Press release - 27 March 2024
In a majority transaction, Ciclad acquires a stake in Allegro Musique, France's leading provider of home music lessons, enabling a transfer of governance. Allegro Musique was advised by investment bank Largillière Finance.
The deal involves a handover between Jean-Charles Lopez, founder and Chairman since the creation of Allegro Musique in 2004, and 3 key managers, including Hélène Rabéchault, who becomes Managing Director. The other 2 managers, Samy Damak and Wilfrid Billiouw, are also shareholders in the group.
Allegro Musique
The company connects teachers (≈30,000 in its network) with students wishing to benefit from home music and/or singing lessons on a 100% digital platform. Allegro Musique recruits and supports teachers, leads the search for students and manages the relationship, including administrative and tax management, and student follow-up.
Today, Allegro Musique offers four courses (classical, variety, discovery, personalized support) in 3 formulas (12-month subscription, subscription with no time commitment, course books), mainly for children wishing to learn to play an instrument, or for independent students wishing to begin or perfect their playing.
Jean-Charles Lopez and his team have also worked hard to improve the 2005 Borloo Law (50% tax reduction for in-home personal services) with the coming into force in 2022 of the Law on the immediate advance of tax credit (AVIM), which has accelerated the group's growth.
The project
Allegro Musique's development project is based on pursuing organic growth (lowering customer acquisition costs and improving retention) and possibly external growth operations, if this makes sense for the group. The aim is also to support Jean-Charles Lopez in the gradual handover of his company to existing managers and shareholders.
Jean-Charles Lopez, founder of Allegro Musique, comments: “Our collaboration with Ciclad is in perfect harmony with Allegro Musique's values and ambitions, particularly with regard to our commitment to develop in line with the expectations of our students and teachers."
Eric Bruguière and Kenza Cohen from Ciclad add: “We're delighted to be working with such a friendly, high-quality team. Allegro admirably combines a passion for music with exceptional operational performance. We look forward to building this new phase of growth with Hélène, Jean-Charles, Samy and Wilfrid."
Nicolas Ibanez, Partner at Largillière Finance adds: “As a leader in connecting music teachers with their future students, Allegro Musique is positioned at the crossroads of learning and culture. Allegro Musique is a fast-growing company in its market, and its transfer to Ciclad and its team of associate managers is set to continue, thanks to Ciclad's excellent grasp of the company's DNA. We are delighted to have helped seal this partnership!"
Stakeholders in the operation :
| Investors | |
| Ciclad | Eric Bruguière, Kenza Cohen |
|
Perrine Sauzay, Sarah Sicart |
|
Thomas Claverie, Clément Tastet |
|
Perrine Sauzay, Sarah Sicart, Bertrand Hermant, Thalaa Imadah, Charlotte Moreau, Patricia Volpé, Benoit Philippe, Audrey Freeman, Mathilde Cases |
|
Romain Bury, Casimir Amiot, Louise Rzasa |
|
Sandrine Gimat, Elona Plichon |
| Target: | |
| Allegro Musique | Jean-Charles Lopez, Hélène Rabéchault, Samy Damak, Wilfrid Billiouw |
|
Nicolas Ibanez, Maxime Fournely |
|
Aurélie Bonsch, Nicolas Privat |
|
Stephane Sylvestre, Sophie Tapiero |
|
Thomas Corbineau, Simon Le Rouzic, Olivia Charlier |
| Senior Debt | |
|
Baptiste Cerisier, Farah Zekagh |
|
Bertrand Morisseau, Julie Marchal, Pierre Edouard Sirgue |
|
Laurent Suscosse, Nassim Toumi |
With offices in Paris, Lyon, Nantes, Brussels and Geneva, Largillière Finance is an independent investment bank dedicated to assisting managers and shareholders of small and medium-sized companies with their capital transactions: company sales and acquisitions, financing (capital and/or debt), financial engineering (valuation, etc.) and financial strategy.
