Developpement & Partenariat

Founding partners Jean-Marie Leroy and Jacques Veyrat share ultimate decision-making authority. Leroy leads the investment team and chairs the investment committee, bringing two decades of special-situations and distressed-investing experience. Veyrat contributes industrial judgment from his tenure as CEO of Neuf Cegetel and chairman of Impala SAS, a diversified holding company.

Jacques Veyrat founded both Impala SAS in 2011 and Developpement & Partenariat in 2013. The two entities share a common industrial DNA but operate with distinct investment mandates. Impala acts as a permanent holding company for energy, real estate, and logistics assets, while Developpement & Partenariat manages third-party institutional capital in closed-end private equity funds focused on complex situations.

Developpement & Partenariat writes control equity checks, typically acquiring majority stakes in French and European mid-market companies with enterprise values between €50 million and €500 million. The firm does not participate in minority growth rounds or venture-stage deals. Its mandate is strictly buyout and special situations, with a preference for assets requiring operational transformation.

The firm generally seeks to lead or act as the sole equity sponsor in its transactions, reflecting its operational-heavy model. Co-investment with limited partners on a deal-by-deal basis is possible but not standard practice. The firm rarely syndicates control with other private equity general partners.

Developpement & Partenariat structures its funds with a ten-year life and statutory extensions, allowing individual portfolio companies to be held for seven to ten years or longer. This flexibility accommodates multi-year operational restructurings and succession transitions that cannot be completed within a typical four-to-five-year private equity holding period.

The firm does not invest in consumer retail, hospitality, pure-play software, or biotechnology. Its mandate is concentrated in asset-heavy, operational-intensive sectors where industrial experience translates into tangible value creation — specifically avoiding sectors requiring consumer-brand or scientific-risk expertise the partnership does not maintain in-house.

The partnership's deal flow derives primarily from the networks of its founding partners and operating team within French industrial circles. Carve-outs from large French corporates, introductions from labor councils and family shareholders, and referrals from regional commercial banks generate most opportunities. The firm rarely participates in broad auction processes, preferring negotiated bilateral transactions.