The Carlyle Group completes the acquisition of Sagemcom

Global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group  (“Carlyle”) announced today that it has completed the acquisition of Sagemcom, a global high-technology group specializing in broadband communications and  energy activities, from the Gores Group. Carlyle is investing through Carlyle Europe Partners III (CEP III), a €5.4 billion buyout fund focused on investment opportunities in Europe, and owns 70% of Sagemcom whilst management and employees hold the remaining 30%. Further financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Sagemcom is a European manufacturer of high-end digital TV set-top boxes, very high speed broadband residential terminals and advanced electricity meters, as well as various other telecommunications products. Sagemcom has more than 6,000 employees worldwide, and posted sales of €1.4 billion in 2010. The Company holds strong market positions in all its activities and has expanded significantly in its core markets for the last three years.

Benoît Colas, Managing Director, The Carlyle Group, declared, "We are very excited to have the opportunity to become a new shareholder in Sagemcom alongside its talented management team and employees. Sagemcom has an excellent track record in winning new customers and growing revenues in a competitive market. This demonstrates its commitment to customer relationships, technological innovation and superior time-to-market capabilities. We believe the team, led by Patrick Sévian, will be able to capture the tremendous growth opportunities ahead of us, notably in the broadband and energy markets. Carlyle’s deep telecom industry expertise and financial strength will be great resources for the future development of Sagemcom."

Fernando Goni, Managing Director of The Gores Group, said, “We want to thank the Sagemcom team for their hard work in building and growing such a successful business over the past few years. We enjoyed working with the team in Paris and are proud to have enabled the company to achieve this successful track record. We are confident that Sagemcom will continue to flourish and wish management and Carlyle success.”

Patrick Sévian, President of Sagemcom said, "We are very excited at the prospect of partnering with Carlyle as we believe this will enable us to consolidate and strengthen the ambitions of Sagemcom, both through organic growth and acquisitions. In addition, we are proud that The Carlyle Group, a leading global institution in private equity, shares our employee ownership culture, which we consider as one of the engines of our dynamism, and which would be increased from 25 to 30% under the new structure.”

About Carlyle

The Carlyle Group is a global alternative asset manager with $106.7 billion of assets under management committed to 84 funds as of December 31, 2010. Carlyle invests across three asset classes - corporate private equity, real assets and global market strategies - in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America focusing on aerospace & defense,consumer & retail, energy & power, financial services, healthcare, industrial, infrastructure, technology & business services, telecommunications & media and transportation. Since 1987, the firm has invested $68.7 billion of equity in 1,035 transactions. For more information, see: www.carlyle.com ; Case Studies: www.carlylegroupcreatesvalue.com; Video: www.youtube.com/OneCarlyle

About The Gores Group

The Gores Group, founded by Alec E. Gores in 1987, is a private equity firm focused on acquiring controlling interests in mature and growing businesses which can benefit from the firm’s operating experience and flexible capital. Since its inception, Gores has acquired 80 companies worldwide with combined revenues in excess of 15 billion dollars. Currently, Gores has 4 billion dollars in equity under active management. Gores’ offices in North America and Europe serve its active investment programs in these regions. For more information, see : www.gores.com

About Sagemcom

A French high-technology group with an international dimension, Sagemcom operates on markets of broadband (digital home, digital set-top box, broadband and residential terminals), telecom and energy (M2M, telecommunications infrastructure, smartgrid and metering), and management of documents (printing terminals, software and solutions, digital production workflow). With a turnover of over €1.4 billion, Sagemcom employs 6 000 people on five continents; already a European leader in most of its key markets, Sagemcom aims to become a world leader in high added value communicating terminals. Sagemcom is strongly committed to sustainable development through the life cycle of its products: eco-design, energy consumption, ethical code of all its suppliers.