IK INVESTMENT ACQUIRES AUXIGA
IK Investment Partners (“IK”), has reached an agreement to acquire Auxiga Group (“Auxiga Group” or “the Group”), a French and Belgian leader of pledge inventory services. Financial terms of the transaction are not disclosed.
Since its establishment in 1919 in Belgium and 1975 in France, Auxiga Group has been a bank guarantee expert, drawing up structured and flexible credit facilities using inventories as collateral. The Group operates through four business units: Auxiga and Sofigarant, which are the leading providers of pledge inventory services in France, Warrant, which provides the same services in Belgium and Auxicontrol, a specialist in asset control and floor check services. The Group provides an unparalleled know-how and a complete range of services for each phase of pledge financing, from the setup of the security agreement to the day-to-day monitoring of the pledged assets. Headquartered in Paris, Auxiga Group generated sales of EUR 13 million in 2014 and employs 91 people.
“Auxiga Group holds an undisputed leadership position within its French and Belgian reference markets. The Group benefits from a strong and broad base of clients and prescribing partners. Together with the management team, we will continue to make inventory pledging a dynamic, secure way to provide financing to companies eager to better leverage their assets. We will, in parallel, develop synergies between the different entities of the Group, and offer an increased range of services to both the Group’s partners and clients” says Pierre Gallix, Partner at IK.
“We are very excited by IK’s commitment to our company, as we believe their support will further enhance our capabilities to capture future market potential. Building on our fully integrated product offering and long-standing relationships with major banks in France and Belgium, we will focus on accelerating growth opportunities through a dynamic commercial strategy,” says Fabrice Soler, CEO of Auxiga.
Jacques Lévenez representing the selling shareholders declared: “We are proud to have accompanied the Group over the past decades and we are now very pleased to hand over to a reliable partner like IK who will support the management team to realise their growth ambitions. We wish them the best for this new partnership which we hope to be fruitful and based on mutual confidence.”
Parties involved
Buyside
IK Investment Partners – Pierre Gallix, Arnaud Bosc, Caroline Le Hen Strategic DD: Indefi (Julien Berger, Mehdi Belefqih)
Financial DD: Deloitte (Frédéric Steiner, Emmanuel Conjard)
Legal DD & advisor: Agilys (Pierre Jouglard, Baptiste Bellone)
Sellside
Financial advisor: EKAPARTNERS (Eric Toulemonde, Wen Hu)
Legal advisor: Chaintrier Avocats (Philippe Cabanis)
About IK Investment Partners
IK Investment Partners (“IK”) is a Pan-European private equity firm focused on investments in the Nordics, DACH region, France, and Benelux. Since 1989, IK Funds have raised more than €7 billion of capital and invested in close to 90 European companies. IK Funds invest together with management teams in mid-sized companies that have strong improvement potential, operating in the business services, care, industrial goods and consumer goods sectors. The current portfolio comprises 20 companies. For more information visit: www.ikinvest.co
About Auxiga Group
Auxiga Group is the leader in inventory pledge services and asset control in France and Belgium. The group has been founded in 1919 in Belgium (Warrant) and has developed its activities in the French market through the establishment of two subsidiaries (Auxiga in 1974 and Auxicontrol in 2008) and the acquisition of Sofigarant in 2014. The group employs 91 people. For more information visit: www.auxiga.com