Transactions

EiM Capital announces that it has sold the Citygie Group, to the management team led by Éric PIROUD, supported by minority funds BTP Capital Investissement and Sopromec Participations. EiM Capital is an investment company specialising in the acquisition, development and transformation of unlisted companies in need of development and repositioning.

Based in Chaleins, Citygie is a French industrial group specialising in the design, off-site manufacture, installation, servicing and maintenance of urban development solutions. In particular, Citygie has been the French leader in the supply of prefabricated concrete public toilets and street furniture for public and private customers for over 60 years.

Citygie was acquired from the Consolis group in 2019. EiM Capital actively supported management in repositioning the Group towards new products and markets, enabling it to significantly improve its financial performance. EiM Capital also supported Citygie’s acquisition of a stake in Cubik Home to participate in the development of a new low-carbon fibre-reinforced concrete off-site modular construction technology for public facilities and private housing.

Convinced of Citygie’s development potential in its traditional markets and in new growth markets, Éric PIROUD, already a minority shareholder with his team alongside EiM Capital, has positioned himself for the majority takeover of the Group through their holding company Hygie Investissements.

Hygie Investissements is supported by BTP Capital, Sopromec and 5 private investors specialising in construction and public works (Investisseurs qualifiés) as minority shareholders, and has completed its financing with a pool of banks led by Société Générale and Caisse d’Épargne Rhône-Alpes.

BTP Capital Investissement was motivated by the quality of the management, the expertise of the teams, and the prospects for long-term development with a new shareholder base to support the companies in a new phase of development.

Renaud DELAAGE and Luigi CHIARAVIGLIO, founding partners of EiM Capital, commented: ‘This transaction is a perfect illustration of our expertise in acquiring non-strategic subsidiaries of major groups, repositioning them and then developing them alongside the management team, enabling them to realise their full potential in a sustainable and profitable manner’.

Eric PIROUD, Chairman of Groupe Hygie Investissements added: ‘I am extremely proud of the work we have achieved over nearly five years alongside EiM Capital. Together, we have succeeded in making the Group autonomous and consolidating its leadership position, in particular through its repositioning on higher added-value markets and the acquisition of a stake in Cubik Home. I would like to thank the entire EiM Capital team on behalf of Citygie’s management team and employees’.

Philippe MAGNANI, Partner at EiM: ‘We are very pleased to have contributed to the development of Citygie and to have enabled Eric PIROUD and his team to take the reins of the Group, and we wish them all the best for the future’.