stake. Omnes's backing represented the fifth investment from the Omnes Croissance 4 fund.

Company
Established in 1993, Circet is a telecommunications company specialised in outsourcing network deployment and maintenance services for fixed and mobile telecommunications operators, local authorities and equipment vendors in France.

The company is headquartered in Sollies-Pont, with 150 office locations. Employing 10,600 staff, Circet generated revenues of €2bn in 2020 and €2.2bn in 2021.

People
Advent International – Michael Ogrinz (partner, head of France); Hadrien de Bardies (director).
Circet – Philippe Lamazou (founder, president).