Omnes Capital acquires a minority core shareholding in the Batiweb Group via a capital development transaction

At the same time, Batiweb has acquired Habitat Trade to expand its geographical footprint and gain high value-added expertise. This deal has given rise to the Batiweb Group. The combined Group posted sales of close to €10 million.

Omnes Capital has conducted a capital development transaction as a minority core investor in the Batiweb Group following pre-emptive discussions that rapidly turned into exclusive negotiations thanks to Omnes Capital’s industry knowledge and its close relationship with the Manager and with Ardian Growth, the Company’s longstanding shareholder. With backing from Matmut Innovation and other co-investors, Omnes Capital’s Small Cap funds supported this LBO, which saw Nicolas Ricart, the founder and manager, significantly increase his holding to become the majority shareholder.

Founded in 2005, the Batiweb Group is France’s number two digital portal bringing building trade professionals together with consumers, predominantly in the home renovation segment. Batiweb is active in three complementary areas – intermediation, media and B2B services. Between 2013 and 2016, the Group more than doubled its revenues and tripled its profitability by developing and enriching its expertise and its new content through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions.

In a home renovation market undergoing a digital transformation for both professionals and consumers, the Batiweb Group stands out as a partner thanks to its strong reputation among tradespeople, and its founding manager who is reinvesting close to 100% of his sale proceeds. It also boasts attractive development prospects given its sources of organic growth and a continuing policy of selective acquisitions in France and abroad. 

The Group is in advanced discussions to perform further external growths mostly in France but also abroad. It aims to triple its revenues over the next four years. 

“We originally invested in Batiweb with the objective together with Nicolas Ricart of making it a leader in its marketplace. We are delighted to have achieved that goal and pleased to see that its growth will continue with another high-quality partner”, explained Romain Chiudini, Senior Investment Manager at Ardian Growth.

“Ardian Growth provided us with substantial support while we were first building the Company. Based on this experience, I firmly believed in that it makes good sense to partner with Omnes Capital given its sector knowledge and expertise in industry consolidation through multiple external growths. Our Group can now use these additional financial resources to play a leading role in sector concentration and to speed up its ambitious development plan”, stated Nicolas Ricart, Chairman of the Batiweb Group.

“We had the opportunity to go through friendly discussions with Nicolas Ricart aimed at sharing the same development views of Batiweb and allowing the financial investors to monetise their holding while injecting fresh impetus into the Group’s expansion. The Group’s growth and profitability profile has primed it to play the role of consolidator in the sector through external growths in France and overseas and the recruitment of key talent to support its manager”, explained Frédéric Mimoun, Director at Omnes Capital. 

Nicolas Gomart, Chief Executive Officer of Matmut Group and Chairman of Matmut Innovation, added: “The home is one of the priority areas for our Group, which currently manages close to 2.2 million home insurance policies. Matmut Innovation is the Group unit handling acquisitions of shareholdings and financing the development of start-ups providing technological innovations for the insurance value chain. With this deal we are again demonstrating our determination to deliver on our commitment to provide high-quality services to consumers and businesses, with a focus on the home.”

Banque Populaire Atlantique, is providing its support to Omnes Capital with a conservatively structured buyout and highly competitive by Batiweb that it has financed over many years. BNP has joined the syndicate of banks.