Omnes Capital has sold its stake in Exclusive Networks to a consortium of investors led by Cobepa, realising a 4.8x multiple on the deal. This is the second exit for Omnes’ mid cap fund CACI 3.
On this occasion, the fund has been repaid and six investments remain in portfolio. The private equity funds managed by Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners (Edrip) and Socadif, which invested in the deal alongside Omnes Capital, are also selling their stake.
Exclusive Networks, based in Boulogne-Billancourt, is Europe's leading independent value-added distributor (VAD) for the EMEA region, specialising in the marketing of solutions for businesses in the areas of cybersecurity, data centres and associated value-added services.
The group connects established and emerging global technology vendors from all over the world to markets in the EMEA region via its ‘Super VAD’ value-added distribution model. A specialist in cybersecurity solutions, Exclusive Networks works with more than 7,000 value-added reseller (VAR) partners.
Omnes Capital acquired a stake in the company in 2010 in a primary leveraged buyout. In five years of achievement, the group has seen record growth – with revenues up more than 500 per cent – driven by:
• robust organic growth;
• targeted international expansion with the creation of three subsidiaries in Austria, Switzerland and Denmark;
• and acquisitions of companies in Norway (Trigg Data), the United Kingdom (Vadition and ITEC), Germany (TLK), the Middle East (Secureway), the Benelux region (Terach), Turkey (Bilisimcim), Australia (Whitegold), Italy (Sidin) and France (Fibail System).
Olivier Breittmayer, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Exclusive Networks Group, says: “During these five years together, Omnes Capital has given us full logistical and financial support to allow us to build up a truly pan-European organisation and become one of the leaders in this market. We have evolved from a French SME selling in a few countries in Europe into an international business for which France now represents just 15% of total revenues.”
Philippe Zurawski, Partner at Omnes Capital, adds: “The relationship established with the management team is based on four core principles: daring, trust, a true partnership spirit and complete involvement. These factors, coupled with a winning strategy and a positioning that has been able to adapt to technological changes in the market, have allowed for outperformance in terms of growth, exceeding our initial targets, and improvement in the group’s margins. We are proud to have played a role in the creation of a truly international medium-sized company.”
Benjamin Arm, Managing Director at Omnes Capital, concludes: “Exclusive Networks perfectly fits the profile of SMEs we look for: companies with strong potential, a strategy of primary market transactions, value creation driven by organic growth and an active acquisitions policy. This deal illustrates the relevance of the investment strategy maintained for our new Omnes Croissance 4 fund.”
