SQUAD, a cybersecurity consulting and expertise company, and SCASSI, an expert in the cybersecurity of critical embedded systems, announce their strategic merger and pursue their ambition to become, together, a leading player in the cybersecurity market in Europe
With SCASSI’s acquisition, the SQUAD Group – a French leader in cybersecurity with €100 million in sales and 850 employees – pursues its development plan launched in December 2020, with the aim of becoming a European leader in cybersecurity by the end of 2026.
Alongside SQUAD, SCASSI, a company founded in 2005 by Laurent Pelud and managed by Pierre Nicolas, is recognized as a leading expert in the cybersecurity of critical and embedded systems. Advised by the investment bank Ryder & Davis, the company aims to accelerate its national and international ‘key account’ sales strategy, investing significantly in its human development while rolling out new offerings. The company will be able to draw on the support of SQUAD’s 10 local offices (Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux, Aix-en-Provence, Sophia Antipolis, Toulouse, Nantes, Rennes, Montreal and Geneva).
“SCASSI, the Group’s second acquisition, strengthens our 360° offering and enables us to further enhance our expertise through audit and consulting services” comments Marc Brua, co-founder and CEO of SQUAD. “Both our offerings and our teams’ skills are complementary. As a result, this merger is a major asset in the company’s development and in the way we position ourselves towards our customers. From now on, we can support them in all their cyber issues and provide all sorts of services.”
The arrival of SCASSI within SQUAD extends the scope of the existing cybersecurity services. SQUAD now has the capacity to provide the full range of cybersecurity services, from 24/7 managed services to cybersecurity audits of IT and OT issues, complementing the Group’s existing services in strategic consulting, architecture, solutions integration, incident detection and response, penetration testing, application security, DevSecOps and solutions operation. Strategically, this acquisition will also result in SCASSI’s Managing Director, Pierre NICOLAS, taking a share in SQUAD. He will also join the SQUAD Group Management Board. Pierre Nicolas, CEO of SCASSI, comments: “This merger will enable us to affirm our status as a key player in terms of PASSI certified LPM staff, with more than 35 consultants certified, and to develop our business in the industrial cybersecurity and embedded systems market”
The SQUAD Group, comprising SQUAD, NEWLODE and SCASSI, already works for more than half of the CAC 40 and SBF 120 companies. With this acquisition, the SQUAD Group will expand its entire business in Spain with the support its new subsidiary, SCASSI CIBERSEGURIDAD.
Advisors on the transaction:
Abenex: Matthieu Balaÿ, Albin Crosnier
Squad: Eric Guillerm, Marc Brua, David Gomez, Julien Nehmé
Scassi: Pierre Nicolas
Squad advisors
- Legal – Corporate: PGA (Raphaël Piotraut, Tristan Boisdron)
- Legal DD: PGA (Raphaël Piotraut, Tristan Boisdron)
- Tax DD: Arsene Taxand (Alexandre Rocchi, Anne-Sophie Barriere)
Financing
- Banks – Agent / Coordinator: LCL (David Paquin)
- Banks – Participants: Crédit Agricole Mutuel Alpes Provence, La Banque Postale, Bred Banque Populaire, Crédit Industriel et Commercial
- Private Debt: Amundi (Virgile Viard, Antoine Renault)
- Legal – Borrower: MWE (Pierre-Arnoux Mayoly, Stanislas Chenu, Salomé Belhassen, Clarisse De Roux)
- Legal – Banks: Volt (Alexandre Tron, Georges Tchikaidze)
Scassi & sell-side advisors
- Seller: Laurent Pelud
- M&A advisor (seller): Ryder & Davis (Alexis Delb, Pierre Paumier, Adrien Gourmellet)
- Legal – Corporate (seller): EY-Ventury (Cecilia Nervo, Nicolas Ivaldi)
- Legal – Corporate (management): Delsol (Mayeul Brac de La Perrière)
- Financial VDD: KPMG (Antoine Bernabeu, Guillaume Leclercq, Léo Chevalier)
