Cobalt acquires Eurodommages in MBI

According to Cobalt, the management buy-in was structured as an ad hoc transaction, whereby a holding company was set up with the support of five French family offices. Both parties secured a combined majority stake in Eurodommages, while incoming managers Yann Drévillon and Xavier de Meaux invested to secure the remaining shareholding.

Stéphane de Gaye and his family, the owners of Eurodommages since 1997, were the vendors on this transaction. According to Cobalt, de Gaye was looking to retire but did not have a direct successor within the family. This drove the business to seek a private equity firm that would invest to support the introduction of a new management and negotiations were established with Cobalt Capital one year ago.

As part of the final agreement, a decision was made to recruit Yann Drévillon and Xavier de Meaux, both of whom also took part in the investment. Formerly managing director at insurance broker Protegys, Drévillon was appointed CEO at Eurodommages, while de Meaux will be responsible for commercial development.

The business plans to reinforce its presence in France and open its current aggravated risk services offer to accommodate other areas within the insurance industry. According to Cobalt, such a strategy would allow the business to grow externally as the market is still relatively fragmented.

The deal comes one month after Cobalt Capital announced it had reaped a 2.5x return on the sale of its 55% stake in French wine label producer Barat Étiquettes to US business Multi-Color Corporation (MCC).

Debt
The management buy-in was supported by a senior debt package supplied by Banque Populaire Atlantique, LCL and Caisse d'Epargne Aquitaine Poitou-Charentes. Information on the value of the loan remains confidential, but market sources report the transaction was leveraged at slightly more than 50%.

Company
Founded in 1995, Eurodommages is an insurance broker targeting aggravated risk situations for car and motorbike drivers, particularly those with a high premium as a result of reckless driving or licence suspension.

Headquartered in Bruges, France, the company has a workforce of 30 staff responsible for 15,000 individual contracts signed on a yearly basis. It most recently reported sales of around €25m.

People
Cobalt Capital was represented by founders and managing directors Christophe Fercocq and Hervé Franc as well as director Julien Berger-Perrin. Yann Drévillon is CEO at Eurodommages, while Xavier de Meaux is responsible for the company's commercial development.

Advisers
Equity – Priscus Finance, Philippe André, Jean-Luc Amanatian (M&A); Desfilis & McGowan, Guillaume Giuliani, Frédéric Pinet, Madeleine Fabre, Marie-Victoire James, Eric Spiridion, Jennifer Nicolaï (Legal); EY, Cyril de Beco, Paul-Eric Lacourte, Jean-Philippe Barbé, Sandrine Gobaut, Arielle Halimi, Anne-Elisabeth Combes (Financial & environmental & IT due diligence, Tax); WH Conseils, François-Xavier Redier (Commercial due diligence).
Vendor – PwC Corporate Finance, Antoine Grenier, Guillaume Fran (M&A); Arpèges, Hubert Ployart, Annie Meignen (Legal).
Debt – Reed Smith, Alexandre Tron, Aurélien Jugand (Legal).
Management – DLA Piper, Xavier Norlain (Legal).

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• Topics
• France
• Buyouts
• Financials
• France
• Cobalt Capital