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Squad, the specialist in cybersecurity and DevOps, welcomes Abénex as a new shareholder

Paris, 12th January 2021, Squad has signed an agreement to welcome Abénex into its capital, alongside founders Eric Guillerm and Marc Brua and 15 partner-executives.

Squad is a consultancy with expertise in cybersecurity and DevOps. Leveraging a network of seven agencies in France and one in Australia, Squad has distinguished itself through the robust organic growth it has generated since it was founded in 2011.

The transaction reorganises the ownership structure, confirming the departure of Apax Partners Development, while ensuring the continuity of the management team and bringing new partners into the capital. The transaction also harnesses significant financial resources that will support Squad’s robust organic growth and enable it to undertake acquisitions.

“With Abénex now a shareholder, we have the resources to step up the growth of our group and consolidate our role as a partner to large companies in optimising and securing their IT systems”, said Eric Guillerm, Chairman and co-founder of Squad.

“We were very favourably impressed by Squad’s highly-skilled, agile management team.  The group has successfully integrated the industry’s best practices and knows how to put its specific expertise to good use. Squad is a sound company, well positioned to capture the strong growth of the cybersecurity market”, said Olivier Moatti, Managing Partner at Abénex.   

“We are very pleased to have partnered with Apax Partners Development over the past few years, and the support we have received from Isabelle Hermetet and her team has been invaluable. We are looking forward to continuing to develop Squad with Abénex”, added Marc Brua, CEO and co-founder of Squad.

“It has been a pleasure for us to accompany Squad and its two founders since 2017. The company has performed exceptionally well, and it has been particularly rewarding to be part of the adventure”, said Isabelle Hermetet, Partner at Apax Partners Development.

About Squad

Founded in 2011, Squad is a European DevSecOps pure player. With 550 Cybersecurity & DevOps experts and a turnover of 53 million euros in 2020, the group provides leading expertise to ensure protection against the most complex cyber threats.

Squad provides its know-how to major international groups through 7 offices in France (Paris, Lyon, Aix-en-Provence, Sophia-Antipolis, Nantes and Rennes) and 1 office in Australia (Adelaide).

The group was awarded the PASSI qualification from the French National Agency for the Security of Information Systems (ANSSI), enabling its experts to conduct security audits for critical infrastructure : this demonstrates the high technical standards of Squad’s teams and their commitment to create a secured cyber space.

About Abénex  

A market leading French private equity firm focused on investments in small and mid-cap businesses

Abénex entered the French private equity market in 1992 as part of ABN AMRO on the mid-cap segment.

In 2008, the founding partners acquired the business from ABN AMRO in a leveraged buyout.

Since then, Abénex has been an independent investment management company authorised by the French Financial Markets Authority.

In 2019, Abénex went into small-cap segment with a dedicated team, Abénex Croissance.

A new real estate business In 2014, Abénex became an authorised manager of French real estate investment funds (Organismes de Placement Collectif Immobilier or “OPCIs”). Our OPCIs invest in income-generating property assets in France.

www.abenex.com

About Apax Partners

Apax Partners is a leading European private equity firm based in Paris. With more than 45 years of experience, Apax Partners provides long-term equity financing to build and strengthen world-class companies. Funds managed and advised by Apax Partners exceed €4 billion. These funds invest in fast-growing, middle-market companies across four sectors of specialisation: Tech & Telecom, Consumer, Healthcare and Services.

Paris-headquartered Apax Partners SAS (www.apax.fr) and London-headquartered Apax Partners LLP (www.apax.com) have a shared history but are separate, independent private equity firms.

www.apax.fr

@ApaxPartners_Fr

Press Contacts

  • Squad: Eric Guillerm, +33 9 51 69 99 96
  • Abénex: Olivier Moatti, +33 1 53 93 69 30
  • Apax Partners Development: Lauren Bardet, +33 6 16 32 72 82

Squad and Apax Partners’ advisers

Investment bank: Cambon Partners (David Salabi, Jonathan Journo, Florian Grison)

Legal: PGA (Suzanne De Carvalho, Raphaël Piotraut, Arnaud Viard)

Abénex Advisers

Legal: McDermott Will & Emery (Grégoire Andrieux, Herschel Guez, Charline Boulenger) 

Structuring: Arsène Taxand (Alexandre Rocchi, Virginie Leprize)

Financial due diligence: 8 Advisory (Christian Berling, Arnaud Bensaid, Louis Ramirez del Villar)

Legal, tax, employment due diligence: KPMG Avocats (Xavier Houard, Florence Olivier, Albane Eglinger, Régis Peyronnet, Lucas Delente, Oumane Gueye, Julie Sagredo, Alban Progri)

Strategic due diligence: EY-Parthénon (Etienne Costes, Benjamin Abitbol)

Investment bank: Rothschild-Transaction R (Philippe Dubois De Montreynaud, Laura Benzaquen, Pierre Pessans-Goyheneix)

Financing: Crédit Agricole Alpes Provence, LCL, CIC Private Debt

Co-arrangers and underwriters: Crédit Agricole Alpes Provence (Christophe Lejeune, Christophe Maurel), LCL (Bertrand Carassus, Camille Gerard)

Legal – Borrower: McDermott Will & Emery (Pierre-Arnoux Mayoly, Stanislas Chenu, Clarisse De Roux)

Mezzanine debt: CIC Private Debt (Nicolas Offroy, Antoine Guerillon)

Legal – Banks: Volt Associés (François Jubin, Alexandre Tron)

Legal – Mezzanine lenders: Simmons & Simmons LLP (Colin Millar, Iva Parvanova, Antoine Vernier)