PARIS: Rexel Group has acquired a minority stake in Trace Software International and 100% of Freshmile Services.
The ambition underpinning these 2 acquisitions is to complete the current range of software solutions with a new proposition dedicated to the non-residential market to facilitate the daily work of our customers; and offer a full range of services to end users, from installed base monitoring to remote maintenance.
Rexel has taken a 25% stake in Trace Software International, a French company founded in 1990 and specialized in software design for non-residential building and industries such as energy industries.
It offers two software suites for the design and calculation of electrical and photovoltaic installations, which interface seamlessly with BIM projects. This minority stake goes along with a commercial partnership to accelerate the transformation of the Group’s sales force towards selling more software and recurring services.
With this investment, Rexel enriches its agnostic value proposition to help customers be more efficient and reinforces the non-residential building offering, alongside an already complete residential offering with software such as Esabora and Comtech.
Freshmile Services, founded in 2016, is one of the leading providers of charging services for electric vehicles in Europe. Its value proposition encompasses both the operation of charging points and electric mobility services.
The company manages more than 8,000 charging points and provides services to more than 50,000 EV drivers, accessing 100,000 charging points in roaming. It operates in France with 25 employees and generates revenues through an efficient subscription fee model.
The acquisition of Freshmile, mainly from Banque des Territoires (a division of Caisse des dépôts) and Arnaud Mora, the company’s founder, will provide Rexel with enhanced development opportunities in the fast-growing e-mobility business offering added-value services to B2B clients.
With this acquisition, Rexel is evolving towards becoming a service provider in remote management of connected objects, allowing energy efficiency. It also allows Rexel to further leverage its product offering in e-mobility solutions including EV charging stations and now offers an end-to-end solution in this attractive business including training, financing and subsidizing. Rexel will also leverage its global network to develop the business internationally.
Arnaud Mora, founder of Freshmile, said: “Joining the Rexel Group enables us to accelerate our growth, to expand internationally and to keep serving our clients with the values that made our success until today: independence and openness. We share with Rexel the vision of an energy transition built on the smart alliance of hardware and services.”
Patrick Berard, Chief Executive Officer of Rexel, commented: “The two transactions we are announcing are the first building blocks in software and services that are part of the strategy we presented at our strategic update on February 11th.
Through these bolt-on acquisitions, we will reinforce our positioning and extend our addressable market with innovative adjacent activities. These two deals demonstrate our intention to play an active role across the value chain and to seize new market opportunities. They strengthen our capabilities in the day-to-day software used by our customers and allow us to enter the services segment in the EV business”.
Rexel, worldwide expert in the multichannel professional distribution of products and services for the energy world, addresses three main markets – residential, commercial and industrial. The Group supports its residential, commercial and industrial customers by providing a tailored and scalable range of products and services in energy management for construction, renovation, production and maintenance.
Rexel operates through a network of more than 1,900 branches in 25 countries, with more than 24,000 employees. The Group’s sales were €12.6 billion in 2020.