ABN AMRO Capital acquires NextiraOne

ABN AMRO Capital France, the private equity business of ABN AMRO, has agreed to acquire NextiraOne Europe Holdings, a French network solutions provider registered in the Netherlands, from US-based investor Platinum Equity.

NextiraOne was Alcatel’s enterprise distribution and services division until 2002, when Platinum Equity Holdings acquired the European operations for €800m (US$707m) in cash in a leveraged buyout.

In 2005, NextiraOne employed more than 5,000 staff and generated revenues in excess of €1bn (half from product sales and half from services).

As a result of the buyout, ABN AMRO Capital will become the majority shareholder. The company’s management team and Indigo Capital will become minority shareholders of the company.

Bruno Houette, Olivier Moatti and Xavier Cottin co-ordinated the investment on behalf of ABN AMRO Capital and will join the board of NextiraOne as non-executive directors.

Advisers working for ABN AMRO Capital included Normart (M&A), Latham & Watkins (legal), Loyens & Loeff (Dutch law), Arthur D. Little (commercial due diligence), KPMG (financial due diligence), Fidal International (fiscal due diligence) and Fidal International (social due diligence).

Mezzanine debt was provided by Indigo Capital, which was advised by Ayache & Salama (legal).

Earlier this month, US-based Black Box acquired the US and Canadian business of NextiraOne for an estimated US$97m in cash.