CORE EQUITY HOLDINGS ACQUIRES IDVERDE FROM CHEQUERS CAPITAL THROUGH A MANAGEMENT BUY OUT
Core Equity Holdings has concluded the acquisition of Id verde, the European leader of green space creation and maintenance, from Chequers Capital. The existing management team headed by Hervé Lançon reinvests significantly as part of the transaction and will lead the new development phase of the group.
Since Chequers Capital acquired Id verde from ISS in 2014 through a management buy-out, the management team grew the business from sales of €270m to €430m, through a mix of organic and external growth. Id verde developed organically its customer base towards private clients and maintenance contracts. It reinforced its French leadership position through 7 acquisitions and became the leader in the United Kingdom through the acquisitions of The Landscape Group, Quadron and Land Engineering. UK sales now account for one third of Id verde total sales.
Going forward, Id verde’s management team will continue to focus on its long-term objective to become the Pan-European leader in the green space creation and maintenance market. The company will continue to expand its geographic footprint to new countries and deepen the density of its coverage wherever it operates in order to deliver to its clients the highest professional standards and widest breadth of services offering.
Hervé Lançon, President of Id verde said:
“After four exciting years with Chequers Capital, we have achieved our goal of putting Id verde on a new growth trajectory. We will continue to pursue our consolidation strategy, and the investment by Core Equity Holdings provides the opportunity to accelerate our growth in new countries and lines of business. Our focus is and will continue to be on creating and maintaining wellbeing spaces everywhere in Europe. Our team of 5000 colleagues is proud to partner with such a strong and patient shareholder.”
Bertrand Rabiller, Managing Director at Chequers Capital adds:
“We are delighted to have supported Hervé Lançon and the Id verde management team in its transformation of the business into a leader in France and the United Kingdom. We are confident that Id verde will continue its organic and external growth path under Core Equity Holdings ownership.”
Marc Valentiny, a Partner at Core Equity Holdings said:
“We are very impressed by what Hervé and his team have accomplished since their Chequers-backed management buy-out and are thrilled to be able to support them in the next phase of their journey towards building a Pan-European Champion. This partnership is very much aligned with our strategy of providing long-term capital to ambitious management teams, enabling them to actively grow their business, both organically and through acquisitions”.
NOTES FOR EDITORS
About Id verde
Id verde is Europe’s largest provider of grounds maintenance services and landscape construction projects, with an annual turnover of €430m and over 5,000 staff operating throughout the UK and France. Id verde offers a holistic range of services to support the creation, maintenance and management of landscapes throughout the UK and France, working with both public and private sector clients to deliver bespoke solutions for each project’s unique challenges.Id verde services range from professional open space management, to landscape design and build, grounds maintenance, tree surgery, outdoor facilities management, biodiversity management and waterways management.
www.idverde.com
About Chequers Capital
Created in 1973, Chequers Capital is one of the oldest private equity investors in Europe. An independent company, it manages assets totalling around 2 Billion Euros. It is one of the European leaders of private equity investment in mid-size companies with 20 investments professionals in Paris, Munich and Milan. Chequers Capital invests in industry, services, distribution and more generally in companies which have an international development potential.
www.chequerscapital.com
About Core Equity Holdings
Core Equity Holdings is an innovative, European private investment firm that focuses on partnering with long-term oriented management teams, families and corporates seeking to actively grow and build their businesses. It focuses on companies with long-term growth potential with enterprise values between €250M and €1,000M. The partners of Core Equity Holdings have a long and successful history of investing across a wide range of industries and transaction types, including consolidation platforms, business model roll-outs, corporate partnerships and company repositionings.
www.coreequityholdings.com
