Brussels/Rueil-Malmaison, 6 November 2024 – Cobepa is pleased to announce that it has entered into exclusive discussions with IK Partners (“IK”), ISAI Gestion (“ISAI”) and Bertrand Liber to acquire a majority stake in Ascentiel Groupe (“Ascentiel” or “the Group”), a leading digital insurance brokerage platform providing Property & Casualty (“P&C”) cover for individuals and small businesses in several specialty niches. The acquisition will be made in partnership with the management team and is subject to consultation with the works council. The transaction is expected to close before the end of 2024 and financial terms are not disclosed.

Founded in 1970, Ascentiel has established itself as a leading digital brokerage platform specialising in the distribution and management of non-life insurance contracts for both individuals and professionals. Having developed significant expertise in the field of car insurance, the Group mainly focuses on near-to-sub-standard motor insurance risks, leveraging the prominence of its flagship brand Assurpeople.com and its fully digital customer experience. The Group covers the entire insurance distribution cycle, from product co-development with insurers to underwriting or contract and claim management.

Over recent years, Ascentiel has continued to diversify its offering to include attractive new specialty products, most notably through the highly successful launch of Airbag, a wholesale brokerage platform specialised in inherent defect insurance for construction professionals. Since then and with the support of IK and ISAI, the Group has achieved several strategic objectives and successfully executed add-on acquisitions, including Atara in 2022 and NIBW in 2024. The acquisition of Atara strengthened the Group’s position in the pet insurance sector, while the acquisition of NIBW facilitated the Group’s geographic expansion into Spain and Portugal. At present, Ascentiel employs over 180 people who are based across its headquarters in Rueil-Malmaison as well as its offices in Aix-en-Provence and Madrid. In partnership with leading insurance companies operating in France, Ascentiel manages contracts for over 220,000 end-clients.

For further questions, please contact:

IK Partners
Vidya Verlkumar
Phone: +44 (0)7787 558 193
vidya.verlkumar@ikpartners.com

Bluegem Capital Partners (“Bluegem”), the value-oriented consumer staples private equity fund, and AREV today announce that they have completed the joint acquisition of Pinard Group (“Pinard” or “the Group”), a producer of high-end packaging solutions for the Beauty & Personal care (“BPC”) and Pharmaceutical industries. Bluegem and AREV are acquiring their respective stakes from the Pinard Management Team and IK VIII Fund, a fund managed by IK Partners (“IK”).

Bluegem and AREV will be co-majority shareholders, owning the company alongside the Pinard Management Team and the founding family members who are reinvesting.

Pinard Group specialises in the design and manufacture of packaging solutions for prestige and luxury brands in the BPC space through its Pinard Beauty Pack (PBP) subsidiary and for pharmaceutical customers through its Lablabo subsidiary, the inventor of the bag-in-bottle airless technology.

Since IK’s acquisition of Pinard in July 2017, the company launched and delivered several successful initiatives including: the strengthening of the Group’s management with the recruitment of a CFO and several key managers; continued investment to increase capacity, including eco-friendly packaging solutions; and the accretive acquisition of Lablabo. The collaboration between IK and the Pinard Management Team delivered robust organic growth in the ownership period, as well as the expansion into the Healthcare sector.

Bluegem and AREV’s strategy is to capitalise on the technical know-how and strong IP of the Group to build a high-end supplier of fully circular plastic packaging solutions for the BPC and Pharmaceutical sectors. PBP is a Platinum EcoVadis manufacturer of sustainable plastic packaging solutions ranked within the Top 1% globally. As plastics become increasingly circular, with three major plastic recycling facilities being built in France, the Group will be ideally placed to supply its customers with high-end sustainable plastic solutions. 

Thomas Pinard, CEO of Pinard, commented: “We are looking forward to working with our new shareholders as we consolidate our position as a leading provider of high-end solutions to the world’s most prestigious and most dynamic brands, building on our unique combination of customer-focus, operating excellence, global reach, technical know-how, and passion. We would like to thank the team at IK for their continued support over the past seven years.”

Mathieu Develay, Partner at Bluegem, commented: “We are delighted to invest in Pinard Group alongside its founding family, its management team and our co-controlling partner AREV. We have closely followed the progress of the company in recent years and have been very impressed by the successes achieved by its management team. Pinard Group is a unique player in the packaging industry, with market-leading positions in prestige Beauty and Pharmaceuticals, thanks to over 50 years of industrial knowhow and circular plastic innovations. We are looking forward to supporting an accelerated growth strategy, both organically and through acquisitions, in what is a highly fragmented market.”

Emilio Di Spiezio Sardo, Founding Partner at Bluegem commented: “Pinard is a great example of the Bluegem strategy to invest earlier in the entire value chain within the non-discretionary consumer staple space. With the Consumer sector accounting for over 50% of global GDP, we see a vast opportunity to make investments which are underpinned by solid fundamentals (strong R&D and IP), structural tailwinds (fully circular plastic solutions and nearshoring of high-end manufacturing) and have the ability to perform consistently through the cycle.”

Xavier Geismar, Co-Founder of Arev Partners added: “We are excited about our partnership with Thomas and Pierre-Olivier Pinard and the management team, and we have high ambitions for the company. We are very impressed with Pinard Group’s strong market positioning based on its superior customer orientation and operational excellence, which is reflected in the company’s growth and performance over the years. We will work with the management team to continue strengthening Pinard’s ESG innovation capabilities, accelerating expansion, and by pursuing a synergistic buy-and-build strategy to tap into adjacent market segments and to broaden the product portfolio.”

Julien Lammoglia, Co-Founder of Arev Partners declared: “The acquisition of Pinard Group is AREV’s third transaction in France and marks another milestone in the development of the fund’s strategy to build a concentrated portfolio of high-quality assets operating in markets with attractive fundamentals, strong management teams and where we identify significant opportunities for AREV to support and accelerate growth, organically and through buy and build. The Group is positioned in the growing and resilient end markets of prestige cosmetics and pharmaceuticals and is a high-end packaging innovation leader. Pinard Group is notably an ESG front-runner in the packaging space and this transaction is a great example of AREV’s objective to invest in companies that have a positive impact on society.”

Dan Soudry, Partner at IK Partners and Advisor to IK VIII Fund, commented: “We are pleased with the progress the business has made in the past seven years, overcoming market challenges to deliver robust growth, while the acquisition of Lablabo has also allowed for the diversification of the product range. We wish the team at Pinard as well as their new owners, the very best of luck in the next stage of its development.”

IK Partners (“IK”) is pleased to announce that the IK Small Cap II Fund (“IK SC II”) has completed the sale of Carspect Group (“Carspect” or “the Company”) to TÜV SÜD. Financial terms of the transaction are not disclosed.

Headquartered in Bromma, Sweden, Carspect Group is a leading provider of vehicle inspection services in Sweden, Estonia and Latvia. It carries out a range of vehicle services, including control, follow-up and registration inspections. Its first Swedish station opened in Tyresö in 2010 and today, the Company has 118 stations and more than 300 employees in Sweden. Across Estonia and Latvia, Carspect has 34 stations and more than 150 employees.

Since acquiring Carspect in 2018, IK has collaborated closely with the Company’s management team to foster business growth through several strategic initiatives. These include greenfield expansion in Sweden, with the opening of 42 new inspection stations, as well as enhancements to the marketing and pricing models across all markets. Additionally, IK has supported the expansion of the Estonian and Latvian businesses through both add-on acquisitions and organic growth.

Markus Falk, CEO of Carspect Group, added: “We would like to thank the team at IK Partners for their unwavering support since 2018. With their market knowledge and expertise, we have driven significant growth in our primary markets and identified exciting opportunities for inorganic growth. We are looking forward to working with TÜV SÜD as we target continued growth.”

Kristian Carlsson Kemppinen, Managing Partner at IK Partners and Advisor to the IK Small Cap II Fund, said: “We are proud of what we have been able to achieve with the excellent management team at Carspect during our years of ownership of the business. We wish them luck in the next stage of their development.”

Patrick Fruth, CEO Division Mobility at TÜV SÜD, said: “The acquisition of Carspect is a further step in our internationalisation strategy. It gives us access to three key markets with high growth potential. In addition, Carspect’s dynamic, entrepreneurial concept with test centres convenient for its customers and an innovative process for digital customer journeys, is an excellent fit for our own approach at TÜV SÜD.”

For further questions, please contact:

IK Partners
Vidya Verlkumar
Phone: +44 (0)7787 558 193
vidya.verlkumar@ikpartners.com

IK Partners (“IK”) is pleased to announce that the IK Small Cap III (“IK SC III”) Fund has signed an agreement to invest in Sansidor (“the Group”), a fast-growing testing, inspection and related services (“TIS”) provider. IK is investing in the Group alongside existing shareholders HC Partners, founders of the respective group companies and the management team. Financial terms of the transaction are not disclosed.

Sansidor was created in 2018 through the acquisition of several inspection companies by HC Partners. Since then, the Group has grown considerably and today, comprises 18 companies in the Netherlands. With a broad suite of products and services already on offer, Sansidor aims to provide a one-stop shop for small, medium-sized and larger enterprises across the entire built environment industry. To support the achievement of this, it pursues an active buy-and-build strategy which targets high-performing specialist companies with entrepreneurial mindsets that complement its existing offering.

Collectively, the Group has nearly 400 employees who serve over 9,000 clients across a diverse range of sectors. Operating across four key segments: Water Safety; Fire Protection; Electricity; and Building Integrity and two great niches of Infection Prevention and air measurements the Group benefits from a high level of sales recurrence due to insurance, regulatory and legal requirements, with significant customer lock-in and stickiness.

In partnership with IK and the continued support of HC Partners, Sansidor will further develop its in-house M&A capabilities to accelerate the pace of its buy-and-build strategy and drive consolidation in the market. In addition, the Group plans to increase cross-selling and pursue international expansion with an initial focus on Germany. The vision of central embedding, focus on internal corporation between entities as well as local entrepreneurship and culture remains key.

Udo Waltman, CEO of Sansidor, said: “I am extremely proud of the progress we have made over the last few years, particularly with our ‘Buy and Build together’ strategy. Our strong growth ambitions have seen us make several acquisitions of entrepreneurial TIS companies with well-established track records. This has enabled us to continuously evolve our offering and provide customers with access to a dynamic network of professionals from different disciplines. We would like to thank HC Partners for all their support thus far and we look forward to welcoming the team at IK on board for this next phase of our journey. We are extremely grateful to our strong and loyal customer base and every one of our colleagues who contribute to our shared success and help us advance towards our ambitious goals.”

Sander van Vreumingen, Partner at IK and Advisor to the IK SC III Fund, said: “This is another great investment for the IK Small Cap strategy in the Benelux region, with a fast-growing business that has significant potential to develop further. We have been impressed with Sansidor’s journey to date and are convinced of the critical and resilient nature of the services provided through its dedicated group of companies. We look forward to utilising our experience to support Udo, Dave and Frido and their teams in the next phase of the Group’s growth, working collaboratively with HC Partners also.”

Erik de Boer, Partner at HC Partners, said: “We are very proud of Sansidor’s journey over the past six years and are keen to continue our involvement with Sansidor via our second fund. With 18 acquisitions since the start in 2018, Sansidor is a great example of what we like to do: enter into partnerships with entrepreneurs and ambitious management teams and focus on accelerated growth via buy-and-build acquisitions. We are looking forward to entering into this new phase and continuing to support Sansidor’s growth, together with the IK team.”

For further questions, please contact:

IK Partners
Vidya Verlkumar
Phone: +44 7787 558 193
vidya.verlkumar@ikpartners.com

IK Partners (“IK”) is pleased to announce that the IK Partnership III (“IK PF III”) Fund has reached an agreement to acquire a minority stake in OCTIME Group (“OCTIME” or “the Group”), a leading French software developer of workforce management solutions. IK will acquire its stake from existing shareholders, including Group President Guillaume Berbinau, Andera Partners (“Andera”) and the management team, who will all be reinvesting. Guillaume Berbinau, President of OCTIME Group since 2008, remains the majority shareholder. He relies on Nicolas Michel-Vernet, Managing Director of the Group and his management team who see their position strengthened. Financial terms of the transaction are not disclosed.

Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Biron, France, OCTIME Group is a software company which provides a comprehensive range of solutions for time management and human resource planning. The Group supports over 7,000 small to medium-sized enterprises across a diverse range of sectors and countries in the digitalisation of their human resource processes.

OCTIME’s products enable organisations to track and manage workforce performance, including time, attendance, scheduling and task management. With an international presence and approximately 300 employees, the Group has a strong position in France and operates through subsidiaries in Spain, Portugal and Latin America. Since inception, the Company has demonstrated sustained organic growth and resilience, driven by the consistent acquisition of new clients and very low churn.

Alongside Andera and Guillaume, IK will work with OCTIME’s Managing Director Nicolas Michel-Vernet and his management team to continue building its leadership position in the time management space through the acquisition of new clients within relevant sub-sectors. The Group also plans to strengthen its international presence through the pursuit of an active buy-and-build strategy focused on European neighbouring countries.

Guillaume Berbinau, President of OCTIME Group, commented: “I am very proud of the trajectory of the OCTIME Group, which has managed to retain its DNA, expertise and commitment, while achieving exemplary growth. We owe this success to the strength of our team. I am convinced that the team at IK will be committed partners in supporting and accelerating our future growth plans.”

Magdalena Svensson, Partner at IK and Advisor to the IK PF III Fund, said: “Under the leadership of Guillaume, Nicolas and their team, OCTIME has established itself as a leading French software as a service developer in the time management and planning space. We look forward to working with Guillaume, the management team and Andera Partners in the next phase of the Group’s growth.”

David Robin, Partner at Andera, added: “The development driven by the management team in recent years has enabled the OCTIME Group to become a benchmark player in its market, offering best-in-class solutions to a loyal and diversified customer base. We are delighted and proud of the progress we have made alongside Guillaume, Nicolas and the entire management team.”

For further questions, please contact:

IK Partners
Vidya Verlkumar
Phone: +44 7787 558 193
vidya.verlkumar@ikpartners.com

Andera Partners
Nicolas Delsert
Phone: + 33 6 22 67 71 17
n.delsert@anderapartners.com

IK Partners (“IK”) is pleased to announce that the IK Small Cap III (“IK SC III”) Fund has signed an agreement to invest in Defibrion B.V. (“Defibrion” or “the Company”), a leading Dutch distributor of automated external defibrillators (“AEDs”) and related products. IK is investing from its dedicated pool of Development Capital and acquiring its stake from existing shareholders, including Holland Capital, Co-Founder and current CEO Joshua Valkenier and the management team. Both Joshua and the management team will be reinvesting in the Company alongside IK. Financial terms of the transaction are not disclosed.

Based in Groningen, Netherlands, Defibrion was founded in 2008. As an expert in the field of AEDs and workplace safety, Defibrion offers a wide range of products and related services, acting as a one-stop shop for emergency response needs to more than 6,400 customers globally. These include over 900 resellers in Europe and North America, with the remainder being end-users such as offices, sports clubs and government institutions.

With the support of IK, the Company aims to scale the existing platform on the back of a growing market and increased product awareness, diversifying the offering to directly serve end-customers in new markets and cross-sell to its existing network. Additionally, the Company plans to identify buy-and-build opportunities to accelerate its expansion and drive consolidation in what is currently a fragmented market. 

Joshua Valkenier, Co-Founder and CEO of Defibrion, said: “This is an important next step for Defibrion as we seek to further strengthen our position as a global player in the AED market and target continued growth in a marketplace that is constantly evolving. With the support of the team at IK, who has proven experience investing in the Healthcare sector across various European jurisdictions, we are confident that we can deliver success and growth for all our customers and other stakeholders.”

Frances Houweling, Partner at IK Partners and Advisor to IK SC III Fund, added: “We are very excited about the prospect of partnering with Joshua and his team. Defibrion has established itself as a market leader for AEDs in Europe. This market is predicted to continue growing across Europe at an impressive rate year-on-year, largely due to increased awareness of the need for these products, given the rising risk of cardiac arrest. It is also a sector in which the broader IK team has considerable experience and we look forward to bringing this into our partnership with the Company.”

For further questions, please contact:

IK Partners
Vidya Verlkumar
Phone: +44 (0) 7787 558 193
vidya.verlkumar@ikpartners.com