Alantra advises Abénex on the sale of Laboratoire Lescuyer to Lehning Group

Sep 2020

Sell-side advisory

Paris – Alantra, a global mid-market investment banking and asset management firm, has advised Abénex, a leading private equity investment player in France, on the sale of Laboratoire Lescuyer, a pioneer in micronutrition specializing in the development and marketing of high-quality food supplements, to the Lehning Group.

Founded by Jean-François Lescuyer in 1994, Laboratoire Lescuyer has established itself as one of the French leaders in dietary supplements with a health promise. Leveraging an experienced R&D team, it sells products developed from natural ingredients, primarily by mail order. The laboratory enjoys a strong reputation among health professionals and the vast majority of new customers come in response to a medical prescription. It achieved nearly €14 million in sales in 2019.

With this transaction, Abénex is selling a company acquired in 2016 through a management buy-in (MBI) with Isabelle de Carmantrand in which Bpifrance and Ouest Croissance also participated. Since then, Laboratoire Lescuyer has undertaken numerous projects, including the launch of new products and clinical studies, the establishment of an in-house medical representatives’ team as well as business development with pharmaceutical wholesalers, the redesign of the brand and the creation of environmentally friendly packaging.

The sale provides full liquidity to the France Transmission fund managed by Abénex, as well as to its co-investors Bpifrance and Ouest Croissance. Isabelle de Carmantrand and the Lescuyer family are reinvesting in the transaction, while the Lehning Group, whose portfolio of natural health solutions is distributed in 40 countries, will leverage on the strong complementarity of the therapeutic areas and distribution channels of the two laboratories, as well as on the digital expertise of Laboratoire Lescuyer.

This transaction reinforces Alantra’s track record in the healthcare sector, where Alantra has completed some fifteen transactions over the last three years, mainly in the field of nursing homes and clinics as well as in consumer health.