Andera Partners, a leading private equity and mezzanine sponsorless player through its Andera Acto activity, has arranged mezzanine sponsorless financing for the takeover of ENACO Group, a leading player in the French e-learning market, by its founder, Hélène Lejeune. Founded in 2006, Enaco is the leading online business school and offers more than 60 degree courses 100% online, focused on Bac+2 and masters levels and covering the business school’s themes: from finance to marketing, through management and HR, and even real estate. These courses are aimed at different profiles: initial training, continuing education, and professional retraining via Pôle Emploi. Enaco’s positioning allows it to respond to changes in career paths, which have become less linear than in the past, with increasing numbers of people changing careers and returning to school. The relevance of Enaco’s offer has been reinforced by the health context, giving full legitimacy to distance learning.
With more than 200 employees based in the Lille metropolitan area, the Group has trained more than 36,000 students in France and abroad since its creation, with a very strong acceleration in the number of enrollments over the past 3 years. 54% of its enrollees are company employees.The Group attests to a very strong growth in its net sales, which rose from nearly €11M in 2018 to nearly €17M in 2020 and should reach €25M in 2021, driven by the rise in training for company employees and job seekers. The certification as a CFA obtained in 2021 should strengthen Enaco’s value proposition to companies.
The sponsorless transaction allows Hélène Lejeune to offer full liquidity to her minority shareholder Re-Sources and to regain control of the entire capital of her Group. The founder’s ambition is to enrich the range of training courses she offers and to push further the key pedagogical engineering in the quality of distance learning.Il s’agit du 7ième investissement du Fonds ActoMezz IV d’Andera Acto dont le closing unique est intervenu en juillet 2020 à plus de 500 M€.
Commenting on this milestone, Hélène Lejeune said: “I am very proud of this transaction with Andera Acto and the bright prospects it opens for ENACO. Our vision of education is common and we are aligned on the values of service, innovation and excellence. My goal is to accelerate ENACO’s presence in France and internationally by pursuing our mission: to promote access to education for all. I am also fortunate to have an exceptional team, all dedicated to their mission, and who share this great ambition!”
Stéphane Bergez, Head of Andera Acto adds: “The spotlight has been on the online training sector throughout 2021. In this context, we are pleased and proud that Hélène Lejeune has chosen our team for the new phase of acceleration and structuring of her group. The DNA of Andera Acto’s sponsorless operations is perfectly illustrated in Hélène: performance, ambition, a strong desire to improve and the importance of exchange and human values. With Andera Acto, Hélène has the means to take Enaco even further.”
Mathieu Billoir, Managing Partner of Re-Sources Capital, said: “We are very happy to have been able to accompany Hélène Lejeune and her teams in this beautiful trajectory of performance and growth in a rapidly changing market. I sincerely thank her for this exceptional journey together, and I am convinced that, alongside Andera, Enaco will write a new page in its history “faster, higher, stronger”.
