Server Group's strategic investment

Groupe Vendôme de Gestion et de Participation (VGP)

Server Group and Groupe VGP are developing numerous industrial synergies through a shareholders’ pact.

Server Group owns 7% of Groupe Vendôme de Gestion et de Participation (VGP), SAS capitalised at FRF133,827,000, Sales 2000: FRF200 m (Sales FRF184 m direct sales and FRF16m Eukaria) , 260 employees (60 executives and 200 other employees).

The founder, Paul Billon, also founded Groupe Vendôme Rome (1,500 employees, Sales 1997 FRF1.3bn) but sold his stake in 1996.

For the last 25 years the group has been pursuing its strategy to digitise the whole property management profession and the way property services and computer processing are organised. Now, thanks to the new information and communication technologies, notably the internet and ASP server model, Groupe VGP can offer a total solution to the digitisation of property professions.

Groupe Vendôme de Gestion et de Participation is an international group comprising some thirty companies with interests centred on four broad areas of activity:

1/ Business centres: Multiburo

Multiburo rents out state-of-the-art office space over any period with á la carte access to office IT and technological services (staff and IT systems). Since 1975 the group has been a pioneer in this field and is now the French number one with 17 centres in the country’s main cities (Paris, Lyon, Lille, Nantes, Toulouse, Aix en Provence, etc). ASP mode access means all client data can be centrally and securely stored on a server which is accessed via the internet from each Multiburo centre.

2/ Property management: Investissement Lyonnais

Investissement Lyonnais acts as condominium management agent, property manager, and handles rental, sales and purchase for both residential and business properties. Its innovative services and IT processes support 14 agencies handling around 50,000 property developments across the Paris region, the Alpes and Rhone valley South France and the Côte d’Azur.

3/ VGP Santé and Eukaria

These companies set-up and run the first private international hospital in Vietnam. Eukaria has recruited hundreds of specialist French doctors to work splitting their time between France and a state-of-the-art hospital in Vietnam.

4/ Internet: VGP net

An R&D lab oriented towards the new information and communication technologies. VGP net is developing a range of services and industrial processes for property and health professionals, mainly on an ASP model across intranets running server-based applications and data bases. The arm is being developed in close collaboration with the various subsidiaries of Server Group.

Server Group is the leading shareholder in photo-journalism group Editing with 25% of the capital and a shareholders’ pact (since January 2001).

Server Group’s experience should allow the Editing agency to collect, format, enrich and broadcast images across the new information and communication technologies, principally the internet. Server Group and Editing share a culture of intellectual property and editorial rigour, reflected in the recent name-change to Editing server (SAS, capitalised at FRF2,000,000) in a statement of its industrial philosophy.

Editing is France's top photo-journalism agency set up outside Paris. Over more than 12 years of operation, the Lyon-based agency with a branch in Paris, has established itself as one of the big players in French and international markets.

Editing has deep know-how in photo production, distribution, sale and archiving. It operates through two companies: Editing general press agency and wholly-owned subsidiary Editing Corporate, a press agency for public relations.

Editing in figures 

- An archive of 1 million records containing 20,000 high-definition digitised images.

- More than 350 clients drawn from the fields of journalism, culture and public relations

- sales of FRF10 m and sales growth of 25% in 2000.

- 20 exclusive photographers covering all the main regions.

- Photographic archives of over 80 photographers.

French and European franchises to represent 3 international agencies: Panos (UK), Map (south-east Asia) and IMA (South America).

Export operations in 10 countries (US, UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Poland, Greece, Scandinavia, Benelux, Japan, Korea) including 8 via local distributors.

Recognition as one of the leading lights of the industry thanks to its role as president of SAPHIR (the syndicate for information and picture press agencies). This includes 27 press agencies including AFP, Reuters, AP, Sipa, Magnum, Papho, Vu and Roger Viollet).

Major clients include:

French press: L'Express, Le Figaro Magazine, Paris Match, Le Nouvel Observateur, l'Evénement, Télérama, Geo, VSD, Libération, Le Monde.

Foreign press: Business Week, New York Times Magazine, Stern, Der Spiegel, L'Hebdo et Du (CH), El, Mondo, El Pais, The Indépendant Magazine among others

Public relations: Carrefour, Auchan, Caisse des Dépôts et Consignation, Renault, Technicatome, LVL Médical, EM Lyon, SPIR, Adecco, Pechiney, BSN, Schneider, Thomson, Eurest, Sodexo, Pro BTP, Euro RSCG, Jump, Publicis, Altedia, Textuel.

Editing Server defines its editorial line as seeking a mix of perspectives on the world and its photographers’ subjective angle in reporting current news and social reality.

Editing server plans to expand its production and broadcast resources, challenge the majors with its editorial line by guaranteeing all those who work with images—whether in journalism, publishing or public relations—an alternative perspective. The agency continuously tracks the photographs in its research and is vigilant in defending its intellectual property rights.

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webmaster @ servergroup.com I S.A.S. capitalized at EUR93,000,000 I RCS Lyon 408 369 270