CFNEWS, January 22, 2025, by Lucas Djeffal.
The Lille-based designer of security plastic and ink for identity documents, with €41M in contracts, sees C4 Industries buy out the shares of historical investors: the Hauts-de-France region (Finovam, FIRA, and NFA) and Covestro.
C.S.T (Crime Science Technology) sought to bring in a new cornerstone investor to support its commercial expansion. This Lille-based deeptech company, founded in 2010, has seen its business take off thanks to new products it finalized in 2018: a plastic and ink that secure official documents by changing color based on the angle and viewing conditions (ID cards, passports, driver’s licenses, car registration, etc.). The company had raised nearly €1M from funds in the Hauts-de-France region (Finovam, FIRA, and NFA) in 2015, and then opened its capital to production partner Covestro in 2020. The entire stake of these investors is now being bought out by C4 Industries, the investment holding of Pascal Cagni, following a process managed by Edmond de Rothschild CF. This operation is primarily driven by the acquisition of Covestro by ADNOC (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company) and C.S.T’s desire to maintain sovereign capital.
The article is available to subscribers – visit CFNEWS online.
