Paris, January 12, 2021, Squad announces that Abénex has acquired a stake in the company, alongside its founders Eric Guillerm and Marc Brua, as well as around fifteen associate managers.
SQUAD is a consulting and expertise company in the fields of cybersecurity and DevOps. With seven agencies in France and one in Australia, the group has distinguished itself through strong organic growth since its creation in 2011.
The transaction enables a reorganization of the shareholding structure, confirming the exit of Apax Partners Development, while ensuring the continuity of the existing team and the entry of new partners into the capital. The transaction also provides significant financial resources to support the group's strong organic growth and to carry out external growth operations.
“With Abénex acquiring a stake in the company, we are giving ourselves the means to accelerate our group’s growth and consolidate our position as a partner to major accounts in optimizing and securing their information systems,” comments Eric Guillerm, President and Founder of the Squad group.
“We were impressed by the quality and agility of the management team. The group has successfully integrated industry best practices and leveraged its business expertise, making Squad a strong player that is well positioned to capture the strong growth in the cybersecurity market,” said Olivier Moatti of Abénex.
“We greatly appreciated our years of partnership with Apax Partners Development and the support provided by Isabelle Hermetet and her teams; we look forward to continuing Squad’s development with Abénex,” added Marc Brua, CEO and Founder of the Squad group.
“We have been delighted to support Squad and its two founders since 2017: the company has had an exceptional journey and this adventure has been a wonderful human story,” says Isabelle Hermetet, Partner at Apax Partners Development.
About Squad
With offices in Paris, Lyon, Toulouse, Aix-en-Provence, Sophia-Antipolis, Nantes, and Rennes, as well as Adelaide, Australia, Squad is a consulting group specializing in cybersecurity and DevOps.
Founded in 2011, the group brings together nearly 550 consultants and generates nearly €53 million in revenue from a client base consisting mainly of large accounts.
Recently, the group obtained PASSI certification from ANSSI (the French National Cybersecurity Agency), demonstrating the high technical level of its teams and Squad's daily commitment to securing its customers' systems and infrastructure.
About Abénex
Founded in 1992, Abénex is a long-standing player in unlisted investment in France, involved in growth capital and buyout capital transactions, as a minority or majority shareholder. Independent for over 10 years, Abénex is active in three private equity segments: small cap, mid cap, and real estate.
In the small cap and mid cap segments, Abénex invests and commits to long-term growth and operational optimization projects, partnering with entrepreneurs and founding families. Abénex is committed to the success of managers and their teams, providing them with a dedicated operational team to support them in their key transformation projects and external growth strategy.
In the small cap segment, the team carries out transactions in SMEs with a valuation of up to €50 million; in the mid cap segment, the team acquires stakes in mid-sized companies with a valuation of between €50 million and €500 million.
In real estate, Abénex invests in value-add projects for assets worth up to €80 million and in core+ opportunities worth over €50 million, particularly in the retail, logistics, managed residences, and education sectors.
Based in Paris and Lyon, the team is made up of 30 professionals with proven and recognized expertise.
About Apax Partners
Apax Partners is one of Europe's leading private equity firms. With over 45 years of experience, Apax Partners provides long-term support to companies to help them become leaders in their sector. The funds managed and advised by Apax Partners total more than €4 billion. These funds invest in fast-growing SMEs and mid-cap companies in four areas of specialization: Tech & Telecom, Consumer, Healthcare, and Services.
Apax Partners sas, based in Paris (www.apax.fr), and Apax Partners LLP, based in London (www.apax.com), share a common history but are two separate companies.
@ApaxPartners_En
Press contacts:
- Team: Eric Guillerm, +33 9 51 69 99 96
- Abénex: Olivier Moatti, +33 1 53 93 69 30
- Apax Partners Development: Lauren Bardet, +33 6 16 32 72 82
Squad and Apax Partners
Investment bank: Cambon Partners (David Salabi, Jonathan Journo, Florian Grison)
Legal: PGA (Suzanne De Carvalho, Raphaël Piotraut, Arnaud Viard)
Abénex Tips
Legal: McDermott Will & Emery (Grégoire Andrieux, Herschel Guez, Charline Boulenger)
Structuring: Arsène Taxand (Alexandre Rocchi, Virginie Leprize)
Financial Due Diligence: 8 Advisory (Christian Berling, Arnaud Bensaid, Louis Ramirez del Villar)
Legal, tax, and social due diligence: KPMG Avocats (Xavier Houard, Florence Olivier, Albane Eglinger, Régis Peyronnet, Lucas Delente, Oumane Gueye, Julie Sagredo, Alban Progri)
Strategic due diligence: EY-Parthénon (Etienne Costes, Benjamin Abitbol)
Investment bank: Rothschild-Transaction R (Philippe Dubois De Montreynaud, Laura Benzaquen, Pierre Pessans-Goyheneix)
Financing : Crédit Agricole Alpes Provence, LCL, CIC Private Debt
Co-arrangers and lead underwriters: Crédit Agricole Alpes Provence (Christophe Lejeune, Christophe Maurel), LCL (Bertrand Carassus, Camille Gerard)
Borrower's counsel: McDermott Will & Emery (Pierre-Arnoux Mayoly, Stanislas Chenu, Clarisse De Roux)
Mezzanine debt: CIC Private Debt (Nicolas Offroy, Antoine Guerillon)
Banking lawyer: Volt Associés (François Jubin, Alexandre Tron) Mezzanine lawyer: Simmons & Simmons LLP (Colin Millar, Iva Parvanova, Antoine Vernier)
