LM INFORMATION acquired by PRENAX GROUP

Cobepa acquired a majority stake in Groupe Climater from Sagard. The deal marks the start of a new growth cycle focused on geographical expansion and energy transition services. The management team and historical founders retained a significant minority stake to maintain the group's entrepreneurial culture.

Ardian, through its Expansion team, has successfully finalized the acquisition of a majority stake in NetCo Group, succeeding IK Investment Partners and Andera Partners. This strategic transaction marks a new phase of international growth for the century-old family business, which remains under the operational leadership of the founding family’s fourth generation. The strategic rationale for the move centers on the accelerating trend of outsourcing industrial maintenance services across Europe and the significant opportunity for consolidation in a fragmented material handling market. By partnering with an organization with deep cross-border expertise, the group aims to accelerate its ambitious M&A policy, which has already seen over 20 acquisitions since 2015. The partnership focuses on expanding the group's footprint beyond its established networks in Benelux and Iberia, specifically targeting high-growth logistics and agro-food industrial hubs in Northern Europe. This integration facilitates the professionalization of the group's technical service offering, providing the strategic depth required to maintain technical leadership in the conveyor infrastructure sector.

LBO France acquired a majority stake in Prenax concomitantly with Prenax's acquisition of LM Information's subscription management activities and its US subsidiary LM Inc. The combined entity — with a total business volume of approximately €250 million — becomes the independent European leader in information subscription procurement, serving large corporates, public institutions, and academic clients across France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Nordic countries. Andera Partners reinvested alongside LBO France through its ActoMezz III fund, having been a minority shareholder for three years prior.

Acolad Group has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of Amplexor, executing a transformative consolidation within the global language services and content management industry. The tie-up creates an international heavyweight, with the combined group's headcount set to surpass 2,000 employees globally. Strategically, the transaction significantly expands Acolad’s geographic reach into the United States, Eastern Europe, and the DACH region, while unlocking immediate cross-selling opportunities by embedding Amplexor’s advanced digital experience solutions into Acolad's network. Post-merger, the unified group is projected to generate combined revenues exceeding €270 million for the 2020 financial year. The executive leadership will be spearheaded by Acolad's Chairman Benjamin du Fraysseix and CEO Olivier Marcheteau, with Amplexor's CEO Mark Evenepoel supporting the strategic transition. The closing of the transaction remains subject to customary antitrust clearances and regulatory approvals.

HLD Europe acquired a majority stake (~60%) in TSG, the European leader in energy distribution services. The management team, led by CEO Jean-Marc Bianchi, reinvested heavily to retain a significant ~40% stake, ensuring strong alignment for the future transformation. This structure provided the flexibility to execute an aggressive buy-and-build strategy to shift the company's mix from fossil fuels to new energies.

Argos Wityu successfully acquires a controlling majority stake in Sicura from a larger corporate facility management group. The operation effectively serves as a strategic corporate carve-out, allowing the target to operate independently. To ensure profound long-term alignment and continuity, the deal structure incorporates significant minority reinvestments from both the former corporate parent and the incumbent executive management team. The primary strategic mandate of this new capital partnership is to aggressively finance Sicura's external growth trajectory by executing targeted acquisitions across complementary safety and security sectors.

Compass Group PLC has completed the acquisition of Fazer Food Services from Oy Karl Fazer AB. The transaction consolidates Compass Group's presence in the Nordic region, adding a highly regarded premium catering business to its portfolio. The deal structure includes an initial cash consideration followed by a deferred earn-out payable over seven years. As part of the integration, Compass Group agreed to license the "Fazer Food & Co" brand in Finland for three years to ensure a smooth transition. The acquisition was funded through existing cash and credit facilities.

Under pressure from its creditors, Atalian Servest is selling off a non-core business. The facility management group is preparing to divest its green spaces division, whose size EUR82 million (expected for 2019).

This transaction involves a secondary LBO whereby Qualium Investissement has signed a share purchase agreement to acquire a majority stake in Acolad from Naxicap Partners, concluding a formal sale process managed by Lazard. The financial engineering of the transaction features a balanced governance and equity structure: while Qualium secures a narrow capital majority, Acolad’s CEO, Benjamin du Fraysseix, alongside his family, executes a substantial equity rollover, effectively retaining ultimate voting control within the newly formed holding structure. On the debt financing side, the transaction is backed by a fully underwritten unitranche credit facility co-provided by the company's incumbent lender Idinvest and Barings. Reflecting the target’s enhanced operational scale following its strategic cross-border bolt-on of Dutch language specialist Livewords—which positions the group to reach a projected EBITDA of 32 million euros—Qualium is considering syndicating a portion of its equity commitment to co-investment minority partners. The post-closing industrial roadmap is geared toward accelerating an aggressive pan-European consolidation strategy within a fragmented 20 billion euro addressable market, specifically driving organic growth across the high-margin corporate interpretation segment.

Acolad group finalized the 100% acquisition of the Dutch company Livewords from the private equity fund Bencis, which had held the asset since spring 2016. This major cross-border build-up transaction enables the acquirer to establish a direct presence in the Netherlands by absorbing the target’s three local offices and 180 employees. Financially, this combination propels the group past the symbolic milestone of 1,000 employees worldwide, with a projected pro forma revenue of over €160 million for the year 2019, significantly scaling up from the €37 million revenue recorded by Livewords in 2018. The strategic industrial rationale of the transaction is anchored in strong commercial complementarities. Livewords brings extensive expertise in the interpretation segment—accounting for 45% of its total revenue, whereas interpretation represented only 5% of Acolad's business—along with proprietary software tools such as Livewords GO and Livewords Flow. To fund this large-scale acquisition, the buyer secured an additional unitranche debt investment from its existing lender Idinvest, supported by Barings. Concurrently, Acolad’s majority shareholder Naxicap is running a separate auction process managed by Lazard to sell its stake, an upcoming corporate transition in which the management team led by CEO Benjamin du Fraysseix is expected to reinvest significantly.