
Cerea kicks of Fund III deployment with Groupe Ethique & Santé deal
Cerea Partners has kicked off deployment of its third fund with the acquisition of a majority stake in France-based Groupe Ethique & Santé, a dietitians network and provider of healthcare services.
The food and beverage value chain-focused GP invested EUR 13.5m to buy a 65% stake in the business, Cerea's partner and deputy CEO Gilles Sicard told Unquote.
Cerea Capital III was launched in 2020 with a target of EUR 250m and hard-cap of EUR 300m, when it launched in 2020. It is expected to deploy equity tickets of EUR 10m-25m and target companies with EV of EUR 30m-150m, according to Unquote Data.
In the transaction, the founder has also proposed that each of the company’s 19 employees invest alongside the fund.
The deal was signed in July but Cerea's founder and CEO, Rémy Legrand, who reinvested in the company, wanted to communicate the news internally to its franchisee network before making a public announcement.
As Cerea aims to make 13 investments per fund putting no less than 10% of each fund in each of its portfolio companies, it is confident that it will manage to double the size of Groupe Ethique & Santé, said the partner.
Moreover, Cerea aims to set up over the next few years the managerial succession of the founder, according to the press release.
Crédit Agricole, Caisse d’Epargne and Société Générale provided senior financing for the deal.
Groupe Ethique & Santé follows a scientific approach to weight loss with a program exclusively treating patients referred by their physician, according to the press release.
Under the new ownership, the group plans to expand the services of its existing franchisees through better penetration to a network of highly-trained prescribing physicians. It is also aiming to improve its geographical coverage by adding new franchisees and to further invest in the scientific credibility of the program, according to the press release.
Sicard believes “the company is not at all saturated in the French territory” and the group has set a target of reaching a few hundreds of locations, by opening 15-20 centres per year. However, Cerea seeks to slightly shift the operating model of the group by increasing its independent presence in major cities, without franchising, in order to have better control of the centres’ opening opportunities, he added.
Moreover, the GP aims to deploy the company’s concept elsewhere in Europe, given the increasing percentage of the overweight population and the related secondary disease risks. It would do so by targeting companies similar to Ethique & Santé’s concept via in-house development in neighbouring countries, such as Switzerland, without making acquisitions, said Sicard.
In other European countries, however, like Italy, the GP could consider M&A as long as the target and local physicians agree to adopt the group’s scientific approach to weight loss, based on medical referrals, he added.
Sicard noted that the company is not in talks for potential partnerships at the moment.
Cerea Partners has EUR 1.3bn under management, mainly raised with institutional investors, and a diversified offering of private equity, mezzanine and senior debt financing.
Company
Created in 2009 by Rémy Legrand, Groupe Ethique & Santé currently operates a network of franchised locations specialized in the overweight’s treatment pending MD prescription. The group operates approximately a hundred sites. These centres use the RNPC® brand (Rééducation Nutritionnelle Psycho-Comportementale or Psycho-Behavioral Nutritional Re-education) registered by Groupe Ethique & Santé. The group generated EUR 11m turnover in 2021, growing annually by 27% since 2017.
People
Groupe Ethique & Santé − Rémy Legrand (founder & CEO).
Cerea Partners − Gilles Sicard (partner & deputy CEO), Paul de Castries (investment manager), Adrien Jégat (associate).
Advisers
Equity – Neovian: Patrick Richer, Arnaud François, Shixuan Shen (strategic); Exelmans: Stéphane Dahan, Rodolphe Savary de Beauregard, Paul Demarquette (corporate finance); Moncey (Guillaume Giuliani, Marie-Victoire James, Frédéric Bosq, Eléonore Coquerel, Bonnie Brenier, Anastasia Fleury, Manon Vanbiervliet, Osborne Clarke (legal); Axa Climate: Julien Famy, Rafaella Scheer (ESG); Marsh: Betül Ekici (insurance).
Vendor − Smart Entrepreneurs Partners: Gaël Dubosq, Gaël Gelineau (M&A); Nova Partners: Olivier Nett, Emile Troboul, Sonia Devaud (legal); Crédit Agricole: Cyril Bianchi, Société Générale: Gaëlle Coudert-Majoulet, Caisse d’Epargne: Lucie Hausberg (senior financing); Nova Partners: Magali Floris, Camille Frulli, Albane de Saint Hilaire, Marie Filion (financing lawyers).
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