HLD, an investment group specialising in supporting and developing European companies, is preparing to acquire a stake in the Infodis Group alongside the management team led by Stéphane Clément, Chairman of the Group.
Paris, 31 January 2023 – Since its creation in 1985, the Infodis Group has established itself as a major player and specialist in IT infrastructure integration, outsourcing and support services. The Group provides high-quality services to more than 230 clients, ranging from medium-sized companies to large groups.
LBO France’s acquisition of a stake in the company in 2019 ensured the Group’s managerial transition. The recruitment of Stéphane Clément, who gradually took over from founder Vighen Papazian, accelerated Infodis’ organic growth with the development of strong expertise in IT infrastructure management and cybersecurity.
The arrival of HLD as a shareholder alongside the management team will aim to accelerate the development of the Infodis Group, in particular through a strategy of external growth focused on high value-added digital and IT expertise, in France and internationally.
The completion of the transaction is subject to consultation with employee representative bodies and approval by the relevant authorities.
Stéphane Clément, Chairman of the Infodis Group, said: “I would like to thank LBO France for understanding the specific nature of our business and providing us with its expertise at a pivotal moment in our history. Today, the support of HLD, which has the necessary time and resources, will enable us to accelerate our development in a dynamic market where the challenges of building high value-added digital expertise are key. With HLD’s support, Groupe Infodis will be able to carry out a targeted acquisition campaign to enrich its portfolio of skills and services and expand its geographical coverage in France and abroad. We are aiming to double our turnover to €100 million by 2024.”
Cédric Boxberger, Partner at HLD, said: “We were impressed by the high calibre of Groupe Infodis’ management team, its culture of operational performance and its ability to address the needs of large groups with the excellence and flexibility of a fast-growing mid-sized player. Groupe Infodis offers an integrated range of services, from upstream cloud infrastructure engineering to downstream maintenance of employees’ workstations, in an environment where IT security issues are becoming increasingly critical.”
Jacques Franchi, Partner at LBO France, said: “When we acquired a stake in the Group in 2019, the investment thesis was based on the effectiveness of the management transition and improved governance. The aim was to develop the service offering to new business lines, expand geographical coverage and thus accelerate the Group’s growth while preserving its strengths: its corporate culture and performance monitoring tools, which enable it to achieve a higher level of profitability than its peers and ensure good cash flow generation. LBO France achieved its objectives by working closely with the Infodis teams and sharing its extensive experience with them.
HLD contributors
HLD team: Cédric Boxberger, Virgile Blanchard, Antoine Wehrlin, Ethel Najmark
Strategic audit: CMI Stratégies (Romain Girard, Bastien Hontebeyrie)
Financial Audit: EY TS (François Estin, Arnaud Darque, Anna Ferreira De Oliveira, Valentine Gerbault, Marouane Ramdani)
Corporate Lawyers / Legal, Tax and Social Audits / Structuring: Degroux Brugère (Augustin Fleytoux, Marguerite Galois-Boyé, Oriane Rocher, Anne-Louise Cloarec, Quentin Bechert)
M&A Advisory: EY (Julie Van De Velde)
ESG Audit: PwC (Katarina Klemensichova, Sophie Hamoir)
Unitranche Debt: Muzinich (Salim Hasnat, Alexandre Catimel)
LBO France / Infodis Group stakeholders
Sellers: LBO France (Jacques Franchi, Emmanuel Fiorentino), Vighen Papazian, Jacques Gourseaud, Florent Burlet
Management: Stéphane Clément, Jérémie Chaufour, Walid Abi Chahla, Lionel Hitier, Hocine Meddah, Karelle Brozyna, Mario Alapetite
M&A advisor: Houlihan Lockey (Sara Napolitano, Camille Gay, Arnaud Prin)
Financial VDD: BM&A Groupe (Guilhem de Montmarin, Rémi Laberenne, Nicolas Plan, Augustin Enfrin)
Strategic VDD: Advention Partners (Alban Neveux, Natalia Gutsol)
Selling Shareholders’ Lawyers: Jeantet (Pascal Georges, Vianney Birot, Gabriel di Chiara)
Management Advisor: Fides Partners (Magda Picchetto)
About Infodis Group
Infodis Group is a digital services company (ESN) positioned in the market for IT infrastructure engineering and user workstation maintenance services. Thanks to its agile and diversified offering, the Group provides high-quality, made-in-France services to more than 230 clients, including medium-sized companies and large groups, in various sectors such as financial services, business services, healthcare and media.
Backed by a strong management team and nearly 600 employees, Infodis has experienced strong growth over the last three years, supported by an ambitious commercial policy and a strong operational culture. Groupe Infodis ranks among the top 50 fast-growing French digital services companies.
Contacts
Tel: +33 1 49 38 90 90
Email: infodis@infodis.com
About HLD Europe
Founded in 2010 by a group of entrepreneurs, HLD is a European investment group with permanent capital based in Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Italy. HLD’s mission is to support management teams in building leading companies in their fields. To this end, HLD invests in high-potential companies and provides them with the human and financial resources they need to grow over the long term.
Its approach is based on entrepreneurial partnership and focuses on responsible operational development rather than financial leverage. With £3 billion in assets under management, HLD supports 22 companies that employ more than 36,000 people and enjoy average annual growth of over 10%.
www.groupehld.com
Contacts
DGM Conseil
Tel: +33 1 40 70 11 89
Christian d’Oléon | chrisdo@dgm-conseil.fr
Etienne Gautier | etienneg@dgm-conseil.fr
About LBO France
A pioneer in private equity in France, the LBO France group is now a leading multi-specialist investment platform with €5.4 billion under management through its subsidiaries Twenty-First Capital in Paris and Polis Fondi SGR in Italy. Its investment strategy is based on five distinct segments managed by dedicated teams: Mid and Small Cap private equity, Digital Health Venture Capital, Real Estate and Proptech, Infrastructure Debt and Listed Investments. In recent years, the company has expanded its activities in Europe, particularly in Italy with teams in Milan and Rome, as well as on the African continent. Wholly owned by its managers, LBO France is one of the founding members of the international climate initiative and one of the first signatories of the France Invest gender equality charter. For more information: www.lbofrance.com
Contacts
Antoine Denry: +33 (0)6 18 07 83 27 / antoine.denry@taddeo.fr
Julia Paget: +33 (0)6 38 55 68 78 / julia.paget@taddeo.fr
