Kellerhals Carrard advises CSD on the sale of capital to Initiative & Finance

The Initiative & Finance Group has acquired the share capital of CSD Engineers Group. This new partnership will enable CSD to achieve its growth ambitions as a leading engineering company in Switzerland and abroad.

With Initiative & Finance, and more specifically its “Tomorrow” fund, the CSD Group has found an ally that shares its environmental values. The French investment firm that has been working alongside the management teams of SMEs and mid-sized companies for over 38 years, has the financial resources to enable CSD to continue implementing its strategy. 

Since its creation in 1970 by Mr Colombi, Mr Schmutz and Mr Dorthe, whose initials form the origin of the name, CSD has established itself as a pioneer in the field of ecology. The company’s know-how has seen it through the decades and today it has more than 900 employees.

Initiative & Finance was founded in 1984 as a subsidiary of the Natixis group and has since carried out nearly 350 operations with the aim of contributing to the emergence of numerous mid-sized companies. Since its independence from the French banking group in 2010, the group is now mandated to manage several hundred million euros of assets.

Kellerhals Carrard has acted as legal advisor to CSD’s shareholders. The team was led by corporate/m&a associate Edgar Philippin (pictured) and included François Kaiser (associate, corporate/m&a), Jean-Luc Chenaux (associate, corporate/m&a), Serge Migy (associate, tax), Elena Burger (corporate/m&a) and Brian Jurt (tax).