Bryan, Garnier & Co advises on the buy-out of DCI by its Management team, LBO France and Capzanine
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Paris, April 13th 2011 – Bryan, Garnier & Co, the independent pan-European Investment bank focusing on growth companies, announces the completion of the management buy-out of Data Concept Informatique (‘DCI’) with private-equity funds LBO France and Capzanine.
DCI has been specializing in the integration of IT and telecom infrastructure solutions for nearly 20 years. The company provides a wide range of services and solutions dedicated to security, networking, IP telephony and hosting infrastructure for SME and more important firms.
DCI has turned into one of the largest independent infrastructure integrators in France, specifically in the field of security. The company has increased its revenues by 20% per year over the last three years and has opened four agencies in its domestic market.
This management buyout transaction allows LBO France and Capzanine to invest alongside several members of the original management team, including Nicolas Ippolito, DCI’s former COO and now CEO, who increased his stake in the company. At the same time, EPF Partners is selling its minority stake acquired in May 2007.
With this new financial support, DCI has today the means to engage its ambitious growth projects through the opening of new agencies, the reinforcement of its sales teams, and targeted acquisitions to enhance its technology expertise.
LBO France structured the transaction and invested €13.5m through the Hexagone III dedicated fund. Capzanine invested €4.5m in equity and structured the mezzanine financing.
Nicolas Ippolito, the new Chief Executive Officer of DCI, declared: “LBO France and Capzanine’s investment in DCI is a major step for our company. Bolstered by its technology expertise and operational performance, and its loyal client base, DCI’s management in conjunction with its new financial sponsors foresees steady growth ahead, with room for further improvement.
All the operational executives of the company and I have found in LBO France and Capzanine partners that meets our expectations in terms of entrepreneurial approach, knowledge of our business model and capacity to support our growth strategy.
Bryan, Garnier & Co played a key role in the management of a competitive process, allowing us to choose the best possible partner”.
Pascal Vermeersch, Partner of LBO France, commented: “The company financial performance, its market positioning as well as the strong involvement of the management team are some of the key investment criteria that we usually require when investing and that we actually found in DCI. As a matter of fact, the company, through its very strong sales dynamism, has become one of France’s largest independent infrastructure integrators, particularly for security solutions”.
Isabelle Hermetet, Director of Epf Partners, pointed out: “We are very proud to have accompanied DCI in its development since 2007. The business model of the company relies on extremely strong fundamentals and we are convinced that DCI is going to pursue its ascent and will even strengthen its footprint on the French market”.
Virginie Lazès, Head of Corporate Finance at Bryan, Garnier & Co, added: “This new major transaction operated by Bryan, Garnier & Co demonstrates the boiling activity we are experiencing in the private equity market, with a return to the LBO. We are extremely happy for the positive conclusion of this transaction”.
For more information, please contact:
- Virginie Lazès / Partner – Head of Corporate Finance / +33 1 56 68 75 85 / vlazes@bryangarnier.com
- Alexandre Boukhari / Vice President – Corporate Finance / +33 1 56 68 75 39 / aboukhari@bryangarnier.com
- Jonathan Foiret-Hurbin / Senior Analyst – Corporate Finance / +33 1 56 68 75 52 / jfoirethurbin@bryangarnier.com
About DCI
DCI is an integrator of solutions dedicated to the management of IT and Telecom Infrastructures. The Company audits, deploys and maintains IT systems of its clients, mainly mid and large SMEs. DCI has developed a large range of services and solutions dedicated to Networks, Systems and global Security of infrastructures and ToIP networks. The Company has progressively enlarged its offering by developing new solutions in the Virtualization and Hosting fields.