GET INTERNATIONALISED MORE RAPIDLY

ACQUISITION & FUND RAISING FOR DANISH SME´S

3 March 2010, 8.15 a.m.

Ministry Of Foreign Affairs of Denmark

MORNING PROGRAMME: THE ACQUISITION PROCESS  

8.15  : REGISTRATION                   

8.30: WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION

Head of the Trade Council-Ambassador Jarl Frijs-Madsen and the Trade Attaché Marc Cassagnabère will introduce the seminar, the speakers and the specialist team.

9.00 : INTERNATIONALISATION THROUGH ACQUISITIONS

Finance specialist Albin Jourda will explain how to assess whether acquisitions can be an appropriate strategy for your internationalisation with the right strategic diagnostic.

9.40 : THE COMMERCIAL DUE DILIGENCE

Trade Attaché Marc Cassagnabère will explain how you can benefit from the Trade Council for your target identification and from the specialist team for commercial due diligence. The commercial due diligence aims at gathering strategic information for synergy analysis, a better understanding/valorisation of the target, the negotiation process, the critical review of business plan and the post merger management process.  

10.20 /COFFEE BREAK              

10.30/ THE STRATEGIC VALUE ASSESMENT & VALUE CREATION

Professor of Finance from EM Lyon, Rémy Paliard will explain how to assess critically the potential value in hands of the acquirer and the investment required for a long term growth/sustainable value creation.

11.30 : CHOOSE RIGHT FINANCING FOR ACQUISITION (DEBT, CAPITAL INCREASE, LBO)

Professor of Finance from EM Lyon, Rémy Paliard will explain how to assess the financing of your acquisition with debt, capital increase or LBO.

12.30 / LUNCH

AFTERNOON PROGRAMME: FINANCING YOUR ACQUISITION AND DEVELOPMENT

13.30 / GET IN TOUCH WITH RIGHT DANISH ACTORS FOR FUNDING YOUR ACQUISITION

Strategy Specialist Steen Kaas Andersen from Væksthus Hovedstadsregionen will explain which Danish actors to get in touch with for the financing of your acquisition.

14.30 : INCREASE YOUR CHANCE OF RAISING FUNDS           

Finance specialist Albin Jourda will present how to increase the chance of obtaining capital-risks with a well-defined business plan and the right targeting of investors.

15.00 : DISCUSSION AND INDIVIDUAL MEETINGS WITH THE SPECIALISTS 

Claranor is a french cleantech company which designs and markets industrial systems decontamination by pulsed light used on lines packaging or in the process of manufacture of food products,pharmaceutical, cosmetic and medical. Equipment. Claranor primarily aimed at industry food, pharmaceutical, cosmetics and biomedical which seek to ensure security their microbiological packaging and products.

PRESENTATION

Created in 2004 and managed by Frank Cazalas,  Claranor brings to its customers  specific solutions for disinfection surfaces (packaging, food liquid) without disinfectants chemicals, without radiation. Claranor supplies surface disinfection equipment using pulsed light for the food-processing, pharmaceutical and medical industries. Pulsed light enables to reach disinfection levels up to sterilization on packaging materials (caps, closures, cups, films) and some liquids (sugar syrup).Pulse light benefits are instantaneous, Nonthermal, Zero water consumption, no chemicals, compact, complying with ultraclean, ESL and aseptic requirements, moderate energy costs, easy to integrate on existing production lines.

INNOVATION

Technological innovation property Claranor lies in the use industrial conditions of light impulse (based in Xenon lamps -Emission of light flashes of short duration and intensity of important). The  decontaminating technology properties is due to the action of UV.  Claranor  have technological advances gained from several years on competition in the light pulsed market and control technique technology (hardware platform and knowledge of mechanisms of action).

Claranor use Xenon vapour lamps :

1. producing a short and intense flash of light (300 µsec.),
2. by ionisation of the gas inside the lamp, 
3. obtained by applying very high voltage to the lamp’s terminals (3000 Volts).

The technology of pulsed light  gives decisive advantages comparing existing technologies used in industry (disinfectants, chemicals, radiation, UV continued): reduced investment costs, operating costs divided by 2 to 10 (compared to radiative or chemical treatments), dry processing, compactness, synchronization with production rates, ease of installation, maintenance and use, effective sterilization. 

MARKET 

Claranor main applications is targeting food packaging. The process is also targeting pharmacy or dairy sectors on which sterilization standards are particularly high.

STRATEGY 

Claranor is mainly targeting industrial groups (PEPSI, DANONE, NESTLE,SANOFI, …) with large fleets to be equiped. Distribution channels are  OEM integrators and distributors. Claranor expect to be the leader for decontamination Packaging Extended Shelf Life / Aseptic in 2013 with  revenues of 25 M € and  15% market share .

FINANCIALS

Claranor owned by its founder and controlling shareholder, and by private equity. 

The company just raised 2.6 M€ with Emertec and Amundi private equity.

SOURCES

S3d is a french cleantech company whishing to offer industrialists who “own” fatty by-products, the possibility to process these sources of growth and added value on-site, in keeping with sustainable development principles. Strating form this idea, S3d developed and marketed equipment which enables on-site processing and energy recovery of organic waste. They decide to offer “turnkey” waste recycling equipment in view of producing energy.

PRESENTATION

INNOVATION

S3d offers a fatty by-product energy recovery unit for agri-foodstuff industrialists (slaughterhouses, meat curing plants, prepared meat product plants etc.). The innovative ValorFat process consists in simultaneously producing electricity and heat using vegetable or animal fat. (Valorfat process video).The ValorFat process comes within the framework of a sustainable development approach by contributing to reducing CO2 emissions.

PRESENTATION OF FAT RECYCLING UNIT 

First of all, the fatty by-products are processed to extract the pure fat. It is turned into biofuel by dilution (adding of ethanol) and by emulsification (incorporation of micro-droplets of water in the oil phase). It powers a Diesel engine whose work is converted into electricity by using a generator while heat exchangers enable hot water to be produced. 
Pre-processing the fat favours its combustion, notably thanks to the micro-explosion phenomenon. This leads to a significant decrease in the NOx pollutant and particle emissions. Consequentially, the fouling of the installations is minimal, enabling reduced maintenance and high availability.

Finally, the return on investment of the offered installations is 2 to 6 years depending on the tonnage to be processed.

MARKET 

The company is targeting 3 main applications : 

-Recycling of slaughter by-products 
-Recycling of cooking oil and fat (partly consumed fuel)
-Recycling of flotation fat (agri-foodstuffs industry, catering) 

STRATEGY 

The company has now 14 employees. Tests on the demonstrator are conclusive, and the efficiency rate remains close to that obtained with diesel fuel while NOx and particle emissions are reduced by 80%. The company is now at the commercial stage after validation and technical regulations. The export to Italy, Spain, Belgium and the United Kingdom is ongoing.

FINANCIALS

S3d is a simplified joint stock company with a capital of €478,830. The company raised EUR 470 000 from an industrial holding

SOURCES

SYSTOVI is a french independent manufacturer of solar panels and photovoltaic systems, specialized in BIPV (Building Integrated Photovoltaic).Based in Nantes, SYSTOVI ambition to offer innovating integrated photovoltaic solutions . To establish this strategy SYSTOVI has invested several million euros in an assembly line of cells and the company differentiates itself by designing its own systems integration knowing that most of which are patented.

PRESENTATION

SYSTOVI has put barely a year out its first solar panels at its plant. Based in Nantes and created by three partners, the company announced its first year sales of 4 million euros with 20 employees. The dazzling success of the company is that photovoltaic panels are manufactured in France and are fully integrated into the roof. These solar panels are primarily photovoltaic systems last generation able to produce electricity but also serve as a cover for the roof, insulate the building and enlightening. 

INNOVATION

SYSTOVI innovative system uses photovoltaic cells to silicon German Bosch Solar, natural ventilation, which maintains a temperature of 25 ° C inside the solar panel while guaranteeing perfect airtightness and water. The price of an installation comprising an average score of photovoltaic panels is about  € 21 000. A cost quite affordable if one considers that French legislation strongly encourages the use of integrated panels to the frame with a redemption of electricity price . 

MARKET 

The company is expecting a strong market growth for 2010 with prices down sharply (due to overproduction of silicon). A turnover of 20 million is expected on 2010. 

STRATEGY 

The company launched its first production line in October and announced on 2009, a turnover of 4 million euros. SYSTOVI has already 7 specialised resellers (sanitary, heating, electrical equipment and coverage, renewable energy) in the west of France. The management team wish to cover France  before end of March 2010.

FINANCIALS

Former leaders of Saunier Duval in Nantes, the three founders brought with them two industrials

• Yann Rolland, CEO Bel’m 
• Bruno Hug Larauze CEO MTTM (10% stake),
•  A capital investor Ouest Croissance (27%) 
• The Association of Business Angels Abab (9%). 

SOURCES

Simulating on screen with a 3D image very explicitly, the explosion of a flammable chemical and its impact on the neighborhood is the goal of software developed by the french cleantech company named Sillages Environment. Coached by the public incubator Crealys based in Lyon, the company was created last September by Lionel Soulhac. Lecturer at the Ecole Centrale de Lyon,he is the author of a thesis from which the laboratory of fluid mechanics and acoustics of this institution of higher education has developed software Sirane, already used by six French cities (including Paris, Lyon and Rouen) to model air pollution.

PRESENTATION

Dispersion models of air pollution are already operating to study this phenomenon at large scales, for global monitoring of air quality, across a region for example. Needs exist for a more detailed knowledge at a local level. This is the niche where the company stand. Sillages Environnement was created by Lionel Soulhac, research professor at the Laboratory of Fluid Mechanics and Acoustics, a research unit of Ecole Centrale de Lyon working on turbomachinery and acoustic turbulence and complex flows.

PRODUCT & INNOVATION

Sillages Environnement not deliver data acquisition sites. It will integrate these data to calculate the plume evolution to predict pollutant dispersion. The models will also trace the source of polluting emissions. The model allows to take into account chemicals, toxic or otherwise, of micro biological and even radioactive waste. 

MARKET 

This specific tool is mainly targeting the interest from large companies in many sectors, particularly chemistry, to take into account potential emissions on large sites. But SMEs will occasionally use the expertise of Wakes through an internet service on which the calculation tool will be continually updated. The provision on the Internet, more convenient, less expensive, opening new markets, communities, various institutions, consultancy firms who need a supply point sharper. The provision on the Internet also opens markets without geographic limitation. This software environment allow people in positions of “decision” to understand, visualize and map an area of risk, by ensuring the rigor of scientific data. With this innovation, for example it is possible to anticipate, given the location and exposure to winds from a business developments in a cloud of toxic product.
In the case of a chemical company, the software calculates the risk areas and help to define areas to be protected. It may also be useful in the field of civil protection, for example by simulating the consequences of the explosion of a tanker truck in downtown.

STRATEGY 

Sillages environnement operate under licenses knowledge produced by the laboratory of the Ecole Centrale. The company has four shareholders, Lionel Soulhac, and Patrick Mejean, research engineer at the laboratory, but also Pierre Béal and Emmanuel Buisson, society NUMTECH (Clermont-Ferrand) already specialized in the modeling of atmospheric dispersion. NUMTECH and expand its range of services, alongside its subsidiaries CEIES (study of the health impact) and Weather Measures (Data Acquisition local weather).

Sillages environnement enjoy the support of Crealys, business incubator Rhône-Alpes, and the status of winning the national contest of innovative departmental research in the emerging category.

FINANCIALS

At a time when it is increasingly difficult to accept such facilities by local residents, these solutions are valuable for educational work among the population, but also to lessen the disadvantages. They can also be used to build scenarios for intervention relief. Prospects are promising for a start-up, which started with two employees and 25,000 euros in capital.

SOURCES

Ecole Centrale de Lyon

Crealys

ENVOLURE offers innovative eco-analysis services for producers and managers of effluents, wastewater and organic waste, leveraging a combined use of microplates and a fluorescence-based detection system to determine the potential value of waste as well as to evaluate environmental performance.

PRESENTATION

Created by Yves Dudal and Nathalie Pautremat, Envolure is a project of entrepreneurship that focuses on developing simple and rapid tests for diagnosis of environmental performance of waste, water and organic waste. This project promotes two technologies from public research with a patent filed by the laboratory “Climate, Soil and Environment of INRA Avignon. Yves Dudal were interested in dissolved organic matter soils, including those from spraying (sludge treatment plants, agro-industrial effluent or livestock, compost …). In 2001, no chemical analysis were able to identify the molecules present in these highly complex mixtures whose composition varies all the time. Regarding this situation, he had the following idea: rather than measuring molecules present but rather what they can do in the environment, how they react to bacteria, enzymes, pollutants, soil …. With financial support from the department Environment and Agronomy “of INRA, the initial results indicate a potential promising economic recovery. In 2004, a test is developed with three major assets: a microplate format, which allows simultaneous processing of multiple samples, one system of fluorescence detection and short time analysis. The recovery services from INRA and its subsidiary INRA Transfert is mobilized and a patent entitled “Process for determining the biogeochemical reactivity of a sample of aqueous organic matter is deposited in France in 2005, with a European extension, soon the following year. The Envolure solution is based on a unique microplate technique (96 simultaneous operations) offering a wide range of analysis. 

PRODUCT & INNOVATION

The work done by the Envolure team has led to the declination of an offer in two products: 
- The extent of biodegradability of organic mixtures (sewage sludge, compost …) in connection with the BOD5 (Biological Oxygen Demand over 5 days), a technical parameter routinely measured in biological treatments or in connection with the potential to characterize the methane potential energy waste. 
- Measurement of volatile fatty acids (VFA): parameter closely followed in the treatment of anaerobic digestion. 

This innovative eco analysis saves valuable time for the industry which will drive its biological treatment so much fine. For example, while it currently takes between 60 and 90 days for a measurement of potential methane by conventional methods, less than 24 hours will be required to obtain a response with these new measures. For VFA, the response times increase from several days to minutes. 

MARKET 

The market analysis is particularly targeting key players in water sector, businesses that provide treatment of effluent but also to manufacturers of analytical kits-biomedical – interested in learning about the niche of environment. Envolure will soon be able to offer its customers a range of tests or kits to accompany and help to steer and size their biological processes. 

STRATEGY 

Demonstration projects are undertaken to convince the industrial relevance and appropriateness of the proposed analysis. A project specifically on the characterization of effluents from the food industry is currently being assembled, viewed through funding by the Languedoc-Roussillon. If some partners have already identified, the project is open to other manufacturers, including dairy. This is for the companies involved to benefit analysis for 1 year and provide feedback to enable an assessment of the relevance of the proposed eco analysis.

SOURCES

INRA 

Envolure

Founded in March 2009, Noveol is a French cleantech company that designs and markets a new type of vertical axis wind and innovative design: the nov’éolienne. From 1 to 10 kW, roof or mast, Nov’éolienne is the meeting of art and technology, and its small dimensions make it particularly suitable for domestic consumption, including in urban areas. It is quiet, aesthetic and high performance.

PRESENTATION

The company was founded  by Maximilien Petitgenet and Abdennour Rahmani, while engineering students to ENSMA (Ecole Nationale Superieure de Mecanique et d’aérotechnique). Both were keenly interested in technologies related to renewable energy and particularly attracted by the vertical axis windmill. The project will be realized two years later by the creation of the company Noveol. The Nov’éolienne has been patented and extensively tested in recent years and several prototypes are underway. The company  innovated by introducing a good carbon balance. In direct competition with models from Asia, the brand mentioned that its French Nov’éoliennes is made in France  and underline that most materials are mostly recycled.

PRODUCT & INNOVATION

The company developed two types of models intended for two types of contract: 
- The Model Family is the main destination for individuals: annual production of 3500kWh corresponds to the electricity needs of an average household of 4 persons in France (excluding heating). 
- The collective model is rather intended to communities, developers, developers. It can easily fit into a proposed eco-neighborhood or home consumption low. 
Noveol technology has been patented and works by every wind (vertical axis geometry improved patent for operation by the wind, swirling and even omni-directional). The concept has been validated by the laboratories of the Ecole Nationale Superior of Mechanics and Aviation technology, due to wind tunnel tests. In terms of safe operation: energy production is under constant surveillance: in case of strong wind, the Nov’éolienne stops itself. Noveol believes that maintaining near-zero (one response every 4 years). The product also benefits from an intelligent control system (Operating parameters adjusted continuously by an intelligent control board) 

Technical Data 
Models: Family / Collective 
Power handling (15m / s) 2kW / 6kW 
Rotor dimensions 3 x 1.7 meters / 6 x 3 meters 
Dimensions of the pole 6 to 12 meters / 9 to 15 meters 
Startup Speed 3 m / s / 3 m / s 
Speed off 20 m / s / 20 m / s 
Estimated life 30 years / 30 years 
Annual production averaged 3 500 kWh / 10 000 kWh 

MARKET

The market for domestic wind is booming. Nov’éolienne is a vertical axis wind turbine design aesthetic. Its small dimensions make it particularly suitable for domestic consumption, including in rural urbain. Today, 60% of the French wish the development of these small wind turbines at home, and this results in an important development, especially to Noveol through a rapid export in the European territory. 

STRATEGY

To recruit its first customers, Noveol thinks first rely on their own teams before then allied to a major French operators of the wind. The company focuses primarily target communities and tertiary institutions as well as individuals. A first prototype has just been inaugurated in November 2009. Co-funded by Novéol, Soregies Foundation and Poitiers University, this prototype is now located and visible at the University Botanical Garden (site of Deffend) at Mignaloux Beauvoir. The company intends to market its first prototype by mid-2010.

SOURCE 

PCAS is a french company, worldwide leader in commercial scale pharmaceutical synthesis and fine and specialty chemical manufacturing. The company has developed a silica aerogel material (ISOGEL) which can be used as high performance insulating material in various industries like Construction Materials, Aeronautics, and so on. Aerogel is a silicon-based substance called frozen smoke or blue smoke. It is composed of 99.8% air and is a stiff foam with a density of 3 mg per cm3, which makes it the world’s lowest-density solid.

From PHARMA CHEMISTRY to INSULATION

PCAS is a listed group on the Paris Stockmarket. As a leading fine chemical company, PCAS operates eight chemical plants in Europe and North America and offers world-class services related to the process development and manufacturing of multi-step, complex organic chemicals from kilolab to multi-ton scale. PCAS provides services for the pharmaceutical, flavor and fragrance, cosmetic, and industrial market sectors. The company moved part of its expertise to insulation by  developing a silica aerogel material (ISOGEL) which can be used as very high performance insulating material in various industries

ISOGEL : EXCEPTIONAL INSULATING PROPERTIES

Isogel material insulation is a unique cleantech innovation which could be developed in the construction industry. Indeed, Isogel is an aero silica gel with exceptional insulating properties (thermal and sound). Aerogels are nanoporous solids formed from tetra-ethoxysilane.According to PCAS, as a powder,  Isogel thermal conductivity is 15 to 20mW/mk. This material is more insulating than air (25 mW/mK) or glass wool (40mW/mK). PCAS has developed a method to obtain a powder with a particle size of several hundreds of microns or a blanket, a fibrous material, nonwoven, impregnated sol gel and then subjected to evaporation.

APPLICATIONS

PCAS is expecting several applications in the frontage, the floor insulation or integrating Isogel in the current insulation materials such as polystyrene.

STRATEGY

PCAS will spin off this new business with the aim is to forge partnerships and financial industry to develop a process for large scale production. So far, the manufacturing cost was too high to compete with existing materials but new environmental requirements should allow the development of new materials. PCAS invest approximately 12 million euros per year in R&D of which about three quarters are dedicated to Pharmaceutical Synthesis and a quarter to Fine and Speciality Chemicals.

SOURCE`

PCAS 

Entropy is a software solution for energy management of data centers. It can dynamically manage applications for virtualized data centers to optimize their operations and reduce their energy consumption. This software solution has been developed by Fabien Hermenier and Jean Marc Menau from the Ecole des Mines de Nantes.

DATACENTER : A GROWING ENERGY CONSUMER

On the last year, 1 to 2% of global electricity production has been consumed by data centers, which employ 30 to 60% of their consumption to cool their servers. Indeed, according to the operations or the density of information requested, the heat dissipation can range from simple to triple. The threat of overheating in these data centers, which impedes the proper hardware and operating system, is a constant concern of administrators.  The growing number of Internet users, access terminals, increased data availability and the emergence of new uses such as cloud computing are all reasons for manufacturers to ensure control of the energy footprint of their centers data, both to limit the environmental impact to maintain optimal competitiveness thereof. 

ENTROPY : ALLOCATE RESSOURCES & MINIMIZE COOLING

To solve this problem, Entropy optimizes the software organization’s data center to reduce power consumption and heat generation.  The purpose of the software Entropy is to reduce the energy footprint of a data center through a very fine manipulation of virtual machines. The first step is already taken: it is best to allocate resources, and already it would reduce by half the power consumption of servers. The software is currently being tested in this way at Orange, at Bull and the Directorate General of Public Finance. Many more original, the second step, currently, is to move server workloads based on the thermal map of the datacenter, so as to minimize cooling requirements.

Strategy

The Computer Science Department of Ecole des Mines de Nantes has been awarded the 1st prize of the digital green growth in the category of Higher Education and Research, for Entropy. The ceremony held December 4 at the premises of MEDEF in Paris.

 Ecole des Mines de Nantes will offer Entropy with a LGPL licence to major market players. The school is also eventually expecting to offer them additional services and consulting expertise around Entropy.

SOURCES

COMPANY PROFILE

Sud Ecowatt is a french cleantech company developing a system which can cover up to 60% of heating needs and 80% of hot water. Sud Ecowatt is an engineering firm specializing in the development of renewable energy in housing and industry. The company was founded in 2006 by Bruno Meignan INSA engineer, engineering, energy. Unlike solar heating as can be offered on the market, SudEcowatt developed an innovative concept (Sud Ecowall) of independent heating adapted themselves to the constraints of solar energy. The young company has developed in partnership with ICAM Toulouse, a wall heater in brick flood large thermal inertia driven by an hydraulic system powered by heat from the photovoltaic sensors.

An INNOVATIVE SOLAR / WALL

In new construction or renovation, the wall may come dubbing associated with exterior wall insulation or partition thus avoiding the creation of unsightly radiators. For a room or a house, technically, is the loss of about 100m2 for 8Kw, it will move to 3-4 Kw … If several domestic renewable energy are proposed, one related to the solar stands fast with new applications and research. 

With Sud Ecowall innovation, the emitter of heat is a wall of clay brick. Already recognized as a product with high thermal inertia, are implanted in the middle of the walls of a pipe network for the exchange of heat directly supplied by a solar collector array.  

Sud Ecowatt has developed a solar heating system directly involving environmentally friendly materials and solar technology.

 The emitter of heat is a wall of mud brick raw material requiring less energy to manufacture and  enjoying a remarkable thermal inertia. With a local brickmaker, Sud Ecowatt has developed a  principle of montage to make active the brick wall by turning it into heat emitter very low  temperature. By associating a field of solar wall plays the role of energy storage on the day to  restore gradually the rest of the day.

Sud Ecowatt climbed a wall in a home cookie timber frame solution particularly suited to this type of construction due to its low thermal inertia.The proposed system can then cover up to 60% of heating needs and 80% of hot water. Regulating humidity of the house is through the natural capacity of the raw clay to absorb and return of moisture.This material may eventually be covered with lime plaster enabling it to maintain performance and seamless integration with the building.

ADDED VALUE

Already recognized as a product with high thermal inertia, are implanted in the middle of the walls of a pipe network for the exchange of heat directly supplied by a solar collector array. The wall plays the role of solar energy storage on the day and radiating heat emitter for heating by a control system adapted. Coupled with a solar balloon, then the system can produce, beyond the heating, hot water. This concept allows a maximum value of solar energy captured by a simple hydraulic network and its operation at very low temperatures and meets the requirements of the HQE (High Environmental Quality).

SUD ECOWATT AMBITION

Several walls are being built in the outskirts of Montauban in private. Sud Ecowatt was selected from several operations on new construction of family housing for the realization of such walls radiating in Gaillac.  The company is now accelerating its development and is spirited to file patents in the coming months.

SOURCES & INFORMATIONS