Champeau - Gau

Business Activity

The Champeau Group is the leading French manufacturer of wood roof truss systems used mainly in the construction of residential houses.

Based in Limoges, the Champeau Group has 460 employees and 12 production sites in France.  The Group is present in the following regions: Limousin-Auvergne, Rhône-Alpes, Midi-Pyrénées, Ile-de-France, Languedoc-Roussillon, Pays de la Loire, Aquitaine, and the South West.  With more than 25,000 wooden roofing systems manufactured, the Group anticipates consolidated turnover of €72 million at end of September 2006, representing a double-figure annual growth rate over the last 10 years.

Strategy

Following the LBO led by AXA Private Equity in 2002, the management team carried out a further LBO operation in 2004 in partnership with minority financial investors. The company then wanted to carry out a further operation in 2006 in order to retain a larger shareholding.

By organizing this new LBO, which expresses the reciprocal trust between the company’s management team and the financial investor, the objective of AXA Private Equity is to enable the Group to continue its expansion throughout France, particularly in the Northern and Western regions, by opening new production sites and by acquiring regional players, the market for wooden structural frameworks continuing to be very fragmented. The Champeau Group will also consider opportunities for growth outside France in neighbouring European countries.