AfricInvest Europe’s French-African Fund 3 has completed its first investment, backing Hi-Tech Detection Systems Group, or HTDS, in a new financing round designed to support the distributor and service provider’s next expansion phase. Trocadero Capital Partners, Bpifrance and Société Générale Capital Partenaires joined the transaction, while historical shareholder Abenex reinvested alongside the new investors. Financial terms were not disclosed, but the deal allows the Moudarres family and HTDS management to increase their ownership in the company.
Investment Structure
The transaction represents HTDS’s second leveraged buyout and brings together a group of investors with experience in French mid-market companies, international growth, and African markets. AfricInvest Europe said it will draw on the wider AfricInvest platform’s African presence to support HTDS as it pursues new distribution partnerships, acquisitions, and geographic expansion. The company’s existing leadership will remain central to the strategy, with President Farice Moudarres and Chief Executive Officer Etienne Moudarres leading the business.
HTDS’s Detection and Safety Portfolio
Founded in 2002 by Louaye Moudarres, HTDS distributes, installs, services, and maintains high-technology detection and safety systems for public-sector and industrial customers. Its product range includes X-ray scanners, walkthrough systems, metal and explosive detectors, laboratory instruments, and radiation-protection equipment used by airports, ports, food processors, pharmaceutical companies, nuclear operators, defense organizations, energy businesses, and research institutions. The group works with international manufacturers including Rapiscan Systems, PerkinElmer, Waters Corporation, Malvern Panalytical, and Thermo Fisher Scientific.
Integrated Delivery Model
HTDS positions itself as an integrated provider, handling technology selection, system installation, maintenance, technical assistance, and staff training rather than functioning solely as an equipment distributor. This model is intended to give clients local support throughout the lifespan of installed systems, including spare-parts availability and rapid maintenance response. The company said its combination of technical services and regional infrastructure has supported sustained growth, with revenue rising by more than 50% between 2022 and 2025.
Africa as a Core Market
Africa already generates more than half of HTDS revenue, making the continent central to the company’s growth ambitions and to the rationale for French-African Fund 3’s investment. HTDS operates eight African subsidiaries in Algeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Madagascar, Morocco, and Tunisia, alongside offices in Cameroon, Libya, Nigeria, Senegal, and Tanzania. More than 230 employees work across its African operations, supported by agents that extend the group’s reach throughout the rest of the continent.
Expansion Priorities
HTDS maintains a local presence in 14 countries and uses an agent network to serve customers in roughly 50 markets, spanning France, Africa, and the Middle East. Management plans to combine organic growth with targeted external growth, entering additional markets while expanding its portfolio of products, services, and customer segments. The investors said they expect HTDS’s operating model, international footprint, financial discipline, and established supplier relationships to provide a platform for that strategy.
The investment gives HTDS additional capital and an expanded investor base as it seeks to build on recent growth in security, detection, testing, analysis, and inspection solutions. For AfricInvest Europe, the deal marks the opening investment from French-African Fund 3 and reinforces its strategy of helping French companies scale across African markets. The new ownership structure keeps the Moudarres family and management team closely aligned with the company’s next phase, while adding partners positioned to support international expansion.