Activa Capital, the French mid-market private equity firm, is merging Armatis and Laser Contact (a spin-off of Laser - itself a subsidiary of BNP Paribas and Group Galeries Lafayette), two major French call centre companies, to create the leading independent French onshore call centre company with combined sales of over EUR200 million and 14 call centres.

Activa Capital will become lead majority shareholder of the combined group alongside CM-CIC LBO Partners, Omnes Capital, CDC Entreprises, Ouest Croissance and Multicroissance.

The management team will be headed by Denis Akriche, CEO of Armatis, and will benefit from the complementarity of the two businesses.

“The strong complementarity of the client portfolio is expected to result in considerable synergies and cross-selling opportunities,” says Jean-Baptiste Marchand, Managing Director at Leonardo, which advised Armatis shareholders.

The merger of Armatis and Laser Contact creates a company with the critical mass to truly benefit from the structural growth in customer call centres. “The increase in the volume of calls during the last years confirms the economic interest and growing role of call centre outsourcing especially within the bank and insurance sectors in addition to public services”, says Denis Akriche, CEO of Armatis.

In addition to the leadership position created in France, the combined group intends to develop internationally and is already present in both Poland and Tunisia.

The group intends to make further acquisitions both in France and overseas. “The management team appreciated Activa Capital’s combined know-how in corporate spin-outs and build-up acquisitions both of which are useful to the company,” says Olivier Nemsguern, a Partner at Activa Capital.