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Rhapsody and Corepoint merge to advance Interoperability in Healthcare

HG Capital

10 July 2019. Rhapsody, a global leader in healthcare data interoperability, today announced that the company will merge with Corepoint Health, the supplier of the Best in KLAS® healthcare integration platform. The transaction will bring together two companies at the forefront of interoperability and create a dynamic combination of technology, talent, services, and trusted customer relationships to address the most complex healthcare interoperability challenges.

Please find the full press release here

“We move decisively when perfect opportunities present themselves,” said Philippe Houssiau, Operating Partner at Hg. “The opportunity to bring Corepoint and Rhapsody together was incredibly compelling. Our investments in these two phenomenal companies demonstrate how excited we are about the future of interoperability. Rhapsody is off to an amazing start as an independent company: joining forces with Corepoint will enable the combined team to accelerate the delivery of FHIR-based services, cloud-based integration solutions and support for regional and national interoperability frameworks.”

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Rhapsody and Corepoint merge to advance Interoperability in Healthcare

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HG Capital

10 July 2019. Rhapsody, a global leader in healthcare data interoperability, today announced that the company will merge with Corepoint Health, the supplier of the Best in KLAS® healthcare integration platform. The transaction will bring together two companies at the forefront of interoperability and create a dynamic combination of technology, talent, services, and trusted customer relationships to address the most complex healthcare interoperability challenges.

Please find the full press release here

“We move decisively when perfect opportunities present themselves,” said Philippe Houssiau, Operating Partner at Hg. “The opportunity to bring Corepoint and Rhapsody together was incredibly compelling. Our investments in these two phenomenal companies demonstrate how excited we are about the future of interoperability. Rhapsody is off to an amazing start as an independent company: joining forces with Corepoint will enable the combined team to accelerate the delivery of FHIR-based services, cloud-based integration solutions and support for regional and national interoperability frameworks.”

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KKR Enters Exclusive Negotiations with GBL for Webhelp Group

KKR

LONDON & PARIS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Jul. 10, 2019– KKR, a leading global investment firm, announces today it has entered into exclusive negotiations to sell a majority stake in the Webhelp group to Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (“GBL”). GBL will invest alongside Webhelp’s co-founding shareholders, Olivier Duha and Frédéric Jousset, who would retain their role as founding executive directors, and Webhelp’s management team.

Founded in 2000, Webhelp is today one of the world’s leading providers of customer experience and business process outsourcing (BPO). The company develops innovative solutions combining consulting services, technological solutions and omni-channel processing capabilities with 50,000 employees in more than 35 countries. Since KKR’s acquisition in 2015, Webhelp has doubled in size as the result of an organic and external growth strategy that GBL aims to maintain and accelerate, together with the strong collaboration of the co-founders and management.

As a result of this transaction, GBL would acquire a majority stake in Webhelp on the basis of an enterprise value of €2.4 billion. It is expected that the legal documentation will be signed by the beginning of August for completion, after obtaining regulatory authorizations, within the course of Q4 2019.

Johannes Huth, Member and Head of KKR EMEA, and Stanislas de Joussineau, Director at KKR, said: “Our successful collaboration with Olivier and Frederic has turned Webhelp into a true European champion. The support we have provided to Webhelp builds on our track record in helping founder-led businesses realise their growth ambitions, and helping French companies expand internationally. We believe the company is strongly positioned for future growth and we wish Webhelp and GBL every continued success.”

Olivier Duha and Frédéric Jousset, co-founders of Webhelp, said: “We thank KKR for its investment over the past four years and we welcome with confidence GBL in order to write together a new growth and investment phase. The management team has chosen to surround itself with a shareholder renowned for its longstanding support to companies with international ambitions such as Webhelp.”

–

About KKR
KKR is a leading global investment firm that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate and credit, 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.

About Webhelp
Webhelp is a global business process outsourcer (BPO), specialising in customer experience and payment services in addition to sales and marketing services across voice, social and digital channels.

From more than 150 sites in 36 countries with an approximately 50,000-strong team, our focus is on engineering performance improvements and delivering a real and lasting transformation in our clients’ operating models to generate financial advantage. We partner with some of the world’s most progressive brands including Sky, Shop Direct, Bouygues, Direct Energie, KPN, Vodafone, La Redoute, Michael Kors and Valentino.

Headquartered in Paris, France, the company has grown its revenues by more than 250% in the last 4 years by investing in its people, the environment they work in and developing its analytical and operating capability to deliver a transformational outsourcing proposition that addresses the challenges of an omni-channel world. More information can be found at www.webhelp.com

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may contain forward-looking statements, identified by words such as “expect,” “aim,” “estimate,” “will,” “may” and “believe” or similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are subject to the inherent uncertainties in predicting future results and conditions. Certain factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those included in these forward-looking statements, and investors should not place undue reliance on such statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release, and KKR does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any of the forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances, except as required by law.

Source: KKR

Media Contacts:
International
Alastair Elwen
Finsbury
Phone: +44 (0) 20 7251 3801
Email: alastair.elwen@finsbury.com

France
Olivier Blain
Adding Value Conseils
ob@addingvalueconseils.com
+33 6 72 28 29 20

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Waterlogic’s M&A deals hit double figures in just seven months

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Castik Capital

MAIDENHEAD, UK  – Waterlogic, a leading global designer, manufacturer, distributor and service provider of purified drinking water dispensers, is pleased to announce that it has acquired 12 companies in the last seven months.

Waterlogic’s recent acquisition activity is a reflection of its position as a global leader in the fragmented market for workplace hydration, as well as the natural acquiror for high-quality providers of point-of-use water dispensers. The 12 acquisitions have enabled the company to enter new direct markets in Canada and Belgium as well as increase customer density and build capabilities in already established markets in the US, Australia and Western Europe.

“M&A offers major growth opportunities for Waterlogic as well as benefits for our customers, and we continue to maintain a healthy pipeline of acquisitions to augment organic growth in all our markets”explainsJeremy Ben-David, Group CEO Waterlogic.

In the US and Australia, the acquisitions of AWS South Bend, Leslie Water, My Better Water and Big Wet’s point-of-use business further consolidate Waterlogic’s market-leading presence in the company’s key territories. Whilst the acquisitions of Pure Life and Just Pure in Canada and Pure Services in Belgium establish Waterlogic with a direct presence for the first time in these important markets.

“These latest acquisitions help us achieve our ambition to lead the market with a range of environmentally sustainable solutions that provide more people around the world with access to high-quality drinking water,” continuesJeremy Ben-David.

The expansion of Waterlogic’s customer base and service network significantly strengthens the company’s position as the leading total water solutions provider of point-of-use dispensers, under-counter dispensers and specialty restaurant and hospitality solutions globally.

Waterlogic was acquired in January 2015 by funds managed by Castik Capital, the European private equity investor. These are the most recent acquisitions as part of the company’s buy and build strategy since the acquisition by Castik, and following substantial acquisitions in the US, UK, Australia, Germany, France, Spain, Central and Eastern Europe, and Scandinavia.

Media Contact

Rosanna Turner, Group Marketing Communications Manager
rosanna.turner@waterlogic.com

About Waterlogic

Waterlogic is an innovative designer, manufacturer, distributor and operator of point-of-use (POU) drinking water purification and dispensing systems designed for environments such as offices, factories, hospitals, hotels, schools, restaurants and other workplaces. Founded in 1992, Waterlogic was one of the first companies to introduce POU systems to customers worldwide, and has been in the forefront of the POU market, promoting product design and quality, the application of new technologies and world class sales and service. Waterlogic has its own subsidiaries in many markets and an extensive and expanding independent global distribution network in place, reaching over 60 countries around the world. Waterlogic products are currently distributed in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and South Africa. Waterlogic’s leading markets are the US, Australia and Western Europe, in particular the UK, Scandinavia, Germany and France. More information can be found at www.waterlogic.com

About Castik

Castik Capital S.à r.l (“Castik”) manages investments in private equity. Castik is a European multistrategy investment manager, acquiring significant ownership positions in European private and public companies, where long-term value can be generated through active partnerships with management teams. Founded in 2014, Castik is based in Luxembourg and focuses on identifying and developing investment opportunities across Europe. The advisor to Castik is Castik Capital Partners GmbH, based in Munich. Investments are made by the Luxembourg-based fund, EPIC I SLP, the first fund managed by Castik, which had its final fund close of EUR 1bn in July 2015.

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Litera Microsystems Acquires Workshare

HG Capital

Creating a Leading Supplier of Document Drafting Technology

The combination offers professionals a simplified end-to-end solution which simplifies the document drafting lifecycle.

Litera Microsystems today announces its acquisition of Workshare in a move that underlines the company’s focus on providing a seamless drafting experience for users across best-of-breed technologies. The deal will enable firms which currently use both suppliers to consolidate their relationships, simplify the process of updating software and rely on a single, world-class, support team for the full suite.

…

Earlier this year, Litera Microsystems partnered with Hg, a specialist private equity investor focused on software and service businesses based in London, Munich, and New York. Litera Microsystems was able to leverage Hg’s network and knowledge of the global legal software market to help drive this integration with Workshare, adding further products to the suite, for the benefit of existing and future customers.

Please find the full press release on the Litera Microsystems website.

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EQT Credit completes unitranche financing to support Oakley Capital’s acquisition of Seagull and Videotel

eqt

EQT Credit completes unitranche financing to support Oakley Capital’s acquisition of Seagull and Videotel

EQT Credit, through its Direct Lending investment strategy, is pleased to announce that it is the sole lender of USD 130 million drawn committed senior facilities to support Oakley Capital’s (“Oakley”) investment in Seagull and Videotel (together, “the Company”).

The Company is a leading provider of e-learning solutions to the maritime sector globally, with a geographically diversified portfolio covering key international maritime transport hubs.

Paul Johnson, Partner at EQT Partners and Investment Advisor to EQT Credit, commented: “The combination of Seagull and Videotel creates a leading player in the regulated maritime training market. EQT Credit looks forward to supporting the Company and its management team in its future development, as the Company expands its product offering, invests in new areas of content and looks towards further consolidation in the industry.”

Andrew Cleland-Bogle, Managing Director at EQT Partners and Investment Advisor to EQT Credit, added: “EQT Credit is proud to partner again with Oakley on this transaction. We would like to thank EQT’s Industrial Advisors who provided key support and insight to the EQT Credit deal team throughout the due diligence process and confirmed our views on the Company’s exceptional quality offering.”

Contact
Paul Johnson, Partner at EQT Partners and Investment Advisor to EQT Credit, +44 203 372 9424
Andrew Cleland-Bogle, Managing Director at EQT Partners and Investment Advisor to EQT Credit, +44 208 432 5420
EQT Press Office, press@eqtpartners.com, +46 8 506 55 334

About EQT
EQT is a leading investment firm with more than EUR 61 billion in raised capital across 29 funds and around EUR 40 billion in assets under management. EQT funds have portfolio companies in Europe, Asia and the US with total sales of more than EUR 21 billion and approximately 127,000 employees. EQT works with portfolio companies to achieve sustainable growth, operational excellence and market leadership.

More info: www.eqtpartners.com

About EQT Credit
EQT Credit invests through three complementary strategies: Senior Debt, Direct Lending, and Special Situations. Since inception, EQT Credit has raised over EUR 7 billion of capital and invested in over 160 companies. EQT Credit’s Direct Lending strategy seeks to provide flexible, long-term debt solutions to support European businesses, across a wide range of sectors. These businesses include privately-owned companies seeking growth capital as well as those that are the subject of private equity-led acquisitions or refinancings.

More info: www.eqtpartners.com/Investment-Strategies/Credit 

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Ardian sells Schleich to partners group

Ardian

70 percent increase in sales within five years underlines the successful repositioning of one of the world’s oldest toy companies and the successful expansion of Schleich’s themed worlds

Frankfurt am Main / Schwäbisch Gmünd, July 09, 2019 – Ardian, a world-leading independent investment company, is selling toy manufacturer Schleich to Partners Group, a global private markets investment manager. No financial details will be disclosed, and the closing of the transaction is still subject to antitrust clearance.
Schleich looks back on a rich tradition. Founded in 1935, it is one of the largest toy manufacturers in Germany and an internationally leading supplier of realistic figurines and playsets. Since Ardian invested in Schleich in 2014, the company has increased its sales from €106 million to €183 million today. The number of employees increased from around 340 to 400 over the same period.
This positive development is driven by strong sales growth in Schleich’s home market – in 2018 alone, sales in Germany[1] increased by 26 percent and the market share in the toys market increased from 2.9 percent to 3.4 percent[2]. In addition, the company has expanded into new markets and, for example by the successful launch of new product lines, boosted sales in existing foreign markets. Particularly popular is the new product category of playsets that has been introduced in 2014 and now accounts for a meaningful proportion of total product sales. Although Germany is still the primary sales market for the playsets, the international market launch is subsequently being implemented. This offers further significant growth potential, which Schleich will be able to build on in the coming years with the support of Partners Group.
The playsets exemplify Ardian’s successful collaboration with the management team led by CEO Dirk Engehausen, CFO/COO Sascha Krines, and CSO Udo Rother in revitalizing and expanding the product range. In recent years, Schleich has further developed the product range of classic single figurines such as animals and dinosaurs into play worlds. These play worlds offer not only figurines but also playing environments such as a horse farm with show grounds, a farmhouse with stable and animals or the elves’ flower house. Furthermore, all-new themed worlds were introduced. The product range now covers a wide range of age and interest groups: Horse Club for horse fans has become one of the strongest play lines in the range, the Eldrador and bayala product lines are aimed at fantasy lovers and the themed worlds Farm World and Wild Life expand the play concept of the traditional animal figurines.
Moreover, Schleich Management, together with Ardian, has carried out numerous strategic, structural and organizational measures. For example, the products now cover a much larger price range to appeal to a wide segment of buyers and buying occasions, from low-priced spontaneous purchases to Christmas gifts. Thanks to the optimization of the supply and value chain, the creation of new key positions in extended management, and the introduction of SAP, Schleich is now in an outstanding position to enter the next phase of growth.
Fabian Wagener, Managing Director in Ardian’s Buyout team, said: “After five years of continued growth, Schleich is in a great position. We would like to thank Schleich’s management and employees for the great job they did over the past five years – be it in the further development of the product range, marketing and sales work, internal processes and structures or the supply chain. With the playsets and play worlds, Schleich has secured a place in the hearts of parents and children. We are happy to have contributed to the successful development of this history-rich company.”
Dirk Engehausen, CEO of Schleich, said: “At the product and the company level, Schleich is more than ever competing on equal terms with the best-known brands in the toys industry while remaining true to its tradition and values. Without the active support of Ardian, this development would not have been possible at this speed and consistency. We would like to thank Ardian for its confidence in the management, the great candour and close interaction in the cooperation. Schleich and our team are well prepared and highly motivated to take the next step on this path with Partners Group and we are looking forward to this cooperation.”

ABOUT ARDIAN

Ardian is a world-leading private investment house with assets of US$ 90bn managed or advised in Europe, the Americas and Asia. The company is majority-owned by its employees. It keeps entrepreneurship at its heart and focuses on delivering excellent investment performance to its global investor base.
Through its commitment to shared outcomes for all stakeholders, Ardian’s activities fuel individual, corporate and economic growth around the world.
Holding close its core values of excellence, loyalty and entrepreneurship, Ardian maintains a truly global network, with 610 employees working from fifteen offices across Europe (Frankfurt, Jersey, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Zurich), the Americas (New York, San Francisco and Santiago) and Asia (Beijing, Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul). It manages funds on behalf of around 880 clients through five pillars of investment expertise: Funds of Funds, Direct Funds, Infrastructure, Real Estate and Private Debt.
Ardian on Twitter @Ardian
www.ardian.com

ABOUT PARTNERS GROUP

Partners Group is a global private markets investment management firm with EUR 73 billion (USD 83 billion) in investment programs under management in private equity, private real estate, private infrastructure and private debt. The firm manages a broad range of customized portfolios for an international clientele of institutional investors. Partners Group is headquartered in Zug, Switzerland and has offices in Denver, Houston, Toronto, New York, São Paulo, London, Guernsey, Paris, Luxembourg, Milan, Munich, Dubai, Mumbai, Singapore, Manila, Shanghai, Seoul, Tokyo and Sydney. The firm employs over 1,200 people and is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (symbol: PGHN) with a major ownership by its partners and employees.
www.partnersgroup.com

ABOUT SCHLEICH

Founded more than 80 years ago by Friedrich Schleich in Schwäbisch Gmünd, the company is one of the largest toy manufacturers in Germany and a leading international provider of original play worlds. The famous figurines from Schleich are sold in more than 50 countries and have conquered children’s bedrooms the world over. The design of Schleich play worlds, the creation of the required tools and the quality and safety tests are done in Germany. The production itself takes place at the company’s headquarters in Schwäbisch Gmünd and in a number of production facilities in other countries.

www.schleich-s.com

ADVISORS TO THE TRANSACTION

Ardian team: Fabian Wagener, Stefan Kappis
M&A: J.P. Morgan (Michele Iozzolino)
Legal: Milbank (Dr. Norbert Rieger, Dr. Sebastian Heim, Dr. Matthias Schell)
Commercial: McKinsey & Company (Dr. Tobias Eichner, Dr. Marcus Jacob)
Financial: PricewaterhouseCoopers (Peter Gröninger)
Tax: Taxess (Gerald Thomas, Richard Schäfer)

PRESS CONTACT

Ardian
Charles Barker
TOBIAS EBERLE, PETER STEINER
ardian@charlesbarker.de
Tel: +49 69 794090-24 /-27

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Litera Microsystems Acquires Workshare

HG Capital

Creating a Leading Supplier of Document Drafting Technology

The combination offers professionals a simplified end-to-end solution which simplifies the document drafting lifecycle.

Litera Microsystems today announces its acquisition of Workshare in a move that underlines the company’s focus on providing a seamless drafting experience for users across best-of-breed technologies. The deal will enable firms which currently use both suppliers to consolidate their relationships, simplify the process of updating software and rely on a single, world-class, support team for the full suite.

…

Earlier this year, Litera Microsystems partnered with Hg, a specialist private equity investor focused on software and service businesses based in London, Munich, and New York. Litera Microsystems was able to leverage Hg’s network and knowledge of the global legal software market to help drive this integration with Workshare, adding further products to the suite, for the benefit of existing and future customers.

Please find the full press release on the Litera Microsystems website.

Categories: News

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Litera Microsystems Acquires Workshare

HG Capital

Creating a Leading Supplier of Document Drafting Technology

The combination offers professionals a simplified end-to-end solution which simplifies the document drafting lifecycle.

Litera Microsystems today announces its acquisition of Workshare in a move that underlines the company’s focus on providing a seamless drafting experience for users across best-of-breed technologies. The deal will enable firms which currently use both suppliers to consolidate their relationships, simplify the process of updating software and rely on a single, world-class, support team for the full suite.

…

Earlier this year, Litera Microsystems partnered with Hg, a specialist private equity investor focused on software and service businesses based in London, Munich, and New York. Litera Microsystems was able to leverage Hg’s network and knowledge of the global legal software market to help drive this integration with Workshare, adding further products to the suite, for the benefit of existing and future customers.

Please find the full press release on the Litera Microsystems website.

Categories: News

Tags:

Litera Microsystems Acquires Workshare

HG Capital

Creating a Leading Supplier of Document Drafting Technology

The combination offers professionals a simplified end-to-end solution which simplifies the document drafting lifecycle.

Litera Microsystems today announces its acquisition of Workshare in a move that underlines the company’s focus on providing a seamless drafting experience for users across best-of-breed technologies. The deal will enable firms which currently use both suppliers to consolidate their relationships, simplify the process of updating software and rely on a single, world-class, support team for the full suite.

…

Earlier this year, Litera Microsystems partnered with Hg, a specialist private equity investor focused on software and service businesses based in London, Munich, and New York. Litera Microsystems was able to leverage Hg’s network and knowledge of the global legal software market to help drive this integration with Workshare, adding further products to the suite, for the benefit of existing and future customers.

Please find the full press release on the Litera Microsystems website.

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