BIG INTERVIEW
With French
FLAIR
Under Nicolas Potier’s stewardship during the past 12 years, France-based reseller Bruneau has more than doubled its top line and become a leading multinational player
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fter being freed from the shackles of its OTTO/3 Suisses masters in early 2015, Bruneau has had three private equity owners, with the most recent transaction closing at the end of 2021. For many, this revolving ownership door might be a sign of turbulent times but, at Bruneau, it has been just the opposite. Far from being a ‘distressed’ target for investors, the operator has been doing rather well, both on the top and bottom lines. This is due, in no small part, to the steady hand of CEO Nicolas Potier, who has successfully transformed the business from a largely France-focused catalogue reseller into a European B2B e-commerce player. OPI’s Andy Braithwaite caught up with the Frenchman to find out more about Bruneau’s recent acquisitions and how the company has been adapting to changing market conditions.
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OPI: It’s been almost six and a half years since we last had a Big Interview with you. The world has changed since then, hasn’t it, and so has Bruneau. Can you provide an overview of the group today? Nicolas Potier: Yes, we’ve undergone several changes of ownership for a start, as you know. When we last spoke for this feature, we had just been acquired by a private equity company, Weinberg Capital Partners. Now we’re owned by TowerBrook Capital Partners. In between, our main shareholder was Equistone.
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OPI: You are clearly quite popular among these private equity companies. They don’t seem to have any trouble selling and buying you! NP: Well, it requires a lot of effort on the management side of the acquired party, but it’s actually quite common in terms of how these financial institutions
operate. The important point is that the number of employees of the group who are now also shareholders has increased tremendously. A few months from now, around 80% of our employees, or at least two-thirds, will be stakeholders in Bruneau. OPI: Interesting. I saw on the Equistone website that the company referred to the transaction with TowerBrook as a secondary MBO. I was wondering what this meant exactly. What’s the rationale behind having employees participating in the firm – was this instigated by you? NP: Yes, it was. I thought it would be a good idea to involve more of our employees in the future and the financial performance of the whole group. In France in particular – which remains our main business unit – we’ve had a successful profit-sharing scheme for many years. But, in addition, we also wanted to encourage staff to invest some of their own money. This started with approximately 120 managers and now we’re expanding it to everyone who wants to be part of the investment. I believe it’s really important everybody is invested as much as possible in the fate of the group from a financial standpoint.
