Paris – October 2nd 2017 – Ardian, the independent private investment company, today announces the sale of its stake in TimeOne, the independent French leader in digital marketing, to Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners’ ActoMezz investment team.

Ralph Ruimy, co-founder of TimeOne, sells its stakes and Sylvain Gross, co-founder of TimeOne, becomes Group CEO. Sylvain Gross and the Group managers strongly increase their stake.

TimeOne was created as a result of the merger of Public-Idées and Place des Leads in 2016, with the support of Ardian Growth. Following the transaction, TimeOne cemented its position as an independent French leader in online marketing in France, with a consolidated turnover of nearly €50 million.

Specialising in data analytics, the company’s activity is structured around three priorities: Content, Data and Technologies. TimeOne covers all stages of the client conversion funnel (reputation, engagement, conversion, re-purchase) via its online marketing solutions: Performance, Mobile, Lead Management Technology, Native, Social, Programmatic and Publishing.

In addition to France, the Group is present in the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, South Africa, Asia, and South America.

Through close collaboration between Ardian Growth and the TimeOne management team, the Group successfully adopted a new identity, integrated technological solutions and developed a complete service offering, while maintaining steady and profitable growth of over 10%.

Sylvain Gross, CEO of TimeOne Group, said: “With the support of Ardian Growth, TimeOne has undergone transformational change. We look forward to working with Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners as TimeOne continues to realise its ambitious growth plans.”

Romain Chiudini, Senior Investment Manager at Ardian Growth, added: “We are pleased to have supported the founding team in the development of TimeOne Group. It was an important stage in which we played a key role as a strategic partner. As ever, it was also important to us that the management team had the right resources to maintain the company’s growth dynamic after the sale, which will certainly be the case with a partner like Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners.”

Ralph Ruimy, co-founder of TimeOne said: “I’m delighted to sell my stake to leading investors as Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners and wish every success to my former partners and colleagues.”

Arnaud Faure, Deputy Director at ActoMezz within Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners, added: “We are convinced that TimeOne has the strong basis needed to pursue its development in France but also abroad. Its Data Marketing Platform, unique technological expertise across all its activities, and its numerous innovations have propelled the company to become a leader within the digital marketing sector. Together with the management, our ambition is to grow the turnover to over €70 million in four years.”

ABOUT TIMEONE

TimeOne is an innovative Marketing Services group. The Group’s activities are structured around three priorities: Content – Data – Technologies. By combining expertise in content creation, machine learning, prescriptive marketing, performance and real-time activation, TimeOne is adding new value to media. With a well-established reputation in prescriptive marketing and a common technological base (DMP), TimeOne is founded on strong innovation made possible through its substantial Research and Development activity. TimeOne covers all online marketing solutions: Performance, Mobile, Lead Management Technology, Native, Social, Programmatic and Publishing. The Group is present in France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, South Africa, Asia and South America.

https://www.timeonegroup.com/

ABOUT EDMOND DE ROTHSCHILD INVESTMENT PARTNERS

About Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners

Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners, a leading firm in the area of unlisted investment, manages over €1.8bn in life sciences (BioDiscovery), growth capital and succession (Winch Capital for mid caps and Cabestan Capital for small caps) and mezzanine financing (ActoMezz).
Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners will continue to raise funds in its current segments, soon bringing its assets under management to more than €2bn. Based in Paris, Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners is a firm with 58 employees of which 40 are investment professionals. It is 51% owned by the Edmond de Rothschild Group and 49% owned by the management company’s partners and employees.

ABOUT ACTOMEZZ

ActoMezz is a team of eight investors who support via mezzanine and minority capital (i) the management teams of French small-mid-cap SMEs valued between €15m and €200m in their efforts to take over the majority shareholding of their company (sponsorless transaction) or in the financing of their development and (ii) investment funds via mezzanine sponsor transactions. With €700m under management, ActoMezz has carried out 37 transactions since its creation in 2006 and invests €5m to €45m per transaction.

www.edrip.fr

ABOUT ARDIAN

Ardian, founded in 1996 and led by Dominique Senequier, is an independent private investment company with assets of US$65bn managed or advised in Europe, North America and Asia. The company, which is majority- owned by its employees, keeps entrepreneurship at its heart and delivers investment performance to its global investors while fuelling growth in economies across the world. Ardian’s investment process embodies three values: excellence, loyalty and entrepreneurship. Ardian maintains a truly global network, with more than 470 employees working through twelve offices in Paris, London, Frankfurt, Milan, Madrid, Zurich, New York, San Francisco, Beijing, Singapore, Jersey, Luxembourg. The company offers its 610 investors a diversified choice of funds covering the full range of asset classes, including Ardian Funds of Funds (primary, early secondary and secondary), Ardian Private Debt, Ardian Buyout (including Ardian Mid Cap Buyout Europe & North America, Ardian Expansion, Ardian Growth and Ardian Co-Investment), Ardian Infrastructure, Ardian Real Estate and Ardian Mandates.

www.ardian.com

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

Ardian: Laurent Foata, Romain Chiudini
Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners: Arnaud Faure, Christine Martinovic, Antoine Soucaze
TimeOne: Sylvain Gross, Ralph Ruimy
Banks: LCL (Chloé Fournier, Laurent Suscosse), Crédit du Nord (Pierre Delorme), Caisse Epargne Ile de France (Philippe De Oliveira, Julien Jonasson), BNPP (Hélène Faure, Amélie Roseandrieux, David Eyraud)

Sales advisory:

Investment banker: DC Advisory (François Prioux, Alexis Baron, Timothée Héron)
Lawyers: McDermott Will & Emery (Diana Hund, Marie-Muriel Barthelet, Claire Barra)
Tax: McDermott Will & Emery (Antoine Vergnat, Romain Desmonts)
Financing: McDermott Will & Emery (Pierre-Arnoux Mayoly, Benjamin Briand, Alice Beral)
Social: McDermott Will & Emery (Myrtille Lapuelle)
Financial review: KPMG (Antoine Bernabeu, Guillaume Staal, David Martinet)

Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners Advisors:

Legal: Hogan Lovells (Stéphane Huten, Florian Brechon, Sarah Naidji)
Tax: Hogan Lovells (Bruno Knadjian, Laurent Ragot)
Social: Hogan Lovells (Thierry Meillat, Alexandra Tuil)
Financing: Hogan Lovells (Alexander Premont, Guergana Zabounova, Isabelle Rivallin)
Strategic: Neovian (Patrick Richer, Kevin Bailey)
Financial: ACA Nexia (Hervé Krissi, Olivier Duval, Maxime Grélou)

Banking advisory:

Legal: CBCH Associés (Chukri Serhal, Carole Geara)