Cobepa selling its stake in Babilou

Antin entered into exclusive negotiations with Cobepa in mid-August. The French fund is set to purchase the shares of Cobepa (20%) and Société Générale Capital Partenaires, with a view to becoming Babilou majority shareholder. Babilou would then be valued at between €1 and €1.5 billion.  

This situation is the result of the auction process entrusted to JP Morgan by the current shareholders of the Babilou, led by the founders Edouard and Rodolphe Carle, who are preparing to relinquish the position as the original shareholders.  

Babilou operates day nurseries in large companies and for local communities. Well-known names such as L'Oréal, Renault, Alstom, IBM, KPMG and Nestlé are on its client list. Seven years ago, Babilou was predominantly French and had a turnover of €150 million. Since then, the group has become considerably more international. It is presently also active in Germany, Switzerland, Dubai, the United States, Asia and Latin America, managing a total of 800 nurseries.  

Cobepa is not the only Belgian investor to see opportunities in nurseries. At the start of the year, the Ergon investment fund took a majority stake in Dutch daycare group CompaNanny. 

Edited by Ramata Diallo