Translink Corporate Finance in France advised the shareholders of Retrofleet on their sale to the CBM Group. The Group acquires a majority share of the Retrofleet company.

Emmanuel Flahaut, founder and president of Retrofleet, remains at the helm of the company alongside the historic co-founders, Cédric Michels, technical director and Thibaut Moura, director of public affairs. This support allows Retrofleet to join forces with a world leader in spare parts and services for urban and interurban transport vehicles. Retrofleet aims to process several hundred vehicles per year to enter the promising coach retrofit market in Europe for the long term.

Retrofleet, a pioneer in retrofit in France since 2020, is the very first company to have obtained series approval in mid-2023 for the heavy-duty range, with its IVECO CROSSWAY coach retrofit. To date, around ten vehicles have been delivered and have entered the operational phase. Approximately 100 vehicles are committed for 2024 and the company, with the support of the CBM Group and in particular its subsidiary BESSET, is actively preparing its industrial deployment for the years to come. Its subsidiary MONA Energy, specialised in heavy-duty vehicle charging systems with a high level of service, is also experiencing strong acceleration, and contributes to the overall dynamic.

Retrofleet supports its customers to optimise their real use cases, size their retrofit operations and associated charging infrastructures to achieve a triple objective: maximum carbon and environmental performance (CO2/Km) at the lowest cost (€/km). The group is particularly active in the coach segment, which has 60,000 units in France and nearly 600,000 in Europe. RETROFLEET wishes to give itself the means to process several hundred vehicles per year to capture the coach retrofit market emerging in Europe, in particular on the MERCEDES INTOURO and IVECO CROSSWAY ranges, which represent 80% of the European fleet. Around 50 direct jobs are planned by 2025 (and more than three times that number via partner installers).

Emmanuel Flahaut, Chairman and CEO of Retrofleet, expressed his enthusiasm for this operation: “The CBM Group’s investment in the capital of our company is a logical continuation in view of the synergies that have already existed for more than a year. In this new booming industrial sector that is retrofit, alliances are necessary if we want to quickly become a European leader and contribute even more effectively to the effective decarbonisation of mobility.”

Vincent Couvreur, Director of the Services division of CBM says, “This new acquisition through a majority stake confirms our strong ambition to accelerate in Services activities, in addition to our historic business of distribution of spare parts BUS & CAR. The electrical retrofit is a real growth driver for the group, helping our current customers to decarbonise their fleet quickly and at controlled costs, while preserving their assets (circular economy).”

Tanguy du Chesnay, Translink CF partner and head of Translink’s Energy & Environment group says, “We are delighted to have assisted Emmanuel and his co-shareholders in this backing operation, key for the Retrofleet entity. The success of this operation perfectly illustrates the current strong attractiveness of innovative solutions for decarbonising fleets and developing electric mobility, relevant across all market segments.”