Bryan, Garnier & Co has concluded the sale of Orsyp to its management team and to the Private Equity Fund Argos Soditic through an LMBO
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Bryan, Garnier & Co, a pan-European investment bank which focuses on growth companies, announced today that its Corporate Finance department has successfully accompanied the shareholders of Orsyp, a leading software publisher dedicated to « Job Scheduling » solutions, through its sale to its management team and to the Private Equity Fund Argos Soditic. The transaction was finalised on 20th December 2007. The financial terms of the transaction are undisclosed.
Jean-Luc Lénart, Senior Advisor at Bryan Garnier, declared: « This transaction enables Jean-Jacques Parinet, CEO and founder of Orsyp, to realise the value created by the company since its inception and put in concrete form his wish to set up a new development structure by enabling the management which accompanied him throughout the years to participate in the company».
As a result of this transaction, François-Xavier Floren has been appointed President of the Board. « The timing for such an operation is perfect because our market evolves very quickly today », underlines François-Xavier Floren. « Recent market consolidations limit the choice for clients who request specialty IT software and service vendors. For Orsyp, this represents a great opportunity to remain loyal to its core values by providing value-added solutions and services that respond to the requirements of its clients. ».
Since its foundation in 1986 by Jean-Jacques Parinet, Orsyp has rapidly acquired an international reputation thanks to its job scheduling solutions and the quality of support provided to its clients. By focusing on strong IT solutions and services and putting them in the heart of companies and their information systems, Orsyp has been able to build a global offering to solve major IT issues. This offering can be divided into two main activities: the development of the “Dollar Universe” software, a multi-platform « job scheduler », and IT services with Orsyp Consulting. Orsyp distributes “Dollar Universe” worldwide through its subsidiaries (in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, United Kingdom, USA and Canada) and through international distributors and integrators. In fiscal year 2006/07, Orsyp achieved revenues of €25m with 210 employees.
The acquisition of Orsyp by the Private Equity Fund Argos Soditic should offer the company an opportunity to develop and expand its expertise quickly at the international level and to realise external growth projects in the medium term.
Following the fund raising for both Sword and Risc Group in 2007, the sale of AS Infor to Cegid, the sale of Ornis to Risc Group and the sales of Infolog and Influe to Generix, this transaction underlines the ability of Bryan, Garnier to successfully lead transactions in the area of Technology. All these deals not only confirm Bryan, Garnier’s ability to lead fund raising and M&A transactions but also highlight its understanding of both the industry and financial partners. This transaction reinforces Bryan, Garnier’s position in « mid-market » M&A transactions and makes it a leading investment bank in the TMT sector.
« The timing for such an operation is perfect because our market evolves very quickly today », underlines François-Xavier Floren. « Recent market consolidations limit the choice for clients who request specialty IT software and service vendors. For Orsyp, this represents a great opportunity to remain loyal to its core values by providing value-added solutions and services that respond to the requirements of its clients. ».
For further information, please contact:
Jean-Luc Lénart, Senior Advisor / +33 1 56 68 75 20 /jllenart@bryangarnier.com
Thibaut de Smedt, Director / +33 1 56 68 75 20 /tdesmedt@bryangarnier.com
About Orsyp
Orsyp was founded in 1986 with the single focus of delivering best in-class IT automation solutions using cutting-edge technology. Over the years, Orsyp has established a worldwide reputation for business-friendly job scheduling and job management solutions and excellence in customer care. Orsyp continuously strives to innovate in this area with solutions which are practical for today and tomorrow’s IT and business needs.
Companies around the world – from small companies to Global 500 – use Orsyp’s job scheduling software to modernise and standardise IT automation enterprise-wide. By providing one standard automation tool across an enterprise, more processes can be automated and managed thereby improving IT operations productivity, reducing costs and impacting IT service delivery to the core business. With more than 1,000 customers and 10% of the Global 500 accounts, “Dollar Universe” provides a key IT infrastructure component to companies in industries such as retail, banking, insurance, manufacturing, telecommunications and services.
About Argos Soditic
Based in Milan and wholly-owned and operated by its partners, Argos Soditic focuses on management buy-outs and buy-ins of small and medium-sized companies across Europe, but primarily in France, Italy and Switzerland. The firm has developed a unique strategy of carrying out projects that require intimate involvement with the financial shareholders and managers of companies (MBO, MBI, BIMBO, spin-off, reorganisation, build-up) it acquires. The group of funds managed by the firm typically takes majority stakes ranging from €5m to €50m in companies with revenues of between €20m and €400m. Argos Soditic prefers to invest in companies which have the capacity to become leaders in a particular business niche. Undertakings carried out by Argos Soditic include Buffet Crampon, Roc-Eclerc, Oxbow, Du Pareil au Même, Kermel and Eau Eclarlate in France, Sparco and CH&F in Italy, and Maillefer and ORS in Switzerland.
In 2006, the firm announced the closing of a new €275m fund, Argos Soditic V, which has allowed it to carry out eight transactions to date: four MBOs (Driver/Sitour, GPP, FHB and Orsyp), two BIMBOs (Axyntis and Marie Laure PLV), one spin-off (Alkan) and one MBI (Chronolyss).