Press release
Paris, 26th January 2022
Levine Keszler advises the SOCOTEC group on the acquisition of URBADS and URBYCOM
The SOCOTEC Group, the French and international leader in Testing, Inspection and Certificationservices for the construction and infrastructure industries, has strengthened its position in the French market with the acquisition of URBADS and URBYCOM.
With URBADS, a pioneer and national leader in outsourcing the examination of applications for town planning permission and strengthening town planning services for local authorities on site or remotely, and URBYCOM, a specialist in town planning and support for regional development in preliminary environmental and landscape studies, SOCOTEC is also positioned upstream of construction projects.
With a combined workforce of 40, the two companies generate sales of nearly €3 million. They are also well-placed to provide training in town planning, as well as advice to public and private developers at the design stage of projects to help them become a reality and obtain the necessary permits, in conjunction with the preparation of administrative files.
In France, where there is a cumulative shortfall of around one million housing units, and where there has been a delay in the examination of these permits since the start of the pandemic, URBADS’ expertise is an area of development for SOCOTEC in France, particularly in helping local authorities to reduce the time taken to examine planning permission applications. For local authorities, outsourcing can be a one-off or a long-term solution. In addition, URBYCOM’s engineering expertise enables it to deal with the increasing complexity of property development projects, thanks to a 360° view of the planning professions (town planning, environment, landscape).
Levine Keszler advised the SOCOTEC group on this transaction.
Counsel to the SOCOTEC group :
Levine Keszler (Nicolas de Courtivron, Pierre Treille, partners, Mickaël Guillemot and Pierre Plettener): legal audit, structuring, contractual and corporate aspects of the transaction
Lintax (Jeannick Moisy): tax audit
Advisors to URBADS and URBYCOM
Fidal (Annie Hutyra): contractual and corporate aspects of the transaction
Optia Finance (Nathan Lemarchand): M&A advice
The full press release is attached.
