Finsecur secures a €25m round of financing led by Andera Partners and the 2020 Fund managed by ETI Bpifrance.
Clipperton Finance acted as Sole Financial Advisor
Paris, November 24th, 2014 – Clipperton Finance, a leading European corporate finance boutique focused on the High Tech and Media industries, announced the closing of a €25 million round of financing for Finsecur, a major French manufacturer of fire security products specifically for fire detection. Andera Partners and Bpifrance have participated in the latest round.
Under the control of its founders and managers since inception in 1998, the company has positioned itself as a technological and innovative leader in the fire detection space displaying outstanding growth. Finsecur strategically established itself as a ‘system manufacturer’, developing end-to-end product ranges and covering the entire value chain from product manufacture (including a broad range of devices to be installed as complete fire security systems) to installation and maintenance services.
The company, with design and assembly facilities in France, is already present abroad with offices in the United Kingdom, Spain and Belgium. With revenues north of €45 million in 2014 and over 300 employees, Finsecur is positioned on both the B2B and B2C segments. The Company has cemented its reputation and credibility in the field through the careful design and technical performance of its products, in particular thanks to a major R&D effort initiated by Jacques Lewiner, co-founder of the Group and Honorary Scientific Director of the ESPCI. Growth was also supported by an ambitious acquisition strategy designed to expand the product range (SIM acquisition in 2011), to expand the Group’s international presence (TheFireBeam acquisition in the UK in 2011 and Detnov in Spain in 2014) and to develop its installation and maintenance offering (acquisition of GSP Sphynx Protecvol and Guardian Alarm in 2013). The Group has seen an average annual growth in sales of around 26% between 2004 and 2014.
In the coming years, Stéphane Di Marco (Chairman) and Christophe Bonazzi (CEO), with the support of Jacques Lewiner, plan to continue this rapid development leveraging the strong demand created by regulatory changes in France, and building on the Group’s innovative DNA (Finsecur filed more than 120 patents since its creation) as well as opportunities related to its international presence.
Sylvain Charignon and Francois-Xavier Mauron at Andera Partners declared: “We are very pleased to have the opportunity to accompany the Finsecur Group and its management in their next phase of development. This transaction will accelerate the deployment of the Group in France and abroad, which is at the heart of our investment strategy: to be a minority partner able to finance ambitious organic and external growth strategies of fast-growing French SMEs leaders. All of these ingredients are present in Finsecur.”
Thierry Sommelet, Senior Investment Manager Bpifrance Investment, added: “Bpifrance through its ETI 2020 fund, is pleased to participate in this great entrepreneurial adventure, led by a recognized inventor and quality management. Thanks to this financing round, Finsecur has the necessary fuel to further accelerate its growth in France and abroad.”
Jacques Lewiner stated, “We are thrilled to welcome Edrip and Bpifrance on-board. This new round of financing validates Finsecur’s development strategy over the past 10 years focused around four key ideas: the importance of R&D, simplifying installation and maintenance of equipment operations, open software systems that free users, and product quality guaranteed by manufacturing in France.” Jacques Lewiner added: “Working with Clipperton Finance was instrumental to the success of this financing round. Clipperton Finance have proven extremely valuable throughout the entire process, showing strong commitment, reactivity and creativity.”
For this transaction, Clipperton Finance acted as Sole Manager. Nicolas von Bülow, the partner of Clipperton in charge of advising on the transaction said, “We are delighted to have accompanied Finsecur on this important round and have helped the company build up a solid team of investors. Both from a technological and commercial standpoint, the company is now in a particularly interesting, if not unique, position to accelerate its growth and become a European leader in the fire safety space.”
For more information, please contact:
Nicolas von Bülow, Partner, nvonbulow@clipperton.net
Antoine Ganancia, Senior Associate, aganancia@clipperton.net
Caroline Landré, Associate, clandre@clipperton.net
About Clipperton Finance
Clipperton Finance is a European corporate finance boutique exclusively dedicated to the HighTech and Media industries. Clipperton Finance advises high growth companies on financial transactions, fundraisings, capital increases and Mergers & Acquisitions. With a team based in offices spanning London, Paris and Berlin, and an international reach, Clipperton Finance is a European leader in the sector. The team has successfully structured more than seventy high level international transactions in the European High Tech sector. For more information, visit www.clipperton.net