Sofyne Active Technology joins forces with AG Solution

Paris — Sofyne Active Tech­no­logy and AG Solu­tion Group have joined forces with the support of Euro­pean private equity firm Water­land Private Equity. This stra­te­gic part­ner­ship between the two compa­nies specia­li­zing in the digi­tal trans­for­ma­tion of indus­try will enable the crea­tion of a leading Euro­pean IT service provi­der (ESN) to support its indus­trial custo­mers in their Indus­try 4.0 chal­lenges. Sofyne Active Tech­no­logy was foun­ded in 2005 in Lyon by Stéphane Lusoli and today has exten­sive know­ledge in the inte­gra­tion of MES/MOM/PLM soft­ware. This exper­tise enables the company to support inter­na­tio­nal indus­trial groups in the luxury, auto­mo­tive and energy sectors in their digi­tal trans­for­ma­tion to Indus­try 4.0. Sofyne Active Tech­no­logy is present in six Euro­pean count­ries (France, Switz­er­land, United King­dom, Portu­gal, Sweden, Poland) and is now the largest service provi­der for Dassault Systè­mes’ DELMIA APRISO soft­ware in Europe in terms of the number of consul­tants. The company has expe­ri­en­ced strong growth in recent years. AG Solu­tion was foun­ded in Antwerp in 2007 by Eric Billi­ard and Guy D’haese and brings its exper­tise in auto­ma­tion systems, process control, data manage­ment, opera­tio­nal intel­li­gence, MES/MOM solu­ti­ons, arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence, IT infra­struc­tures and OT secu­rity to indus­tries such as phar­maceu­ti­cals, chemi­cals, food and beverage and waste-to-energy. The company has 13 loca­ti­ons, eleven of which are in Europe (Belgium, Spain, France, the Nether­lands, Germany, Ukraine, Portu­gal) and two in the USA (New York, Hous­ton). As part of this Euro­pean part­ner­ship, the two compa­nies, opera­ting toge­ther under the name SAPHIR, are reaf­fir­ming their goal of beco­ming a leader in Indus­try 4.0 by 2030. The newly foun­ded group intends to acce­le­rate its inter­na­tio­nal expan­sion and also grow inor­ga­ni­cally. “Six months after Waterland’s entry, we have reached an important first mile­stone in our ambi­tion to become a Euro­pean market leader in the digi­tal trans­for­ma­tion of indus­try. Toge­ther, Sofyne Active Tech­no­logy and AG Solu­tion have a powerful team of over 400 engi­neers and consul­tants. By provi­ding our custo­mers with high-quality know­ledge, advice and services, toge­ther we will meet the incre­asingly complex requi­re­ments of Indus­try 4.0,” explains Stéphane Lusoli, CEO of Sofyne Active Tech­no­logy. “Follo­wing the success of our manage­ment buy-out two years ago, this colla­bo­ra­tion with Sofyne Active Tech­no­logy is a decisive step towards reali­zing our Vision 2030 and will enable us to offer our indus­trial custo­mers an even broa­der range of value-adding services in the MOM sector. We will also add auto­ma­tion, opera­tio­nal intel­li­gence and MES/MOM for cyber­se­cu­rity solu­ti­ons to Sofyne Active Technology’s offe­ring,” says Eric Billi­ard, CEO of AG Solu­tion.

“We are convin­ced of the stra­te­gic importance of this part­ner­ship. That is why we are commit­ted to support­ing Sofyne Active Tech­no­logy and AG Solu­tion throug­hout this trans­for­ma­tive project. This merger will bring real added value to both compa­nies’ clients, new service offe­rings and grea­ter exper­tise to meet the chal­lenges of digi­tal trans­for­ma­tion,” commen­ted Louis Huetz, Part­ner, and Pierre Naftal­ski, Invest­ment Direc­tor at Water­land.

Consul­tant Waterland/SAPHIR:

Legal advice: Argo (Henri Nelen, Thomas Van Hoor­nyck, Lena Pepa), AVA Law (Nico­las Valluet, Emeline Pilon), McDer­mott & Emery (Herschel Guez, Julien-Pierre Tannoury, Grégo­ire Andrieux), Mayer Brown (Patrick Teboul, Marion Minard, Antoine Buis­son), Levine Keszler (Serge Levine, Rebecca Zbili), Chevez, Ewin Coe (Alex­andre Terrasse) Finan­cing advice: Eight­Ad­vi­sory (Pieter Wygaerts, Gijs Kriger) Finan­cial due dili­gence: Eight­Ad­vi­sory (Chris­tian Van Craey­velt, Bram de Roo) Commer­cial due dili­gence: Roland Berger (Marie Lê de Narp, Dimi­tri Pierre-Justin) Finan­cing: AccessFi (Julien Pilet)

Consul­tant AG Solution:

Legal advice: Cottyn (Jan Vanders­nickt, Frede­rik Renders), Moore About Sofyne Active Technology

Foun­ded in 2005 in Lyon and specia­li­zing in digi­tal trans­for­ma­tion for indus­try, Sofyne Active Tech­no­logy has estab­lished a presence throug­hout Europe (France, Switz­er­land, UK, Portu­gal, Sweden, Poland). Sofyne Active Tech­no­logy offers a wide range of services to support leading indus­trial compa­nies in various sectors (luxury, auto­mo­tive, energy, etc.) in their digi­tal trans­for­ma­tion towards Indus­try 4.0. The company is parti­cu­larly sought after for its exper­tise in the inte­gra­tion of indus­trial data manage­ment systems. About AG Solution

AG Solu­tion, foun­ded in 2007, specia­li­zes in digi­tal trans­for­ma­tion for indus­try in Europe and the USA (Belgium, Spain, France, Nether­lands, Germany, Ukraine, Portu­gal, USA). AG Solu­tion has a broad custo­mer base in the food and beverage, phar­maceu­ti­cal, energy, chemi­cal indus­tries, among others, and has reco­gni­zed exper­tise in auto­ma­tion systems, process control, data manage­ment, opera­tio­nal intel­li­gence, AI, MES/MOM solu­ti­ons, IT infra­struc­ture and cyber­se­cu­rity. AG Solu­tion supports custo­mers as a stra­te­gic part­ner in the defi­ni­tion of opera­tio­nal envi­ron­ments, project plan­ning and the inte­gra­tion of state-of-the-art tech­no­lo­gies to achieve sustainable added value and measura­ble results.

About Water­land

Water­land is an inde­pen­dent private equity invest­ment company that supports compa­nies in reali­zing their growth plans. With substan­tial finan­cial support and indus­try exper­tise, Water­land enables its port­fo­lio compa­nies to achieve acce­le­ra­ted growth both orga­ni­cally and through acqui­si­ti­ons. Water­land has offices in the Nether­lands (Bussum), Belgium (Antwerp), France (Paris), Germany (Hamburg, Munich), Poland (Warsaw), the UK (London, Manches­ter), Ireland (Dublin), Denmark (Copen­ha­gen), Norway (Oslo), Spain (Barce­lona) and Switz­er­land (Zurich). Curr­ently, appro­xi­m­ately 14 billion euros in equity funds are under manage­ment. Water­land has consis­t­ently outper­for­med with its invest­ments since its incep­tion in 1999. The company ranks fourth globally in the HEC/Dow Jones Private Equity Perfor­mance Ranking (Janu­ary 2023) and seventh among global private equity compa­nies in the Preqin Consis­tent Perfor­mers in Global Private Equity & Venture Capi­tal Report 2022.