Ardian acquires minority stake in Euro4x4parts and supports and the group's acquisition of Japocat

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Press release

Ardian acquires minority stake in Euro4x4parts and supports and the group's acquisition of Japocat

  • 23 April 2020

  • Growth

  • France, Paris

6 minutes de lecture

Ardian, a world leading private investment house, today announces the acquisition of a minority stake in Euro4x4parts Group, an equipment manufacturer specializing in the import and distribution of spare parts, equipment, and accessories for off-road vehicles. In addition to Ardian’s investment, the Euro4x4parts Group also announces the acquisition of Japocat, a company focused on the import and distribution of replacement components for the automotive industry, with focus on Asian manufacturers and off-road vehicles.

Ardian's acquisition provides the Group with new prospects for organic and external growth. This acquisition supports Euro4x4parts in becoming a leading player within the off-road vehicle spare parts market.

Euro4x4parts sells to both private and professional clients. With sales conducted via online channels and physical locations, which are strategically located in France and abroad. Japocat is exclusively focused on B2B sales, and distributes its products to a network of more than 2,000 automotive aftermarket professionals in France, Switzerland and Belgium, as well as to French territories overseas.

The Euro4x4parts Group’s acquisition of Japocat creates significant value through synergies in terms of product ranges, customer targets and geographical presence. These synergies will support the two groups in strengthening their market positions, not only by building on their physical presence in the Spanish and Northern European markets, but also by strengthening their distribution methods, in particular through the launch of a new website. 

The group has previously carried out an external growth operation with the acquisition of ADL, a company specializing in the sale of spare parts for vehicles. Initially positioned as a pure Internet player, the Euro4x4parts Group launched a "click to mortar", available in locations across France and abroad. The Euro4x4parts Group currently employs around 80 people across 8 entities, with 6 of which located outside mainland France. 

Georges Graciet, President of Euro4x4parts: "After more than ten years of close cooperation with Japocat, we are extremely pleased to have finalized the operation – especially given the particularly difficult global environment. The responsiveness of Ardian's teams and their strong understanding of the sector and the issues at stake were decisive in completing the acquisition.”

Frédéric Quéru, Director and Florian Dupont, Senior Investment Manager at Ardian Growth continued: “We were attracted by the entrepreneurial spirit and ambition of the management team. When backing the acquisition of Japocat, Ardian Growth is supporting the rise of Euro4x4parts as an undisputed specialized online leader in a sector which could undergo profound changes at the low point of the cycle.”

ABOUT ARDIAN

Ardian is a world-leading private investment house with assets of US$96bn managed or advised in Europe, the Americas and Asia. The company is majority-owned by its employees. It keeps entrepreneurship at its heart and focuses on delivering excellent investment performance to its global investor base.
Through its commitment to shared outcomes for all stakeholders, Ardian’s activities fuel individual, corporate and economic growth around the world.
Holding close its core values of excellence, loyalty and entrepreneurship, Ardian maintains a truly global network, with more than 680 employees working from fifteen offices across Europe (Frankfurt, Jersey, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Zurich), the Americas (New York, San Francisco and Santiago) and Asia (Beijing, Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul). It manages funds on behalf of around 1,000 clients through five pillars of investment expertise: Fund of Funds, Direct Funds, Infrastructure, Real Estate and Private Debt.

ABOUT EURO4X4PARTS

Euro4x4parts imports and distributes 70,000 types of parts and accessories for all 4x4 and SUVs, to professionals and private individuals alike.

Notably international, the company sells regularly in more than 150 countries. Its success is due to 3 essential factors: a unique catalogue in Europe, a massive stock allowing it to deliver everywhere and very quickly, and exceptional customer service.

But, beyond the sale of parts, Euro4x4parts is totally involved in the life of the 4x4 community, supporting numerous events, crews and long distance travellers. The fact that it carries out its job very seriously as a company does not prevent it from doing it with passion!

o Creation 2000, 20 years of existence
o 70000 catalogue references
o 75,000 parcels shipped per year, an average of 350 parcels per day
o 80 employees
o 8 locations worldwide
o 14 million Turnover, constant progression since the creation of the company
o 46% of turnover on the internet, on a site visited in 230 countries in the world, 225,000 unique visitors per month
o Important and very active presence on social networks,

ABOUT JAPOCAT

Created 25 years ago, JAPOCAT is today the French leader in the BtoB market of spare parts for Asian SUVs and off-road vehicles.
For 3 years now, thanks to a move to new premises allowing more than 6000m² of developed storage, the offer has been enriched with thousands of items for Asian light vehicles. This diversification, welcomed by all customers, is part of the company's dynamic evolution, which has never faltered and whose results have been constantly improving since its creation.
JAPOCAT is the exclusive importer of many first-class Asian equipment manufacturers. JAPOCAT has 25 employees, two thirds of whom are directly in charge of customer service.
o Established: 1996
o 30 employees
o 50,000 catalogue references; 85,000 shipments per year
o 10 million in sales, with strong growth
o 2,000 professional automotive aftermarket customers

Participants

  • Seller's Advisors

    • M&A Advisors: CIC Conseil (Marc Goudemand, Antoine Cucciaioni, Jacques Schwab)
    • Legal Advisors: Emmanuel Rieu-Castaing
  • Buyer's Advisors

    • M&A Advisors: Star Capital (Amaury Desombre)
    • Legal Advisors: Lamartine Avocats (Olivier Renault, Cindy Nlem, Solange Duclos)
    • Financial due diligence: Grant Thornton (Alain-Régis Grail, Pierre Aubrun, Alexandre Garel-Galais, Laurent Mottet)
  • Ardian

    • Ardian Growth (Frédéric Quéru, Florian Dupont)

Ardian

Headland

Gregor Riemann

griemann@headlandconsultancy.com

+44 (0)20 3435 7483