Sogetrel sold in secondary buyout

Barclays Private Equity France has led a management buyout of Sogetrel, an integrated engineering firm, from shareholders ABN AMRO Capital France and BBS Capital for €90.3m.

ABN AMRO Capital acquired Sogetrel in July 1999 in a €31.5m buyout with management and BBS Capital. The stakeholders concentrated on exploiting several growth areas and restructured the debt. A new management team, led by Frédéric Zimer, was instrumental in placing Sogetrel in the top three of major network integrators in France. The company has tripled its turnover in the last few years. ABN AMRO Capital has generated a total gain representing an overall money multiple of 4.7 times the cost of its original investment and has achieved an IRR of 27% over a 6.5 year period.

Originally an installation company, Sogetrel has diversified its activities since the original buyout. Today the company is an integrated engineering firm offering design, installation and maintenance of multimedia and telecom networks. It has expertise in fibre optics, coaxial and twisted pairs cables used in all types of multimedia and telecom products, and cables for CCTV cameras through their brand CitéVEILLE. The company also develops software tools for its clients and has 37 outlets throughout France with 900 employees.