Siparex triples its money

French investor Siparex has sold its interest in the real estate group Lamy Chollet, generating a return of three times its original investment and an IRR of 32.5 per cent. Siparex has sold its shares in a secondary buyout to the group’s manager, Jean-Louis Chollet and 3i.

Siparex SPF II invested in the LBO of Lamy Cholet in 1997, following the group’s spin-off from Generale des Eaux now Vivendi. The buyout consisted of a EURO7 million equity investment by financial investors including the Royal Bank of Scotland. Siparex committed EURO3.4 million to the transaction.

The Lamy Chollet group is France’s fourth largest real estate management company. It employs around 600 staff in 60 offices across France and recently opened an office in London in partnership with the UK firm Druce & Co. Last year the company had revenues of EURO41.7 million and a net margin of over 7.5 per cent.

Benot Metais, a managing director of Siparex’s expansion capital/LBO team was responsible for the original investment, investment monitoring and the exit of the group.