A long-standing player in private equity market, Abenex has become in 15 years a leading European small and mid-market player. In 2018, the management company launched the Abenex Croissance activity dedicated to Small-cap transactions. As part of the strong development of its strategy, Abenex is structuring its dedicated team by appointing Thomas Peretti as Partner and promoting Olivier Servant and Angèle France to Director and Manager respectively.
Back to a successful strategy
Launched in 2018 to meet a growing need, Abenex structured its first Croissance fund to support, alongside their managers and teams, the transformation of French SMEs, valued €60m.
As a committed investor, Abenex is convinced that companies have the capacity to generate a positive impact for the economy and mitigate the risks of climate change. Abenex has integrated this commitment into its investment cycle to select the 8 investments that composed the Croissance I portfolio around three investment themes: Health & Wellness, Safety, and Value-Add services.
With a closing of €125m for its first vintage, Abenex is launching the raising of its second fund. To establish its ambitions on this promising strategy, the B-Corp certified management company appoints Thomas Peretti as Partner alongside Christian Dorléac and Paul Bertrand, who have led the investments team since its inception.
Today, made up of 7 professionals, the team also welcomes the promotion of Olivier Servant as Director and Angèle France as Manager.
Nominations to support strategy development
Thomas Peretti is promoted Partner in the Croissance team, which he joined in 2018 as Director while the Small-cap strategy was being launched.
Since joining Abenex as part of the launch of the Small-cap activity, Thomas has contributed to majority investments in Aerow (IT services in digitalization), Inlog (software publisher for the healthcare sector) and Naturellement Gourmand (exited in July 2021), as well as investments in IPSSI (higher education in IT) and Ekoscan Integrity (ultrasonic non-destructive testing for infrastructure).
Thomas started his career in audit, notably with EY, and then spent 10 years in the Trescal LBO (metrology services) in France and in the USA, as deputy CFO of the group and in charge of external growth, where he took part in over 30 international external growth operations.
Thomas graduated from ESCEM in 2004.
Olivier Servant is promoted Director in the Abenex Croissance team, which he joined in 2020 as a Manager.
Olivier was recently taking part of Abenex’s acquisition of a stake in Ekoscan (a company specialized in ultrasonic non-destructive testing of critical infrastructures) in 2022. He was also part of the team involved in the sale of Naturellement Gourmand (a producer of fresh pastries) in 2021.
Olivier graduated from a Master’s degree in Finance & Banking at Paris Dauphine University, and has 10 years’ experience in small-cap investing.
Olivier started his career in 2014 at Turenne Capital in 2014, before joining Siparex’s Paris office in 2016. He took part in several growth capital and LBO transactions, mainly in a primary transaction context, often combined with external growth operations.
Moreover, Olivier is a teacher of private equity as part of the Master 2 program at Paris Dauphine University.
Angèle France is promoted Manager in the Abenex Croissance team after joining Abenex in September 2021 as an Associate.
Angèle, graduated from the ESSEC, took part in the IPSSI group’s acquisition (IT schools) and also was implicated in external growth for Inlog (software publisher for blood transfusion and hospital laboratories).
Angèle began her career in 2015 in the finance department of Hermès, in Singapore and then in Paris, thus developing sector expertise in consumer goods. She then spent 4 years with EY, where she was involved in diverse missions, both for private equity funds and corporate clients.
