SPHEREA-AVERNA | Ardian leads first single-asset continuation vehicle deal

Ardian has backed a transatlantic deal to create a global leader in testing and quality engineering, through the combination of the French company Spherea with the Canadian company Averna. The transaction marks the first time that Ardian’s Co-Investment and Secondaries & Primaries teams have been the lead investor in a single-asset continuation vehicle, enabling it to fix the key terms including valuation, management fees and carried interest. Spherea’s main shareholder, the French private equity firm Andera Partners (through its Midcap strategy), set up the continuation vehicle to fund the acquisition of Averna and invited Ardian to be lead investor, thanks to the two firms’ longstanding relationship. Spherea specializes in the aerospace and defence sectors in Europe, and provides testing for military aircraft among others. The key aim of the transaction is to combine these strengths with Averna’s leading position in sectors such as smart devices, medical devices, automotive, energy and data centers.   

Transaction builds on complementary business profiles

The merger of Spherea and Averna aims to create a global leader from two highly complementary businesses with strong positions in their key sectors and long-term customer relationships. In terms of focus, Spherea concentrates more on bespoke testing projects and aftermarket services, while Averna targets production applications and supports its customers’ R&D. There is little overlap in their geographic footprints, with Spherea strong in Western Europe and Averna adding exposure to Eastern Europe, Northern America and Asia-Pacific. The integration is expected to unlock significant revenue synergies as the combined group cross-sells a broader range of expertise to a significantly larger customer base. 

Strong alignment between Ardian and Andera Partners

A key element of the transaction from Ardian’s perspective was to ensure the strongest possible alignment between Andera Partners and Ardian in the deal structuring. Andera Partners re-invested through Andera Midcap Fund V in the combined group.

Integrated leadership team targets global growth

At the corporate level, Spherea and Averna will leverage each other’s unique strengths through an integrated management team with Patrice Bélie, CEO of Spherea becoming Group CEO.