As part of its 5th round of financing, Paprec, the French leader in recycling, welcomes a new reference shareholder, Vauban Infrastructure Partners, an affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers specializing in equity infrastructure investments. The Crédit Agricole Group also becomes a shareholder, joining Paprec's long-standing French shareholders: Bpifrance, BNPP and Arkea. The shareholders' objective is to provide long term support to the family – still the majority shareholder – and to reinforce the group's proactive growth policy.

Founded in 1994, Paprec has just passed the €2.2 billion mark in sales in 2021 and should exceed €2.5 billion by the end of 2022 with 12,500 employees. "We aim to double this turnover in the next ten years to reach five billion euros and 30,000 employees," reveals Jean-Luc Petithuguenin, the company's founding president. "To achieve this, we have just completed a fifth round of financing, enabling us to rely on financial partners ready to support us over the long term”.

Vauban Infrastructure Partners (acting through investment funds under management) and the Crédit Agricole Group are thus entering the capital of the French leader in recycling. They join Bpifrance, BNPP and Arkea, three major French banks, to support Paprec and the family in its growth ambitions.

With this new round of financing, 326 million euros of capital increases will have been completed over the 2021 and 2022 fiscal years, bringing the group's equity to over 800 million euros.

Investment funds managed by Vauban Infrastructure Partners thus become the second shareholder of the Paprec Group. Gwenola Chambon, Managing Director and founding partner of Vauban, said: "We are particularly pleased to become shareholders of the Paprec Group alongside the Petithuguenin family and leading financial shareholders such as Bpifrance, and to contribute from now on to the long-term development of this emblematic company of the circular economy. Paprec masters, through its know-how and its portfolio of waste sorting, treatment and recovery assets, all the components needed to provide this essential service to communities."

On this occasion, Société Générale and Crédit Mutuel sold their shares. "I would like to thank these two banks for their support since 2012," says Jean-Luc Petithuguenin. "They have participated in our success and will continue to finance us in the future as lending bankers."

The founder of Paprec thanks all his shareholders for their loyalty. Some of them, such as Bpifrance, Arkea and BNPP, have been with the company for over a decade. He emphasizes that Bpifrance has helped create the French leader in recycling, number three in waste management and energy recovery, by enabling it to grow from 750 million to 2.2 billion in sales in twelve years, from 3,500 to 12,500 employees and to make more than one billion euros in industrial investments in its plants in France over this period.

The Petithuguenin family, supported by Arkea, the partner chosen by the family for the controlling holding company, remains the majority shareholder and guarantor of the long-term strategy desired by the family. "Paprec's success is proof that it is possible to build a company that participates in the decarbonization of the economy and the preservation of natural resources over the long term," emphasizes Jean-Luc Petithuguenin. "This long-term vision is the prerogative of large family-owned companies. I would like to thank these major financial shareholders who are supporting us in this transformation and in our success: they are wonderful!”

This new round of financing is part of a long-term vision and aims to support the period of transmission to the new generation. "Indeed, my objective is to hand over the company completely to two of my sons within the next five years," explains Jean-Luc Petithuguenin. Sébastien Petithuguenin, 44, is currently Managing Director. He has been with Paprec for 20 years. Mathieu Petithuguenin, 37, is Deputy Managing Director and has been with the recycling leader for ten years. It is this project that seduced For Talents Transmission (managed by Matthieu Leclercq, former president of Décathlon), which also completes the round table.

"Our financial partners are real players in the group's development strategy. Over the past two decades, they have demonstrated their involvement and confidence in times of growth as well as in more difficult times. I am very pleased with their commitment and the arrival of the Vauban infrastructure fund, which confirms the strategic importance of our businesses in meeting the industrial and climate challenges of this century," comments Sébastien Petithuguenin.

"We are at an important turning point for Paprec, and this fifth round of financing is also intended to accelerate our international expansion, particularly in the United Kingdom, Poland and Spain," reveals Mathieu Petithuguenin.

For Further Reading:
Vauban Infrastructure Partners
Affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers
Société en Commandite par Actions – Limited Partnership by shares
Share capital : €10 076 680.20
Regulated by the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) under n° GP – 19000044
RCS Paris 833 488 778
115 Rue Montmartre 75002 Paris
www.vauban-ip.com

Natixis Investment Managers
RCS Paris 453 952 681
Share Capital: €178 251 690
43 avenue Pierre Mendès France
75013 Paris
www.im.natixis.com

This communication is for information only and is intended for investment service providers or other Professional Clients. The analyses and opinions referenced herein represent the subjective views of the author as referenced unless stated otherwise and are subject to change. There can be no assurance that developments will transpire as may be forecasted in this material.

Copyright © 2022 Natixis Investment Managers S.A. – All rights reserved