The management team led by Tom Vendelmans will lead Infra Group into a new development cycle with strong ambitions, with the support of Intermediate Capital Group and Andera Partners who is reinvesting in the transaction.
Paris and Temse, 7 July 2021 – With €350m sales in 2020, Infra Group achieved a leading market position as a multi-disciplinary network services provider in a wide range of utility infrastructure segments (telecom, electricity, water & sewage, gas & district heating, and public lighting), with a leading presence on its domestic Belgian market, and strategic positions in France, the Netherlands and Germany. The group offers a one-stop-shop range of services from design, engineering and installation to maintenance of essential infrastructure networks, giving the group a competitive edge in large projects. Infra Group relies on a highly skilled workforce and a proven ability to train and retain its staff in a context of scarcity of qualified workers on the labor market.
Since the original investment led by Andera MidCap in April 2019, Tom Vendelmans, CEO of Infra Group, has successfully carried out the change of scale of the group by more than doubling the size of the company over the period and considerably outperforming the business plan objectives. The group consolidated its leading market position in Belgium through organic growth and targeted acquisitions servicing specific segments to strengthen its end-to-end service offering and technical know-how. Infra Group accelerated its geographical expansion thanks to a well-structured M&A approach and developed an international consolidation platform: 8 build-ups representing €150m in turnover have been successfully completed since Andera Midcap’s investment, of which structuring acquisitions in Germany and the Netherlands. Infra Group’s portion of turnover in Belgium decreased from 80% to 65% of total revenue over the past two years. Thanks to its unique entrepreneurial approach, the group pursued its proven buy & build strategy based on the alignment of interests with the management teams of the acquired entities, notably through their reinvestment in the group, thus opening the shareholding structure to 30 new managers.
As a new chapter unfolds for the group, management intends to accelerate its development, with the support of Intermediate Capital Group and Andera Midcap, driven by both organic growth and buy & build strategy. Management will concentrate its efforts in further enhancing its pan-European position by selectively acquiring strategic targets that would complement its local set up and technological portfolio. Management is confident in its ability to deliver such plan thanks to a healthy qualified pipeline to execute and drive growth further ahead, in addition to a new financing structure.
Infra Group will furthermore continue to benefit from positive medium- and long-term structural trends clearly identified on its underlying markets, due to chronic under investment in essential infrastructure networks across Europe.
Hadj Djemai, Head of Southern Europe, Equity and Mezzanine at Intermediate Capital Group, said: « We have been very impressed by Infra Group’s longstanding performance, including its growth through strategic acquisitions. We are excited to partner with the management team to support them to accelerate growth through continued outstanding execution. We look forward to leveraging our expansive European presence and capital to support the Company’s organic and inorganic growth initiatives. »
Tom Vendelmans, CEO of Infra Group, added: « Over the last two years, Infra Group has considerably overachieved its business plan objectives and confirmed its leading market position as infrastructure service provider in Belgium, with a strong development in France, the Netherlands and Germany. We are delighted with the change of scale that has been achieved with the support of Andera MidCap and look forward to starting a new collaboration with Intermediate Capital Group, which we believe is the ideal partner to further accelerate our development in Europe. »
Laurent Tourtois and Antoine Le Bourgeois, Partners of Andera Partners, added: « We are very proud to have been able to support Tom Vendelmans in his international development through external growth, more than doubling the size of the group in only two years, which perfectly illustrates Andera Midcap’s investment strategy as a hands-on investor and partner to management. It also emphasizes Andera Midcap development ambitions in Belgium, which accelerated following the set-up of the office in Antwerp in 2019. We are excited that Infra Group welcomes a first-class shareholder such as Intermediate Capital Group, and are delighted to further support Infra Group for its next cycle of growth. »