Crédit Agricole Private Equity sells its stake in Ocean to Jacques Rivière, Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners and Phillimore

Crédit Agricole Private Equity is selling its minority stake in Ocean to Jacques Rivière, Chairman of the company, Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners and PH2, a fund managed by Phillimore Conseil, within the framework of a secondary LBO.
LCL Régions Développement, a fund managed by Crédit Agricole Private Equity, acquired an equity investment in Ocean in June 2007 on the occasion of the buyout of the company by Jacques Rivière and Jean-Paul Brigot. This investment had two main aims - to allow for the full withdrawal of the company's founder and to support Ocean in its expansion.
Ocean, founded in 2003, has established itself as a leading name in turnkey geolocation solutions for businesses. Based in Clichy in the Paris region, the company offers its own real-time fleet management solution suited to the travelling trades. It has 50 employees and is present across all of France thanks to a network of approved installers. Ocean has 1,500 corporate clients and equips 25,000 vehicles.
During these three years of working together, Ocean has achieved solid sales growth and improved its operating margin significantly. The company has increased its sales by 75% to €9 million (2010 estimate) and achieved a four-fold increase in profitability.
Jacques Rivière, Chairman of Ocean, comments: "We have benefited a great deal from the support given to us by the teams at Crédit Agricole Private Equity. We are now in a perfect position to achieve the ambitious targets we have set ourselves."
Laurent Espic, Partner in the LBO & Expansion team at Crédit Agricole Private Equity, adds: "We are pleased to have worked with Ocean over the last three years, during which the company has consolidated its position. This deal is the result of a constructive partnership and will enable the LCL Régions Développement fund to achieve an internal rate of return of 26%."