Societe Generale acquires a stake in ADDEV to support its development in France and abroad

Societe Generale Capital Partenaires (SGCP)* is finalising its acquisition of a stake in the ADDEV Group, alongside the directors, who are the majority shareholders, and two other investment funds, Naxicap and Garibaldi Participations, which are already shareholders in the company.

* Societe Generale Capital Partenaires is the growth capital arm of Societe Generale and invests on its own account in French small and medium-sized companies for amounts of between €300,000 and €8m.

ADDEV is an industrial group specialising in high-performance technical materials. It is structured around four activities: electrical insulation (MICEL), technical films (MICEL Films and Technifilm), adhesive and glues (Adhis) and composites and plastics (ICTDP).

This capital increase should allow the group to pursue its strong growth and support its transition from SME to intermediate-size company. "We have set ourselves the target of doubling turnover every three years and achieving €90m to €100m by the end of 2015,” explains its chairman Pascal Nadobny.

This growth involves conquering new markets and a sustained investment in innovation, with the development of new generations of materials within collaborative projects. At the same time, the group wants to reinforce export partnerships agreed with large French industrial companies and open new sites abroad (India and China) in the near future.

Marc Andrieu, Head of Investments at Societe Generale Capital Partenaires, comments: "Societe Generale has a long-standing relationship with this dynamic industrial group, which is bursting with new projects to become a leading intermediate-size company in its segments. We are very pleased to be strengthening our link through this investment, alongside other investors, giving the group new resources to develop.”

This transaction will allow the financing of new acquisitions, with targets identified in the group’s various segments. ADDEV hopes in this way to position itself downstream of the value chain, through the manufacture of tailor-made parts, as well as upstream through the functionalisation of materials, by strengthening its industrial capacity in France and abroad.

ADDEV is also developing a "triple I” strategy, focusing on innovation, international growth and industry.

"Growth which should not be at the expense of local culture and proximity to the customer and which should maintain our values and management on a human scale,” says Pascal Nadobny.

The transaction gives the ADDEV Group the support of larger investors, in line with the second stage of its development. "We are delighted to be supported in this project by a partner combining investment expertise, proximity and a trans-regional and international dimension. We have particularly appreciated the responsiveness shown by Societe Generale, during our external growth phases, in the coordination of our various needs in terms of own-funds, medium- and short-term borrowing, factoring and occasional real-estate leasing,” comments Pascal Nadobny.