Banijay appoints Stéphane Préfol as Head of M&A

Banijay is scaling up its central leadership team with the appointment of Stéphane Préfol as Head of M&A. Starting on March 6, the role, which will be dedicated to supporting on the group’s growth trajectory, will be based in Paris and will report jointly to Chief Executive Officer, Marco Bassetti, and Chief Financial Officer, Cédric Brignon.

Préfol has spent more than 15 years in the M&A space and joins from Publicis Groupe, where he was Associate Director. At the former since 2015, he has built an impressive track-record having worked on over 40 acquisitions in the creative, production, events, media, tech, ecommerce, and data industries globally. With superior experience in taking the process from negotiation to completion, he will now collaborate with Banijay’s executive team worldwide to develop and execute its overarching strategy in this area.

“With over ten acquisitions completed in 2022 alone, it was important for us to have a concentrated position in the team focused purely on M&A. We have made no secret of our ambitions for further growth into 2023, and with Stéphane we can continue to be more effective in broadening our business offering, building our reputation as a go-to for talent both in content and beyond,”  Marco Bassetti said.

“Banijay’s profile has gone from strength-to-strength over the years and with its keen focus on strategic expansion, it seemed the perfect next steppingstone. I look forward to coming onboard and partnering with Marco, Cédric and the wider team globally in fulfilling the ambitions of the group at-large,”  Stéphane Préfol commented.

Beyond Publicis Groupe, he was in investment banking for almost a decade, having started his career in 2006 as an analyst at Wagram Corporate Finance. There he provided a wide range of financial services to a diversified client base comprising private and public companies, private equity and infrastructure funds, family offices and management teams. In that capacity, he was charged with the execution of M&A buy-side and sell-side transactions, including firm valuation and financial modelling.