In brief: Omnes sheds buyouts to focus on sustainability

It’s rare to see a PE firm throw in the towel when it comes to leveraged buyouts. Paris-headquartered Omnes Capital has decided to do just this: the firm, which spun out of Crédit Agricole Private Equity in 2012, said this week it had sold its buyout activities as part of its move to focus more on sustainable investment and energy transition strategies.

Details of the arrangement, which have been ongoing since early 2022, have been reported in the French business press over the past year. A spokesperson for the firm confirmed to affiliate publication Private Equity International that French-listed IDI, which is taking a minority stake in Omnes of more than 40 percent, has acquired Omnes’ buyout and private debt businesses. The spokesperson declined to give further details, but according to a report in French-language Les Echoes, Omnes’ growth capital and buyout activities will be housed in a unit called IdiCo with roughly €1 billion in AUM.

Omnes’ business lines are now arranged across four strategies: VC, sustainable cities, renewable energy and co-investments. The firm also confirmed yesterday that chief executive Fabien Prévost is stepping aside after almost two decades in the role. Prévost becomes chairman and CIO, with former infrastructure managing partner Serge Savasta taking over as CEO. Savasta will oversee a firm that wants to more than double its AUM to €10 billion “in the medium term”, mainly by expanding its activities internationally.