Parquest sells FDI to Charterhouse's Webhelp

ING Parcom had backed the management buyout of FDI for an undisclosed sum in 2003. Euromezzanine Conseil provided mezzanine financing in the transaction.

ING Parcom Private Equity span out from its parent firm Parcom Capital to become Parquest Capital at the end of April, and now manages a new fund with €300m in capital. ING's insurance arm NN Group is the cornerstone investor of the fund, having been the cornerstone for ING Parcom's previous funds. Ten other investors including Idinvest, LGT Capital Partners and Five Arrows have committed capital to the vehicle.

Following the spinout and prior to the FDI trade sale, Parquest took a minority stake in French insurance claims assessment business Polyexpert in June.

Previous funding
Webhelp has a lengthy history with private equity ownership, having first received early-stage funding in June 2001 from Alven Capital, Turenne Capital Partenaires, Europ@Web and Avenir Finance Gestion (now Promelys Participations). Webhelp was then acquired by Equistone Partners Europe (then Barclays Private Equity) with participation from its existing investors in December 2005 for €82m.

In June 2007, Astorg Partners acquired the business in a transaction valued at around €200m. Astorg and Equistone then sold Webhelp to Charterhouse in June 2011, in a deal valuing the company at €340m.

The company then embarked on a series of bolt-ons, including the purchase of Dutch customer contact services provider SNT in February this year.

Company
Established in 1984, FDI is a provider of customer account management services, with a focus on payment processing and credit management. Headquartered in La Motte Servolex, France, the company has additional offices worldwide.

Founded in 2000, Webhelp also supplies customer management services. It is headquartered in France with additional offices in the UK, Belgium, Morocco, Romania, Algeria, South Africa and Madagascar.

People
Pierre Decré and Thomas Babinet represented Parquest on the transaction. Stephan Morgan and Pierre de Sarrau worked on the deal for Charterhouse.

Advisers
Vendor – King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin, Christophe Digoy, David Diamant (Legal); Vivien & Associés, Judith Fargeot, Louise Rials (Legal); 8 Advisory, Katia Wagner, Vincent Lepreux (Financial due diligence); CMS Francis Lefevre, Lionel Lenczner (Tax).
Acquirer – Leonardo, Jean‐Baptiste Marchand, Joseph El Khoury (M&A); DLA Piper, Jérémie Scemama, Emilie Vuillin (Legal); Ashurst, Sébastien Ouvry, Thomas de Mortemart (Legal); Mayer Brown, Olivier Parawan, Yann Auregan (Legal); Scotto, Claire Revol, Adrien Badelon (Legal); Deloitte, Frédéric Steiner, Vania Mermoud (Financial due diligence); Advention BP, Alban Neveux, Eric Lesavre (Commercial due diligence).

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• Topics
• France
• Expansion
• Exits
• Support services
• France
• ING
• Charterhouse Capital Partners
• Trade sale
• Acquisition finance