Apax Partners, Credit Mutuel Equity & Bpifrance take majority stake in Teknimed

Alain Léonard sold a majority stake in Teknimed to a consortium led by EPF Partners, with CM-CIC Investissement and Bpifrance as co-investors, in a management buyout signed in June 2015. It was the first such transaction for the Toulouse manufacturer, held entirely by the Léonard family until then, and the founder’s purpose was to hand the business to his daughter. Crédit Agricole Toulouse 31 provided the acquisition debt. Teknimed manufactures synthetic bone cements and bone substitutes for orthopaedic and spinal surgery. Bone cement is the compound a surgeon uses to anchor a prosthesis to the bone or to fill and stabilise a vertebra, and it sets in place during the operation itself, which makes its handling properties and setting time as critical as its composition. The catalogue extended to more than forty references across cements, substitutes, polymers and resorbable ligaments, the last dissolving in the body once the tissue has healed. The company employed 50 people across its sites in Toulouse and Vic-en-Bigorre and generated revenue of €8m, more than three quarters of it outside France, in over 65 countries. It reinvested close to 15% of sales in research and development each year, a rate that reflects the regulatory burden on implantable materials: each formulation must be tested, documented and approved market by market before it can be sold. The investors backed a business growing by double digits each year in its markets, with the intention of expanding both organically and through acquisitions. Potomac Capital Conseil advised the seller on the M&A side, with Morvilliers Sentenac as corporate counsel and Grant Thornton on vendor financial due diligence. For the acquirers, Pinot de Villechenon & Associés and Agilys Avocats handled corporate legal work, TAJ Avocats the legal, tax and employment due diligence, In Concreto the intellectual property review, Deloitte Finance the financial due diligence and Alcimed the strategic assessment. Dechert advised the managers.