Equistone realises Fund V investment in Sicame through inaugural continuation deal

Equistone Partners Europe (“Equistone”), a leading mid-market European private equity firm, has realised its Fund V investment in Sicame, a global supplier of electrical connectors and accessories to electricity distributors, through the sale of its majority shareholding to a newly created single-asset continuation fund. AlpInvest Partners, the global private equity investor, will act as the lead investor underwriting the new continuation fund, alongside commitments from Equistone, certain Fund V LPs and the company’s founding families. The financial terms of the deal are undisclosed.

Headquartered in France, Sicame designs, manufactures and sells a complete range of specialised electrical equipment and accessories for transmission and distribution networks. This includes mechanical and electrical connectors, which are essential to utility providers when building or maintaining electrical networks. The company thus plays a key role in the energy transition. With 3,100 employees working across more than 25 countries and sales in over 150 countries, Sicame generated revenues of over €450m in 2021. 

The transaction represents Equistone’s inaugural continuation fund deal. It allows the firm to provide immediate liquidity and generate a strong return for all LPs in Fund V, while also offering those LPs the option to reinvest in the new vehicle and retain exposure to the company’s significant future value creation potential. Equistone engaged the financial advisory firm Lazard to run a transparent and competitive auction process that independently validated pricing and brought in AlpInvest as the new lead investor in the continuation fund. The deal was approved by Fund V’s advisory committee.

Equistone has developed an intimate understanding of the business and the market in which Sicame operates since first investing in the company as a minority shareholder in 2009 (via Fund III), before becoming majority shareholder in 2016 (via Fund V). Equistone has also built a close relationship with the management team led by CEO Vincent Roy, who has been instrumental in accelerating the development and reorganisation of the company since 2015. The firm is therefore optimally positioned to support the next phase of Sicame’s development that will see an acceleration in its growth, driven by the need to strengthen electrical networks in the context of the ongoing energy transition. This next phase will comprise organic growth to maintain and develop existing electrical networks, the development of new products and the positioning within fast-growing verticals such as renewables and electrical vehicles, as well as additional buy-and-build activity to continue consolidating a still fragmented market (with seven bolt-on acquisitions achieved since 2016).

Guillaume Jacqueau, Managing Partner and Country Head for France at Equistone Partners Europe said: “We’re delighted to have delivered a successful exit for our LPs through this transaction and to have provided them with an opportunity to reinvest in Sicame’s exceptional growth story.  The newly created continuation fund provides us with the additional time and capital that we feel Sicame requires to fully realise some of the opportunities for further value creation that were initiated during our previous investment period. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Vincent and his team and to working closely with AlpInvest through the next stage of Sicame’s growth, which is at an inflection point driven by increasing electricity consumption in the context of the ongoing energy transition.”

Vincent Roy, CEO of Sicame, said: “We are thrilled to continue our fruitful partnership with Equistone, our trusted partner for more than 10 years. Equistone created a favorable environment, alongside the founding family members, for the development of the Sicame Group. For the years to come, we are fully confident in our ability to be at the center of the accelerating energy transition.”