Leader Group strengthens its position with the acquisition of Canadian company C.E.T Group
Paris, October 30, 2024.
Leader Group, supported by GENEO Capital Entrepreneur since September 2021, announces its strategic alliance with C.E.T. Group. This significant merger strengthens their expertise in firefighting and continues to accelerate their growth.
Founded in 1985 in Le Havre, France, Leader Group, under the management of Miguel Ferreira, is recognized worldwide as a key player in the design and manufacture of high-tech fire-fighting and rescue products, designed to protect and save lives and property. With a strong international presence, the Group has 4 industrial sites in France, the United States and Austria, and 3 sales subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and China.
Based in Pierreville, Province of Quebec, Canada (near Montreal), C.E.T. has been designing and manufacturing portable fire pumps and foam systems for over 100 years. Founded in 1908 by the great-grandfather of current CEO Stéphane Thibault, the company is one of North America's leading manufacturers of fire-fighting equipment, with a product range that includes 40 models of portable and stationary fire pumps, foam systems and light fire-fighting vehicles. Today, the company exports its equipment to over 40 countries worldwide.
The merger of C.E.T. and Leader Group is of obvious strategic interest: the complementary nature of the two entities in the geographic development project will enable Leader Group to strengthen its international positioning.
Stéphane Thibault (President), Michael Vouligny (Vice President Finance and Operations) and their teams join Leader Group, with the shared aim of consolidating the Group's international position by offering reliable, high-tech products and equipment, thus ensuring an additional source of innovation within the Group and a strong complementarity.
"I'm delighted to welcome a top-quality team led by Stéphane and Michael, with whom we share common values and ambitions, and the same vision of the market and its evolution. Leader and C.E.T. are complementary, enabling us both to strengthen our product range and to be as close as possible to our customers' expectations. The synergies are numerous and will enable us to penetrate new markets. This merger is in line with the actions we have undertaken over the last three years to support our growth and ensure the long-term future of our group, and it is thanks to GENEO's support that we have been able to complete this operation within a short timeframe". Miguel Ferreira, Leader Group CEO
"It's a great opportunity for Michael and me to join the Leader Group family. It was important for us to become part of a group with family roots. In fact, all our employees received the news positively, due to the philosophical closeness of the two entities. With this alliance, we look forward to the continued development of CET worldwide.Stéphane Thibaut, founder of C.E.T.
"We are delighted to have played a part in bringing Leader and C.E.T. together. Since our acquisition of a stake in Leader, the Group has continued to pursue its growth dynamic, while at the same time implementing ambitious and structuring strategic projects. Thanks to this strategic alliance, Leader Group is strengthening its territorial anchorage in North America, one of the major axes of the Growth Log we identified with management". Marc Dupuy, Managing Partner at GENEO Capital Entrepreneur
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About GENEO Capital Entrepreneur:
GENEO Capital Entrepreneur's raison d'être is to provide the real economy with positive finance that reconciles performance and meaning.
Designed to unlock the potential for value creation, job creation and impact of SMEs and ETIs, GENEO Capital Entrepreneur has nearly 560 million euros under management. In particular, it manages the "evergreen" investment company GENEO Capital, whose capital is majority-owned by families and entrepreneurs. GENEO provides tailor-made capital that adapts to the pace of each company, offering responsiveness and flexibility.
As a business partner and mission-driven company, GENEO mobilizes all its teams, including specialized business partners (external growth, liability structuring, positive impact, digital and innovation), to support the execution of structuring, growth and transformation projects. It also boasts a platform of over 70 independent experts and a Community of more than 220 families and entrepreneurs, providing a unique opportunity to share experience and build a business network unmatched in France. The terms of this operational support are tailored to the specific needs of each company and formalized jointly by the GENEO team, the management team and the company's other shareholders in a "Carnet de croissance".
Passionate about those who make, create and want to move the lines, the GENEO team's sole ambition is to take each entrepreneur's ambition to the highest level.
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Contacts GENEO Capital Entrepreneur :
Marc Dupuy, Associate Director: marc@geneocapitalentrepreneur.com
Ophélie Diss, Investment Officer: ophelie@geneocapitalentrepreneur.com