A US-backed consortium has agreed to buy French property company CGIS from its parent, the utilities giant Vivendi. The price is undisclosed, but reported to be between €610m (FFr4bn) and €762m (FFr5bn).
The consortium comprises LBO France (34%), CDC Participations (34%) and Lehman Brothers (27%), while a CGIS management holding company, SIG30, will own the remaining 5%. The buyers won the bidding last month after US investor Colony Capital and its Canadian partner Caisse de Dépôt du Québec pulled out of the race for the company.
CGIS, which is to be renamed, comprises 10 companies and a portfolio of property assets, with a combined balance sheet amounting to €2.6bn (FFr 17bn) and a turnover last year of €1.1bn (FFr 7.5bn).
The package contains some of the best-known corporate names in French real estate, including George V, Sari Developpement and Sari Gestion, as well as engineering firm Coteba, and real estate at La Défense, Levallois-Perret and Boulogne-Billancourt.
Stephane Richard, chief executive officer of the CGIS, will remain as CEO of the new company, which employs 3,800 people.
The sell-off completes Vivendi’s withdrawal from real estate to focus on utilities and communications.
Jerome Guez, an associate at LBO France, said the new shareholders had yet to determine their strategy for the future of the company.
LBO France, a subsidiary of a US leveraged buy-out company, already has a 20% stake in French developer Cogedim, which it acquired two years ago.
