NewAlpha joins forces with the founder to accelerate the development of Presto Engineering

NewAlpha Asset Management, a specialist in the investment and support of entrepreneurs in fast growing sectors, announces today the acquisition from Seventure Partners and CM-CIC Capital Privé of a majority stake in Presto Engineering, a provider of industrialization and semiconductor manufacturing solutions in the industrial sector.

NewAlpha invests in the company alongside Michel Villemain, President and founder of Presto Engineering, through its dedicated Growth Equity fund and together with Adaxtra Capital and Bpifrance, which acquire a minority stake.

Founded in San José, California in 2006, Presto Engineering is today a global player that provides its industrial customers (including those present in IoT) engineering and industrialization solutions for ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits). It currently has 110 employees based in the United States, France and Asia. Since its creation, the company has experienced strong organic growth, which has been accelerating in recent years.

Presto Engineering plans to accelerate its development and significantly increase the recurring share of its business by strengthening its offering of management services for the entire ASIC production value chain.

Michel Villemain, founder and President of Presto Engineering, says, "Twelve years after our creation, I would like to thank our historic shareholders for their trust and support during these years of development. We are now entering a new phase of accelerated growth for which I enthusiastically welcome NewAlpha and its partners: together, we will execute our strategy and aggressively deploy our solutions in many industrial fields, including automotive and IoT."

"We are pleased to help accelerate the growth of Presto Engineering, particularly in France and Europe, by investing alongside its founder. The company has a unique technological know-how and a global presence that can be extended to other European countries, through organic growth or through targeted acquisitions," adds Thomas Fort, Managing Director at NewAlpha.

"Investment in this fast-growing international company perfectly embodies the strategy of our fund, which aims to support operational growth by taking over from venture capital funds," says Antoine Dary, Managing Director at NewAlpha.

Following the acquisition of a majority stake in BIOBank in July, this transaction is the second investment of NewAlpha’s Growth Equity fund, whose first closing at a commitment level of € 100 million was announced on December 5th. With these two investments, the fund will have deployed about 20% of the total commitments collected at the first closing.

List of Participants

Buyers :

• NewAlpha Asset Management: Thomas Fort, Antoine Dary, Alexis Kemlin
• Adaxtra Capital : Julien Godard, Kevin Miens, Maxime Balsat
• Bpifrance Investissement : Stéphane Romang, Benjamin Ordronneau
• Legal, Social, Tax and Financing Advice : Mayer Brown - Thomas Philippe, Marion Bruère, Mélisande Sauze (Corporate), Benjamin Homo, Jean-Philippe Coiffard (Tax), Maud Bischof, Julien Leris (Financing)
• Financial and Tax Due Diligence : Alvarez & Marsal (Jonathan Gibbons, Camille Peyre)
• Strategic Consulting : Neovian Partners (Patrick Richer, Vincent Locanetto)
• Financing : Bpifrance Investissement (Stéphane Romang, Benjamin Ordronneau)

Sellers :

• Seventure Partners: David Manjarres
• CM-CIC Capital Privé : Sylvain Maricourt
• Legal, Social and Tax Advice : Jones Day (Charles Gavoty, Alexandre Wibaux)

About NewAlpha Asset Management

NewAlpha Asset Management offers professional investors differentiated investment opportunities in innovative and dynamic entrepreneurial companies through a range of products and services classified into two business lines: 'Emerging Managers' and 'Emerging Corporates'.

NewAlpha, a world-leading investor in Emerging Managers, has concluded 87 strategic partnerships and invested nearly 2 billion euros in French and international funds. In this activity, NewAlpha selects, finances and supports on behalf of its clients innovative entrepreneurial projects in investment management.

With its experience in detecting entrepreneurial projects with high potential, NewAlpha has been developing since 2015 a Private Equity investment activity in sectors with a strong technological component. In 2016, NewAlpha was the most active FinTech Venture Capital investor in France. In 2017, NewAlpha expanded its expertise by recruiting a team specialized in Growth Equity.

NewAlpha manages and advises € 1.2 billion as of October 31, 2018.

As a subsidiary of La Française Group, NewAlpha Asset Management is regulated by France’s Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF). La Française is controlled by the Caisse Fédérale of the CMNE and forms one of the CMNE’s three business lines, Asset Management, alongside Banking and Insurance.

https://www.newalpha.com/

About Presto Engineering

Presto Engineering provides outsourced engineering and production solutions to its semiconductor and industrial customers, helping them reduce risk and accelerate the introduction of new microelectronic products while limiting their fixed costs.

The company is a recognized expert in the development of industrial solutions for radiofrequency, analog / mixed and secure applications - from the end of design to the delivery of finished products. Presto's proprietary and secure production solutions, combined with extensive semiconductor expertise, enable it to successfully industrialize more than 50 new projects per year and deliver more than 100 million products (also annually), from its global network of operations in Europe, America and Asia.

The current global footprint of the company is the result of outsourcing and consolidation operations with market leaders such as Cypress, NXP and Inside Secure.

https://www.presto-eng.com/

Presto Engineering provides ASIC design and outsourced operations for semiconductor and IoT device companies, helping its customers minimize overhead, reduce risk, and accelerate time-to-market. The company is a recognized expert in the development of industrial solutions for RF, analog, mixed-signal, and secured applications – from design, tape-out to delivery of finished goods. Presto’s proprietary, highly-secure manufacturing and provisioning solution, coupled with extensive back-end expertise, gives its customers a competitive advantage. The company offers a global, flexible, dedicated framework, with headquarters in Meyreuil, France, and operations across Europe, North America, and Asia. For more information, visit: www.presto-eng.com.