Hoche Avocats advises investment fund Initiative & Finance on its acquisition of a minority stake in the Pébéo group, a worldwide player of the paintings and accessories in the fine arts, creative leisure and artistic awareness industry 

The Pébéo group, based Gémenos for over than a century, is a global player of conception, craft and distribution of paintings and accessories in the fine arts, creative leisure and artistic awareness industry. With production sites located in France, Tunisia, China and a distribution subsidiary in Canada addressing the United States, the group markets its 6,100 references in more than 110 countries.

Created in 1919, the group currently comprises of more than 300 people led by Eric Chaveau, who represents the 3^d generation of the family business. Pébéo managed to continuously reinvent itself to meet the clients’ expectations and widened its products lines, betting on innovation and facing addressing the international demand. The group thus generated a € 40M turnover in 2021, of which 75% for export.

Thanks to the support of its new business partner, Initiative & Finance, the management team wishes to pursue its ambitious development plan, capitalizing on its well-known innovator image in its market field, through its existing domestic and international distribution channels but also via e-commerce. Moreover, with the resources brought by this new financing round, Pébéo intends to emphasize external growth matters in France and abroad.

To perpetuate the family legacy, this transaction is finally an opportunity to start the transition of the group to its 4^th generation, represented by Antoine Chaveau.

About Initiative & Finance: with more than 330 transactions since its creation in 1984, Initiative & Finance is a major French player for assisting small and medium-sized companies and help them transitioning in various ways (management buy-out, owner buy-out, management buy-in, build-up, etc.), with 35 stakes currently in its portfolio. With its € 206M fund Initiative & Finance FPCI III raised in December 2019, Initiative & Finance manages approx. € 400M of equity in the small-cap segment, not to mention its new midcap fund, Tomorrow Private Equity Fund.

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Initiative & Finance’s legal counsel: Hoche Avocats: corporate – Grine Lahreche (partner), Edith Boucaya (partner), Audrey Szultz (associate) and Marie Semaan (associate)

Pébéo’s legal counsel: Lamartine Conseil: corporate – Fabien Mauvais (partner) and Valentine Berquet (associate); tax – Bertrand Hermant (partner) and Nicolas Hugonin (associate); financing – Maryline Pic-Dehongher (partner) and Céline Rapale (associate)

Banks’ legal counsel: Volt Associés: Alexandre Tron (partner), Morgane Le Gallic (associate) and Marianne Phankongsy (associate)

Read the Press Release

Cfnews – 07 february 2022

Capital finance – 07 february 2022

Fiscalonline – 08 february 2022

Le Monde du droit – 10 february 2022