Since 2015, Finsecur has been looking for an investor-acquirer due to the downturn in the consumer fire detection market.
In twenty years of existence, Finsecur has known everything, until being taken over by a Chinese shareholder, for lack of having found a partner in France. With 200 employees and a turnover of €40 million, the manufacturer of fire safety equipment falls into the category of innovative companies of intermediate size (EITI or scale-up).
“We had invested a lot and the financial situation of the company deteriorated considerably, but the teams showed a great willingness to turn it around.(…) We chose Jade Bird Fire because he was the only group that wanted to develop the company. The others planned to divide it by activities. Some even wanted to buy us out to eliminate a competitor,’ explained Jacques Lewiner, chairman of the board and co-founder of Finsecur in 2000.
Jade Bird Fire, listed on the Shenzhen stock exchange, wants to make France a base for its development on the Old Continent. This should involve strengthening the French teams. The Chinese investor became a shareholder at more than 67.25%, after also buying the shares of certain minority shareholders. Financed in cash by the buyer, the transaction will significantly clear the debt of the target, which amounted to more than €20 million.
François Yang becomes president of Finsecur and will be accompanied by Stéphane Di Marco, former president of Finsecur and Laurent Pichard, director of R&D, who remain in the capital. The board of directors will be chaired by Jacques Lewiner, co-founder of the company, and will include three members nominated by Jade Bird Fire including Weimin Cai, President of Jade Bird Fire.
The new shareholder has made a financial commitment of 89 million euros to ensure the maintenance of its jobs, accelerate its R&D – 2.5 million annual budget – and support its deployment in France and Europe.
«The contacts started in mid-2019 and it quickly became clear that Jade Bird Fire is a very technical company with great respect for research and training of employees», explains Jacques Lewiner. “It also appeared that significant synergies could be implemented with this group, which wants to develop in Europe, and France is an excellent base.” In exchange, Finsecur, with 2,000 customers and a turnover of 41 million euros in 2019, hopes to exploit its strong potential in China.
Articles cited :
LEs Echos Entrepreneurs – 7 sept. 2020
Le Figaro – 7 sept. 2020
For more information : FINSECUR – https://www.finsecur.com/
JADE BIRD FIRE – https://jbufa.com/