EQT Private Equity acquires 29.6 percent of the shares and 26.4 percent of the votes in Beijer Ref, a world-leading wholesaler of cooling technology and air conditioning, and thereby becomes the largest shareholder
Beijer Ref provides a wide range of products within commercial refrigeration, industrial refrigeration, air conditioning and heating, to customers around the world
EQT will support Beijer Ref on its continued growth journey both organically and through acquisitions, and will through its strong commitment towards sustainability seek to further develop the Company into a sustainability leader in its industry
EQT is pleased to announce that EQT Private Equity has entered into an agreement regarding the acquisition of 2,152,260 A-shares and 35,631,616 B-shares in Beijer Ref AB (“Beijer Ref” or “the Company”), for a total value of approximately USD 1.1 billion, representing 29.6 percent of the shares and 26.4 percent[1] of the votes, from Carrier Global Corporation (“Carrier”). The Company is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm, Large Cap segment.
Founded in Sweden in 1866, Beijer Ref is a global leader within refrigeration, air conditioning and heating wholesale with strong local and global market presence across 425 branches through which it serves more than 100,000 customers. Beijer Ref is headquartered in Malmö, Sweden and has approximately 3,700 employees.
EQT will support Beijer Ref’s growth journey, which will include acquisitions and organic expansion, as well as investments in digitalization and automation initiatives. Moreover, the Company is expected to benefit from EQT’s strong commitment towards sustainability and shares a clear ambition of becoming a sustainability leader, by leveraging its local Beijer Ref academies and promoting green technologies to both suppliers and customers.
Albert Gustafsson, Partner at EQT Partners, said: “We have followed Beijer Ref for many years and have been very impressed by their consistently strong performance. Beijer Ref represents a truly thematic investment for us. We are excited by the opportunity to now work together with the Company, the Board and its management team, and we have a strong conviction around Beijer Ref’s ability to drive change in its industry. In particular, we look forward to supporting Beijer Ref in its efforts to promote the phase-out of F-gas dependent solutions in favor of sustainable greentech technologies”.
The transaction is expected to close by the end of December 2020, subject to the receipt of a required regulatory approval.
EQT was advised by White & Case (legal), EY (tax), KPMG (financial) and The Footprint Firm (ESG).
With this transaction, EQT IX is expected to be 20-25 percent invested (including closed and/or signed investments, announced public offers, if applicable, and less any expected syndication) based on its target fund size, and subject to customary regulatory approvals.
Contact
Albert Gustafsson, Partner at EQT Partners and Investment Advisor to EQT Private Equity, +4673 314 99 87
EQT Press Office, press@eqtpartners.com, +46 8 506 55 334
About EQT EQT is a purpose-driven global investment organizationwith more than EUR 75 billion in raised capital and over EUR 46 billion in assets under management across 16 active funds. EQT funds have portfolio companies in Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America with total sales of more than EUR 27 billion and approximately 159,000 employees. EQT works with portfolio companies to achieve sustainable growth, operational excellence and market leadership.
About Beijer Ref Founded in 1866, Beijer Ref is a Swedish technology-oriented trading Group which, through added-value products, offers its customers competitive solutions within refrigeration and climate control. Beijer Ref is one of the largest refrigeration wholesalers in the world, and is represented in 36 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania. Beijer Ref is headquartered in Malmö with approximately 3,700 employees and is listed in the Large Cap segment on Nasdaq Stockholm. Based on the last twelve months as of 30 September 2020, Beijer Ref reported net sales of approximately SEK 14.1 billion and EBITDA of approximately SEK 1.5 billion.
PAI Partners (“PAI”), a leading European private equity firm, announced today the acquisition of Apleona Group GmbH (“Apleona” or “the Company”) from EQT for a total transaction value of approximately EUR 1.6 billion.
Headquartered in Neu-Isenburg, Germany, Apleona provides technical facility management services, complemented by infrastructural and commercial facility management as part of an integrated offering. EQT acquired the Company in 2016 through a carve-out from Bilfinger SE, a listed German industrial services conglomerate.
Under EQT ownership Apleona has been transformed into a pure-play facility management provider with an unrivalled position in DACH, partly through the divestments of its cyclical, low margin construction segment in 2017 and its UK real estate advisory business GVA in 2018. This strategic shift was further accelerated by significant investments into a digitalized operating platform and commercial excellence, fully focused on providing high-value integrated facility management services to its core blue-chip customer base. Apleona’s focus has led to a steady above-market growth rate and numerous new key account wins since 2016.
Today, Apleona has more than 20,000 employees, managing tens of thousands of buildings and offices in over 30 countries across Europe. The Company supports its clients with a wide range of services, amongst others with the goal of reducing buildings’ energy consumption and CO2 emissions. In a world where companies recognize the importance of environmental sustainability, Apleona plays a vital role in helping its clients manage their impact on the environment.
As a sign of its commitment to supporting customers’ drive towards energy efficiency, Apleona has developed widely recognized digital solutions for its customers. This offering has been complimented by strategic acquisitions and partnerships, such as that of Recogizer in 2020, which offers an AI-powered steering solution for a buildings’ heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.
Ralph Heuwing, Partner at PAI Partners, said: “We are excited to invest in Apleona, an excellent fit with PAI’s investment philosophy of acquiring industry leaders and capitalizing on attractive market fundamentals as well as tangible consolidation opportunities. The platform prepared by EQT and CEO Jochen Keysberg has laid the foundation for efficiency, digital excellence and continued growth. We look forward to a successful journey together.”
Philipp Meyer, Principal at PAI Partners, commented: “PAI has a strong track record in business services and in particular technical facility services. We view Apleona as uniquely positioned in the attractive DACH market, consistently delivering outstanding operational performance and successfully growing its portfolio of high-quality customers.”
Andreas Aschenbrenner, Partner at EQT Partners: “Today, Apleona is the market leader in the technical and integrated facilities management space. It has a strong platform to continue to drive market consolidation and further key account wins as the partner of choice for its blue-chip clients. We would like to thank Apleona’s CEO, Jochen Keysberg, the broader management team, the supervisory board and the advisory committee, as well as all employees for supporting EQT and Apleona along our joint journey.”
Matthias Wittkowski, Partner at EQT Partners, added: “This transaction underlines EQT’s position as the market leading investor in the services sector. We are proud to have supported Jochen and his team in accelerating the development of Apleona particularly along our core themes of growth, digitalization and sustainability.”
Jochen Keysberg, CEO of Apleona, concluded: “We have very much enjoyed the collaborative journey under EQT ownership and are thrilled to see how Apleona has benefited from EQT’s expertise and the investments made since the carve-out. We have an advantage with digital products and the automation and digitalization of operational processes and an unrivalled track record of sustainability initiatives supporting our client’s efforts. We are very excited to take this next step of our journey together with PAI and enter a new phase of growth both through M&A and also our enhanced organic growth potential”
The transaction is subject to customary conditions and approvals and is expected to close early Q2 2021. Deutsche Bank acted as financial advisor to EQT.
EQT VII to sell Apleona, a leading European facility management services provider and market leader in DACH, to PAI Partners for a transaction value of approximately EUR 1.6 billion
EQT has supported Apleona’s transformation into a pure-play services provider with a technical edge through investments in its digitalized and scalable platform and divestments of non-core businesses
During EQT’s tenure, Apleona’s EBITA has grown over 10 percent per year with a margin increase of 100 basis points to industry-leading levels
EQT today announced that the EQT VII fund (“EQT VII”) agreed to sell Apleona Group GmbH (”Apleona” or “the Company”) to PAI Partners SAS (“PAI Partners” or “PAI”) for a total transaction value of approximately EUR 1.6 billion.
Certain shares in the proceeds will be shared with Bilfinger resulting in expected proceeds of approximately EUR 450-470 million to Bilfinger’s Preferred Participation Note.
Headquartered in Neu-Isenburg, Germany, Apleona provides technical facility management services, complemented by infrastructural and commercial facility management as part of an integrated offering. EQT acquired the Company in 2016 through a carve-out from Bilfinger SE, a listed German industrial services conglomerate.
Under EQT ownership Apleona has been transformed into a pure-play facility management provider with an unrivalled position in DACH, partly through the divestments of its cyclical, low margin construction segment in 2017 and its UK real estate advisory business GVA in 2018. This strategic shift was further accelerated by significant investments into a digitalized operating platform and commercial excellence, fully focused on providing high-value integrated facility management services to its core blue-chip customer base. Apleona’s focus has led to a steady above-market growth rate and numerous new key account wins since 2016.
Today, Apleona has more than 20,000 employees, managing tens of thousands of buildings and offices in over 30 countries across Europe. The Company supports its clients with a wide range of services, amongst others with the goal of reducing buildings’ energy consumption and CO2 emissions. In a world where companies recognize the importance of environmental sustainability, Apleona plays a vital role in helping its clients manage their impact on the environment.
As a sign of its commitment to supporting customers’ drive towards energy efficiency, Apleona has developed widely recognized digital solutions for its customers. This offering has been complimented by strategic acquisitions and partnerships, such as that of Recogizer in 2020, which offers an AI-powered steering solution for a buildings’ heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.
Andreas Aschenbrenner, Partner at EQT Partners: “Today, Apleona is the market leader in the technical and integrated facilities management space. It has a strong platform to continue to drive market consolidation and further key account wins as the partner of choice for its blue-chip clients. We would like to thank Apleona’s CEO, Jochen Keysberg, the broader management team, the supervisory board and the advisory committee, as well as all employees for supporting EQT and Apleona along our joint journey.”
Matthias Wittkowski, Partner at EQT Partners, added: “This transaction underlines EQT’s position as the market leading investor in the services sector. We are proud to have supported Jochen and his team in accelerating the development of Apleona particularly along our core themes of growth, digitalization and sustainability.”
Jochen Keysberg, CEO of Apleona, concluded: “We have very much enjoyed the collaborative journey under EQT ownership and are thrilled to see how Apleona has benefited from EQT’s expertise and the investments made since the carve-out. We have an advantage with digital products and the automation and digitalization of operational processes and an unrivalled track record of sustainability initiatives supporting our client’s efforts. We are very excited to take this next step of our journey together with PAI and enter a new phase of growth both through M&A and also our enhanced organic growth potential”
Ralph Heuwing, Partner at PAI Partners, said: “We are excited to invest in Apleona, an excellent fit with PAI’s investment philosophy of acquiring industry leaders and capitalizing on attractive market fundamentals as well as tangible consolidation opportunities. The platform prepared by EQT and CEO Jochen Keysberg has laid the foundation for efficiency, digital excellence and continued growth. We look forward to a successful journey together.
Philipp Meyer, Managing Director at PAI Partners, commented: “PAI has a strong track record in business services and in particular technical facility services. We view Apleona as uniquely positioned in the attractive DACH market, consistently delivering outstanding operational performance and successfully growing its portfolio of high-quality customers.”
The transaction is subject to customary conditions and approvals and is expected to close early Q2 2021. Deutsche Bank acted as financial advisor to EQT.
Contact
Andreas Aschenbrenner, Partner at EQT Partners and Investment Advisor to EQT VII, +49 89 25549942
EQT Press Office, press@eqtpartners.com, +46 8 506 55 334
About EQT EQT is a purpose-driven global investment organizationwith more than EUR 75 billion in raised capital and currently more than EUR 46 billion in assets under management across 16 active funds. EQT funds have portfolio companies in Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America with total sales of more than EUR 27 billion and approximately 159,000 employees. EQT works with portfolio companies to achieve sustainable growth, operational excellence and market leadership.
About Apleona Apleona is a leading European real-estate services provider based in Neu-Isenburg near Frankfurt. Over 20,000 employees in more than 30 countries operate, manage, expand and equip real estate in all asset classes, operate and maintain plant and assist customers in a whole host of industries with production and secondary processes. The Group’s range of services extends from integrated facility management, building technology and interior fittings to real-estate management with all commercial services, letting and leasing of real estate. All services are provided on a modular basis or in an integrated package. In a regional or supra-regional account structure according to customer requirements, country-specific and service-specific operating companies ensure optimum performance and a uniformly high standard of quality across national borders. Apleona’s customers include leading industrial companies, investment funds, insurance companies, banks, the public sector, developers, owners and users.
About PAI Partners PAI Partners is a leading European private equity firm with offices in Paris, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, Munich, New York and Stockholm. It manages €13.9 billion of dedicated buyout funds and, since 1994, has completed 75 transactions in 11 countries, representing over €50 billion in transaction value. PAI Partners is characterized by its industrial approach to ownership combined with its sector-based organization. It provides the companies it owns with the financial, operational and strategic support required to pursue their development and enhance value creation.
We are excited to have invested £7m into The Thinking Traveller, the world’s most thoughtful villa brand, backing founders and joint-CEOs Huw and Rossella Beaugié and their team in the next stage of growth. They will be joined as Executive Chairman by Ian Simkins, former CEO of Audley Travel, who helped to grow it into a £250m global business.
Founded in 2002 by Huw and Rossella Beaugié, The Thinking Traveller began with seven villas in Sicily. Today it has 220 highly curated properties priced at £3-£50k per week, all 100% exclusively available to rent through The Thinking Traveller. This includes some of the most sought-after villas in the Mediterranean, such as the 16th Century former fortress Forte San Giorgio on the island of Capraia and the aristocratic hilltop Rocca delle Tre Contrade in Eastern Sicily.
Sales grew to £20m in 2019 with more than half of clients from outside the UK and especially popular with US travellers. The business currently covers seven destinations: Sicily, Puglia, The Greek Ionian and Sporades islands, Corsica, and the Minor Italian islands. Most recently The Thinking Traveller announced its expansion to Mallorca with a range of stunning and exclusive villas on the Balearic island.
Popular with multi-generational families, couples and groups of friends, the brand is renowned for its award-winning personal service and the expertise of its in-destination local managers. They provide clients with a 24-hour concierge service and a range of curated experiences to help make their holidays truly memorable, booking guided cultural tours and excursions, in-villa culinary experiences and chefs, yacht charters and yoga teachers.
Having spent the last two years getting to know each other, we have been impressed by their obsession of seeing everything through the lens of their clients and villa owners. It is an obsession that we share wholeheartedly! Impressively, the company’s customer satisfaction NPS is 87, validated by the business being voted Condé Nast Traveller readers’ Best Villa Rental Company for the last five years running.
The team also impressed us with their understanding of the needs of their villa owners, many of whom had been with them exclusively for over ten years and half of whom had never rented out their villa with anyone else. Above all else, owners chose to partner with The Thinking Traveller because they were proud to be associated with a brand that attracts the highest calibre of clients.
Piper’s minority investment will see Huw and Rossella continue to run The Thinking Traveller, remaining joint CEOs and majority shareholders. Our investment will help the business curate a broader selection of exclusive villas in new destinations around the Mediterranean through strategic acquisitions and partnerships as well as marketing the brand further in its core markets including the UK, Europe the US and Australia, and scale the team to ensure clients and owners continue to experience excellent service and support.
The Thinking Traveller has a great opportunity to exploit a hugely fragmented property rental market, made up of a longtail of small destination-specific operators alongside bigger marketplace aggregators, to grow a highly-curated pan-European villa brand. Although the travel industry has been badly hit by Covid, the research we did with their clients showed that they are as eager as ever to travel with them. The Thinking Traveller’s combination of home comforts and five-star services are exactly what clients will look for as we emerge from the pandemic.
If you want to escape this miserable lockdown, we would highly recommend clicking here and browsing their beautiful website. Enjoy!
GP Bullhound invested in game audio and music software platform Elias.
At GP Bullhound we believe the world is undergoing a generational shift where it is no longer enough to be entertained – but where consumers want to create their own entertainment, shifting from scripted entertainment to user-scripted entertainment. As we respect the complexity of sound as an art form – we also live in a world where art and technology are colliding.
Elias is a team of developers and composers bringing adaptive music and sound to user-scripted events. Through Elias, product developers are provided with a complete software platform that plugs directly into game engines, such as Unity, where they can create adaptive music and dynamic sound – significantly shortening the game development cycle by increasing workflow efficiency. The end-user results can already be experienced in games such as Rage 2, Mutant Year Zero and Way Out.
Kristoffer and Philip, Co-founders of Elias, commented: “As composers, audio designers, developers and most importantly gamers, we saw a clear opportunity to bring the relationship between music and gaming to the 21st century. Our unique understanding of both ends of the spectrum have allowed us to build a user-friendly platform without compromising on quality.”
Elias will raise SEK36m in total to fuel product development and international expansion.
Staffan Dahl, CEO of Elias, added: “We are thrilled to have GP Bullhound on board as our long-term strategic partner. GP Bullhound is an active and experienced investor in the music and game space and together we are now in pole position to expand our team to support delivering on our ambitious product roadmap. Our focus on truly adaptive game music and sound will remain, and the goal is to drastically improve sound designers’ and composers’ workflow and control of the creative process.”
Joakim Dal, Partner at GP Bullhound, said: “Gaming and music are two ecosystems that GP Bullhound holds close to heart and through our investments in Spotify, Tunigo, Unity and Quixel we have supported these industries since 2012. Our investment in Elias is the union of our previous experience and excitement about the future of music and gaming. We deeply believe we are just about to enter the final building block for true immersion!”
GP Bullhound is investing from GP Bullhound Fund V, focused on growth-stage businesses in the software industry.
GP Bullhound is a leading technology advisory and investment firm, providing transaction advice and capital to the world’s best entrepreneurs and founders. Founded in 1999, the firm today has offices in London, San Francisco, Stockholm, Berlin, Manchester, Paris, Hong Kong, Madrid and New York. For more information, please visit www.gpbullhound.com
NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)– KKR, a leading global investment firm, today announced the acquisition of two industrial distribution properties in Texas totaling approximately 1.8 million square feet for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $171 million.
The newly acquired properties are located in the major markets of Dallas and Houston. Both are state of the art fulfillment centers with an average vintage 2019. The properties were 100% leased at acquisition to two different investment grade tenants on a long-term basis. The properties were acquired from Hines, the international real estate firm, which developed the assets.
“As more consumers migrate to shopping online and expect a seamless delivery experience, the demand for modern logistics real estate in major markets continues to grow,” said Roger Morales, KKR Partner and Head of Commercial Real Estate Acquisitions in the Americas. “We are excited to help meet that demand by increasing our footprint in the Dallas and Houston markets with the addition of these two high-quality, stable assets.”
The two properties are the latest industrial assets acquired by KKR’s core plus real estate strategy, growing its total industrial real estate portfolio to approximately 7.2 million square feet. Across its funds, KKR owns over 20 million square feet of industrial property in strategic locations across major metropolitan areas in the U.S.
Since launching a dedicated real estate platform in 2011, KKR has grown real estate AUM to approximately $14 billion across the U.S., Europe and Asia as of September 30, 2020. The global real estate team consists of over 90 dedicated investment professionals, spanning both the equity and credit businesses.
About KKR
KKR is a leading global investment firm that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, credit and real assets, with strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns for its fund investors by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people, and driving growth and value creation with KKR portfolio companies. KKR invests its own capital alongside the capital it manages for fund investors and provides financing solutions and investment opportunities through its capital markets business. References to KKR’s investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR), please visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.
NEW YORK, December 4, 2020 — Blackstone (NYSE:BX) today announced that private equity funds managed by Blackstone (“Blackstone”) have completed their previously announced acquisition of Ancestry® from Silver Lake, GIC, Spectrum Equity, Permira, and other equity holders for a total enterprise value of $4.7 billion. Current Ancestry investor GIC will continue to retain a significant minority stake in the company.
Ancestry is the global leader in digital family history services, operating in more than 30 countries. The company has over 3.6 million subscribers, with annual revenue of over $1 billion. The company harnesses the information found in family trees and historical records to help people gain a new level of understanding about their lives. Ancestry also operates a market-leading consumer genomics business, which informs consumers about their heritage and key health characteristics.
David Kestnbaum, a Senior Managing Director at Blackstone, and Sachin Bavishi, a Managing Director at Blackstone, said: “We are very excited about Ancestry’s future, as the company continues to demonstrate strong growth as the industry leader. We look forward to partnering with Ancestry in the years ahead to help the company further expand its product offerings and drive ongoing technology innovation so that an even greater number of families can discover more about their histories and themselves.”
Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC served as lead financial advisor to Ancestry. Barclays also served as a financial advisor to Ancestry. BofA Securities, Credit Suisse, and JPMorgan served as financial advisors to Blackstone. Latham & Watkins LLP is serving as legal advisor to Ancestry and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is serving as legal advisor to Blackstone. Dechert LLP is serving as legal advisor to GIC.
CEO Transition
Margo Georgiadis, Ancestry President & CEO, has announced that she has informed the board that she plans to depart the company at the end of 2020. The company expects to announce a new CEO in early 2021 who will drive the next phase of the company’s ongoing growth. Ms. Georgiadis will remain available for a period of time after her departure to assist in a smooth transition.
“I’m so proud of the collective accomplishments of the Ancestry team and am confident in the company’s continued success,” said Georgiadis. “In partnership with Blackstone and Ancestry’s deep bench of management talent, the company is well positioned for continued growth, delivering on its mission to empower journeys of personal discovery for millions of people around the world.”
Eric Wilmes, Head of Private Equity, Americas at GIC, and Stephen Evans, a Managing Director at Silver Lake, said, “Margo has made a tremendous impact on this organization, and we are grateful for her many contributions. She has created a best-in-class leadership team and led a process of rebuilding and strengthening our products and our business. On behalf of the entire board, we wish Margo the very best in her next chapter.”
About Blackstone
Blackstone is one of the world’s leading investment firms. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our $584 billion in assets under management include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow Blackstone on Twitter @Blackstone.
About Ancestry®
Ancestry®, the global leader in family history and consumer genomics, empowers journeys of personal discovery to enrich lives. With our unparalleled collection of 27 billion records and over 18 million people in our growing DNA network, customers can discover their family story and gain actionable insights about their health and wellness. For over 30 years, we’ve built trusted relationships with millions of people who have chosen us as the platform for discovering, preserving and sharing the most important information about themselves and their families.
About GIC
GIC is a leading global investment firm established in 1981 to manage Singapore’s foreign reserves. A disciplined long-term value investor, GIC is uniquely positioned for investments across a wide range of asset classes, including equities, fixed income, private equity, real estate and infrastructure. In private equity, GIC invests through funds as well as directly in companies, partnering with its fund managers and management teams to help world class businesses achieve their objectives. Headquartered in Singapore, GIC employs over 1,700 people across 10 offices in key financial cities worldwide. For further information on GIC, visit www.gic.com.sg.
Press Contacts
For Blackstone:
Matt Anderson
Matthew.Anderson@blackstone.com
+1 518 248 7310
For Ancestry:
Julie Miller
mediarelations@ancestry.com
+858 232-5609
FMG Suite, a SaaS company specializing in marketing software and services for financial advisors and insurance agents, announced it has completed the acquisition of Twenty Over Ten, a company delivering a SaaS-based digital marketing platform for financial professionals.
“We’re impressed with what Twenty Over Ten has built in a relatively short time and we look forward to integrating our solutions to deliver the products and services we know are most sought after today by financial professionals, RIAs, and independent broker-dealers,” said Scott White, FMG Suite CEO. “This acquisition is a strategic investment in the future of our platform––websites that generate leads, personalized automations, and fully customizable content,” he added.
Marketing Technology News: Seismic Acquires Grapevine6 to Enable Digital Sales Engagement Across Multiple Customer-Facing Social Media and Digital Platforms
Known industry-wide for its innovative marketing strategies and solutions, Twenty Over Ten’s talented team of designers, developers, and marketers will be retained by FMG Suite. Together, the companies will pool their resources to offer financial advisors the most modern lead-generation and marketing solutions with award-winning client service.
“When we launched Twenty Over Ten, we had a simple desire to make beautiful professional websites for an industry that desperately needed it,” said Ryan Russell, Twenty Over Ten Co-Founder. “Four short years later, we have a large and growing community of engaged advisors and we take seriously our responsibility to continue to develop innovative solutions that redefine marketing in our industry. FMG Suite is a great next chapter in our story because the team shares our vision to give financial professionals the very best user experience and marketing tools to grow their businesses,” he added.
Marketing Technology News: AdTonos Launches Yours Truly Technology to Deliver Interactive Radio Ads
Twenty Over Ten will continue to operate its business as usual until plans are announced to integrate the companies’ best-of-breed solutions to better serve the industry. Every effort will be made to minimize business disruptions, and clients of both entities will benefit from combined capabilities, content, and campaigns to improve interactions with their investor clients at every stage.
“At Advisor Group, we pride ourselves on partnering with the best to deliver the highest value services and solutions to our advisors. Today we partner with both FMG Suite and Twenty Over Ten,” said Advisor Group CMO Susan Theder. “We can’t wait to see the level of innovation that will come from this pairing, as they combine their talents to deliver the next generation of advisor marketing solutions.”
With this agreement, FMG Suite will acquire Twenty Over Ten’s customer base, reinforcing its leading market share position. The sixth acquisition in four years, the purchase agreement represents a continuation of FMG Suite’s expansion strategy.
Leading software investor to acquire majority stake in Flexera a second time
Itasca, IL – December 3, 2020 Flexera, the company that helps organizations turn technology into a competitive advantage whether they make it or use it, today announced it has agreed to sell a majority interest in the company to Thoma Bravo, a private equity firm focused on the software and technology-enabled services sectors. Flexera’s existing shareholders TA Associates and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (Ontario Teachers’) will continue to hold a meaningful stake in the business. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Flexera, headquartered in suburban Chicago, uniquely serves companies that use technology and those that produce it. The company’s Flexera division provides IT management solutions that help enterprises maximize business value from their technology investments. The company’s Revenera division provides solutions that help technology companies build better products, accelerate time to value and monetize what matters.
Growth and innovation
“This is a resounding vote of confidence in the growth Flexera has shown and the strategic initiatives we’ve undertaken to address the exponential challenges faced by organizations today,” said Jim Ryan, President and CEO of Flexera.
“In order to give enterprises the insight and tools to control their rapidly expanding IT ecosystems, we’re rolling out Flexera One,” continued Ryan. “Flexera One is our SaaS-based IT management solution designed with and for organizations with highly complex hybrid environments. With Flexera One, IT leaders can visualize their entire estate and make data-driven IT decisions from on-premises to SaaS to the cloud—all from a single user interface.
“Our Revenera division continues to post amazing growth quarter after quarter,” Ryan added, “fueled by innovative solutions that help technology companies drive recurring revenue. To cite just one example, this year Revenera became the first vendor to successfully combine software usage analytics and monetization in a single platform.
“The performance of our Flexera and Revenera divisions,” noted Ryan, “brought our former investors at Thoma Bravo back a second time.”
Re-establishing a partnership
Thoma Bravo had previously acquired a majority interest in the company in 2008, when Flexera was spun off from then-parent company Macrovision. “We know Jim and his executive team very well,” said Thoma Bravo Managing Partner Seth Boro, “and we support Flexera’s ambitious vision. The company’s management team has accomplished a great deal over the past 12 years.
“Jim and his team have positioned Flexera for sustained growth by focusing on the strategic challenges enterprises face with complex IT infrastructures,” Boro continued. “Flexera One is the first solution that gives IT executives the ability to see and manage their assets seamlessly across on-premises, SaaS and cloud.
“And the Revenera division is extremely successful at recognizing and delivering what technology companies need to understand and monetize usage,” Boro added.
“We’re thrilled at this chance to ‘get the band back together,’” concluded Boro. “And we want all this great work not only to continue, but to accelerate.”
A future full of promise
Thoma Bravo has helped build some of the world’s leading companies in software applications, infrastructure and cybersecurity.
Flexera is the largest homegrown technology company in the Chicago area, with more than 1,300 employees and offices on four continents. The company was named to Inc. magazine’s 2020 Best Workplaces list and has been named a Top Workplace by the Chicago Tribune for nine consecutive years.
“We have had a productive partnership with Flexera over the last nine years during which time the company has become a leader in its key segments while experiencing consistent growth in recurring revenue and profitability,” said Karen Frank, Senior Managing Director of Equities at Ontario Teachers’. “We look forward to working with the company’s management and our co-shareholders Thoma Bravo and TA Associates in supporting Flexera’s next stage of growth.”
“It is a pleasure to welcome Thoma Bravo as an investor in Flexera,” said Harry D. Taylor, a Managing Director at TA Associates. “We have enjoyed our partnership with the Flexera management team and Ontario Teachers’ over the past three years, helping Flexera to execute on its impressive growth strategies. We look forward to continuing to support the Flexera team and work alongside our fellow investors.”
“We’re grateful for the continued partnership, support and guidance TA Associates and Ontario Teachers’ provide,” Ryan stated. “And we look forward to this exciting next step with Thoma Bravo and to expanding the ways we will deliver for our customers.”
UBS is acting as financial advisor to Thoma Bravo, and Kirkland & Ellis is serving as legal counsel. BofA Securities and Barclays are acting as financial advisors, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges as legal advisor to Flexera, TA Associates and Ontario Teachers’. Goodwin Procter is serving as separate counsel to TA Associates.
CALGARY, AB, Canada and London, UK: 3 December 2020 – Benevity, Inc. (“Benevity”), a global leader in corporate purpose cloud software, today announces that it has secured an investment from Hg, a leading global software investor. Hg’s investment is expected to further accelerate and scale Benevity’s pioneering leadership in this category.
Hg will lead the investment, which will be made from the Hg Saturn 2 Fund, in partnership with Benevity’s current investors, General Atlantic and JMI Equity, who will remain significant investors in the business, alongside the Benevity management team.
This investment comes at a time when ESG (Environment, Social, Governance), corporate purpose and stakeholder capitalism are taking root in companies of all sizes across the globe and as employee, consumer and public expectations grow for business to help solve the complex issues facing society. Benevity’s all-in-one, global platform enables purpose-driven brands to engage these stakeholders in supporting the causes and issues they care about through a database of nearly 2 million vetted nonprofit organizations worldwide.
The Benevity platform has driven more than 34 million hours in volunteer time and talent, 275,000 positive actions, over one million grants and more than $6 billion in donations to date. Benevity’s 650 clients and their 19 million employees support issues ranging from food insecurity, human rights, diversity and inclusion, racial equity, mental health — and everything in between. Around half of the businesses named on the 2021 Forbes Just 100 Ranking – which recognizes “America’s Most JUST Companies” – use Benevity to power their corporate purpose programs[1].
Benevity has helped transform the nonprofit sector from manual processing, technological lag and fragmentation to automation, aggregation and efficiency. With 90% of all donation funds being sent electronically to nonprofits, Benevity boasts the highest payment success rate in the industry, ensuring that more dollars reach those in need, more accurately and reliably than any other software provider.
“For the last decade, Benevity has been transforming the way businesses engage stakeholders in social impact initiatives, evolving them from passively transactional investments to empowered, personalized experiences.
By embracing a grassroots approach to goodness — that is supported by scalable software — companies create more meaningful purpose-driven cultures and consumer-facing brands, helping them truly do well by doing good. We are thrilled to have Hg on board, whose global profile and expertise in software and SaaS will enable us to scale our reach to even more companies across a spectrum of industries, sizes and geographies, helping more people create a sense of connection to purpose and impact than ever before.”
Bryan de Lottinville, Benevity Founder and CEO.
“It is truly exciting to partner with an organization that enables such positive impact to society, and we passionately believe in what Bryan, Kelly and their team are creating. Benevity is already a robust, high-growth business with a trusted platform for some of the world’s largest global brands looking to boost their purpose-driven activities. We look forward to working with the team to become even more pervasive and impactful.”
Nic Humphries, Senior Partner and Head of the Hg Saturn team
“Benevity has created a system of giving, volunteering and mission engagement that is more impactful and efficient for the business world, driving up employee participation rates, increasing employee engagement and retention, and resulting in higher impact to those in society that need it most. It’s great to be backing another business based in North America and we look forward to using our experience in scaling software champions, to reinforce their mission across the globe.”
The Saturn team’s Justin Von Simson, Managing Partner, Thorsten Toepfer, Partner and Gero Wittemann, Partner and co-lead of Hg’s New York team
“We are strong believers in Benevity’s mission to empower enterprises and employees alike to support the causes they care about. Over the three years of our partnership with Benevity, the company has demonstrated the resonance of its platform as it has added premier clients – becoming the backbone for their corporate giving and employee engagement programs – and enabled giving on a global scale. We are proud to welcome a trusted partner in Hg in the company’s next phase of growth.”
Alex Crisses, Managing Director at General Atlantic
The terms of the transaction were not disclosed and closing of the transaction is expected in January 2021.
For further details:
Hg
Tom Eckersley
+44 (0)20 8396 0930
Brunswick UK
Diana Vaughton and Samantha Chiene
+44 (0)207 404 5959
Hg is a leading European investor in software and services, focused on backing businesses that change how we all do business. Deep technology expertise, complemented by vertical application specialisation and dedicated operational support, provides a compelling proposition to management teams looking to scale their businesses. Hg has funds under management of over $30 billion, with an investment team of over 140 professionals, plus a portfolio team of more than 30 operators, providing practical support to help our businesses to realise their growth ambitions. Based in London, Munich and New York, Hg has a portfolio of over 30 software and technology businesses, worth over $50 billion aggregate enterprise value, with over 35,000 employees globally. For further details, please visit the Hg website: https://hgcapital.com/.
About Benevity
Benevity, a certified B Corporation, is a leader in global corporate purpose software, providing the only integrated suite of community investment and employee, customer and nonprofit engagement solutions. A finalist in Fast Company’s 2020 World Changing Ideas Awards, many iconic brands rely on Benevity’s cloud solutions to power their purpose in ways that better attract, retain and engage today’s diverse workforce, embed social action into their customer experiences and positively impact their communities. With software that is available in 20 languages, Benevity has processed more than 6 billion dollars in donations and 34 million hours of volunteering time, 275,000 positive actions and awarded over one million grants to 300,000 nonprofitsworldwide. For more information, visit www.benevity.com.
About General Atlantic
General Atlantic is a leading global growth equity firm providing capital and strategic support for growth companies. Established in 1980, General Atlantic combines a collaborative global approach, sector specific expertise, a long-term investment horizon and a deep understanding of growth drivers to partner with great entrepreneurs and management teams to build market-leading businesses worldwide. General Atlantic has more than 175 investment professionals based in New York, Amsterdam, Beijing, Greenwich, Hong Kong, Jakarta, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Munich, Palo Alto, São Paulo, Shanghai and Singapore. For more information on General Atlantic, please visit the website: www.generalatlantic.com.
About JMI Equity
JMI Equity is a growth equity firm focused on investing in leading software companies. Founded in 1992, JMI has invested in over 150 businesses in its target markets, successfully completed over 100 exits and raised more than $4 billion of committed capital. JMI partners with exceptional management teams to help build their companies into industry leaders. For more information visit jmi.com.
