Capzanine, an independent asset manager and private investment house for small and mid-sized companies, has changed its name to CAPZA.
With 15 years of growth under its belt, CAPZA now offers capabilities in four European countries (France, Germany, Spain and Italy). On the back of its unique track-record, CAPZA early this year reinforced its historical partnership with AXA (now holding a 46 per cent stake), which began in 2005, to support it in its international ambitions, particularly in rolling out new distribution channels.
CAPZA Group now has about 50 employees (in Paris, Munich, Madrid and Milan) and manages EUR2.7 billion on behalf of European and international institutional investors. CAPZA has worked alongside small and medium-sized companies since 2004 and has developed unique know-how in offering them flexible financing solutions adapted to the different stages of their development through a platform offering four additional capabilities:
• Flex Equity: financing solutions for small and mid-sized companies with EBITDA lower than EUR10m, which CAPZA supports in development projects as a reference shareholder (via majority or minority stakes, or mezzanine loans);
• Private Debt: financing for small and mid-sized companies with EBITDA between EUR10m and EUR40m through unitranche or mezzanine;
• Transition: flexible asset-liability solutions (debt and equity) to assist companies in a transition phase (temporary imbalance or strategic challenge);
• Artemid: senior-debt financing of mid-sized companies with EBITDA between EUR10m and EUR40m through senior debt.
This unique platform allows CAPZA to take part in companies’ growth over time by offering them suitable and adjustable financing solutions (majority and minority stakes, senior and subordinated debt, etc). Through its complementary solutions, CAPZA has assisted companies such as E.CF since 2006, Elivie since 2007, and Cérélia since 2010.
In an environment in which private investment is taking a larger and larger share of the asset allocations of institutional investors, CAPZA is capitalising on its 15-year track-record, its network of entrepreneurs, and its origination capabilities, driven by its local footprint in four countries. It aims to expand its assets by EUR5 billion in five years.
Its teams are also working to develop new products organically and/or through acquisitions to complement the existing offering.
“Since 2004, we have built up a community of European entrepreneurs who share our values and our investment vision. Our keen interest in their business and our ability to take a fresh look at ourselves has made us rethink CAPZA as an adjustable investment platform that addresses their needs, and not the reverse. This community of business leaders is the driver of performance that we deliver to our investors,” says Christophe Karvelis Senn, Chairman of CAPZA.
“In switching from Capzanine to CAPZA, we are streamlining our name. This new name comes even more naturally to us, given that many of our partners already call us that! Our name is changing, but not the values that have constituted CAPZA since the start and that are the hallmark of the confidence-based relationship that we have built with entrepreneurs and investors. These are entrepreneurship, inquisitiveness, pragmatism, humility, and teamwork,” says Laurent Bénard, Managing Director of CAPZA.
