In financial difficulties, the listed photo wholesaler is selling its audiovisual and video business to the Magma group, which has revenues of around €12m.
In financial difficulties for the past five years, the wholesaler TechniCinéPhot, a sole subsidiary of the listed holding company Techniline, is refocusing on its historical activity, the distribution of photo products. The SME with around forty employees is selling its “audiovisual” and “video” activities to Altenia Capital, the holding company of the Magma group, at the end of a process orchestrated by Pax Corporate Finance, the sellers’ advisor. The profitable buyer, known under the Hifissimo (shops) and FVS (wholesaler) brands and with revenues of around €60m, is taking over the business and eight employees for an undisclosed amount.
In the Perfectis portfolio
Founded in 1967 and based in Gennevilliers, Techniline has been supported since 2004 by the mid-cap LBO fund Perfectis, which acquired the company’s management, prior to its IPO a year later. The fund, which has just been taken over by HLD (see below), still holds over 40% of the capital and a majority of the voting rights. The listed distributor, led by Nicolas Martineau, had embarked on an external growth strategy to expand its historical business, notably by acquiring the IT wholesaler Phaselys in 2006 (see its profile below).
12 M€ of turnover sold
The divested business – audiovisual and video products for professionals – represents almost a third of TechniCinéPhot’s turnover, which amounted to €38m in 2011, for a net loss of around €800k. “This transaction allows TechniCinéPhot to focus on its historical activity of photography, for which it has real know-how as an importer and distributor,” says Laurent-Bernard Feral, partner at Pax Corporate Finance.