TowerBrook and Bpifrance completed an investment in La Maison Bleue (“LMB”). Activa Capital and EPF have sold their holding in La Maison Bleue, a leading day-care nursery company founded in 2004, as part of a secondary management buyout. The management team of La Maison Bleue, led by Sylvain Forestier, increases its holding to 60% accompanied by TowerBrook and Bpifrance.
In a fast-growing and consolidating sector, La Maison Bleue has seen its sales increase from €40 million in 2012 to €125 million forecast for 2016, underlining its position as #3 in the French day-care nursery market. This strong growth has been accelerated by both a roll-out of new openings as well as buildup acquisitions, notably Baby and Co in 2013 and La Part de Rêve en 2015. LMB currently operates 180 nurseries and services approximately 700 nurseries within the Ma-creche.com network welcoming 7,000 children every month.
“Our objective is to continue to grow in France and accelerate international growth through significant build-ups. The continued support of Bpifrance, which has accompanied the company for the last 10 years and has strong sector knowledge will be key for our French development while TowerBrook will be a helpful partner in our international development”, declared Sylvain Forestier, CEO of La Maison Bleue.
This transaction opportunity was identified as part of TowerBrook’s broad sourcing activities in France. TowerBrook’s extensive network as well as its ability to structure a tailored investment meeting several objectives enable it to successfully partner with entrepreneurial businesses to open up new opportunities and create market-leading companies. This partnership approach fits well with founder-led businesses and has delivered real value to French companies as diverse as Infopro, Autodistribution and Kaporal.
