DDA & Company advises the shareholders of Cohérence in an MBO transaction with Arkea Capital

Paris, December 6 th, 2022,

Founded in 2015 by Bruno Janvier and Fabrice Poupard, Cohérence is a group specialised in the creation of tailor-made websites and natural referencing (SEO).

Following a competitive process launched in May 2022, DDA & Company advised on the reorganisation of Cohérence’s capital and the entry of Arkea Capital as a minority shareholder.

The transaction allows the two founding partners (Bruno Janvier and Fabrice Poupard) to become majority shareholders, the historical non-operating shareholders (Christian Janvier, Jérôme de Metz and Patrick Maillard) to sell all or part of their stake and two key managers (Sébastien Codet, Finance Director, and Laury Brunoy, Production Director) to become shareholders.

DDA & Company also advised on the financing of the Transaction through senior debt provided by a banking pool including LCL as arranger as well as Crédit Agricole and Banque Populaire Grand-Ouest (BPGO).

Bruno Janvier and Fabrice Poupard, founders of Cohérence, declare: “Since 2015, Cohérence has had a single ambition: to make digitalisation accessible to all trades in France and to become the digital reference on the market. We have taken a new turn with the investment of Arkea Capital. This partnership will enable us to boost our growth through financial, strategic and CSR support.”

Eric Besson-Damegon, Regional director at Arkea Capital, adds: “Cohérence’s service offering strongly echoes the values of innovation and development of the territories advocated by Arkea Capital. This investment in a group that accelerates the digitalisation of VSEs and SMEs is fully in line with our CSR strategy.“

Kevin Chaigneau, Investment director at Arkea Capital says: “We are very pleased with the confidence shown by the management of Cohérence in allowing us to support them in their internal and external development projects. Digitalisation is a major challenge for the development of companies in our territories and the growth dynamic of Cohérence over the last few years perfectly illustrates the relevance of the group’s service offering to support companies in their growth.”

Agnès Marossero, Partner at DDA & Company, concludes : “We are very happy to have assisted the historical shareholders and the management team in this capital reorganisation. The investment of a leading financial partner such as Arkea will enable the company to accelerate its development in the French SEO market.”

DDA & Company’s team, made up of Agnès Marossero and Benjamin Guedj, advised the shareholders in this transaction.

This operation once again reflects DDA & Company’s expertise in the communication sector and its ability to orchestrate leverage transactions.

About Arkea Capital

Arkea Capital acts as a minority shareholder for companies, from start-ups to medium-sized corporations, at all stages of their development, while maintaining the independence of the decision-making centres. Subsidiary of the Crédit Mutuel Arkea group dedicated to private equity activities, Arkea Capital has been active for 40 years in all sectors, throughout France, thanks to seven regional offices (Brest, Nantes, Paris, Rennes, Bordeaux, Strasbourg and Lyon) and a team of experts. It supports companies and their managers over the long term through eight complementary investment vehicles: Arkea Capital Investissement, Arkea Capital 2, Breizh Ma Bro, Arkea Capital Partenaire, Arkea Capital Managers, Breizh Armor Capital, We Positive Invest and We Positive Invest 2. With a presence in more than a hundred companies, Arkea Capital has more than €1.2 billion in assets under management.

About Cohérence

Founded in 2015 by Bruno Janvier and Fabrice Poupard, Cohérence is an agency specialised in digital communication assisting small and medium-sized businesses in their web visibility strategy. Cohérence stands out for its ability to offer a very wide range of “tailor-made” and evolutive services according to the needs of its clients, by intervening in all areas of digital communication: digital strategy consulting, creation/redesign of turnkey websites, consulting and production of digital content and, above all, consulting in natural and paid referencing. The company’s solid experience in search engine optimization strategies (natural and paid) on the Internet and a very high satisfaction rate (95%), which encourages real customer loyalty over time, are at the heart of Cohérence’s success. With more than 150 digital experts and collaborators, Cohérence provides a tailor-made service and guarantees its clients real visibility on the web (page 1 of search engines). It supports more than 2,000 clients over the long term. Today, the company is present in most of France and will continue to expand its territorial coverage with new locations to come.

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Benjamin Guedj

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