IK Investment Partners acquires Domia Group from Metric Capital

IK Investment Partners (“IK”) is pleased to announce that the IK Small Cap I Fund (“the Fund”) alongside Maxime Aiach, Philippe Coléon and José Dinis (“the Founders”) have acquired Domia Group (“Domia”), owner of the French number one player in the private tutoring market (Acadomia) and the French fast-growing home cleaning provider (Shiva) from Metric Capital Partners (“Metric”).

Acadomia is the leading player in the primary, secondary, higher-education and test-prep tutoring markets (at-home, centres and online). Since 1989, Acadomia and its employees have continuously innovated to offer quality learning experiences to more than 1 million families across different geographies, backgrounds, subjects and learning needs. Acadomia now operates a network of 100 agencies and 20,000 tutors dedicated to help over 90,000 students per year meet their academic goals and enhance their educational life. Acadomia is recognised for its unrivalled brand awareness, its customer-satisfaction ratings and the proven academic success of its students.

Shiva is one of the leading and the fastest-growing actors in the home cleaning market. Through its network of 165 franchised agencies, Shiva helps its 45,000-strong client-base to improve their quality of life by taking care of their house cleaning on a regular basis thanks to a unique network of 8,000 selected, trained and highly-experienced maids. Shiva is contributing to transform the highly fragmented home cleaning market by delivering a high-quality hassle-free interior experience.

Maxime Aiach, President, said: “Philippe, José and I are excited to embark upon the next stage of our growth story with IK by our side. Their expertise and proven track record in growing businesses combined with the dedication of our talented team of professionals will allow us to strengthen our leading market position.”

José Dinis added: “Thanks to the support of Metric and Domia Group’s teams and franchisees, the company has been able to achieve remarkable growth over the last five years while delivering enriching new services and experiences to Acadomia’s students and tutors and Shiva’s clients and maids. The Fund’s investment into Domia paves the way for new ambitions.”

Philippe Coléon concluded: “Acadomia’s challenge for the next few years is to go on promoting and democratising ever-more personalised and tailored learning while still being recognised by our clients and tutors as the most innovative, academic-success-oriented and agile company in the industry.”

Pierre Gallix, Partner at IK, said: “We were impressed with the track record Domia has achieved since its inception. Acadomia has established an enviable and unique position within the French tutoring market by delivering students the best and most innovative solutions and programs. As far as Shiva is concerned, IK will continue to expand its footprint across France. We look forward to working closely with the Founders to support the continued growth of these two exciting brands.”

John Sinik, Managing Partner at Metric, commented: “This exit follows our investment in May 2013 and reflects our direct involvement in supporting our portfolio companies to strengthen their operations. We have greatly enjoyed working with the Founders and their teams to grow the business and are extremely pleased with our investment in Domia.”

David Scheurl, Partner at Metric, added: “At the time of our investment, we were attracted to the strength of Domia’s brands and business model. During the life of our investment, Domia Group has consistently achieved impressive growth rates, creating a successful exit path for Metric. We wish the company, its teams and IK all the best in their next chapter of growth.”

Unitranche facility for the transaction was provided by Tikehau Investment Management.

Parties involved:

Management: Maxime Aiach, Philippe Coléon, José Dinis
Management M&A advisor: Family Finance First (Stéphane Radiguet)
Management Legal advisor: Paul Hastings (Aline Poncelet, Jens Waldner)
Structuring: CMS – Francis Lefebvre (Pierre Dedieu, Renaud Grob, Laurent Cantoni, Cyrille Kurzaj)

IK Investment Partners: Pierre Gallix, Arnaud Bosc, Morgane Bouhenic, Caroline Le Hen
Buyer M&A advisor: Vulcain (Michael Schor)
Buyer Financial Due Diligence advisor: PwC Transaction Services (Martin Naquet Radiguet, Sophie Gerbaud)
Buyer Legal advisor: Willkie Farr & Gallagher (Eduardo Fernandez, David Lambert, Philippe Grude, Paul Lombard, Ralph Unger)

Metric Capital Partners: John Sinik, David Scheurl, Alastair Balfour, Bjorn Tessiore, Louis Robert
Seller Financial Due Dilligence advisor: PwC Transaction Services (David Willems, Pierre-Mikhael Voyer)
Seller Strategic Due Dilligence advisor: Advention Business Partners (Alban Neveux)
Seller Legal Due Dilligence advisor: PwC Avocats (Jean-Philippe Brillet, Jérémie Schwarzenberg, Yannick Olivier, Bernard Borrely)
Seller Legal advisor: DLA Piper (Xavier Norlain, Edouard Sarrazin, Aymeric Robine)

Lender Legal advisor: Paul Hastings (Olivier Vermeulen, Aladin Zeghbib)

For further questions, please contact:

Domia Group
Hugues Schmitt, DGM Conseil
Phone: +33 1 40 70 11 89
h.schmitt@dgm-conseil.fr

IK Investment Partners
Pierre Gallix, Partner
Phone: +33 1 44 43 06 60
pierre.gallix@ikinvest.com

Mikaela Hedborg, Director Communications & ESG
Phone: +44 77 87 573 566
mikaela.hedborg@ikinvest.com

Metric Capital Partners
John Sinik, Managing Partner
Phone: +44 203 540 1550
john.sinik@metric-capital.com

David Scheurl, Partner
Phone: +44 203 540 1550
david.scheurl@metric-capital.com