With 6 noteworthy disposals and 6 new unlisted investments, NextStage AM led an active and dynamic management of its portfolio of unlisted companies. At the end of December 2021, the multi-strategy platform constituted directly by NextStage AM and indirectly by NextStage SCA, composed of the companies NextStage AM, Atream, and Linxea represented, in terms of outstandings, nearly € 7 billion at the end of December 2021. In a context of very strong growth in Growth Capital worldwide (+18% in 2021[1]), NextStage AM, a pioneer and leader in this segment in France, passed the symbolic threshold of one billion euros collected on this asset class with more than €200 million collected over the last 12 months.
NextStage AM, funds that are attracting more and more LPs, private investors and entrepreneurs
In June 2021, Axa France and NextStage AM launched the “Pépites et Territoires” program. Unique in France, this Relance-labeled program aims to strengthen growing and innovative French SMEs and ETIs established in the territories, by giving them access to equity guaranteeing long-term financing. Its deployment marks a new stage in the partnership between AXA France and NextStage AM, which had already launched in 2016 the 1st Unit of Account invested in private equity eligible for life insurance contracts.
Launched at the end of 2020, the Championnes program, intended for institutional investors, entrepreneurs and large private investors through the FPCI NextStage Championnes III and FPCI NextStage Capital Entrepreneur funds, both holders of the Relance label, continued its fundraising with leading partners. Indeed, the program counts, among others, among its renowned institutional investors: Bpifrance, Crédit Agricole d'Ile-de-France, Caisses d'Épargne...
The investment capital vehicle NextStage Croissance has integrated the list of funds referenced by Generali and SwissLife in their life insurance offers.
More broadly, the success of the deployment of the "Pépites et Territoires" and "Champions" programs as well as the "Capital Entrepreneur" program (150-OB ter of the CGI), which has already convinced 120 entrepreneurs, demonstrates NextStage AM's growing ability to federate the worlds of institutions, entrepreneurs as well as major private investors and savers.
Since the end of 2020, 7 highly value-creating unlisted disposals with an average multiple of 3.42x and an IRR of 33,2%[2]
Over the past 12 months, NextStage AM has also successfully pursued its disposal program – which began at the end of 2020 with the disposal of its stake in Fountaine Pajot – with 6 new unlisted disposals: Soleo Services (one of the leaders in France in depollution and soil and groundwater treatment solutions), Inova Software (software publisher for the biotech and pharmaceutical industry), Botanica (reference player in the maintenance of green spaces), Drouot Digital (art auction site), Finalease Group Security (formerly Lease Project specializing in security solutions and the fight against shrinkage) and Once For All (complete service for companies managing their administrative compliance).
Operated via retail and institutional funds, these 7 disposals present an average multiple of 3.42x and an IRR of 33,2%[2]. In addition, most of them have given rise to an industrial merger, in line with NextStage AM's ambition to create French champions as vectors of jobs and growth. Given the maturity of the portfolio of investments held, NextStage AM anticipates a new year with a significant volume of disposals.
"We are proud of the performance we achieved in 2021, which once again demonstrates the quality of NextStage AM's entrepreneurial ecosystem, the relevance of our approach aimed at growing and innovating SMEs and ETIs, and the quality of support work for the NextStage AM teams. The coming year is also shaping up under very good auspices, with numerous operations in progress. », declares Grégoire Sentilhes, President of NextStage AM.
New unlisted investments in innovative growth companies
Always keen to target innovative nuggets with high growth potential and whose technologies are disruptive in their market, NextStage AM has acquired stakes in: Xerfi (leader in France in sectoral economic analysis), Solstice (the one-stop shop for energy transition and environmental innovation in France), finacca (one of the French leaders in data engineering and customer risk management for financial services), Moonbikes (which deploys an electric mobility solution in snowy environments for professionals and the general public), PlaceShaker (platform specializing in works and renovations for individuals), Easymile (specialist in intelligent mobility solutions and driverless technology).
In addition to these 6 unlisted investments which illustrate NextStage AM's constant commitment to B2B2C projects with high added value, NextStage AM has also reinvested in the capital Inova and Finalease Security Group (formerly Lease Protect), thus maintaining its long-term support through its investment programs, which enable even larger companies to pursue their growth plans and become leaders in their markets.
« All of these investments relate to companies from growing markets that have all the cards in hand to become major players in the 3 ongoing technological disruptions of digital, environmental innovation and smart health, with fundamentals solid. We can salute the quality of our investment teams and our proven expertise in supporting the development of our entrepreneurs,” comments Jean-David Haas, CEO and co-founder of NextStage AM.
This record year allowed the NextStage AM teams to refine their new organization by having a specialization by investment program with the aim of better exploiting its rapidly expanding “dealflow”. At the same time, NextStage AM has also appointed Manuela D'Halloy as President of the NextStage Entrepreneur Club to develop and coordinate all the tools made available to its portfolio to grow and connect to the entire NextStage AM ecosystem. . This new organization will allow NextStage AM to announce new quality investments, in innovative companies registered in the 3 disruptions catalyzed and accelerated by the Covid crisis (Digital, Smart Health and Environmental Innovation) over the coming weeks and months, everywhere in France, for all of its investment programs.
In addition, NextStage AM has strengthened its listed investment division with the recruitment of Florent Saint Léger as Director of Investments, whose purpose is to further improve support for listed SMEs and ETIs. This appointment completes the team of partners of NextStage AM, also made up of Nicolas de Saint Etienne, Aloys de Fontaines, Julien Potier and Michaël Strauss-Kahn.
A multi-strategy platform to meet the needs of large institutional and private investors
The multi-strategy investment platform structured around 3 investment activities (Development Capital, Hotel Real Estate Investment Capital and Distribution of online savings products) now enables its teams to provide innovative and personalized investments for its clientele of major institutional and private investors.
Atream, a management company specializing in the management of real estate assets and funds in which NextStage (NEXTS) acquired a majority stake in September 2018, invested €200 million in 2021 and currently manages nearly €4 billion € outstanding.
Linxea, a leader in online savings management which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2021, collected €520 million last year, representing a jump of +57% compared to 2020, and its assets now stand at €2,4 billion.
Backed by solid fundamentals and a proven strategy, NextStage AM, which has convinced more than 35 individual investors and has made more than 000 investments since its creation in 163, intends to continue to democratize the Private Equity asset class, notably through the structuring of innovative investment vehicles, available in Q2002 2.
About NextStage AM :
Independent management company based in Paris, approved by the AMF, NextStage AM, which has cultivated since its foundation in 2002, a philosophy of "entrepreneurs-investors", is one of the pioneers and leaders of innovative and patient development capital in France. . NextStage AM has developed a platform in private equity multi-strategy which represents in terms of outstandings at the end of December 2021, directly and indirectly, more than €6,7 billion. NextStage AM invests in a limited number of medium-sized enterprises (ETM) (77 portfolio companies as of 31/12/21), French and European, innovative and growing, to which it brings entrepreneurial expertise as an investor and a strong operational support (integration of innovation, talents, international, external growth). NextStage AM provides long-term support to these ETMs, unlisted and listed on Alternext and Euronext B and C, which are positioning themselves around the current industrial revolution, its three technological disruptions: digital, environmental innovation, and smart health, and s are based around 4 major cross-cutting fund trends, the Economy on Demand (digital platforms and SaaS), the Industrial Internet (from robots to AI), the Positive Economy (green growth, growth blue, environmental performance), and the Economy of the value of our emotions and the quality of the customer experience. It gives them the means to accelerate their development and their capacity for innovation to become the “Champions” of their markets, both in France and internationally, through organic and/or external growth.
Find the press release in pdf format: 2021 review NextStage AM
Press contacts :
NextStage AM: Jonathan Boudin - jbo@nextstage.com - 01 44 29 99 04
Shan : Alexandre Daudin - alexandre.daudin@shan.fr - 01 44 50 51 76 / Guillaume Duhamel - guillaume.duhamel@shan.fr - 06 13 81 00 92
[1] Source: Preqin; Global Private Equity Report 2022, Bain & Company
[2] Past performance is no guarantee of future performance.