IPSSI, a group of private higher education schools dedicated to digital professions, is rebuilding its capital with the arrival of the Abénex investment fund.

 Founded in 1998 by Charif Hachem, the IPSSI group is ideally located across its three campuses in Paris, Marne-la-Vallée and Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. The group of schools has its own RNCP titles and issues diplomas ranging from BAC+2 to BAC+5 in the most advanced areas of iT services: cloud computing, cybersecurity, fullstack & devops development, big data and the AI.

With a large network of partner companies and expert contributors, IPPSI has an employment rate of its students close to 100%. The historical positioning of IPSSI as a work-study school of reference for employers is based on a policy of educational excellence that is particularly promising at a time when Tech players are facing a talent shortage. This has enabled the group to attract a growing number of students in recent years (nearly 1,000 students at the end of the 2022 school year) and to reach €10m in revenue in 2022 for an EBITDA of around 40 %.

In order to amplify this strong development, the shareholders of the group Charif Hachem and Samy Ounouna have entrusted an exclusive mandate to the investment bank Crescendo finance to seek a financial partner. A process that led to the entry into the capital of the private equity fund Abénex on a basis of valuation of the securities equivalent to more than 10x EBITDA.

Charif Hachem, President of IPSSI: “We are delighted to associate Abénex with this new page in the history of IPSSI. We were convinced by their very operational approach and their precise knowledge of the sector, which will enable us to accelerate our growth plan.”

Thomas Peretti, Director at Abénex: “We are delighted to take part in this new phase of growth alongside Charif and Samy with whom we share an ambitious vision for the school based on the duplicable model of IPSSI, on its reputation and its positioning with students and large partner companies. »

A senior debt co-arranged by Banque Populaire Val de France, Caisse d’Epargne Ile-de-France and Crédit Coopératif, subsidiaries of the BPCE group, makes it possible to finance the operation.

Yoann Roussel, Managing Partner of Crescendo Finance: “The IPSSI LBO operation that we had the pleasure of leading is emblematic in several respects. First of all because the IPSSI was the last independent digital school of this size, moreover in Ile-de-France. And above all because over the course of two decades it has become an absolutely essential partner for recruiters in the digital sector, including a good number of ESNs. A market that we know well and which is experiencing unprecedented tension in terms of available and qualified human resources. »