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Zix Acquires Leading Cloud-Based Backup and Recovery Provider CloudAlly

Truewind

DALLAS, November 9, 2020 /BUSINESS WIRE/— Zix Corporation (Zix), (Nasdaq: ZIXI), a leading provider of cloud email security, productivity and compliance solutions, has acquired privately-held CloudAlly Ltd., an industry leader in cloud-based data backup and recovery for business.

CloudAlly Overview

Founded in 2011, Israel based CloudAlly is a pioneer of enterprise-grade, software-as-a-service (SaaS) cloud backup and recovery solutions. The company offers a robust suite of award-winning, ISO 27001 certified and GDPR/HIPAA compliant solutions for Microsoft Office 365, Google Workspace (formerly G Suite), SharePoint, OneDrive, Salesforce, Box and Dropbox. CloudAlly is a channel-first provider, serving more than 5,000 customers, 250,000 users and supported by 600 Managed Service Provider (MSP) partners. For the fiscal year ending December 31, 2020, CloudAlly is projecting to generate on a standalone basis approximately $8.0 million in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR).

Acquisition Summary and Rationale

CloudAlly expands Zix’s product suite into Microsoft Office 365 backup, filling growing demand from AppRiver’s MSP channel and Zix’s value-added reseller and direct channels.
Complementary and synergistic go-to-market motions and end markets with no overlap in the companies’ MSP partner bases.

CloudAlly enables Zix to enter the cloud backup and recovery market. MarketsandMarkets estimates the cloud back up market as a $1.3 billion market growing 25%.

“Our acquisition of CloudAlly greatly enhances the Zix suite of solutions and will provide our partners and customers with another robust tool to drive further cloud adoption in their digital transformation journeys,” said David Wagner, Zix’s Chief Executive Officer. “With CloudAlly, we can now directly address the growing demand we’ve seen from partners, customers and prospects alike for an enterprise-grade cloud backup offering with a best-in-class solution. In fact, through a recent survey of our MSP partner base, we found that at least 45% confirmed they would purchase a backup solution from Zix if it became available. Cloud backup being our number one product adjacency, coupled with our proven success attaching additional products to our customer base, gives us a high level of confidence that we can leverage CloudAlly to become a greater business than just the sum of its parts. With CloudAlly, we can greatly enhance our Secure Cloud platform and also mitigate concerns around ransomware which has become a large industry focus. With this transaction completed, Zix will be better positioned for profitable growth, higher attach rates, scaled customer retention, and with the opportunity to capture a greater share of the multi-billion-dollar business communications market.”

Avinoam Katz, CloudAlly’s Chief Executive Officer, commented: “A comprehensive data protection plan is more important than ever as companies around the world are focusing on cybersecurity for their remote workforce. We’re extremely excited to join forces with Zix at this time and feel that our industry leading cloud backup service will be a complementary and valuable addition to their recently announced Secure Cloud Platform, an integrated suite of productivity, security and compliance services. This suite of services will give our rapidly growing combined customer and partner base around the world the tools they need to protect their critical cloud assets across an evolving distributed workforce.”

Financing Terms

In connection with the acquisition, Zix modified its existing senior secured term loan led by Truist Bank by adding additional borrowings of $35.0 million, bringing the total outstanding amount of the term loan to $212.2 million. The maturity date remains February 20, 2024 and carries the same interest rate (currently LIBOR plus 3.25%), which is subject to future step-downs as Zix’s leverage reduces. Additionally, Zix intends to use a portion of the additional term loan borrowing to repay all existing draws under its revolving credit facility, which will leave Zix with $25.0 million of capacity under its revolver.

On a pro forma basis, taking into effect the CloudAlly acquisition, as of December 31, 2020, Zix expects to have over $20.0 million of cash and cash equivalents and total long-term debt of $212.1 million.

“Beyond the direct benefits from an operational standpoint, our acquisition of CloudAlly should also be highly accretive from a financial perspective,” said Dave Rockvam, Zix’s Chief Financial Officer.” Its 100% subscription business and favorable profitability profile provide us with predictable adjusted EBITDA and cash flow to augment our already-robust financial base. We sought out CloudAlly because of the strong, born-in-the-cloud business they have today, but we believe that what it could be in the future represents an even more attractive ROI for Zix. Longer-term, our strong, unlevered free cash flow generation capabilities, aided by CloudAlly, have us on solid footing to comfortably service our debt obligations over time.”

Zix management will provide additional details on the CloudAlly acquisition and the company’s outlook on its third quarter 2020 conference call scheduled for today, Monday, November 9, 2020 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time.

Transaction Advisors

Baker Botts and Gornitzky & Co. acted as legal advisors to Zix. Clairfield International acted as financial advisor and Gross Kleinhendler Hodak acted as legal advisor to CloudAlly.

About CloudAlly

Founded in 2011, CloudAlly provides ISO 27001 certified and GDPR/HIPAA compliant SaaS backup and recovery solutions. CloudAlly comprehensively protects Microsoft Office 365, Google Workspace (formerly G Suite), Salesforce, Dropbox, and Box SaaS data with secure automated cloud-to-cloud backup and easy recovery from any point-in-time with unlimited data retention. Additionally, CloudAlly offers unlimited storage and tier-one customer service. For more information, visit www.cloudally.com.

About Zix Corporation

Zix Corporation (Zix) is a leader in email security. Trusted by the nation’s most influential institutions in healthcare, finance and government, Zix delivers a superior experience and easy-to-use solutions for email encryption and data loss prevention, advanced threat protection, unified information archiving and bring your own device (BYOD) mobile security. Focusing on the protection of business communication, Zix enables its customers to better secure data and meet compliance needs. Zix is publicly traded on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol ZIXI. For more information, visit www.zixcorp.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this release that are not purely historical facts or that necessarily depend upon future events, including projections of CloudAlly’s future standalone financial performance, statements about future business combination and/or related financing transactions, forecasts of sales, revenue, EBITDA, ARR, earnings, earnings per share or similar financial measures, potential benefits of future business combination transactions or strategic relationships, or other statements about anticipations, beliefs, expectations, hopes, intentions or strategies for the future, may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are based upon information available to Zix on the date this release was issued. Zix undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Any forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from the events or results described in the forward-looking statements, including but not limited to risks or uncertainties related to the acquisition and integration of newly acquired companies and businesses, the company’s taking on new indebtedness, market acceptance of both existing and new Zix solutions, changing market dynamics resulting from technological change and innovation as well as ongoing customer migration of IT solutions to the “cloud”, how privacy and data security laws may affect demand for Zix data protection solutions and uncertainty and market instability stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and governmental actions related thereto. Zix may not succeed in addressing these and other risks. Further information regarding factors that could affect Zix financial and other results can be found in the risk factors section of Zix’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as those risk factors may be supplemented in subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.

Contacts
Zix Company Contact
Geoff Bibby
1-214-370-2241
gbibby@zixcorp.com

Zix Investor Contact
Matt Glover and Tom Colton
Gateway Investor Relations
1-949-574-3860
ZIXI@gatewayir.com

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Blackstone Announces Majority Stake in the Largest Logistics Park in China’s Greater Bay Area

Blackstone

HONG KONG, November 10, 2020 – Blackstone (NYSE: BX) today announced the acquisition of a majority stake in the Greater Bay Area’s largest urban logistics park for US$1.1 billion from R&F Group, expanding Blackstone’s China logistics portfolio by approximately one-third. Blackstone Real Estate’s opportunistic funds will acquire a 70% stake in the 1.2 million-square-meter logistics park located in Guangzhou, China.

Justin Wai, a Blackstone Real Estate Managing Director based in Hong Kong, said: “Logistics remains among our highest conviction global investment themes and we continue to see strong momentum driven by e-commerce trends. This transaction represents a continuation of Blackstone’s strategy to acquire high quality logistics located in tier-one distribution hubs with ongoing tenant demand. The investment also complements our existing Chinese logistics portfolio geographically, which will total 53 million square feet and give us a presence in 23 cities once the acquisition is complete.”

Cliff Chen, a Blackstone Real Estate Managing Director based in Shanghai, said: “The Greater Bay Area is rapidly emerging as a financial, technology and transportation hub and one of China’s biggest logistics markets. Our scale, expertise in logistics, and the support of dedicated teams on the ground enable us to drive our plans for the park’s future growth including constructing additional cold storage facilities and institutional-quality warehouses to cater to rising demand.”

The Greater Bay Area is a fast-growing metropolitan area comprising 11 cities including Shenzhen, Macau, and Hong Kong. The logistics park is located 15km from Guangzhou International Airport and houses blue-chip tenants across sectors such as third-party logistics (SF Express, YTO Express), e-commerce (Tmall, JD.com), pharmaceuticals (Sinopharm, CR Pharma), and telecommunications (China Mobile, China Telecom).

Blackstone Real Estate operates around the globe and has approximately US$174 billion in investor capital under management. Since 2010, Blackstone has acquired more than 1 billion square feet of logistics globally in more than 200 distinct transactions. In 2019, it announced the largest-ever private real estate transaction globally with the acquisition of U.S. logistics assets from GLP.

About Blackstone Real Estate
Blackstone is a global leader in real estate investing. Blackstone’s real estate business was founded in 1991 and has $174 billion of investor capital under management. Blackstone is one of the largest property owners in the world, owning and operating assets across every major geography and sector, including logistics, multifamily and single family housing, office, hospitality and retail. Our opportunistic funds seek to acquire undermanaged, well-located assets across the world. Blackstone’s Core+ strategy invests in substantially stabilized real estate globally through regional open-ended funds focused on high-quality assets and Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, Inc. (BREIT), a non-listed REIT that invests in U.S. income-generating assets. Blackstone Real Estate also operates one of the leading global real estate debt businesses, providing comprehensive financing solutions across the capital structure and risk spectrum, including management of Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE: BXMT).

Media Contact:
Ellen Bogard
Ellen.Bogard@Blackstone.com
Tel: +852 3651 7737

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Adobe to Acquire Workfront

JMI Equity

Acquisition Brings Leading Work Management Platform for Marketers to Adobe Experience Cloud

SAN JOSE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Adobe (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Workfront, the leading work management platform for marketers, for $1.5 billion, subject to customary purchase price adjustments. With more than 3,000 customers and one million users, Workfront is the solution marketers rely on every day to efficiently manage content, plan and track marketing campaigns, and execute complex workflows across teams.

Adobe solutions are at the nexus of creativity and customer experience management and mission-critical to marketers, creatives, analysts, and now, operations managers. Adobe Creative Cloud provides the world’s best creative apps and services to everyone, from students, to social media influencers, to professional photographers, filmmakers, and designers. Adobe Experience Cloud is the most comprehensive solution for content and commerce, customer journey management, and customer data and insights, all built on an open platform, enabling businesses of every size across every industry to deliver exceptional customer experiences at scale.

Satisfying the increasing expectations of B2B and B2C customers today requires large volumes of content and personalized marketing campaigns delivered at lightning speed and scale. This must be accomplished across increasingly dispersed teams, as remote work becomes prevalent in today’s environment and the future of work is redefined. The combination of Adobe Experience Cloud and Workfront will bring efficiency, collaboration, and productivity gains to marketing teams currently challenged with siloed work management solutions.

Workfront has deep leadership in orchestrating marketing workflows. Workfront’s platform is agile and uniquely architected for the enterprise, with extensive integration capabilities that can be easily configured to meet the varied needs of companies of all sizes.

Adobe and Workfront are longstanding partners with strong product synergies and a growing base of over 1,000 shared customers. Workfront is equipped with APIs that enable a seamless connection to Adobe Creative Cloud and Adobe Experience Cloud. Shared Adobe and Workfront customers include Deloitte, Under Armour, Nordstrom, Prudential Financial, T-Mobile, and The Home Depot.

“Adobe is the undisputed leader in content creation, management, delivery, and measurement and a trusted partner to digital leaders around the globe,” said Anil Chakravarthy, executive vice president and general manager, Digital Experience Business and Worldwide Field Operations, Adobe. “The combination of Adobe and Workfront will further accelerate Adobe’s leadership in customer experience management, providing a pioneering solution that spans the entire lifecycle of digital experiences, from ideation to activation.”

“Adobe and Workfront share a common affinity to help the modern marketer thrive in an ever-evolving, increasingly demanding setting,” said Alex Shootman, CEO, Workfront. “We’re excited to join Adobe and believe this will be a tremendous opportunity for our customers and partners.”

Upon close, Workfront CEO Alex Shootman will continue to lead the Workfront team, reporting to Anil Chakravarthy, executive vice president and general manager, Digital Experience Business and Worldwide Field Operations.

The transaction, which is expected to close during the first quarter of Adobe’s 2021 fiscal year, is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions. Until the transaction closes, each company will continue to operate independently.

Forward-Looking Statements Disclosure

This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities law. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements relate to future events and future performance and reflect Adobe’s expectations regarding the ability to extend its leadership in the experience business through the combination of Adobe Experience Cloud’s capabilities in content creation, management, delivery and measurement, with Workfront’s work management products and other anticipated benefits of the transaction. Forward-looking statements involve risks, including general risks associated with Adobe’s and Workfront’s business, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those referred to in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: Adobe’s ability to further integrate Workfront technology into Adobe Experience Cloud; the effectiveness of Workfront technology; potential benefits of the transaction to Adobe and Workfront customers; the ability of Adobe and Workfront to close the announced transaction; the possibility that the closing of the transaction may be delayed; and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. The reader is cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to Adobe and are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. For a discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties, individuals should refer to Adobe’s SEC filings. Adobe does not assume any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements or other statements included in this press release.

About Workfront

Workfront is the leader in enterprise work management, trusted by more than 3,000 companies, one million users, and 10 out of 10 of the world’s top brands. Workfront was founded to help people, teams, and companies do their best work. For more information, visit www.workfront.com.

About Adobe

Adobe is changing the world through digital experiences. For more information, visit www.adobe.com.

© 2020 Adobe. All rights reserved. Adobe and the Adobe logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Contacts

Public relations contact
Ashley Levine
Adobe
aslevine@adobe.com

Investor relations contact
Jonathan Vaas
Adobe
ir@adobe.com

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FPE Capital invests to accelerate growth at Togetherall, a leading digital mental health platform

FPE Capital

nvestment is eighth from FPE’s software and services focussed Fund II

FPE Capital LLP (‘FPE’), the software & services focused lower mid-market growth investor, announces that it has invested in Togetherall, a leading mental health SaaS platform.

This marks the eighth investment from FPE Fund II. Togetherall joins other SaaS product focussed investments Questionmark, Masstech, Kallik and MaxContact in FPE’s portfolio.

Togetherall is the leading digital mental health community, delivering 24/7, clinically moderated support to low acuity users via its SaaS-delivered platform. The business has a strong existing position in Higher Education and is rapidly expanding into the Corporate and Public Health verticals. In the last twelve months the platform has supported over 85,000 members across its key geographies in the UK, USA and Canada.

FPE’s growth capital investment is largely into primary funding to support the business in accelerating its rapid growth in North America. This echoes the driver of growth in FPE’s successful exits of Fund I investments Small World Financial Services and Creditcall where US expansion was a key element of equity value. FPE will support the business in its growth journey through its own domain experience and the introduction of functional experts and complementary executive talent.

David Barbour, Managing Partner at FPE, commented:

 

“FPE is delighted to have completed this growth investment into Togetherall. Our expertise is focussed on investing in high quality companies operating in large markets where we can support the team in their growth ambitions. We look forward to working with Henry and his management team in the coming years.”

 

Henry Jones, CEO of Togetherall, added:

 

“We are excited to be partnering with experienced technology investors in FPE. Their experience in SaaS really sets them apart, and we are pleased to have them on board as we accelerate our growth into North America.”

 

FPE joins LGT IVUK as investors in Togetherall. FPE’s investment will make it the largest shareholder in the business. Henry Sallitt and Llewellyn John will join the Board from completion.

The FPE investment was led by Henry Sallitt, Llewellyn John and Chris Kay. FPE was advised on the transaction by Stephenson Harwood (Legal), Luminii Consulting (Commercial), Dow Schofield Watts (Financial and Tax), Intechnica (Technical DD), and Continuum Ventures (Management).

Togetherall was advised by EY Corporate Finance and Taylor Vinters.

-ENDS-

Media inquiries:

FPE

David Barbour

Managing Partner

+44 (0) 203 912 8801

Togetherall

Henry Jones

CEO

+44 (0) 7958 754 880

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The Carlyle Group Acquires Leading Pet Health and Nutrition Provider Manna Pro Products from Morgan Stanley Capital Partners

Carlyle

NEW YORK – The Carlyle Group today announced that it has acquired a majority stake in Manna Pro Products (“Manna Pro”) from investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Capital Partners (“MSCP”). Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Manna Pro, a St. Louis-based manufacturer and marketer of specialty pet care products, provides food, treats, and a wide assortment of high-quality health and wellness products for companion pets and hobby animals. With roots dating back to 1842, Manna Pro has a long history of excellence in pet nutrition. Today, Manna Pro has developed into an industry leader providing nutritionally wholesome products for dogs, cats, backyard chickens and other companion pets. A leader in the fields of pet health and nutrition, the Company is well known for its innovative product development and commitment to sustainable practices.

“We are grateful to have partnered with the extraordinary management team at Manna Pro during a period of tremendous growth as they advanced their position as a leading provider of pet health and nutrition,” said Aaron Sack, Head of Morgan Stanley Capital Partners. “During MSCP’s ownership, Manna Pro built on its long history with strong organic growth and benefited from several critical companion pet acquisitions, including Fruitables, Hero Pet and most recently Doggie Dailies, that expanded Manna Pro’s online presence and created opportunities to reshape the supply chain and operations. We’re excited for Manna Pro to continue this positive trajectory as they enter a new phase with the exceptional team at Carlyle. ”

“We’re excited to partner again with John Howe and the talented Manna Pro management team, as we have known many of the key business leaders for more than six years,” said David Basto, a Carlyle Managing Director. “Our prior partnership with Manna Pro was a great success, and the business’ momentum has only continued. Strong recent organic growth and the relative fragmentation in the categories in which the Company plays give us a high degree of confidence in the opportunities ahead for Manna Pro.”

“Strong execution and enduring category tailwinds are driving exceptional growth for Manna Pro, and we believe there is meaningful runway for continued expansion, both domestically and internationally,” said Jay Sammons, Carlyle’s Head of Global Consumer, Media & Retail. “With multiple avenues for future value creation, including growing the core business and increasing the scale of acquisitions, we look forward to supporting the Company’s growth plans with our differentiated global capabilities and resources.”

“We are pleased to be working again with the team at Carlyle as we build on the substantial growth we’ve experienced in partnership with MSCP,” said John Howe, CEO, Manna Pro. “Our business has evolved significantly over the past three years with the expansion of our high quality product offering, increased investment in brand building, improved operations, and intense focus on growth and sustainability. With increasing demand for products that help pet parents care for and nurture their pets, we appreciate MSCP’s support in achieving our leadership position and look forward to working with Carlyle again as we continue our mission.”

The investment in Manna Pro is a continuation of Carlyle’s long-term global commitment to Consumer, Media & Retail, in which it has invested more than $21.5 billion of equity since inception. Equity capital for the investment will come from Carlyle Partners VII, an $18.5 billion fund that makes majority and strategic minority investments primarily in the U.S. in targeted industries, including Consumer, Media & Retail.

Debevoise & Plimpton LLP acted as legal advisor to MSCP. Kirkland & Ellis acted as legal advisor to The Carlyle Group and William Blair & Company acted as financial advisor to Manna Pro, with co-advisory support from Lincoln International.

About The Carlyle Group
The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) is a global investment firm with deep industry expertise that deploys private capital across four business segments: Corporate Private Equity, Real Assets, Global Credit and Investment Solutions. With $230 billion of assets under management as of September 30, 2020, Carlyle’s purpose is to invest wisely and create value on behalf of its investors, portfolio companies and the communities in which we live and invest. Carlyle employs more than 1,800 people in 30 offices across six continents. Further information is available at www.carlyle.com. Follow Carlyle on Twitter @OneCarlyle.

About Morgan Stanley Capital Partners
Morgan Stanley Capital Partners, the middle-market focused private equity business of Morgan Stanley Investment Management, has invested capital in a broad spectrum of industries for over two decades. Morgan Stanley Capital Partners focuses on privately negotiated equity and equity-related investments in North America and seeks to create value in portfolio companies primarily through operational improvement. For further information about Morgan Stanley Capital Partners, please visit to  www.morganstanley.com/im/capitalpartners.

Media
Morgan Stanley Media Relations
Lauren Bellmare
212.761.5303
Lauren.bellmare@morganstanley.com

The Carlyle Group Media Relations
Brittany Berliner
212.813.4839
brittany.berliner@carlyle.com

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IK Investment Partners to acquire ALBA Baving Group

ik-investment-partners

IK Investment Partners (“IK”) is pleased to announce that the IK Small Cap II Fund has reached an agreement to acquire a majority stake in ALBA Baving Group (“ALBA” or “the Company”) from its founding family. ALBA is a leading provider of infrastructure cleaning and maintenance services for municipalities and B2B customers in Germany. Financial terms are not disclosed and the completion of the transaction is subject to regulatory approval.

Founded in 1964 by Albert and Hans Baving in Neuenkirchen, ALBA has developed into one of Germany’s largest service providers for municipal infrastructure services. The Company provides street sweeping, sink box cleaning, road and highway maintenance and other infrastructure services as well as winter and greenspace maintenance and swept material recycling services. ALBA sweeps more than 2,000 kilometres of road per day in over 120 German cities and municipalities, cleans over 500,000 sink boxes annually, and contributes to the maintenance, cleanliness and safety of critical infrastructure for municipalities and B2B customers. IK will be acquiring a majority stake from Dr. Jörg Baving and Claus Baving who became shareholders and took roles as Managing Partners after a generational change in 1999. Today the business is led by CEO Philipp Wernsmann, and following the transaction, Dr. Jörg Baving and Claus Baving will continue to support ALBA in an advisory role.

IK will work with the management to accelerate the Company’s organic growth strategy, expand its service offering and further invest into its operations to support ALBA’s continued development into a full-service provider of infrastructure services.

Claus Baving, shareholder of ALBA, said: “ALBA has developed into a leading service provider for municipal services in Germany. We are very proud of this growth, the loyalty of our customers and our trusted and qualified employees. We look forward to embarking on a new chapter together with IK and continuing to expand our market position further.”

Dr. Jörg Baving, shareholder of ALBA, commented: “IK shares our vision for ALBA as a full-service provider of infrastructure services. Their support and experience will bring value for us and for the continuous strategic development of the Company and its service offering.”

Nils Pohlmann, Partner at IK Investment Partners and advisor to the IK SC II Fund, said: “ALBA represents more than 50 years of cleaning services for communities across Germany. We are impressed by its sustainable and successful development, its professional set-up and operational and digitalised processes. ALBA is an attractive platform investment for IK, and we look forward to actively supporting the management team and shareholders to further grow the Company.”

Philipp Wernsmann, CEO of ALBA, added: “With IK we found the right partner to support our strategic growth ambitions. We are impressed by IK’s experience, capabilities and motivation, and look forward to developing ALBA together.”

Parties involved with transaction:

Buyside

IK Investment Partners: Nils Pohlmann, Ingmar Bär, Florian Kofler
Buyer commercial due diligence: h&z Unternehmensberatung (Dr. Markus Contzen, Sascha Tagliaferri)
Buyer financial due diligence: Ernst & Young (Hinrich Grunwaldt)
Buyer legal advisor: Ernst & Young Law (Dr. Jan Philipp Feigen)
Buyer tax advisor: Ernst & Young (Thorsten Krummheuer)

Sellside

Seller: Claus Baving, Dr. Jörg Baving
Seller M&A advisor: MCF Corporate Finance (Stefan Mattern)
Seller legal advisor: Renzenbrink & Partner (Dr. Ulf Renzenbrink)
Seller tax advisor: DWL Döcker und Partner (Peter Göcking, Bernward Wigger)

For further questions, please contact:

ALBA
Philipp Wernsmann, CEO
+49 5973 94 99 0 

IK Investment Partners:
Charles Barker Corporate Communications
Tobias Eberle
+49 69 794 090 24
Tobias.Eberle@charlesbarker.de

Maitland/AMO:
James McFarlane
Phone: +44 (0) 7584 142 665
jmcfarlane@maitland.co.uk

About IK Investment Partners

IK Investment Partners (“IK”) is a Pan-European private equity firm focused on investments in the Benelux, DACH, France, Nordics and the UK. Since 1989, IK has raised more than €13 billion of capital and invested in over 135 European companies. IK supports companies with strong underlying potential, partnering with management teams and investors to create robust, well-positioned businesses with excellent long-term prospects. For more information, visit www.ikinvest.com

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Hg agrees the sale of Eucon to VHV Group

HG Capital

Münster, Germany and London, United Kingdom – 6 November 2020: Hg, Europe’s leading software investor, today announces that it has agreed the sale of Eucon Group to VHV Group, a leading German insurance group. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction is subject to customary anti-trust approvals and closing is expected later this year.

Eucon is a leading provider of best-in-class information and data-based systems for efficient product management in the automotive aftermarket. Customers include car manufacturers and suppliers, as well as a variety of workshop chains. For insurers, Eucon digitalises claims management and is one of the sector leaders for digital platform solutions for data and document processing. In addition, Eucon offers digital solutions for the real estate industry for efficient and transparent invoice management.

“Together with Hg, we have written a great success story over the last five years. We would like to thank Benedikt Joeris and his team for their partnership and trusting cooperation. We have been successfully cooperating with the VHV Group for some time now and therefore could not have hoped for a better new investor. By providing platform solutions, we help our customers tap the digital potential of their industry and ensure sustainable access to the key technologies they require. With VHV as a robust, powerful and innovative partner, we can achieve this goal even more effectively and ensure that this open platform strategy is available to our customers for the long term.”

Sven Krüger, CEO of the Eucon Group

“It has been a real privilege to work with Sven, the founders and entire team at Eucon. Today we part ways after five very productive years of working together. Eucon’s business sits at the intersection of two growth drivers in which Hg has built substantial experience: the value of big data in the automotive sector and the increasing digitalisation of the insurance and real estate industry – and together we have built a great business in these areas. We are delighted that the team will be able to continue this journey with VHV, a true leader in insurance across Germany. We’re also pleased to see the strength of our networks and our track record continue to drive value in small and medium enterprises across Germany.”

Benedikt Joeris, Director at Hg

“Eucon can look back on a very successful few years of development alongside Hg. Our collaboration has been very valuable to the business and we enjoyed working closely together. We look forward to continuing Eucon’s growth with VHV.”

The founders of Eucon Group, Maurice and Marcel Oosenbrugh

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Gen II gains significant new investment from Global Investors to fuel continued long-term expansion

HG Capital

General Atlantic, Hg and IHS Markit aim to strengthen Gen II’s suite of solutions, supporting a growing customer base and generating further strategic growth

New York, New York, USA and London, UK. 6 November 2020: Gen II Fund Services, LLC (“Gen II”), a leading independent private equity fund administrator, announced today that it has secured a new strategic investment. General Atlantic (“GA”), a leading global growth equity firm, and Hg, a leading global software investor, together will lead the investment. IHS Markit (NYSE: INFO), a world leader in critical information, analytics and solutions, will also make a minority investment in the company. Cobepa S.A will continue to hold a minority position. The Gen II founders and management team will continue to hold a significant investment in Gen II whilst continuing to lead the business.

The terms of the transaction were not disclosed and closing of the transaction is conditional on customary anti-trust and regulatory approvals.

Led by its three original co-founders – Steven Millner, Steven Alecia and Norman Leben – since 2009, Gen II is a leading pure-play provider of alternative asset fund administration services.  With headquarters in New York, New York and Luxembourg and serving a global client base, the company administers over $375 billion of private capital on behalf of its clients across more than 500 funds and their 25,000 investors, spanning various investment strategies including Buyout, Infrastructure, Energy, Real Estate, Fund of Funds, Credit, and Retail.

Gen II is differentiated by providing a leading, tech-enabled platform offering a high-touch, premium service to its clients in fund administration, accounting, reporting and regulatory compliance. Mr. Millner, Mr. Alecia and Mr. Leben have built a strong team providing an industry-leading experience to the Firm’s clients, which has led to consistent, uninterrupted double-digit organic growth over the last 10 years.

“We are excited to partner with General Atlantic, Hg and IHS Markit to make Gen II even stronger.  Our new investors each bring game-changing expertise to our Firm and our clients. General Atlantic brings 40 years of global growth equity investing and will be superb advisors as we expand our capabilities and reach. Hg, the largest software investor in Europe, brings deep software and service business intelligence that we will leverage to help refine our products. And IHS Markit, developers of WSO Software and iLevel, brings technology, analytics, and product expertise that will help us transform the features and performance of our platform. This is a powerhouse combination.”

Steven Millner, Steven Alecia and Norman Leben, co-founders of Gen II

“We are thrilled to partner with Gen II in its next phase of growth. Under the leadership of Steven, Steven and Norman, the business has become a critical player across the full fund lifecycle of the alternative asset ecosystem. We see significant potential to help drive market expansion across a growing global base of GPs and their investors.”

Gabriel Caillaux, Co-President, Managing Director and Head of EMEA at General Atlantic

“Gen II’s embedded, quality solutions drive real value for its customers, demonstrated by the momentum of the business over the past decade. We look forward to leveraging General Atlantic’s deep expertise in financial technology, alongside that of Hg and IHS Markit, to further augment and expand its integrated technology platform.”

Aaron Goldman, Managing Director and Global Co-Head of Financial Services at General Atlantic

“Today Hg is investing in a very strong business, which has built a differentiated profile to become the platform-of-choice for its industry. In line with the management team’s ambition, we see potential to scale further, both across the sector and across geographies. Hg has invested over $2 billion into wealth & capital markets as well as compliance services and technology platforms to date and we are looking forward to using this expertise to continue Gen II’s success together with our partners.”

Thorsten Toepfer, Partner at Hg

“We have actively followed the fund administration space for several years and during this time we’ve seen Gen II build a reputation as one of the most respected alternative asset administration tech platforms in the industry. The founders have been right at the heart of this the whole way and it is truly impressive what they and their team have achieved. Alongside them, and our new investment partners, we look forward to bringing our experience in fintech to see what we can achieve together.”

Joris Van Gool, Partner at Hg

”Through its innovation and value-added solutions, Gen II is a leader in fund administration for alternative assets. Given our growth strategy and commitment to enabling the success of private capital markets, we are pleased to invest additional resources with GA, Hg and the Gen II leadership team to further support our global GP and LP clients.”

Adam Kansler, President of Financial Services at IHS Markit

Advising the buy side on the transaction were HPS (debt financing), Skadden and Paul Weiss (legal), Raymond James (M&A), Linklaters (debt legal), PWC and EY (financial due diligence, tax and structuring), Bain (commercial due diligence) and Validus (FX). Baird advised on the transaction as part of the sell side.

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Huntsworth to Acquire Nucleus Global

Clayton Dubilier Rice

Establishes a Global Leader in Medical Communications

Friday, November 6, 2020
London and New York

Huntsworth, a Clayton, Dubilier & Rice portfolio company, has announced an agreement to acquire Nucleus Global from its founder, Stephen Cameron.

The combination will create a global leader in the fast growing medical communications space and further establish Huntsworth as a leading Pharma Commercialization platform, offering a suite of medical affairs, market access, and marketing services to large and mid-size pharmaceutical and biotech companies across the life cycle of drugs.

With a 30-year history of organic growth, Nucleus has become one of the largest privately owned medical communications groups with 14 offices around the world and more than 800 experts serving the biggest healthcare and medical assets in the world. Nucleus Founder and Chair, Stephen Cameron will join the main Board of Huntsworth and continue to lead Nucleus.

“This is a transformational milestone for two highly complementary businesses,” said Eric Rouzier, CD&R Partner. “We believe the combined businesses will offer a highly differentiated and complementary suite of high science solutions to support its clients in the pharmaceutical industry in developing and commercializing drugs globally. We are delighted that Stephen will remain with the business through the next phase of its growth.”

CD&R, which acquired Huntsworth in May, has a long track record investing in healthcare businesses globally. Huntsworth Chairman Liam FitzGerald, Operating Advisor to CD&R funds and former CEO of UDG Healthcare, will continue in the Chairman role for the new combined business upon close of the transaction, expected in December 2020.

About Nucleus
Nucleus Global is a medical communications group, which provides communications strategy, publications planning, expert and patient engagement, scientific events management, medical education, internal communications, training and clinical support for pharmacy and biotech companies.  Nucleus has its headquarters in London and operates dedicated, conflict-free teams across 14 offices and 800 employees in the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific. For more information, please visit www.nucleus-global.com/. 

About Huntsworth
Huntsworth is an international healthcare and communications group. The Group’s principal area of focus is Health, which provides medical affairs and marketing services to large and mid-size pharmaceutical and biotech companies. It also has a smaller Communications group, which provides a wide range of communications and advisory services including strategic communications, public affairs, investor relations and consumer marketing. Huntsworth is headquartered in London and operates 46 offices around 20 countries with approximately 2,000 employees. For more information, please visit www.huntsworth.com/.

About Clayton, Dubilier & Rice
Founded in 1978, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice is a private investment firm with a strategy predicated on enhancing the value of portfolio businesses by supporting long-term growth, productivity, capital efficiency, and related strategic measures. Since inception, CD&R has managed the investment of more than $30 billion in 95 companies with an aggregate transaction value of more than $150 billion. The Firm has offices in New York and London. For more information, visit www.cdr-inc.com.

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Agilitas backs buyout of TenCate Advanced Armour

Agilitas

Agilitas, the pan-European mid-market private equity firm, today announces the signing of an agreement to back the buyout of TenCate Advanced Armour Holding B.V. and its subsidiaries (together the “Company” or “TenCate Advanced Armour”), the global leading manufacturer of lightweight survivability solutions, from Royal Ten Cate.

TenCate Advanced Armour is a global provider of lightweight, mission-critical survivability and protection solutions for people working in hostile environments. Its portfolio of bespoke, highly engineered defensive products covers personal protection, as well as applications for land vehicles, aircraft, and naval vessels. Uniquely positioned as one of only two transatlantic and independent providers globally in the highly regulated survivability solutions industry, TenCate Advanced Armour is a key strategic partner to the world’s leading Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), militaries and law enforcement agencies around the world.

The Company has 300 employees and is one of the only vertically integrated armour solutions providers with the ability to develop, test and manufacture armour products in-house. It does so through its facilities in Denmark, France and the US, which also hold individual certifications and national security clearances that allow TenCate Advanced Armour to supply survivability systems to governments and OEMs.

TenCate Advanced Armour serves society by providing high-quality protection to those who risk their lives in hostile environments. The buyout of the Company is the latest example of Agilitas’s strategy of backing ambitious management teams in high-quality and defensive businesses, with opportunities for multi-dimensional business transformation and a strong alignment between shareholder value and fundamental positive purpose.

Kevin Iermiin, of Agilitas, who will be joining the Board of TenCate Advanced Armour Holding BV, commented: “It has been a pleasure to work with management on identifying multi-dimensional transformational opportunities for TenCate Advanced Armour. We are excited to support their vision to become the leading OEM-independent manufacturer of lightweight survivability solutions across all platforms.”

Steen Tanderup, CEO at TenCate Advanced Armour, commented: “We are very proud of what we have achieved with TenCate Advanced Armour’s growth to date. Since the public-to-private of the TenCate group in 2016 we have invested significantly in our factories, our people and in R&D and have built a very strong business with the highest quality products and service for our customers. We look forward to partnering with Agilitas to continue to provide service of the highest quality and integrity to our customers and further accelerate our growth path.”

Martin Calderbank, Managing Partner at Agilitas, said: “TenCate Advanced Armour operates where the quality of protection is of the utmost importance. By supporting management to bring about step changes in the Company’s performance and continuing its global growth, we will help it provide even better protection for people working in hostile environments around the world.”

The closing of the transaction is subject to regulatory approvals.

 

Media enquiries to: Greenbrook – Alex Jones, James Madsen and Catriona Crellin

 

+44 20 7952 2000 | agilitas@greenbrookpr.com

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