Épopée Gestion and iXO PE announced today that they are co-investing alongside RAISE Invest to acquire a minority stake in Grand Large Yachting, a leading builder of blue-water cruising yachts. This transaction will enable the company to deploy an ambitious industrial plan to increase production capacity and launch new models. At the end of this financing round, which sees the exit of Pechel, management retains a majority stake.
Founded in 2003 by Xavier Desmarest and Stéphan Constance, Grand Large Yachting is a group of French shipyards specializing in the construction of top-of-the-range blue-water cruising yachts. With almost 940 employees in the Grand Ouest and Mediterranean regions, the group brings together six emblematic yacht brands (Outremer, Gunboat, Allures Yachting, Garcia Yachts, RM Yachts and ORC) and has several production units in France alone (Cherbourg, La Rochelle, Lorient, Nantes, Caen, La Grande-Motte, etc.).
After two decades of record growth, fueled by site takeovers and innovation, Grand Large Yachting aims to consolidate its position as market leader in premium blue-water yachts and promote sustainable sailing. To this end, Raise Invest has acquired a stake in the company (announced at the end of September), and two funds with a strong presence in Grand Large Yachting’s territories have joined the financing round: Épopée Gestion for the West of the France, and iXO PE for the South of France.
For Épopée Gestion and iXO PE, this new investment via the Épopée Transitions I and IXO PME 1 funds is directly in line with their strategy supporting ambitious managers committed to a strong ESG approach and creating jobs in the West and South of France. The Group has created more than 900 high value-added jobs, enabling it to export its “made in France” expertise abroad (80% of sales abroad). The ESG approach is also at the heart of the Group’s strategy, with a focus on ecological boat design and the promotion of sustainable sailing.
Aymeric Le Renard, Partner at Épopée Gestion, comments: “We are delighted to support Xavier, Stéphan and Benoît in the next stage of Grand Large Yachting’s development, which begins with the acquisition of the Marsaudon Composites shipyard in Lorient, and marks the group’s entry into Brittany, an emblematic region in the world of sailing.”
Rémi Chériaux, Director of Participations adds: “Grand Large Yachting is a remarkable and exemplary industrial success story, particularly in the Languedoc region. As such, we are very proud to be able to make our contribution in order to pursue, with the management and their teams, a virtuous development trajectory for the region, combining economic performance and meaning for all stakeholders.”
Stéphan Constance, Chairman of Grand Large Yachting: “We are delighted to welcome Épopée Gestion and iXO PE to the group’s board of directors. Their local footprints resonate with our strong involvement in the regions. Our businesses are labor-intensive in terms of production, and our operations are strongly linked to infrastructure, particularly port infrastructure.”
The Épopée Gestion team in charge of the operation
Aymeric Le Renard, Laurent Dumas-Crouzillac
The IXO PE team
Rémi Chériaux, Nicolas Charleux, Pierre-Yves François
Councils involved in the operation
For Épopée Gestion: Gauthier Verdon, Lawyer, TGS France