Innoval takes a minority stake in Ratdown: adding biocide-free pest control to its portfolio

Innoval: the cooperative group behind the minority stake in Ratdown

Based in Noyal-sur-Vilaine, in Ille-et-Vilaine (Brittany), Innoval is the cooperative group for animal genetics and upstream livestock services — genetics and reproduction, advisory, animal health, data and biosecurity — built around a first strategic plan for 2021-2025. Unlisted by virtue of its cooperative status, the group has 2,000 employees and EUR 260m in revenue, and reports ten specialist subsidiaries, two of which were already active in pest control: Farago Bretagne for biosecurity services and Sofar France for rodent control products. Its strategy, driven by its holding company Innoval Développement and its dedicated Smart Control division — which provides complementary services to livestock farmers — moves forward on two fronts: on the same day, the group acquired 100% of the biocide formulator Laboratoire Orcad and took a 20% stake in Ratdown, the biocide-free specialist.

Ratdown: the Rennes manufacturer of chemical-free pest control

Located in the Rennes metropolitan area, in Ille-et-Vilaine, Ratdown has for around fifteen years designed and manufactured in France pest protection systems — against rodents, insects and birds — free of biocides and toxic chemical components: repellent devices, capture, prevention, audits and integrated pest management protocols for professionals. What sets it apart is this measured approach, compliant with HACCP food safety protocols and designed for current and forthcoming regulations, which protects more than 4,000 sites worldwide — food processing, retail, restaurants, logistics hubs and pest control operators. The governance reflects the nature of the deal: a 20% minority stake, announced by the company itself, which retains its independence and its teams while drawing on the cooperative group's network.

What the press said about the minority stake

The deal, completed in late 2024 alongside the acquisition of Laboratoire Orcad, was covered by the regional press, the business press and the company's own announcement:

Why a minority stake, and why Ratdown

For Innoval, the aim is to cover the full spectrum of pest control — a critical service for the biosecurity of livestock farms and food processing sites. On the same day, the group acquired the chemical upstream — the biocide formulator Orcad, bought outright — and gained a foothold in non-chemical control by taking a 20% stake in Ratdown: two complementary building blocks, two different deal structures. Biocide-free control did not call for a buyout: a minority stake was enough to seal the alliance — giving the group's members and service subsidiaries access to repellent and capture systems — while leaving the company the independence that drives its innovation. That is the meaning of the announcement published by the company itself, “proud to announce Innoval's entry into its share capital”, through the group's development holding company.

On the company side, Ratdown brought the segment that regulation favours: fifteen years of repellent and capture systems free of biocides and toxic chemicals, designed and manufactured in France, proven on more than 4,000 sites worldwide and built into the HACCP protocols of food processing, retail and pest control operators. This non-chemical credibility — site audits, prevention, integrated pest management, compliance with current and forthcoming regulations — is precisely what no formulation can replace: as active substances become scarcer under the EU Biocidal Products Regulation, physical and preventive protection becomes the other pillar of the business. For the Rennes manufacturer, the alliance opens up the livestock farming market through the group's network — without giving up its independence, its brand or its roadmap.

Pest control shifts towards prevention and non-chemical solutions

This deal illustrates the regulatory reshaping of an essential market: the EU Biocidal Products Regulation makes authorisation dossiers more costly and active substances scarcer, while the health and safety protocols of corporate clients — HACCP first and foremost — and environmental requirements are driving integrated pest management: prevent, protect physically, control without unnecessary suffering, and use chemical treatment only as a last resort. Industry players are therefore building offerings that combine both approaches — and industrial investors are taking positions in non-chemical control, an innovative segment in which independent manufacturers, often regional businesses, hold the technological lead.

The deal is also the story of a local equity alliance, a textbook case of cooperative capitalism: a few kilometres apart in Ille-et-Vilaine, the Noyal-sur-Vilaine group takes a 20% stake in the manufacturer from the Rennes metropolitan area — a minority structure that brings access to the livestock farming market without taking anything away from the independence of the company, its teams or its French manufacturing. Combined with the simultaneous acquisition of the Provence-based formulator Orcad, this minority stake shapes a complete division — services, chemical products, non-chemical systems — in which each building block received the structure suited to its nature: control for the industrial asset, alliance for innovation.

Collaboration Capital's added value on this minority stake acquisition

On this deal, Collaboration Capital acted as buy-side adviser. A minority stake in an innovative manufacturer plays out in four stages — and the choice of structure itself, alliance rather than control, is the first methodological decision.