IMPACT FIELD MARKETING GROUP, BACKED BY ALPHA PRIVATE EQUITY, ACQUIRES FIELD SALES SOLUTIONS

On September 30th 2022, the employee owned trust, who had acquired Field Sales Solutions from its founders in 2021, have sold the business to Impact Field Marketing Group.

This marks the Group’s first international build-up since Alpha Private Equity, a Luxemburgish based Fund investing in mid-market buyouts throughout Continental Europe, took over the Group in June.

Impact Field Marketing Group (IFMG) provides solutions enabling its clients to roll-out their sales and marketing strategy across physical, mobile, and digital channels throughout the customer journey.

Under Jean-Dominique Castellani’s leadership since 2015, IFMG has continuously asserted its positioning as a key partner for multi-channel sales and marketing strategies, notably by integrating state-of-the-art solutions. The acquisition in 2021 of the collaborative e-ambassador platform Demooz, now operating in France, Italy, Spain, and Belgium, illustrates this approach.

IFMG has established itself as the #1 player in the French market, a position reinforced by the acquisition of Groupe Addikt, in March 2022. Furthermore, the group has initiated a pan-European development plan with the acquisition of the Belgium leader in 2018, which now accelerates with this major acquisition in the UK.

The acquisition of Field Sales Solutions is typical of the sort of partnership IFMG seeks under Alpha Private Equity’s ownership: partnering with long-standing and quality business counterparts in another European countries, to create a trusted pan-european partner for its clients who increasingly roll-out multi-country sales and marketing strategies.

Field Sales Solutions work in the UK in partnership with FMCG clients to activate sales and deliver retail excellence. Using bespoke technology and powerful data tools Field Sales Solution deliver a measurable return on investment for its clients creating long term relationships that grow brand availability and distribution. The business has a people centred culture, combined with high levels of training and continuous improvement delivers its success along with strong values including being a Carbon Neutral business.

Field Sales Solutions’ managers, who are reinvesting significantly into the group’s holding, can rely on this combination with IFMG to serve their clients across new geographies and enlarge their portfolio solutions.

As a result of this acquisition, the IFMG group now generates more than [€130m] of sales. Advanced discussions are also underway with other players in 3-4 European countries.

For this new acquisition, IFMG will draw on committed capex lines from the sustainability-linked financing provided by Eurazeo and Zencap.

“This acquisition embodies our vision of the future for IFMG. Our pan-European positioning combined with our omnichannel know-how allows us to implement the solutions that support the strategy of our clients. With Field Sales Solutions we are ready to embrace our development as a Group in the UK. On top of this our link with Julian Cordy and its management team is very strong for many years now, and we are used to working together on international matters which facilitates integration and synergies“.

Jean-Dominique Castellani, CEO of Impact Field Marketing

“We are delighted to become part of the IFMG group along with Alpha Private Equity. Our businesses share many values and our ambition to continue to be at the leading edge within our industry. As a people centered business finding the right partner was critical and we know we have this with IFMG. This partnership will allow us to deliver new and exciting services to current and new clients. We are also looking forward to sharing our expertise with other companies in the IFMG Group. The investment that myself along with my leadership team have made into IFMG Group shows our strong believe in this partnership and the future growth and success of the business.“

Julian Cordy, CEO of Field Sales Solutions

“Only 3 months after our investment in IFMG, we are thrilled to conclude our first international build-up. Already the #1 in France and in Belgium, IFMG now also becomes a top player in the UK. We have been very impressed by Field Sales Solutions management, led by Julian Cordy, who are running a tremendous salesforce business focused on the growing FMCG sector, serving key clients such as P&G and Ferrero. Beyond the UK, IFMG will rapidly expand to 3-4 other countries where we have quality targets. The goal is to create a dominant pan-european player who has the depth, scale, and coverage to be the trusted partner of large FMCG and other clients to deploy their marketing and sales strategy consistently across geographies. Since our investment in IFMG was announced, we have been receiving an increasing number of inbound calls from quality partners who are interested in the journey with us. This is an exciting time for IFMG and its clients!“

Patrick Herman, Managing Partner and Vincent Darras, Investment Director at Alpha Private Equity (France)