De Pardieu Brocas Maffei has advised Groupe Familial Fribourg and Colombus Holding on a reorganization of Columbus Holding’s long-term shareholder base, set-up in October 2015 by Michaël Fribourg and Chargeurs’ reference shareholder since that date.
Following this capital reorganisation:
- Groupe Familial Fribourg is now Colombus Holding’s controlling shareholder;
- Groupama, a French mutual insurance group, has become a shareholder of Colombus Holding;
- as well as renewing their investment in the capital of Groupe Familial Fribourg, CM-CIC Investissement and BNP Paribas Développement will also remain shareholders of Colombus Holding
To achieve the reorganization, Groupe Familial Fribourg acquired the Colombus Holding shares held by Effi Invest II and CM-CIC Investissement and BNP Paribas Développement contributed Colombus Holding shares to Groupe Familial
Fribourg in exchange for newly issued Groupe Familial Fribourg shares.
This strengthening of Groupe Familial Fribourg’s capital base with the support of historical institutional shareholders and the new investment by a blue-chip long-term shareholder in the capital of Colombus Holding attests to a high level of confidence in the ability of the Chargeurs Group, a benchmark player in high value-added niche markets, to create significant industrial and shareholder value over the long-term. Colombus Holding does not intend to change its current stake in Chargeurs.
In line with Groupe Familial Fribourg’s management standards and its very long-term strategy of investing to optimize its assets’ operational leverage, the transaction was largely self-financed, without taking on much in the way of debt.