3i sells 20% Consultim stake back to founder

Guillaume Basquin, a director in 3i's Paris office, explained to unquote" that the listed GP began working towards a stake sell-off in early 2015.

Initially, the plan was to seek a new backer to replace the firm as minority owner. A limited auction process was set up, sparking offers from several private equity funds and family offices.

However, Consultim founder and CEO Benjamin Nicaise was not convinced that bringing in a new minority owner would suit his goals. Towards the end of the summer, the executive approached 3i and stated his intention to buy out the firm's 20% stake; both parties sealed a deal before year-end.

The agreement came almost nine years after 3i became a shareholder in Consultim. The listed GP deployed €18m in return for a 20% stake in an all-equity deal that valued the business at €90m, Basquin said.

Meanwhile, Nicaise and the management team retained a 75% and 5% holding, respectively. After the current sale, Consultim's CEO will control 95% of the company's capital, while the management will keep its existing 5%.

Under 3i's nine-year shareholding, Consultim is understood to have doubled both its business volume and headcount figures up to €550m and 120 employees.

According to Basquin, this has been accomplished via organic growth for the most part; the only bolt-on seen by the business since 2007 took place in late 2010, when a 36% stake was acquired in real estate developer L'Étude Immobilière.

The debt-free nature of the Consultim deal allowed 3i to gradually reap its returns via dividends distributed almost every year since 2007, the 3i director added.

Company
Founded in 1995, Consultim Finance acts as an intermediary between real estate developers and private individual advisers.

The business manages real estate transactions via its Cerenicimo unit and handles the secondary markets, real estate credit and accounting services under the LB2S, Credifinn and Expertim Fiduciaire brands, respectively.

With headquarters in Vertou, near Nantes, the company employs 120 staff.

People
3i's work on the deal was coordinated by director Guillaume Basquin. Benjamin Nicaise founded Consultim and is the company's current CEO.

Advisers
Equity – Natixis Partners (Corporate finance); Weil Gotshal & Manges (Legal); Deloitte (Financial due diligence).

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