On 9 march 2017, the GA Group conducted an operation to structure its shareholding. Until then, it had been 60% owned by PWREF I, advised by Aermont Capital, alongside the Group’s employees who held the remaining 40%. At the end of this operation, GA’s employees become 60% majority shareholders, PWREF I transferred its holding and the GA Group welcomed a pool of investors, brought together by IXO Private Equity, to the tune of 40%.
This change of ownership occurs after a 2016 that was very positive for the Group which had a turnover of 230 million euros, compared to 170 million in 2015 (+ 35.3%) and 125 million in 2014.
In 2016, GA had strong commercial growth with the doubling of its order book. Pursuing its strategy of diversification, GA also doubled the activity of its renovation business and achieved its first operations in the field of health. The year was also marked by the delivery of exceptional jobs such as the Thales Campus in Bordeaux, a 60,000-m² property complex developed in 18 months and intended to accommodate more than 2,600 employees of Thales’ airborne and avionics systems activities.
During 2016, the Group’s achievements were also distinguished by various awards. GA was thus awarded the Campus prize at the SIMI Awards and the Grand Prize at the Tekla Global BIM Awards – new world -, for the Thales Bordeaux Campus. GA has also been rewarded twice, at the Green Building Solutions Awards, by receiving the “Best Smart Building” award in the France and world categories, in the framework of COP 22, for its Agua headquarters. These distinctions underline and highlight the commitment of GA in innovation and the implementation of digital and technology solutions in the property business.
At the heart of the success of the GA Groupe, its model of original ownership
GA has always been committed to establishing a model for virtuous ownership, associating all employees who so wished with its capital and this, in conditions of strict equality, regardless of their position in the company.
Having employee shareholders of the Group gives a particular meaning to our action and develops in all of us, commitment, attachment and loyalty to the company. This also allows us to share the value that we are creating together. To ensure the future and success of the group, we have therefore decided to strengthen our ownership model and to go further, with the ambition of controlling our destiny, to ensure our independence and to conduct a long-term action.
To achieve this, the GA group, accompanied by new financial partners, has chosen to make a takeover offer to its shareholder PWREF I, which has agreed to sell its 60% acquired in 2007. The pool of investors is led by iXO Private Equity, the most important independent actor in capital investment in the South of France, and brings together BPI France, BNP Développement, Grand Sud-Ouest Capital and Multicroissance.
Simultaneously, in the framework of a new LBO (Leverage Buy Out), taking the form of an MBO (Management Buy Out), all employees, as well as former employee shareholders, have been invited to invest or reinvest in the company’s capital, according to their choice and their opportunities. Among the Group’s 450 employees, more than half of them, all categories combined, now hold 60% of GA’s capital, with iXO Private Equity and its co-investors holding the remaining 40%.
I would like to thank Aermont capital and in particular Léon Bressler for their benevolent support during these last ten years and I would like to welcome our new shareholders.
