Fusion Corporate Partners

Reed Elsevier has sold Reed Business Information France to funds belonging to  Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners (via the Winch Capital 2 fund), BNP Paribas Développement and several managers of the company. The funds bought a 75 percent stake of RBI France, while the remaining 25 percent was purchased by managers Jean-Pierre Seguret and Alexandre Sidommo. The value of the deal was not disclosed, but is being reported that RBI France was sold for around £40 million.

Reed Business Information France provides professional information and services. Sales in 2012 amounted to EUR 62.4m and the group has 476 employees in France, Spain and Tunisia. Its main activities include a business intelligence platform which manages tenders (DoubleTrade), some of Reed Elevier’s last consumer magazines including CosmétiqueMag and Coiffure de Paris, guides and soft cover books (Prat Editions, ESF éditeur), an occupational training company (Comundi) and a lead generation company (emedia).

The deal also includes the transfer of the Reed Elsevier group’s Spanish tender management companies Manivest and Construdatos to RBI France.

RBI France is the latest disposal by Reed Elsevier as it moves away from cyclical markets  and focuses on electronic data services and research businesses.

Alexandre Sidommo, head of the Business Intelligence division DoubleTrade has been appointed chairman of Reed Business Information France. The Supervisory Board will be chaired by Jean-Pierre Seguret, former chairman of the DDB France group.

The executive team comprises Stéphane Barus, Finance and Administration director, Gianni Cavalcaselle who becomes head of the Business Intelligence division (DoubleTrade France and Spain), Thierry Lescure, head of emedia, Reed Contents, IT systems and Internet Strategy, Rémi Ramondou, head of the Publishing division, Aurélie Sornat, head of Human Resources and Anne Thomas, head of the Press division.

Pierre-Yves Poirier, Partner of Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners said, “We are very proud to assist entrepreneurs looking to boost business growth. We now share the same objective, namely helping RBI France to seize growth opportunities on its markets.”

France, Paris

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