Cathay et al. acquire Datawords

The buyout was backed by existing shareholder Capzanine and Datawords' management team, which held a stake in the business prior to the transaction.

The fresh capital will support the multilingual specialist's organic growth and international expansion. A particular focus will be placed on the US market, where a New York office was set up last year, and Asia, with operations in both Japan and China.

The transaction marks the return of former shareholder Cathay to Datawords' capital structure. In December 2009, the Sino-French firm first injected capital into the company in return for a minority stake.

Two years later, Cathay divested its shareholding to Capzanine as part of a management buyout for Datawords, which featured mezzanine financing from the latter, according to unquote" data.

Debt
The transaction was supported with a senior debt facility underwritten by LCL and Societe Generale, while an additional mezzanine loan was supplied by Capzanine.

Company
Established in 2000, Datawords specialises in multilingual, cross-border services for brands and e-marketing clients including L'Oreal, Audi and Clarins. With headquarters in Levallois-Perret, France, the company employs 320 people. The business has additional offices in Italy, Germany, the UK, South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan and the US.

Datawords generated €30m in revenues in 2014, 70% of which came from operations outside France. The figure stands above the €12m reported in 2009, when Cathay first became a shareholder, and the €16m posted two years afterward, when Capzanine backed an MBO for the business.

People
Cathay was led by managing partner Edouard Moinet, vice-president Stéphan Torra and associate David An. Keensight was represented by managing partner Jérôme Pujol, partner Philippe Crochet and associate Gregory Agez.

BPI France Investissement's director Alexandre Ossola, director of investments Thomas Bouton, director of participations Sylvain Dekens, analyst Alexis Bisson and legal adviser Marie-Laetitia Vassort led the deal for the French body.

David Hoppenot is partner at Capzanine and Bruno Bonnin is principal at the GP.

Alexandre Crazover co-founded Datawords and is the company's current CEO.

Advisers
Equity – Eurvad, Charles Guigan, Fernidand Pons (Corporate finance); ‎DC Advisory, David Benin, François Prioux, Alexis Baron (Corporate finance); De Pardieu Brocas Maffei, Jean-François Pourdieu, Yannick Le Gall (Legal); Paul Hastings, Olivier Deren (Legal); Accuracy, Arnaud Lambert, Jean-Alexandre Privesse (Financial due diligence); EY, Stephane Seguin (Financial due diligence); Cedric Devouges (Tax); Eleven Partners, Ambroise Huret, Morand Studer (Commercial due diligence); Roland Berger, Anne Bioulac, Diane de Zelicourt (Commercial due diligence).
Vendor – Natixis Partners, Nicolas Segretain, Antoine De Boissoudy, David Feiner, Philippe Charbonnier (M&A, corporate finance); Agilys, Pierre Jouglard (Legal); Taj, Jérôme Gertler, Olivier Venzal, Véronique Child (Legal); Deloitte, Frédéric Steiner (Financial due diligence). 
Debt – Hogan Lovells, Sabine Bironneau-Loy (Legal).
Mezzanine – Agilys, Pierre Jouglard (Legal).
Management – Gomel Avocats, Arnaud Gomel (Legal); Ayache, Bruno Erard (Tax).

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