Elcimaï is a French-based small-to-medium-sized enterprise (SME) and is operating in the digital, professional real estate and environmental consulting industries. Created 30 years ago and with around 400 employees, the company regularly needs
surety bonds and guarantees
to develop their business. Christophe Chauvet, Associate Director of Business Development at Elcimaï, explains why he decided to call on
Euler Hermes France, recognised global expert in surety bonds and guarantees.
Why do you need surety?
Christophe Chauvet: As part of our real estate development activities and to address the risk of non-completion, we are systematically required to provide our clients with completion guarantees. This is standard practice in the industry, which covers our customers in the event of the unexpected. The completion guarantee is the only type of bond we issue as part of our development.
How are you organised internally to manage these guarantees?
Christophe Chauvet: In a very traditional way as it is our financial department that oversees the guarantees in our company. They take the initiative when we need a completion guarantee, they monitor the implementation of the contract and ensure its execution. The financial department steers the relationship between the guarantor and our broker.
How do you know Euler Hermes?
Christophe Chauvet: It was our broker Diot Crédit who put us in contact with Euler Hermes France. We had a project to build an XXL logistics platform (120,000m²) near Amiens in France, and needed a guarantor able to support us quickly and efficiently to issue a completion guarantee. Diot Crédit made a pre-selection of guarantors based on our criteria, and we quickly chose Euler Hermes.
Why did you choose Euler Hermes to support your project?
Christophe Chauvet: We needed a guarantor who was capable of digesting and analysing a large amount of data and parameters, very fast. What made the difference was both their expertise and responsiveness. From our initial exchanges, we understood that Euler Hermes would be able to meet our needs efficiently and swiftly.
What are Euler Hermes’ strengths?
Christophe Chauvet: Their analytical skills for a start. The project in question is a complex set-up: in order to analyse all the components in minute detail, it is necessary to show rigor and have a very structured approach. Next is their responsiveness: only a few weeks passed between Euler Hermes entering into the process and the issuance of the completion guarantee. We needed to move quickly on this project and their responsiveness enabled us to meet our client’s requirements with efficacy.
What benefits have you seen from having Euler Hermes support in terms of surety?
Christophe Chauvet: Responsiveness, efficiency and expertise. Euler Hermes quickly grasped the challenges of the project, tackled the right subjects, which enabled us to move forward in a structured and orderly manner, and to guarantee a certain satisfaction for our client.
Would you recommend Euler Hermes?
Christophe Chauvet: Absolutely. Euler Hermes knew how to respond to our expectations on this very complex project and that is why we recommend their services.
What advice would you share with other companies who need to issue surety bonds?
Christophe Chauvet: The first is to surround yourself with the right people: the work of Diot Crédit and the support of Euler Hermes were essential in the context of this project. Next, you have to structure your approach in a clear and comprehensive manner: we have made all the necessary documents available to Euler Hermes so that they could quickly analyse all of the project’s data in detail, which enabled everyone to save time.
