Can you explain to us what Otium Capital is?
François Durvye, CEO of Otium Capital
: We are a major player in private equity in France.
Created in 2009, Otium Capital is the family office of Pierre-Édouard Stérin, the founder of Smartbox gift boxes.
It was following initial outlays, including that, in 2008, in TheFork, an online restaurant reservation platform, that Pierre-Édouard Stérin wanted to set up a structure aimed at supporting managers with the dual culture of entrepreneur and investor.
What is your news?
François Durvye:
Otium Capital currently manages one billion euros in assets, of which more than 70 holdings are divided into ventures, growth, LBOs and several listed companies.
Otium Capital recently signed an exclusive contract with Wonderbox for the sale of Smartbox Group and with Moonpig for the sale of its activities in the United Kingdom.
Smartbox Group, created nineteen years ago by Pierre-Édouard Stérin, was until now 99% owned by Otium Capital.
The combination of Smartbox and Wonderbox opens up tremendous prospects for the two companies, which, by combining their strengths and their know-how, will stimulate the digitalization of the offer, product innovations and the penetration of new markets.
Thanks to these disposals, we will be able to accelerate Otium Capital's participations in its major investment theses: Venture Tech, in which the group is recognized as a key player;
the industrial venture, in which we made our first investments in 2022 with the ambition of being a leader in France;
local leisure, our objective being to open 1,000 points of sale in ten years worldwide;
growth,
the opportunistic LBO and real estate, our very last sector of intervention.
At the same time, we continue to incubate entrepreneurial projects within our studio.
These investments will provide long-term support for the philanthropic ambitions nurtured by Pierre-Édouard Stérin and supported by the Common Good Fund.
François Durvye, CEO
Otium Capital
Does Otium Capital make opportunistic investments and, if so, what criteria are used?
Francois Durvye
: Yes.
Not being bound, as funds are, to a strict investment thesis, Otium Capital remains systematically opportunistic.
And this principle prevails in the definition of three major fundamental criteria: the project must have a strong differentiating or innovative character;
it must be able to be scaled up and serve a deep market and, finally, it must be carried by a competent, complementary and committed team.
In the current context of a very turbulent market, what is the meaning of your investment in Quantum Genomics?
François Durvye:
The market in general and the biotech and medtech sectors in particular have suffered a sharp discount in recent months, decorrelated from the performance or the underlying of the companies, thus offering real bargains to potential buyers.
As with any other venture or private equity investment, we have therefore carried out our
due diligence
of Quantum Genomics by interviewing scientists involved in the studies or independent, financial analysts as well as competent observers from our network in order to form a strong opinion on the three key factors mentioned above.
We have thus forged the conviction that Quantum Genomics has a very strong potential for value creation in the months and years to come, depending on the results of analyzes in resistant arterial hypertension of phases 3 Fresh and Refresh.
Our quality of family office does not impose a deadline on our commitment, we will have complete freedom to support the company until commercial success.