NSI acquires ASHUB Propreté: a commercial cleaning acquisition that takes a gym specialist national

NSI Groupe, the northern French consolidator of commercial cleaning

Founded in 2012 by Romain Tellier, then aged 24, and based in Marly, near Valenciennes in northern France, NSI Groupe has grown in commercial premises cleaning and multi-services for businesses and public-sector organisations. The privately held group generated EUR 80m in revenue in 2025 with nearly 5,000 employees and a network of 25 branches in France — backed by some twenty acquisitions in six years, recently at a pace of one deal every two to three months: RM Propreté in January, EPSO in April, ASHUB in early July. Its strategy is set out in its published Ambition 2030 plan — EUR 150m in revenue and a place in the French top 10 — whose EUR 100m milestone during 2026 is now in sight, and to which this commercial cleaning acquisition adds a new dimension: after regional markets, a specialist vertical to be rolled out across the country.

ASHUB Propreté, the gym cleaning specialist

Founded in 2021 and based in Créteil, in the Île-de-France region, ASHUB Propreté has established itself in five years as France's gym cleaning specialist — a segment with particular requirements: high service frequencies, specific time constraints and strict hygiene standards, typical of high-traffic environments. Its published figures point to remarkable growth for such a young company: EUR 6.5m in revenue, nearly 500 business clients — independent clubs as well as multi-site fitness chains — and more than 270 employees working across France, with a stated positioning as a genuine operating partner. Its integration is a roll-out project rather than an absorption: the group intends to strengthen this expertise and scale it up across the country, while gaining new locations in Nantes and Grenoble.

What the press said about the acquisition

The deal, announced in a press release in early July 2026, was covered by the business press and the sector's two trade titles:

Why this commercial cleaning acquisition, and why this target

For NSI Groupe, the nature of the challenge is changing: after regional markets — western France with GPNI, Normandy with RM Propreté, the South-West with EPSO — this third acquisition of the year brings a specialist vertical: an entire segment, gyms, where specialisation drives client loyalty and where multi-site fitness chains expect a partner able to follow them everywhere. “In five years, ASHUB has built a solid position in this market,” says the acquirer's press release (translated from French) — which also sets out the plan: to integrate this expertise in order to strengthen it and roll it out on a larger scale across the country. The fit is mechanical: the target brings know-how in the segment, the group brings the 25 branches needed to serve it nationally — and gains Nantes and Grenoble along the way.

On the target side, ASHUB Propreté offered the rare profile of an established vertical: only five years old, and already EUR 6.5m in revenue, nearly 500 clients and more than 270 employees — the trajectory of a young company that created its market by embracing the constraints of fitness, from clubs' off-peak hours to hygiene in high-traffic environments, until it became the operating partner of multi-site chains. It is the opposite of the sector's usual pattern: not a handover on the founder's retirement, but the acceleration of a young specialist — the founder of an emerging national vertical finding, by joining a larger group, the branch network that five years of organic growth could not build. For the acquirer, a loyal and diversified client portfolio; for the target, scale; for the segment, an announced national roll-out.

Commercial cleaning is also consolidating through specialist verticals

This deal sheds light on the second phase of consolidation in French commercial cleaning: after the race for regional markets — taking over established regional firms, often when the founder retires — consolidators are now buying verticals: specialists in segments with their own constraints, born alongside their markets. Fitness is the textbook example: driven by the growth of multi-site chains and franchises, it has given rise within a few years to dedicated providers whose standards — frequency, hours, hygiene — cannot be improvised; and these young verticals, having reached the ceiling of their organic growth, find in groups with a national footprint the vehicle for their nationwide roll-out — while the groups find in them the differentiation that general cleaning no longer offers.

The deal also tells a story of rapid entrepreneurship: a company founded in 2021 in Créteil that, within five years, established itself in its segment to the point of attracting the market's most active consolidator — the group's third acquisition of the year, within an integration process honed over some twenty buyouts. The consolidation is domestic — from northern France to Île-de-France, with Nantes and Grenoble as new locations — and employment follows scale: more than 270 employees join a group of nearly 5,000, whose EUR 100m milestone during 2026, published and followed by the trade press like a serial, comes closer with each deal.

Collaboration Capital's added value on this buy-side mandate

On this deal, Collaboration Capital acted as buy-side adviser. Acquiring a specialist vertical plays out in four stages — and its logic differs from the sector's classic regional takeover, right down to the seller's profile.