Emerton, Eight Advisory and Efeso advise on Revima Group investment
Aviation company Revima Group recently received a significant capital injection from pan-European private equity group Argos Soditic Partners. The deal was advised on by M&A experts of several professional services firms, including Emerton, Eight Advisory and Efeso Consulting.
In July, Argos Soditic Partners*, a Belgian mid-market private equity firm, announced that it had completed an investment in Revima Group, a Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) service provider for the aviation industry. The group provides products and services to both commercial and military players, including Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) & Landing Gear products, logistics and on-site consultancy. Revima Group has over 600 employees based across its historic plant located in Rives-en-Seine, Normandy, France, and customer support offices in Asia, the USA, and the Middle-East.
With the capital injection from Argos, Revima Group aims at pursuing a growth strategy in the aerospace market, said Olivier Legrand, President of the company, notably in the fast growing maintenance and repair segment. According to analysis from Oliver Wyman, the MRO market will see rapid growth in the coming years on the back of a growing fleet size and new technologies that will reshape the way aeroplane maintenance is monitored and managed.
The investment will further be tapped to improve the firm’s service quality, bolster innovation prowess and extend partnerships with players in the ecosystem to enhance agility vis a vis evolving market conditions.
“We are very excited to benefit from having Argos Soditic as a highly professional shareholder with whom we share a true entrepreneurial culture, strong values and sense of social responsibility. The combination of their experience in developing businesses with our history and know-how opens up new opportunities to launch numerous projects, to accelerate our growth, and to reinforce our market position in France and internationally,” commented Legrand.
Dealmakers
Acquirer Argos Soditic Partners was advised by several M&A experts throughout the deal process. Strategic advisory, which spanned corporate strategy and commercial due diligence, was provided by Emerton, while operational strategy was taken care of by Efeso Consulting. Argos received legal consultancy from the French arm of Mayer Brown, tax advisory came from Arsène Taxand (the French member firm of Taxand) and Eight Advisory was called in to provide financial due diligence and transaction support. Other dealmakers that played a role include Brugmann Conseil (insurance services) and AECOM (environmental support).
The team of Emerton, a management consultancy with offices in France and the US, consisted of Sébastien Plessis, Pascal Simon and Sylvain Beucher. Eight Advisory, a boutique M&A consultancy with three offices in France and one in London, was represented by Eric Demuyt and Jean-Sébastien Rabus. EFESO Consulting, formerly Solving Efeso, put forward a three-man strong team of Luca Lecchi, Pierre Demarquette and Olivier Rankowski.
At the other side of the table, Revima Group received legal support from two local French law firms, Dethomas Peltier Juvigny & Associés and Coblence & Associés, tax consulting from Jeausserand Audouard and Fidal, and M&A support from Brugmann Conseil.
According to a report from AlixPartners, the commercial aviation industry will book profits of around $55 billion this year, more than double the amount four years ago, following a sustained period of cost reduction across the industry and lower fuel prices. The large US-headquartered aviation groups remain the most profitable airlines.
* Argos Soditic was founded in 1989 and today has offices in Brussels, Frankfurt, Geneva, Milan and Paris. The private equity firm focuses on transactions in companies with a revenue of between €25 and €200 million.
