Press release
Paris, 9th March 2020
Levine Keszler advises Andera Partners on the mezzanine financing of the sponsorless OBO of Groupe Sfeir
After a first stage of capital transfer to Management, supported by UI Gestion, in 2017, the Sfeir Group is carrying out a new transaction, supported by Andera Partners, which is investing via its ActoMezz mezzanine fund.
This transaction enabled the management team led by Bruno Le Forestier and Didier Girard to acquire a new stake in the group, while leaving the majority of the capital in the hands of the historical shareholder, Pierre Dalmaz, the former CEO. This capital increase is the result of an all-bond investment by Andera Partners. UI Gestion is renewing its support for the group by remaining a shareholder.
Based in Neuilly-sur-Seine, the Sfeir Group is a Neo ESN, the French leader in the provision of IT developers to companies. The group employs 600 people, including 550 developers, and supports nearly 250 customers of all sizes and in all sectors in their digital transformation projects. By 2020, the Group expects to have achieved sales of almost €64m, compared with €36m in 2017. Its ambition is once again to double in size over the next 5 years.
The investment by Andera Partners and UI Gestion provides Sfeir with the resources it needs to continue its change of scale and strengthen its position as a key player in the market. This is the 16th investment by the ActoMezz FPCI, which closed in July 2017.
Levine Keszler advised Andera Partners on this transaction.
Counsel to Andera Partners (ActoMezz):
Levine Keszler (corporate: Serge Levine, partner, Pierre Plettener and Rebecca Zbili; financing: Aude Manzo-Keszler, partner, Suzanne Busnel): legal audit, structuring and corporate aspects and financing of the transaction
CazalsManzo Pichot Saint Quentin (Bertrand de Saint Quentin, Jenny-Emma Haure): tax audit
brL Avocats (Nicolas Czernichow, Aurélie Etrioux): social audit
Bilalian Avocats (Marguerite Bilalian, Rémi Rouit): intellectual property audit
Odéris (Aurélien Vion, Eddy Chagué, Louis Templier): financial audit
CMI (Nicolas Kandel, Romain Girard, Nicola Virgata): strategic audit
Advising SFEIR and its partners:
Pax Corporate Finance (Adrien Tourres, Sébastien Leleu, Pierre-Axel Diederichs): M&A advice
PGA (François Giné, Suzanne de Carvalho): contractual and corporate aspects and tax structuring of the transaction
Mazars (Emmanuel Charvanel, Matthieu Carillo): financial VDD
Gartner (Arnaud d’Hubert): Strategic VDD
