Ossabois (France) - Dec 2007

unquote
01 December 2007

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CIC Banque de Vizille has taken part in the owner buyout of Ossabois, a wooden homes builder. The private equity sponsor invested €2.8m in equity and now holds a minority stake, while the company’s founding CEO retains majority control. The investment opportunity came through corporate finance boutique Opticroissance, which contacted six private equity firms. LCL arranged a two-tranche debt package worth around half of the deal value. Banque Cantonale de Genève and Banque Palatine also underwrote a part of this debt. A trade sale by traditional house builders was suggested as possible exit for this investment.

Company

Ossabois built more than 200 wooden homes in 2007, generating a turnover close to €50m, with EBIT of €2.5m. The business also built 14 buildings for the tourism industry and 70 affordable accommodations for various local authorities. The company has 220 clients in a market where 50% of demand reportedly is not met by supply. Ossabois, which employs 140 staff in its production facility in Noirétable, hopes to reach revenues of €100m by 2010, thanks to the opening of new production units across the country.

People

Laurent Fermeli led the deal for CIC Banque de Vizille. Brice Tocqueville and Marco Volpi arranged the debt for LCL, while Jean-Christophe Fayat and Christine Lachat provided debt for Banque Cantonale de Genève and Banque Palatine, respectively. Pascal Chazal is Ossabois’ founder and CEO.

Advisers

Equity - Duteil Avocat, Olivier Boyron, Thibault Ricome (Legal)Management - Alcya Conseil, Laurent Simon (Legal)Management - Opticroissance, Louis Veyret, Sébastien Chabre (Corporate Finance)

Sourced from: France unquote" 88 (Feb 2008)