Four major Northern American groups have reportedly submitted a preliminary offer for Foncia, a French asset manager valued at some €2 bn.
According to French press reports, US asset management giant Blackstone, as well as three major investors from Canada, Caisse des dépôts du Québec in joint venture with Suisse Partners Group, pension fund PSP Investments in partnership with LBO and Onex together with Ardian are vying for the French platform, which is being sold by owners Bridgepoint and Eurazeo.
UK-based Bridgepoint partnered with Paris-listed Eurazeo in 2010 to acquire Foncia from France's banking giant BPCE in a deal valuing the business at €1 bn.
Foncia has a network of more than 600 branches run by nearly 7,000 employees. It operates in France, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium, and offers a complete range of services for the residential real estate market: lease management, joint property management, sales advice, financing research, insurance and technical diagnoses.
It posted a turnover of €696 mln in 2015, up 17% year-on-year, as well as a 50% growth in Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation, which reached €132 mln last year.
Last month Foncia also announced that it had entered into exclusive negotiations with Icade for the acquisition of Icade Property Management (IPM), which currently services 6.2 million m2 of commercial and residential real estate.
