Lepaute was founded by Jean‑André Lepaute, a clockmaker for the court of Louis XV who created accurate timepieces for most of the observatories and royal residences of Europe. He came up with numerous innovations that have been applied in areas such as astronomy and marine optics.

For example, he invented the first horizontal clock with a parallel mechanism in 1780. The Lepaute company then expanded into electronics after World War II. CGE acquired this branch of activity in 1960.

Urban lighting was just developing when Maison Jean et Chabrié was founded, and the company won a contract to provide candles for lighting and wood for heating to the Palais Bourbon, home of the Assemblée Nationale in Paris. At the end of the century the engineer Albert Bouchon joined the company, which then became Mors Jean & Bouchon and would go on to employ André Citroën.

Pierre Azaria founded CGE, a holding company working in industry operations and electricity companies. Fifteen years later, CGE became CGEE – the predecessor of Cegelec.

After the conflict of World War I, everything needed to be rebuilt. Under the authority of the French government, from 1919 7,000 rural homes were connected to electricity. In Sweden that same year, Emil Lundgren decided to set up a company specialising in electrical systems. The 1920s also saw the creation of the Garczynski‑Traploir and Fournié-Grospaud companies.

Modernity, new construction and industrial development were the driving forces of the 1950s in France, as well as the rest of Europe. In Romania for example, the newly‑created TIAB led in infrastructure and the service sector. In a sign of fresh momentum, the construction of the nuclear industry was also under way thanks to SDEL, Tunzini, Comsip Entreprise and G+H.

Trade increased and companies now systematically sought prospects abroad; CGEE therefore established a presence in South America, Africa and Portugal.

At the start of the 1970s, the electrical installation market underwent a profound change. CGEE merged with the electrical divisions of Alsthom and SGE – which went on to become VINCI – to create CGEE Alsthom.

The Lepaute company, founded by the clockmaker to the court of Louis XV and creator of the great public clocks of the period, then also joined CGEE Alsthom.

The Mors, Jean et Bouchon, Garczynski-Traploir and Fournié-Grospaud companies, joined to form a group that would become GTIE in 1984.

The Axians and Graniou telecommunication brands were founded. Actemium, Citeos, Omexom and Opteor soon followed. GTIE, while continuing to fully serve its local clients, also chose a global approach for some of its businesses.

When SGE and GTM merged in 2000 to form VINCI, GTIE absorbed the group’s thermo-mechanical business units (Lefort-Francheteau, Saga, Tunzini, G+H, and TPI).

In the first decade of the new millennium, GTIE expanded development to new countries: Sweden, Spain, eastern Europe, Portugal, Switzerland and Italy.

The Axians and Actemium networks grew in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and Slovakia.

GTIE takes the name VINCI Energies to gain recognition as a subsidiary of VINCI. 

The arrival of Cegelec reinforced the leading position of VINCI Energies – a major event that enabled the Group to strength its international presence. At the same time, VINCI tasked the company with all of the Group’s facility management and commercial maintenance activities.

Bringing together these previously fragmented business lines built up new momentum. With the arrival of Faceo, historically linked to Cegelec, these activities came together under the VINCI Facilities brand, which operates in 20 countries in Europe.

Year after year, VINCI Energies continued to develop – both through organic growth and by pursuing a strong external growth policy. The acquisition in October 2014 of Imtech ICT, an information and communication technology specialist operating in several European countries, and Electrix, a major player in electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure in Oceania, is in keeping with the Group’s “multi-local” positioning.

VINCI Energies embarked on creating programmes such as:

Inerbiz, a managerial and financial investment fund that aims to invest in startups during their initial stage of development with adapted means of equity participation,

Factory Connect, a network of versatile, open and collaborative structures that embody its approach to innovation, designed to foster creative synergy with startups, partners and clients,

Hermès, a collective innovation platform,

Energize, an intrapreneurship programme.

VINCI Energies continued to pursue internationalisation, acquiring Infratek and Eitech in Scandinavia, PrimeLine Utility Services in the US and Wah Loon in Singapore.  These companies supplement VINCI Energies’ range of expertise in engineering, construction and maintenance of networks for electricity transmission and distribution and urban gas supply, as well as the construction of data processing centres.  

For the first time in its history, VINCI Energies generated the majority of its revenue – 55% – outside of France.

This upward momentum continued with the acquisitions of SISTEM Melesur Energía and SISTEM Infraestructuras y Operaciones EPC in Spain, the OFM Group and Converse Energy Projects in Germany, and Transelec Common Inc in Canada.