Portfolio news Socotec

SOCOTEC Group, an international leader in testing, inspection and certification (TIC) services, and a trusted third-party for risk management and technical consulting in the construction, infrastructure and industry sectors, announced today that it has acquired Cementys, a group that specializes in infrastructure monitoring. The global market of infrastructure monitoring represents €3 billion, with an expected annual growth of over 15% until 2025.

SOCOTEC Group has a strong reputation within the construction and infrastructure sectors in France and its main platforms, including the USA, the UK, Germany, Italy, the Middle East and Africa. Since 2016, SOCOTEC has been undergoing major transformations that are reflected in the evolution of its turnover (500M€ to 900M€), including the proportion of turnover generated outside of France (which has increased from 10% to 45%). 9,000 engineers and technicians work at SOCOTEC around the globe, including 5,000 in France.

The acquisition of Cementys, a group that boasts consistent growth in the infrastructure monitoring sector, is aligned with SOCOTEC’s strategy, which aims to reinforce its position in this market by supporting large public and private clients across the globe. Cementys employs ~100 people in France and Vietnam, with a turnover that will reach ~20M€ in 2020.

Infrastructure monitoring is necessary during the construction and operation phases of a civil engineering structure (tunnels, dams, bridges, railways, etc.). Main services include the installation of captors on sensitive zones (either on the structure itself or on the buildings or networks around it) in order to collect and interpret data that is relative to movements. These captors are increasingly connected objects and rely on state-of-the-art technologies that enable users to measure the quality of the construction and reduce risks. During operations, the captors help to monitor how the structure is evolving over time, and also provide design maintenance strategies.

According to Hervé Montjotin, CEO of the SOCOTEC Group: «This acquisition is strategic, allowing SOCOTEC to reinforce its position in the monitoring, instrumentation, inspection and infrastructure diagnostic market. Already a leader in the UK, Germany and Italy, the group is becoming even more robust in this growing sector. Created in 2008, Cementys is a group renowned for its know-how and state-of-the art technologies. Led by a great entrepreneur and a highly talented team, it has developed a global reputation and has been growing rapidly ever since. Today, Cementys works for most of the Grand Paris projects and on key infrastructure monitoring or diagnostics in Asia, Africa or Europe. Its multi-year contracts and strong innovation capacities provides Cementys with a great potential for growth over the next 10 years.»

Vincent Lamour, founder and CEO of Cementys, says: “The group is growing rapidly and its purpose is to work on great infrastructure projects across the world at each stage of the structure lifecycle. Cementys boasts unique assets; human, with top engineers and researchers, as well as technical, with a singular combination of measure technologies that really make a difference to major tenders. Joining the SOCOTEC Group will allow us to accelerate our international development by leveraging the network. In this new phase of our adventure, the objective is to become the global leader in infrastructure monitoring.»

Hervé Montjotin adds : «The ageing of infrastructures, accelerated by new usages in terms of mobility and climate change, are major points of attention in Europe and the USA, and are included in the political and economic agendas of most developed countries. Thanks to the acquisition of Cementys, SOCOTEC becomes a trusted third-party for major projects of new infrastructures and on challenges regarding the renovation and extension of the lifecycle of structures that are becoming obsolete.»