{"id":23629,"date":"2025-12-16T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cvs-avocats.com\/?p=23629"},"modified":"2026-02-10T16:42:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T15:42:19","slug":"cornet-vincent-segurel-advises-the-reefer-group-on-its-capital-restructuring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cvs-avocats.com\/en\/cornet-vincent-segurel-advises-the-reefer-group-on-its-capital-restructuring\/","title":{"rendered":"Cornet Vincent Segurel advises The Reefer Group on its capital restructuring"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

This transaction is accompanied by the reinvestment of many long-standing shareholders and a significant increase in management’s stake, which now stands at 19% of the capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This capital restructuring marks a new stage in the development of The Reefer Group, which has a turnover of \u20ac420 million and employs 2,200 people. The transaction comes after a period of strong growth for the group, recently consolidated by two strategic acquisitions: Aubineau in 2024, followed by Paneltex in the United Kingdom, bringing production capacity to 9,000 vehicles per year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amundi Private Equity Funds, a leading investor since 2021, is selling its majority stake to a consortium comprising Ark\u00e9a Capital, \u00c9pop\u00e9e Gestion, and the Cr\u00e9dit Agricole group (via Unexo, Idia Capital Investissement, and Cr\u00e9dit Agricole Normandie).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bpifrance, Caisse d\u2019\u00c9pargne, Normandie Capital, NCI, Normandie Participations, Ouest Croissance, Picardie Investissement, and Sodero are reinvesting alongside four new entrants: Alian Industries, Esfin Gestion, Entrepreneur Invest, and Volney D\u00e9veloppement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The management team, led by Damien Destremau, has significantly strengthened its position with 19% of the capital, up from 15% previously, and now includes more than 60 executive shareholders. An employee share ownership fund (FCPE) will also be set up to involve all employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A multidisciplinary team from the law firm Cornet Vincent S\u00e9gurel, led by Pierre Lamidon, partner, assisted The Reefer Group and the managers with the legal and tax structuring of the transaction and the implementation of the financing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Participants<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Reefer Group:<\/strong> Damien Destremau (CEO)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Acquirers<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Ark\u00e9a Capital:<\/strong> K\u00e9vin Chaigneau, Eric Besson-Damegon, Alban Germain<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Unexo:<\/strong> Edouard Boulan, Pierre-Lo\u00efc Revol, Lauranne Bourvellec, Romain David<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Idia Capital Investissement:<\/strong> Nicolas Lambert, C\u00e9line Arsac, Alexandre Barbe, Jean Lebreton<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Caisse d\u2019Epargne Normandie:<\/strong> Agn\u00e8s Louvet<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • \u00c9pop\u00e9e Gestion:<\/strong> Yoann Malys<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Alian Industries:<\/strong> Julien Legrand<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Bpifrance Investissement:<\/strong> Matthieu Rabeisen, Sarah Leclerc, Vincent Stievenard<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Entrepreneur Invest:<\/strong> Marouane Bahri, Maxime Reynaud<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Esfin Gestion:<\/strong> Patrice Baticle, Nathan Czarnes<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • NCI:<\/strong> St\u00e9phane Kerlo, Laurie P\u00e9ri\u00e9, Fabien Moisan, Yoan Jeusselin<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Normandie Participations:<\/strong> Sandrine Petitjean<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Ouest Croissance:<\/strong> Olivier Philippon, Charline Bonnancy<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Picardie Investissement:<\/strong> S\u00e9bastien Longeaux, Christophe Cardon<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Sodero:<\/strong> Jean-Claude Cobat, Louis Blanchard<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Volney D\u00e9veloppement:<\/strong> Fabien Poirier<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Seller:<\/strong> Amundi Private Equity (Claire Chabrier, Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Labia, Romain Rouge, Ghaiane Hamdadou)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Debt:<\/strong> Cr\u00e9dit Agricole de Normandie, CIC Nord Ouest, Ark\u00e9a Banque Entreprises et Institutionnels, Caisse d\u2019\u00c9pargne de Normandie, Caisse d\u2019Epargne Bretagne Pays de Loire, Banque Populaire Grand Ouest, BNP Paribas<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Advisors<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Lawyer for The Reefer Group and Managers:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u2013 Corporate M&A:<\/strong> Pierre Lamidon, Aur\u00e9lien Bourdais, Pauline Jolivet, Jade Guyader, Bleuen Geffray
    \u2013 Tax law:<\/strong> Pierre Lamidon, Marie Javelle, Lucas Desiles, L\u00e9a Marquilly
    \u2013 Structured finance:<\/strong> Andr\u00e9 Watbot, Aymeric Langanay, Robin Petit<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Selling investors’ lawyers:<\/strong> McDermott Will & Schulte (Marie-Muriel Barthelet, Marcia Sousa Pereira, Gr\u00e9goire Andrieux)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Lawyers for the acquiring investors:<\/strong> Claris Avocats (Manfred No\u00e9, Antoine Gergoy, Arnaud Brun)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Lawyers for the lenders:<\/strong> Agilys Avocats (David Kalfon, Samy Ayad, Perrine Labrusse)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    M&A advisor to the acquirer:<\/strong> Amala Partners (Jad Hariri, Damien Schaff, Paul Jaulin)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Legal, tax, and social due diligence:<\/strong> Lawderis avocats, EY law firm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Financial due diligence: <\/strong>Eight Advisory (Bertrand Perrette, Jean-Baptiste Blanco, Maxime Berlivet, Tristan Fraboule, Yoan Jeusselin)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Strategic due diligence:<\/strong> CP&A Corporate Finance (Pierre-Jean Heissat)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    ESG Due Diligence:<\/strong> Oderis (Radia Benhallam)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Vendor Due Diligence:<\/strong> Oderis (Aur\u00e9lien Vion, Maxime Girard, Benjamin Piquet, Pascal Henry)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Refrigerated vehicle manufacturer The Reefer Group has just completed a new LBO marked by the entry of Ark\u00e9a Capital, Cr\u00e9dit Agricole Group, and \u00c9pop\u00e9e Gestion, which are taking control of the capital.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":22185,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communique","category-communique-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvs-avocats.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvs-avocats.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvs-avocats.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvs-avocats.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvs-avocats.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvs-avocats.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvs-avocats.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvs-avocats.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvs-avocats.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvs-avocats.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}