Nordic Capital and Boost.ai announce partnership to accelerate growth and expand conversational AI platform into new markets

Nordic Capital

Nordic Capital and Boost.ai announce partnership to accelerate growth and expand conversational AI platform into new markets Image

Boost.ai, a global leader in conversational AI for Fortune 1000 companies, and Nordic Capital, a leading private equity firm focusing on fast growing companies in Northern Europe, today announced an agreement to enter into a partnership where Nordic Capital will actively support Boost.ai in its rapid expansion. Nordic Capital intends to further strengthen the Company’s strong market position by helping it to accelerate growth and expansion into new markets, working closely with the CEO and co-founders. The founders, the management team, and the current owners of Boost.ai, including Finstart Nordic and Alliance Venture, will continue as investors alongside Nordic Capital.

Boost.ai empowers leading enterprises and public sector organisations in Europe and North America to automate and scale customer service, support and sales. The Company offers a no-code conversational AI platform, with a strong focus on customer service and support, that helps bridge the digital gap between brands and their customers, through the use of tailored AI-powered chatbots to meet the demand of large enterprises.

Boost.ai was founded in 2016 by CEO Lars Ropeid Selsås together with co-founders Hadle Ropeid Selsås and Henry Vaage Iversen. The Company has experienced unprecedented growth as demand for its conversational AI platform has soared. Headquartered in Stavanger, Norway, the Company has established satellite offices in Oslo, Stockholm, and Santa Monica, and employs a diverse team of more than 100 employees from 18 countries. Boost.ai’s client base consists of many of the top organisations in the Nordics such as Nordea, Telenor, Santander and DNB, and spans multiple industries including financial services, e-commerce, healthcare and the public sector. At the end of 2020, the Company had annual recurring revenue of NOK ~100 mn.

Lars Selsås, Founder and CEO, Boost.ai commented: “Nordic Capital was always our first choice of partner to take Boost.ai to the next level. They share our vision of becoming a global category leader and, at the same time, can help to maintain our leadership position in the Nordic market. Nordic Capital’s investment in our Company and technology is an endorsement of our success so far, and their team’s experience and strong track record with companies at our growth stage makes me confident that we will achieve great things together.”

Nordic Capital will support Boost.ai’s rapid growth trajectory allowing for further international expansion.

Technology & Payments is one of Nordic Capital’s focus sectors, with 18 platform investments made in the Nordic region since 2001. It has a strong and active sector network and a dedicated Technology & Payments team with local presence across Northern Europe. Nordic Capital’s previous experience in this sector includes investments such as Bambora, Trustly, CINT, Conscia, Siteimprove, Vizrt and Signicat.

Jess Tropp, Principal, Nordic Capital Advisors commented: “We are incredibly impressed by Boost.ai’s founders, management team and employees and the company’s superior conversational AI platform which has achieved industry leading resolution rates, evidenced by very strong customer satisfaction. We believe that Boost.ai represents a rare investment opportunity to invest in a leading Nordic based SaaS company with an attractive growth outlook from increased market penetration, as well as an opportunity to support expansion and internationalisation. Nordic Capital is truly excited about partnering with the founders and management to accelerate Boost.ai’s growth ambitions in the coming years.”

Boost.ai’s management team, led by founder and CEO Lars Ropeid Selsås, will continue to operate and manage the Company following the transaction. Co-founder Henry Vaage Iversen will continue as CCO.

The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

 

Press contacts:

Boost.ai
Kristian Mossige, Chief Marketing Officer
Tel: +47 98 40 86 03
E-mail: kristian@boost.ai

Nordic Capital
Katarina Janerud, Communications Manager
Nordic Capital Advisors
Tel: + 46 8 440 50 50
e-mail: katarina.janerud@nordiccapital.com

 About Boost.ai

Boost.ai specialises in enterprise-grade conversational artificial intelligence (AI). Inventor of the world’s most user-friendly conversational AI platform, Boost.ai empowers frontline customer service teams to automate customer service interactions with proprietary self-learning AI and a no-code solution that’s quick to deploy, easy to learn and highly scalable. Able to handle unlimited intents while consistently maintaining resolution rates of 90 percent, Boost.ai’s technology is used by companies like Telenor, DNB and Silvercar by Audi to successfully automate thousands of interactions. Boost.ai is a privately held Norwegian software company founded in 2016 with headquarters in Stavanger and satellite offices in Santa Monica (US), Oslo and Stockholm. Learn more at boost.ai

 About Nordic Capital

Nordic Capital is a leading private equity investor with a resolute commitment to creating stronger, sustainable businesses through operational improvement and transformative growth. Nordic Capital focuses on selected regions and sectors where it has deep experience and a long history. Focus sectors are Healthcare, Technology & Payments, Financial Services, and selectively, Industrial & Business Services. Key regions are Europe and globally for Healthcare and Technology & Payments investments. Since inception in 1989, Nordic Capital has invested more than EUR 16 billion in over 110 investments. The most recent fund is Nordic Capital Fund X with EUR 6.1 billion in committed capital, principally provided by international institutional investors such as pension funds. Nordic Capital Advisors have local offices in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Germany, the UK and the US. For further information about Nordic Capital, please visit www.nordiccapital.com

 

Footnote: “Nordic Capital” refers to any, or all, Nordic Capital branded funds and vehicles and associated entities. The general partners of Nordic Capital’s funds and vehicles are advised by several non-discretionary sub-advisory entities, any or all of which is referred to as “Nordic Capital Advisors”.

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ICT Group and a consortium led by NPM Capital agree on recommended all-cash public offer for all shares in ICT Group

NPM Capital

JOINT PRESS RELEASE

This is a joint press release by ICT Group N.V. (“ICT Group” or the “Company“), NPM Investments XI B.V. (the “Offeror“) (a wholly-owned subsidiary of NPM Capital N.V. (“NPM Capital“)) and Teslin Ipanema Acquisition B.V. (Teslin Acquisition”) (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Teslin Participaties Coöperatief U.A. (“Teslin“), and together with NPM Capital the “Consortium“) pursuant to the provisions of Section 4, paragraphs 1 and 3, Section 5, paragraph 1 and Section 7, paragraph 4 of the Netherlands Decree in Public Takeover Bids (Besluit openbare biedingen Wft, the “Decree“) in connection with the intended recommended public offer by the Offeror for all the issued and outstanding ordinary shares in the capital of ICT Group. This announcement does not constitute an offer, or any solicitation of any offer, to buy or subscribe for any securities in ICT Group. Any offer will be made only by means of an offer memorandum (the “Offer Memorandum“) approved by the AFM. This announcement is not for release, publication or distribution, in whole or in part, in or into, directly or indirectly, the United States, Canada and Japan.
ICT GROUP AND A CONSORTIUM LED BY NPM CAPITAL AGREE ON RECOMMENDED ALL-CASH OFFER OF EUR 14.50 PER SHARE
Transaction highlights

  • Recommended all-cash public offer by Offeror for all Shares in ICT Group at an offer price of EUR 14.50 (cum dividend) per Share, representing a total consideration of approx. EUR 140.6 million
  • The Offer Price represents a premium of approx. 31.8% to the ICT Group closing share price on Thursday 4 March 2021 and a premium of approx. 52.8% to the 6 -month average daily volume weighted share price, delivering immediate, certain and attractive value to ICT Group’s shareholders
  • The Executive Board and Supervisory Board of ICT Group fully support the Transaction and unanimously recommend the Offer
  • The Consortium comprises of experienced investors and will provide ICT Group with knowledge, expertise and financial backing for investments and acquisitions in accordance with ICT Group’s long-term strategy
  • The Consortium is committed to support and accelerate ICT Group’s strategy of driving organic growth and growth through acquisitions and intends to make equity financing available in the amount of up to EUR 200 million to actively support ICT Group in pursuing add-on acquisitions
  • The Offeror views the employees of ICT Group as one of the fundamental assets for its current and continued success; existing rights and benefits of ICT Group’s employees will be respected
  • ICT Group’s corporate identity, values and culture will be maintained
  • ICT Group’s existing Executive Board, led by CEO Jos Blejie and CFO Jan Willem Wienbelt, will continue to lead the Company
  • The Consortium has committed equity financing in place providing certain funds and high deal certainty
  • Teslin, holding approx. 19.3% of the Shares, has irrevocably committed to tender or contribute its Shares to the Offeror, and Mavawe B.V., holding approx. 6.4% of the Shares, has irrevocably committed to tender its Shares under the Offer
  • Following completion, NPM Capital will hold approx. 83% and Teslin Acquisition approx. 17% in the Consortium
  • The draft Offer Memorandum will be submitted to the AFM no later than in April 2021, with completion of the Offer anticipated in Q3 of 2021

 

Rotterdam/Amsterdam/Maarsbergen, the Netherlands, 5 March 2021 – ICT Group, an industrial-technology solutions provider, and the Consortium consisting of NPM Capital and Teslin are pleased to announce that a conditional agreement (the “Merger Agreement”) has been reached on a recommended public offer (the “Offer”, and together with the transactions contemplated in connection therewith, including the Merger and Liquidation, the “Transaction”) for all of the issued and outstanding ordinary shares in ICT Group (the “Shares”) for EUR 14.50 (cum dividend) in cash per Share (the “Offer Price”). The Offer represents a total consideration of approximately EUR 140.6 million.

Theo van der Raadt, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of ICT Group: “The Supervisory Board unanimously supports the offer as we believe it will be beneficial to all ICT Group’s stakeholders. The strategic review conducted by the Executive Board showed that, also in the context of our consolidating industry, ICT Group should accelerate its growth strategy and that this could be achieved best in a private environment. After a diligent and carefully executed competitive bidding process we concluded that the offer by the Consortium best serves the interest of all ICT Group’s stakeholders. The transaction reflects a compelling offer price for our shareholders, while best safeguarding the interests of both our employees and customers.”

Jos Blejie, CEO of ICT Group: “In the past years ICT Group has evolved from a secondment services provider to an industrial technology solutions provider with a resilient business model. This has resulted in a healthy mix of activities, while we further increase our focus on high added value services, including our own industry-specific software propositions. Accelerating our growth strategy, in which acquisitions will be instrumental, will further leverage our strong position and enhance our capabilities to further improve and expand our services to our customers. The Consortium is committed to supporting us in accelerating our growth and geographical expansion, including providing further equity financing for add-on acquisitions. NPM Capital and Teslin are reputable Dutch investors known for their long-term commitment with an entrepreneurial spirit and a solid track record of supporting management teams in growing their business. Our employees are our most important asset, supported by a strong culture of excellence and driven by our passion for technology. We believe that this partner will bring increased career opportunities in a growing company. We look forward to continuing our journey with the Consortium.”

Bart Coopmans, NPM Capital, on behalf of the Consortium: “We are pleased to have reached a conditional agreement with the Boards of ICT Group. We strongly believe in ICT Group’s strategy and will support the Company in its next stage of development, working towards becoming a leading Northern European industrial technology solutions provider. The investment in ICT Group fits our strategic investment themes, where the trend of digitization further drives the growth in demand for industrial technology solutions. Our track record in technology investments and our expertise in doing (international) acquisitions, in combination with our extensive network and financial resources will support the company going-forward. NPM Capital and Teslin very much look forward to working with ICT Group management and supporting them in accelerating the execution of their business strategy.”

Strategic review and transaction process

Strategic review
During the summer of 2020, ICT Group performed a strategic review to identify, review and evaluate strategic options available to accelerate its current strategy. Following this strategic review, the Executive Board and Supervisory Board of ICT Group (the “Boards“) concluded that ICT Group could optimise its position as a strong partner for clients, suppliers, employees and other stakeholders by enhancing its geographic presence and increasing its scale. Having reviewed and considered various alternative strategic options, the Boards have concluded that a private environment would be optimal for ICT Group to realise this goal. Such an environment could provide access to a substantial amount of capital to finance organic and inorganic growth and could better position ICT Group to execute on M&A opportunities available in the market.

Transaction process
As a result of the outcome of the strategic review, ICT Group, together with its financial and legal advisers, set up a competitive bidding process in the second half of 2020, with various parties being approached to express their interest in a possible transaction. A special committee consisting of two Supervisory Board members (the “Special Committee“) was appointed to safeguard the interests of ICT Group’s stakeholders and ensure a full and thorough process. The Special Committee and the Boards have frequently and extensively discussed the developments of a proposed transaction and related key decisions throughout the process. Consistent with their fiduciary responsibilities, the Boards, with the assistance of their financial and legal advisers, have carefully reviewed the proposals that were submitted by interested parties, and they have given careful consideration to all aspects of the proposals, including strategic, financial, operational and social aspects.

Support and unanimous recommendation by the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board
Following the diligent and carefully executed competitive process, the Boards believe that the Consortium has made the most compelling offer representing a fair price and attractive premium to ICT Group’s shareholders as well as the most favourable non-financial terms. The Boards have therefore concluded that the Transaction is in the best interest of the Company and the sustainable success of its business, taking into account the interests of all ICT Group’s stakeholders.

AXECO Corporate Finance has issued a fairness opinion to the Executive Board and Supervisory Board, and the Corporate Finance Division of ING Bank N.V. has issued a separate fairness opinion to the Supervisory Board. Both have opined that, from a financial point of view, the Offer is fair to the shareholders of ICT Group and that the price payable under the share sale pursuant to the Merger and Liquidation (as defined below) is fair to ICT Group.

Taking all these considerations into account, the Boards unanimously support the Transaction and recommend the Offer for acceptance to the shareholders of ICT Group. Accordingly, the Boards recommend that the shareholders of ICT Group accept the Offer and vote in favour of the resolutions relating to the Offer at the upcoming extraordinary general meeting of ICT Group (the “EGM“), to be held during the offer period.

Irrevocable undertaking of shareholders
Teslin currently has an aggregate shareholding in ICT Group of approximately 19.3% of the Shares and has irrevocably undertaken to support the Offer and vote in favour of the resolutions that will be proposed at the EGM to be held in connection with the Transaction. Teslin will invest a substantial part of its current shareholding into the Offeror and will tender the remaining part under the Offer. In addition, Teslin has also made available substantial amounts of equity financing to support ICT Group in executing its strategy going forward.

Furthermore, Mavawe B.V., holding approximately 6.4% of the Shares, has irrevocably undertaken to support and accept the Offer and vote in favour of the resolutions that will be proposed at the EGM to be held in connection with the Transaction. No additional shareholders have been approached for an irrevocable undertaking to support and accept the Offer.

Board members have also entered into irrevocable commitments in respect of all Shares and other securities held by them.

The irrevocable commitments of Mavawe B.V. and board members to tender their Shares and the irrevocable commitment of Teslin to tender or invest its Shares together represent approximately 26.7% of the Shares.

In accordance with the applicable public offer rules, information shared about the Offer with shareholders providing an irrevocable undertaking will, unless not published prior to the Offer Memorandum being made generally available, be included in the Offer Memorandum in respect of the Offer (if and when issued) and these shareholders will tender their Shares on the same terms (including price) and conditions as the other shareholders.

Non-financial covenants
ICT Group and the Offeror have agreed to certain covenants, including covenants on strategy, employees, corporate governance, leverage and other non-financial matters, for a duration of three years after settlement (the “Non-Financial Covenants“). ICT Group and the Offeror have also agreed to covenants on minority shareholders.

Strategy and M&A
The Offeror fully supports and respects ICT Group’s business strategy of driving organic growth and growth through acquisitions. The Offeror will support ICT Group in pursuing such add-on acquisitions and intends to make equity financing available to the Company for up to an amount of EUR 200 million to fund these acquisitions.

ICT Group and the Offeror have agreed that the Offeror will not break up the Company’s group and its business, and the Offeror does not intend to pursue any divestments of any of the Company’s group’s subsidiaries, business units or material assets.

Employees
The Offeror recognises the value and importance of ICT Group’s employees. Their existing rights and benefits will be respected, including existing rights and benefits under their individual employment agreements and existing rights and benefits under existing covenants made to the works council. The Offeror will respect the existing pension arrangements and will preserve ICT Group’s culture of excellence, where qualified employees of the Company’s group are offered attractive training and career opportunities.

The Offeror will respect the Company’s group’s current employee consultation structure and will ensure that the arrangements between ICT Group and the works council are respected.

ICT Group and the Offeror have agreed that the current members of the Executive Board will continue to serve as members of the Executive Board and that Roy Jansen, ICT Group’s current Chief Operating Officer, will be appointed to the Executive Board following settlement.

Governance
It is envisaged that upon successful completion of the Offer the Supervisory Board of ICT Group will consist of five members. Theo van der Raadt and Koen Beeckmans will continue as Chairman and member of the Supervisory Board, respectively. As independent members they will especially monitor compliance with the Non-Financial Covenants. Three new supervisory board members will be designated by the Consortium, of which two by NPM Capital and one by Teslin.

ICT Group will continue to operate as a separate legal entity and ICT Group’s corporate identity, values and culture will be maintained.

ICT Group’s large company regime (structuurregime) will remain in place in its current form.

Financing and leverage
The Offeror will ensure that the Company’s group will remain prudently capitalised and financed to safeguard the continuity of the business and the execution of the strategy. Furthermore, the Offeror will procure that the Company’s group does not incur additional third party debt resulting in a higher ratio of net third-party debt to EBITDA than three (3) times post-IFRS-16 EBITDA.

Fully committed financing for the Offer
The Offer Price values 100% of the Shares at approximately EUR 140.6 million. The Offeror has received a binding equity commitment letter from NPM Capital for the total consideration, all the Company’s indebtedness and the associated transaction costs (the “Equity Financing“). The Offeror intends to take out debt financing for an amount of EUR 50 – 60 million, to replace the current bank/debt facilities and part of the Equity Financing, and to enter into binding loan documentation post-announcement, which will be fully committed on a “certain funds” basis (the “Debt Financing“).

From the arranged Equity Financing and Debt Financing, the Offeror will be able to fund the acquisition of the Shares under the Offer, the purchase price pursuant to the share sale in connection with the Merger and Liquidation (if implemented), the payment or refinancing of ICT Group’s existing debt, and the payment of fees and expenses related to the Offer.

Fairness Opinions
On 4 March 2021, AXECO Corporate Finance B.V. issued a fairness opinion to the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board, and the Corporate Finance Division of ING Bank N.V. has issued a separate fairness opinion to the Supervisory Board, in each case related to the fairness, as of such date, and based on and subject to the factors and assumptions set out in each fairness opinion, that the Offer Price is fair to the holders of Shares, and that the price payable under the share sale pursuant to the Merger and Liquidation is fair to ICT Group. The full text of these fairness opinions, each of which sets out the assumptions made, procedures followed, matters considered and limitations on the review undertaken in connection with each such opinion, will be included in ICT Group’s position statement. The opinion of AXECO Corporate Finance B.V. has been given to the Executive Board and to the Supervisory Board and the opinion of the Corporate Finance Division of ING Bank N.V. has been given to the Supervisory Board, and not to the holders of Shares. The fairness opinions do not make any recommendation to the holders of Shares as to whether they should tender their Shares under the Offer (if and when made) or how they should vote or act with respect to the proposed resolutions at the EGM or any other matter.

Investment by key management
The Consortium is focused on ensuring that ICT Group’s key management is retained. After agreement was reached on the most fundamental elements of the Offer, Jos Blejie, Jan Willem Wienbelt and Roy Jansen have had initial discussions with the Consortium regarding participation in the Offeror. The Offeror shall invite Jos Blejie, Jan Willem Wienbelt and Roy Jansen and certain other members of key management of ICT Group to invest and participate in the Offeror after settlement of the Offer.

Pre-offer and offer conditions
The commencement of this Offer is subject to the satisfaction or waiver of pre-offer conditions customary for a transaction of this kind, including:

  • No material breach of the Merger Agreement having occurred
  • No material adverse effect having occurred
  • The Stichting Continuïteit ICT not having exercised its option to call for the issue of cumulative preference shares and no cumulative preference shares in ICT Group having been issued
  • The Offeror having received confirmation from the AFM that the AFM has approved the final draft of the Offer Memorandum
  • Compliance with the co-determination procedures pursuant to the Dutch Works Council Act with respect to the works council of ICT Group
  • Compliance with the notification procedures pursuant to the Merger Code (SER Fusiegedragsregels 2015)
  • No public announcement having been made of a Competing Offer (as defined below)
  • The Boards not having revoked or altered their recommendation of the Offer
  • No order, stay, judgment or decree having been issued restraining, prohibiting or delaying the consummation of the Transaction in any material respect
  • No notification having been received from the AFM that the Offer was prepared in contravention of any of the provisions of chapter 5.5 of the Wft or the Decree, within the meaning of section 5:80 Wft in which case, pursuant to those rules, investment firms would not be permitted to cooperate with the execution and completion of the Offer
  • Euronext not having permanently suspended or ended trading in the Shares on Euronext

If and when made, the consummation of this Offer will be subject to the satisfaction or waiver of the following offer conditions customary for a transaction of this kind, including:

  • Minimum acceptance level of at least 95% of the Shares, to be reduced to 80% if the general meeting of the Company adopts the resolutions in connection with the Merger and Liquidation at the EGM
  • The Competition Clearance (as defined below) having been obtained or the applicable time periods having expired, lapsed or terminated
  • The Stichting Continuïteit ICT not having exercised its option to call for the issue of cumulative preference shares; no cumulative preference shares in ICT Group having been issued; and the Stichting Continuïteit ICT having waived its right to exercise the call option and agreed to termination of the call option agreement with ICT Group with effect from settlement
  • The general meeting of the Company having adopted the resolutions in connection with the Merger and Liquidation at the EGM and the resolutions relating to the composition of the Supervisory Board following settlement
  • No public announcement having been made of a Competing Offer (as defined below)
  • The Boards not having revoked or altered their recommendation of the Offer
  • No material breach of the Merger Agreement having occurred
  • No material adverse effect having occurred
  • No order, stay, judgment or decree having been issued restraining, prohibiting or delaying the consummation of the proposed transaction in any material respect
  • No notification having been received from the AFM that the Offer was made in contravention of any of the provisions of chapter 5.5 of the Wft or the Decree, within the meaning of section 5:80 Wft in which case, pursuant to those rules, investment firms would not be permitted to cooperate with the execution and completion of the Offer
  • Euronext not having permanently suspended or ended trading in the Shares on Euronext

Acquisition of 100% of the Shares
The Consortium and ICT Group believe the sustainable and long-term success of ICT Group will be enhanced under private ownership and acknowledge the importance of acquiring 100% of the Shares and achieving a delisting of ICT Group in order to execute on ICT Group’s long-term strategy. This importance is based, inter alia, on:

  • the ability to achieve the strategic benefits of the Transaction and enhance the sustainable success of the Company’s business in an expeditious manner in a private environment in a fully owned set-up after delisting;
  • the fact that having a single shareholder and operating without a public listing increases the Group’s ability to achieve the goals and implement the actions of its strategy;
  • the ability to terminate the listing of the Shares from Euronext Amsterdam, and all resulting cost savings therefrom;
  • the ability to achieve an efficient capital structure;
  • as part of long-term strategic objectives the ability to focus on pursuing and supporting (by providing access to equity and debt capital) continued buy-and-build acquisition opportunities.

If the Offeror acquires at least 95% of the Shares, it is intended that ICT Group’s listing on Euronext Amsterdam will be terminated as soon as possible. In that case, the Offeror will start statutory squeeze-out proceedings to obtain 100% of the Shares as soon as possible.

If, after the post-acceptance period, the Offeror acquires less than 95%, but at least 80%, of the Shares, the Offeror intends to acquire the entire business of ICT Group at the same price and for the same aggregate consideration as the Offer, pursuant to a legal triangular merger of the Company with two newly incorporated subsidiaries of the Company (Company Holdco and Company Sub), a share sale regarding the shares of Company Sub, between the Offeror and Company Holdco, and a subsequent liquidation of Company Holdco to deliver such consideration to the shareholders (the “Merger and Liquidation“). The advance liquidation distribution to the shareholders of Company Holdco will be an amount that is to the fullest extent possible equal to the Offer Price, without any interest, subject to any applicable withholding taxes and other taxes. The Merger and Liquidation is subject to the approval of ICT Group shareholders at the EGM. The Boards have agreed to unanimously recommend that shareholders vote in favour of the Merger and Liquidation. Once the legal triangular merger is implemented, the listing of ICT Group will terminate.

In the event that the Offeror acquires less than 80% of the Shares, the Boards and the individual members of the Boards will be under no obligation to cooperate with the Merger and Liquidation, but they will have the opportunity to re-evaluate the Merger and Liquidation and whether to proceed with it nonetheless in light of the then prevailing circumstances. Accordingly, the Company and the Offeror may agree to proceed with the Merger and Liquidation in such scenario, provided however that this will only be permitted with the prior approval of the Boards, including a vote in favour of that approval by at least one of the independent Supervisory Board members.

The Offeror may utilise all other available legal measures in order to acquire full ownership of the Company, outstanding Shares and/or its business in accordance with the terms of the Merger Agreement.

Competition Clearance
The Offeror will procure the preparation and filing with the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (the “ACM“) to obtain the required competition clearance in respect of the Offer (the “Competition Clearance“) as soon as practicable after the signing of the Merger Agreement. The Offeror and ICT Group will closely co-operate in respect of any necessary contact with and notifications to the ACM.

Exclusivity and Competing Offer
ICT Group will notify the Offeror in writing if a bona fide third party makes a credible, written and binding unsolicited proposal to acquire all of the Shares or substantially all of ICT Group’s business or a merger of ICT Group that exceeds the original consideration by 10% and, which in the reasonable opinion of the Boards, is a more beneficial offer than the Offer as contemplated in the Merger Agreement (a “Competing Offer“). In the event of such Competing Offer, the Offeror has the opportunity to match such Competing Offer. If it does, and the terms and conditions of such revised offer are, in the reasonable opinion of the Boards, at least equal to those of the Competing Offer, the Merger Agreement will continue in force. ICT Group and the Offeror may terminate the Merger Agreement (i) if the Offeror does not submit within seven business days of ICT Group’s notice of having received a Competing Offer, or (ii) if the Offeror has not made a revised offer, or (iii) if the Offeror has informed the Company that it does not wish to make a revised offer, in which case ICT Group will be entitled to conditionally agree to the Competing Offer. As part of the agreement, ICT Group has entered into customary undertakings not to solicit third party offers.

Termination
If the Merger Agreement is terminated (i) because of a Competing Offer having been conditionally agreed or (ii) in case of a material event, development, circumstance or change that requires the Boards to change their recommendation, ICT Group will pay the Offeror a EUR 1.4 million (1% of the Offer value) termination fee.

These termination fees are without prejudice to each party’s rights under the Merger Agreement to demand specific performance.

Next steps and additional information
ICT Group and the Offeror will seek to obtain all necessary approvals and the Competition Clearance as soon as practicable; the Offeror has agreed to take the necessary steps to obtain that clearance from the ACM. The required advice and consultation procedures with ICT Group’s works council will start as soon as feasible. Both parties are confident that the Offeror will secure all approvals and the Competition Clearance within the timetable of the Offer.

The Offeror intends to launch the Offer as soon as practically possible and in accordance with the applicable statutory timetable. The Offeror expects to submit a request for review and approval of the Offer Memorandum no later than in April 2021 and to publish the Offer Memorandum after approval.

ICT Group will hold the EGM at least six business days before the offer period ends, in accordance with Section 18 Paragraph 1 of the Decree. ICT Group’s shareholders will also be asked to approve the Merger and Liquidation and certain other resolutions with respect to the Offer.

Based on the required steps and subject to the necessary approvals, ICT Group and the Offeror anticipate that the Offer will close in Q3 2021.

Advisers
AXECO Corporate Finance B.V. is acting as ICT Group’s financial adviser and the Corporate Finance Division of ING Bank N.V. as financial adviser to the Supervisory Board. De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek N.V. is acting as ICT Group’s legal adviser and Lindner & van Maaren as communications adviser.

On behalf of NPM Capital, Rabobank is acting as financial adviser, Allen & Overy LLP as legal adviser and Confidant Partners as communications adviser. Clifford Chance LLP is acting as Teslin’s legal adviser.

General restrictions
The information in this announcement is not intended to be complete. This announcement is for information purposes only and does not constitute an offer or an invitation to acquire or dispose of any securities or investment advice or an inducement to enter into investment activity. This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell or issue or the solicitation of an offer to buy or acquire the securities of ICT Group in any jurisdiction.

The distribution of this press release may, in some countries, be restricted by law or regulation. Accordingly, persons who come into possession of this document should inform themselves of and observe these restrictions. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the Consortium, the Offeror and ICT Group disclaim any responsibility or liability for the violation of any such restrictions by any person. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of that jurisdiction. Neither ICT Group, nor the Consortium, nor Offeror, nor any of their advisers assume any responsibility for any violation by any person of any of these restrictions. ICT Group shareholders in any doubt as to their position should consult an appropriate professional adviser without delay. This announcement is not to be published or distributed in or to Canada, Japan and the United States.

Forward-looking statements
This press release may include “forward-looking statements” such as statements relating to the impact of this transaction on the Offeror and ICT Group and language that indicates trends, such as “anticipated” and “expected”. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release. Although ICT Group and the Offeror believe that the assumptions upon which their respective financial information and their respective forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, they can give no assurance that these assumptions will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical experience or from future results expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, receipt of regulatory approvals without unexpected delays or conditions, the Offeror’s ability to achieve the anticipated results from the acquisition of the Company, the effects of competition (in particular the response to the Transaction in the marketplace), economic conditions in the global markets in which the Offeror and the Company operate, and other factors that can be found in the Offeror’s and the Company’s press releases and public filings. Neither ICT Group nor the Consortium nor the Offeror, nor any of their advisers accept any responsibility for any financial information contained in this press release relating to the business or operations or results or financial condition of the other or their respective groups. Each of the Company, the Consortium and the Offeror expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

For more information, please contact:

Press enquiries ICT Group
Carla Stuifzand, marketing director
+31 (0)88 908 2000, E-mail: investor.relations@ict.nl
Website www.ictgroup.eu                                                      

Press enquiries Consortium
Confidant Partners
Sabine Post – de Jong
+31 20 303 60 20, sabine.post@confidantpartners.com

About ICT Group
ICT Group is a leading European industrial technology solutions provider. Our dedicated technical professionals offer our clients services in the field of consultancy, software development, project-based solutions and IT system maintenance. It is our mission to make the world a little smarter every day. Our specialist knowledge in a variety of industries enables us to realise innovative solutions by linking people, technologies and ideas. With around 1,500 dedicated technical specialists in the field, we are capable of building and integrating new and innovative technologies into relevant business solutions for our customers.

Our Industries solutions serve the automotive, manufacturing, high-tech, food, chemicals & pharma, oil & gas and logistics industries. Our Public & Infra solutions are focused on water, rail and road infrastructure as well as public transport and mobility. Across all industries ICT Group offers proprietary industry-specific software solutions, including its own cloud-based platform for IoT, digital transformation and artificial intelligence. ICT Group is listed on Euronext Amsterdam and has a presence in the Netherlands, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany and Sweden.

About NPM Capital
NPM Capital invests in mid-market companies in the Benelux and supports companies to enter the next growth phase in their development. NPM Capital, with SHV as its sole shareholder, has sufficient capital in order to apply a long investment horizon. Currently, NPM Capital has a portfolio of 26 participations (majority as well as minority holdings, including growth capital) and focuses on the following trends: Everything is Digital, Future of Energy, Feeding the World and Healthy Life.

About Teslin
Teslin is an investment fund managed by Teslin Capital Management. Teslin invests in promising small- and midcaps. Based on fundamental analysis Teslin selects companies active in attractive markets with a strong market position, healthy cash flow and a proper corporate governance structure. Teslin focuses on responsible value creation in the long term and acts as an active and involved shareholder. Teslin has been a long-term significant, active and committed shareholder of ICT Group since 2002 and is delighted to support ICT Group in accelerating and realizing its potential in the coming years, growing into a leading Northern-European industrial technology solutions provider. For more information, please visit: www.teslin.nl

Notes to the press release
This is a public announcement by ICT Group N.V. pursuant to section 17 paragraph 1 of the European Market Abuse Regulation (596/2014). This public announcement does not constitute an offer, or any solicitation of any offer, to buy or subscribe for any securities in ICT Group N.V.

 

* * *

 

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Evisort Raises $35M Series B Led by General Atlantic, Quadruples Revenue As Enterprises Race To Tame Contracts

Pre-trained AI platform uncovers millions in potential savings, unlocks missed revenue, and exposes risks hidden in contracts within days of implementation

Evisort, the intelligent contract management platform, today announced $35M in Series B funding following a year of 4x revenue growth, bringing its total funding to $55.5M. Global growth equity investor General Atlantic led the round, with participation from existing investors Amity Ventures, Microsoft’s venture fund M12, and Vertex Ventures. General Atlantic’s Operating Partner and former GE CIO Gary Reiner will join Evisort as a board member. The company will use the funds to grow its customer experience team, expand its platform to include more workflow-specific offerings, and continue to push the boundaries of its pre-trained AI.

Enterprises have been racing to digitize contract management due to a convergence of three factors:

  • Remote work has made manual contracting processes all but impossible
  • New regulations have dramatically increased the risk of non-compliant contracts
  • Pandemic-hit businesses are eager to find hidden cost savings and revenue in their contracts

Evisort pioneered a contract management solution to address all three factors. Unlike most contract management solutions which merely streamline processes, Evisort’s cloud-native, end-to-end platform has helped enterprises do business faster and uncover millions of dollars in potential cost savings and new revenue hidden in their contracts. For example, one customer was able to recognize hundreds of thousands of dollars in unfulfilled rebates because Evisort identified discount clauses in thousands of vendor contracts and issued a notification through the finance system before the vendor invoices were paid.

This intelligent approach to contract lifecycle management (CLM) has secured Evisort 4x revenue growth over the past year and helped win or expand seven Fortune 500 or global clients in banking, healthcare and enterprise tech, including Microsoft, NetApp, Molina Healthcare, and Fujitsu.

“In this ever-shifting regulatory environment, it’s hard to know what information in contracts will be important tomorrow. Evisort makes it simple for our teams to train custom algorithms so we can react quickly as our compliance needs change. We’re able to track new information across hundreds of thousands of contracts without any manual effort,” said Tom Orrison, Director of Legal Ops at Microsoft.

“Contract assets are core to B2B relationships, and yet contract data is an under-utilized resource. Evisort exceeds enterprise expectations and needs, providing a solution that works out of the box — with all the legacy systems and across use cases and industries — to deliver meaningful value. The resonance and traction of the business is underscored by Evisort’s recent success in securing major Fortune 500 customers, and by the positive customer feedback we uncovered during our diligence process,” said Gary Reiner, Operating Partner at General Atlantic and board member at Citigroup and HPE.

Evisort is one of the only AI-first, end-to-end CLM products for pre- and post-signing that can be implemented in days. Its authentic AI was developed in-house and pre-trained on millions of documents. Evisort Contract Management, its post-signature solution, can read a 30-page document in 15 seconds, extracting insights and making them actionable through integrations with CRM, ERP, HR, and Finance systems. With the launch of Evisort Contract Workflow in July 2020, the platform can now automate the entire lifecycle of a contract: from contract creation to negotiation to signature. Evisort works out-of-the-box on over 230 types of contracts, meaning it accurately analyzes the document without warning or preparation.

“We have closely tracked the legal technology space for years, and Evisort stands out as an emerging global leader that is primed to disrupt the status quo and capture growth in a market that is large and currently, inefficiently served,” said Alex Crisses, Managing Director and Global Head of New Investment Sourcing and Co-Head of Emerging Growth at General Atlantic. “Jerry and the Evisort team have built differentiated technology with real AI, and we believe that the company has the potential to embed itself as the system of record for contracts across the enterprise. We look forward to partnering with Evisort to grow the business from its earlier stages into a long-term category leader.”

Evisort will use the Series B funds to accelerate its AI development and expand its platform to include more workflow offerings tailored to specific industries, such as financial services, healthcare, and tech. The company will also focus on delivering a premium user experience, quadrupling its customer success team to help clients create their own digital contracting Centers of Excellence.

As a no-code platform which can be up-and-running in days, Evisort requires little implementation expertise. Once customers recognize the value it brings, they quickly look to roll it out enterprise-wide as part of a full digital transformation initiative, led by a cross-functional team of legal, IT, and procurement experts. Evisort has already guided several Fortune 500 companies through this process, providing best practices and blueprints for success.

“We know Evisort helps our customers close deals faster, stay on top of important dates and mitigate risks. Those are huge wins already, but with this funding we can push the envelope of our end-to-end platform even further,” said Evisort Founder and CEO Jerry Ting. “Whenever any part of the business touches a contract, whether that’s an accounting professional finding savings or a sales person negotiating a better deal, Evisort will be there delivering insights they can act on. We’re building the intelligent contract management platform enterprises actually need with innovative AI capabilities they didn’t know were possible.”

About Evisort

Founded in 2016 by Harvard Law and MIT researchers, Evisort leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to help businesses categorize, search, and act on business-driving documents of any type. Evisort’s proprietary AI understands meaning and context in legal language, eliminating the need for manual data entry and parsing of contracts or business documents. The company is backed by leading strategic and institutional investors including General Atlantic, M12, Microsoft’s venture fund, Vertex Ventures, and Amity Ventures. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, more information on Evisort can be found at Evisort.com. Follow @Evisort on Twitter, Facebook, Medium and LinkedIn.

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.

Media Contacts

Mary Armstrong & Emily Japlon
General Atlantic media@generalatlantic.com

Theresa Carper
Evisort 415-848-9175 evisort@firebrand.marketing

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Longship Fund II acquires GEXCON AS

Longship

Longship Fund II (“Longship”) has as of February 19th, 2021 acquired 100% of the shares in Gexcon AS from NORCE Norwegian Research Centre AS (“NORCE”).

Gexcon is a global leader in process safety software, safety consulting and testing services, and specializes in analysis of dispersion, explosion and fire related risk and consequences. Based on experience developed in cooperation with the oil and gas industry, Gexcon has become the preferred supplier of safety studies also to the global Hydrogen industry, as well as other industries requiring high-end safety solutions. In 2020, consolidated revenues were NOK 180 million and Gexcon employed a total of 147 employees. Gexcon is headquartered in Bergen, Norway, with 11 subsidiaries and branch offices across the globe.

“Gexcon has developed world class software and services, based on decades of significant R&D investments and achievements. Longship has thoroughly enjoyed the process of getting to know the people and the company and we are looking forward to supporting Gexcon, as it is now further commercialising its products and services for a global market”, says Bernt Østhus, lead partner for Longship’s investment in Gexcon.

“This transaction will enable Gexcon to further strengthen the company’s wide range of software products and consulting services and expand its global presence. In this way, NORCE will conclude many years of guidance and ownership with a lasting contribution towards reaching the vision for Gexcon, which is to make the world a safer place.”, says Christopher Giertsen, Executive Vice President Commercialisation, NORCE.

Longship is a transformational growth investor, developing successful lower mid-market companies into mature growth businesses with institutional and strategic value. We aim to create a scalable platform for sustainable growth and profitability in our portfolio companies and support them on their accelerated growth journey. Longship is targeting excess return from its transformational approach.

Management and employees will become owners in Gexcon AS, as part of a broad Management Investment Program.

Longship was advised by McKinsey & Co, Schjødt, Deloitte, Simula Consulting and Lighthouse8. NORCE was advised by Alpha Corporate Finance, Thommessen, KPMG and Bearingpoint.

For more information, please contact:

Bernt Østhus, Partner, Longship AS
+47 93 44 99 10
bernt.osthus@longship.no

Christopher Giertsen, Executive Vice President Commercialization, NORCE,
+47 957 52 125
chgi@norceresearch.no

About Longship:

Longship is a Norwegian private equity investor established by a group of experienced investment professionals in 2015. Longship identifies and invest in companies with significant growth potential in the Norwegian lower mid-market and are applying a transformational growth approach. The investment team currently consists of eleven professionals, making it the leading player in the Norwegian lower mid-market. Longship closed its second fund in November 2020 with commitments of NOK 1.7 billion.

About NORCE:

NORCE is a Norwegian research institute, with expertise in a wide range of fields and strong communities of knowledge. NORCE deliver research and innovation in energy, health care, climate, the environment, society and technology. The solutions from NORCE address key challenges for the society and contribute to value creation for numerous public and private organisations on local, national, and global levels. Commercialisation of results from research and innovation is an integrated part of the core activities in NORCE. At the corporate level (2020), NORCE had about 1000 employees, and a turnover of about NOK 1.4 billion.

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Investment of $58M Endorses vArmour as Leader in Accelerating Application Relationship Management Market

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Nightdragon

AllegisCyber Capital and NightDragon lead round to validate market demand for relationship-based application security

vArmour, the leading provider of Application Relationship Management, today announced it has raised $58M in its latest round of funding to accelerate company growth. The latest, oversubscribed round is led by AllegisCyber Capital and NightDragon, with support from existing investors Standard Chartered Ventures, Highland Capital Partners, Telstra, Redline Capital, and EDBI. vArmour has seen strong momentum, doubling net new annual recurring revenue year over year with a trajectory to exceed that in the next fiscal year.

The year 2020 saw an ever-increasing number of enterprises worldwide moving their applications and infrastructure to hybrid cloud environments. Gartner estimates that by 2024, more than 45% of IT infrastructure spending will shift to the cloud. However, conventional tools, applications, and processes have not kept pace. Organizations still cannot “see” in real-time how people and applications interact, impeding their ability to manage risk. vArmour is focused on solving this fundamental challenge through a novel approach called Application Relationship Management. This enables organizations to visualize and control relationships between every user, every application, and across every environment to ultimately better manage risk, increase resiliency, speed application deployment — all without adding costly new infrastructure components or agents.

AllegisCyber Capital has been instrumental in steering vArmour towards its accelerated growth. “Managing risk and resiliency in the hybrid cloud is one of the most significant security challenges for enterprises,” said Bob Ackerman, Founder and Managing Director at AllegisCyber Capital. “vArmour’s platform provides the visibility, controls, and accountability necessary to actively manage these challenges and has done this for hundreds of customers. We are ecstatic to be part of their next stage of growth.”

“As applications become more complex, more distributed, and more targeted by attackers, the importance of full visibility into the relationships between applications becomes increasingly important.” said Dave DeWalt, founder of NightDragon. “vArmour’s approach to application relationship management ensures that enterprises of all sizes can continuously audit, respond, and control identity relationships to best protect their important IP, and mitigate risk to the business.”

vArmour’s focus and investment in product innovation and people are key drivers to their growth. Their latest offering, the Application Access & Identity Module, is equipping security and operations teams with unprecedented visibility and control over user access to critical applications, freeing up time and energy spent mining through thousands of relationship networks. Their new AI and ML research branch in Calgary, Canada is dramatically speeding up time to value for customers by using automation to make faster and more accurate business decisions. Investments in people will continue as they hire global go-to-market teams in Munich, Toronto, Singapore, and Melbourne, along with growing their research and development team in the Bay Area.

“Our innovation, partnerships, and overall customer momentum have been critical in helping us with our growth toward the path to the public marketplace,” said Tim Eades, CEO of vArmour. “By giving our customers unparalleled insights into their applications and the identity of each relationship, we equip them to make real-time decisions regarding their critical assets, which helps enhance both their security posture and their end-user experience.”

For more information on vArmour, please visit www.vArmour.com.

About vArmour

vArmour is the leading provider of Application Relationship Management. Enterprises around the world rely on vArmour to control operational risk, increase application resiliency and secure hybrid clouds — all while leveraging the technology they already own without adding costly new agents or infrastructure. Based in Los Altos, CA, the company was founded in 2011 and is backed by top investors including Highland Capital Partners, AllegisCyber Capital, NightDragon, Redline Capital, Citi Ventures, and Telstra. Learn more at www.vArmour.com.

About AllegisCyber Capital

AllegisCyber Capital is passionate about identifying companies and entrepreneurs developing disruptive and innovative approaches to address the crucial issues on the fast-changing cybersecurity landscape. AllegisCyber Capital uses an integrated investment platform and a game-changing strategic partnership with cybersecurity start-up studio DataTribe to give its entrepreneurs an unfair competitive advantage. DataTribe, a cybersecurity startup foundry located in Maryland, focuses on launching start-ups based on cyber domain expertise out of the intelligence community and national laboratories. Representative portfolio companies of AllegisCyber Capital include: vArmour, Shape, Prevailion, Synack, Enveil, and Dragos. www.allegiscyber.com

About NightDragon

NightDragon is an investment firm focused on investing in growth and late-stage companies within the cybersecurity, safety, security, and privacy industry. Its flexible model allows it to lead or co-invest alongside leading venture capital and private equity firms in the pursuit of driving growth and increasing shareholder value. NightDragon is unique in providing deep operational expertise in cybersecurity gained by its founders Dave DeWalt and Ken Gonzalez from years serving as senior executives leading technology companies such as Documentum, EMC, Siebel Systems (Oracle), McAfee, Mandiant, Avast, and FireEye. www.nightdragon.com

Media Contact:
Mariah Gauthier, Highwire PR
vArmour@highwirepr.com
(951) 314-0760

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CVC backs leading healthcare IT solutions provider System C

CVC Capital Partners

CVC backs leading healthcare IT solutions provider System C

11 Feb 2021

CVC Capital Partners today announced that CVC Fund VII has completed an investment in System C Healthcare and its partner company Graphnet Health.

System C provides vertical software solutions for hospitals, social care, immunisation management and population health that help to improve the quality and efficiency of patient care.

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Quadrum Capital Home Portfolio News Contact Investor Portal Nederlands Interstellar, new IT group and participation of Quadrum Investment Fund III, sees the light of day

Quadrum Capital

02-02-2021

With the launch of Interstellar Interstellar on 1 February 2021, the Netherlands can boast a new IT group. Interstellar is a joining of forces of six autonomous IT companies, each with its own quality, specialisation and identity. The basis for this participation by Quadrum Investment Fund III was laid by Quadrum Capital in 2017 with its participation in cloud expert Fundaments.

Managing Partner at Quadrum Capital, Arjan Hoop: “Since then, we have developed a strong portfolio in the IT domain. The launch of this new group is a fantastic crowning achievement. With its combination of generalists and specialists, the group has everything it needs to support customers on their digital journey at the very highest level. The independence of the companies within the group also guarantees a strong entrepreneurial DNA. In combination with their new combined strength, the Interstellar companies are able to successfully realise their ambition to grow into the most relevant IT service provider in the Netherlands.”

Read the press release regarding the launch of Interstellar below.

image

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Signavio to be Acquired By SAP

Apax

27 January 2021

The Apax Digital Fund (“ADF”), DTCP and Summit Partners, today announced they have agreed to sell portfolio company Signavio, a leader in the enterprise business process intelligence and process management space, to SAP. The transaction is expected to close by Q2 2021, subject to approvals by antitrust authorities. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Signavio to be Acquired By SAP

Founded in 2009, Signavio is a leading provider of SaaS-based business-process analysis and decision-management software that helps companies design, implement, analyse and manage complex processes, decisions and workflows. Signavio’s Business Process Intelligence Suite includes a centralised collaborative hub and three core product offerings : ‘Signavio Process Manager’, which allows customers to design and build process and decision models; ‘Signavio Workflow Accelerator’ which transforms business process models into standardised workflows; and ‘Signavio Process Intelligence’, which ingests transactional data from customers’ systems to analyse and optimise processes.

Following the 2019 investment round, led by ADF with participation from DTCP, Signavio has achieved high growth while continuing to deliver its innovative business transformation suite to over one million users worldwide.

Dan O’Keefe, Managing Partner of Apax Digital, said: “We are pleased to announce the sale of Signavio. When ADF invested, we backed an incredible management team, led by CEO and co-founder Gero Decker, in what we knew was a stand-out offering in an exciting space. The progress we’ve made together in partnership, against such a dynamic backdrop, is humbling to have witnessed.” Mark Beith, Partner of Apax Digital, added: “It has been a pleasure working with Gero and the whole Signavio family, we’re thrilled by the rapid progress we’ve made together, and wish them all the best for the future in partnership with SAP.”

Matthias Allgaier, Managing Director with Summit Partners, added: “Summit partnered with Signavio in 2015 as the company’s first institutional investor, and over the course of the last five years we have been fortunate to have a front row seat to this great growth story. The company has grown significantly in that time, expanding its geographic reach and impact to serve more than 1 million users across 2,000 organizations around the world. Today, we want to celebrate the vision and execution of Gero and the entire Signavio team – and to recognize the beginning of a new chapter on their growth journey.”

Thomas Preuss, Partner at DTCP, commented: “We knew Gero and his team long before we invested and always believed in their ability to deliver the strong growth and fast developments of recent years. This transaction is a testament to the great work of the team, and we are delighted that a German corporation like SAP is acquiring a German leader in Enterprise SaaS. We are happy that DTCP Growth could team up with Apax to become part of this tremendous success story.”

ENDS

About Signavio
Over 1 million users in more than 2,000 organizations worldwide rely on Signavio’s unique offering to make process part of their DNA. With its powerful mining, modelling and automation capabilities, Signavio’s Business Process Intelligence Suite is a cloud-based management platform that enables mid-size and large organizations to understand, improve and transform all of their business processes faster than ever and at scale, providing new levels of business process speed and real-time intelligence. Its intelligent decision-making tools address digital transformation, operational excellence and customer centricity, placing them at the heart of the world’s leading organizations. Headquartered in Berlin, with offices in the US, UK, France, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Canada, Singapore, Japan, India and Australia, Signavio has helped optimize over 2 million processes across the globe. The company is backed by Apax Digital, DTCP and Summit Partners. For more information, visit www.signavio.com.

About the Apax Digital Fund
The Apax Digital Fund specializes in growth equity and buyout investments in high-growth enterprise software, consumer internet, and technology-enabled services companies worldwide. The Apax Digital team leverages Apax Partners’ deep tech investing expertise, global platform, and specialized operating experts, to enable technology companies and their management teams to accelerate the achievement of their full potential. For further information, please visit digital.apax.com.

Over its more than 40-year history, Apax Partners has raised and advised funds with aggregate commitments of c.$50 billion. These funds provide long-term equity financing to build and strengthen world-class companies. For more information see: www.apax.com.

About DTCP
DTCP is an investment management firm focused on growth equity and digital infrastructure. Founded in 2015, the firm has raised more than $1 billion in funds from corporate and institutional investors and invested in over 60 companies. DTCP Growth invests in leading enterprise application and infrastructure software companies. To learn more about DTCP, please visit dtcp.capital.

About Summit Partners
Founded in 1984, Summit Partners is a global alternative investment firm that is currently managing more than $23 billion in capital dedicated to growth equity, fixed income and public equity opportunities. Summit invests across growth sectors of the economy and has invested in more than 500 companies in technology, healthcare and other growth industries. Summit maintains offices in North America and Europe and invests in companies around the world. For more information, please see www.summitpartners.com or follow on LinkedIn.

In the United States of America, Summit Partners operates as an SEC-registered investment advisor. In the United Kingdom, this document is issued by Summit Partners LLP, a firm authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Summit Partners LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales with registered number OC388179 and its registered office is at 11-12 Hanover Square, London, W1S 1JJ, UK. This document is intended solely to provide information regarding Summit Partners’ potential financing capabilities for prospective portfolio companies.

Media Contacts 

Apax Partners
Katarina Sallerfors / +44 20 7666 6526 / Katarina.Sallerfors@apax.com
Luke Charalambous / +44 20 7872 6494 / Luke.Charalambous@apax.com
Matthew Goodman / James Madsen, Greenbrook | +44 20 7952 2000 | apax@greenbrookpr.com

DTCP
John Klein
john.klein@dtcp.capital
+49 160 680 9906

Summit Partners
Meg Devine
mdevine@summitpartners.com
+1 617 824 1047

 

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Signavio Acquired By SAP

DTCP

The Apax Digital Fund (“ADF”), DTCP and Summit Partners, today announced they have agreed to sell portfolio company Signavio, a leader in the enterprise business process intelligence and process management space, to SAP

The transaction is expected to close by Q2 2021, subject to approvals by antitrust authorities. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 2009, Signavio is a leading provider of SaaS-based business-process analysis and decision-management software that helps companies design, implement, analyse and manage complex processes, decisions and workflows. Signavio’s Business Transformation Suite includes a centralised collaborative hub and three core product offerings : ‘Signavio Process Manager’, which allows customers to design and build process and decision models; ‘Signavio Workflow Accelerator’ which transforms business process models into standardised workflows; and ‘Signavio Process Intelligence’, which ingests transactional data from customers’ systems to analyse and optimise processes.

Following the 2019 investment round, led by ADF with participation from DTCP, Signavio has achieved high growth while continuing to deliver its innovative business transformation suite to over one million users worldwide.

Dan O’Keefe, Managing Partner of Apax Digital, said: “We are pleased to announce the sale of Signavio. When ADF invested, we backed an incredible management team, led by CEO and co-founder Gero Decker, in what we knew was a stand-out offering in an exciting space. The progress we’ve made together in partnership, against such a dynamic backdrop, is humbling to have witnessed.” Mark Beith, Partner of Apax Digital, added: “It has been a pleasure working with Gero and the whole Signavio family, we’re thrilled by the rapid progress we’ve made together, and wish them all the best for the future in partnership with SAP.”

Matthias Allgaier, Managing Director with Summit Partners, added: “Summit partnered with Signavio in 2015 as the company’s first institutional investor, and over the course of the last five years we have been fortunate to have a front row seat to this great growth story. The company has grown significantly in that time, expanding its geographic reach and impact to serve more than 1 million users across 2,000 organizations around the world. Today, we want to celebrate the vision and execution of Gero and the entire Signavio team – and to recognize the beginning of a new chapter on their growth journey.”

Thomas Preuss, Partner at DTCP, commented: “We knew Gero and his team long before we invested and always believed in their ability to deliver the strong growth and fast developments of recent years. This transaction is a testament to the great work of the team, and we are delighted that a German corporation like SAP is acquiring a German leader in Enterprise SaaS. We are happy that DTCP Growth could team up with Apax to become part of this tremendous success story.”

 

ENDS

 

About Signavio
Over 1 million users in more than 2,000 organizations worldwide rely on Signavio’s unique offering to make process part of their DNA. With its powerful mining, modelling and automation capabilities, Signavio’s Business Transformation Suite is a cloud-based management platform that enables mid-size and large organizations to understand, improve and transform all of their business processes faster than ever and at scale, providing new levels of business process speed and real-time intelligence. Its intelligent decision-making tools address digital transformation, operational excellence and customer centricity, placing them at the heart of the world’s leading organizations. Headquartered in Berlin, with offices in the US, UK, France, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Canada, Singapore, Japan, India and Australia, Signavio has helped optimize over 2 million processes across the globe. The company is backed by Apax Digital, DTCP and Summit Partners. For more information, visit www.signavio.com.

 

About the Apax Digital Fund
The Apax Digital Fund specializes in growth equity and buyout investments in high-growth enterprise software, consumer internet, and technology-enabled services companies worldwide. The Apax Digital team leverages Apax Partners’ deep tech investing expertise, global platform, and specialized operating experts, to enable technology companies and their management teams to accelerate the achievement of their full potential. For further information, please visit digital.apax.com.

Over its more than 40-year history, Apax Partners has raised and advised funds with aggregate commitments of c.$50 billion. These funds provide long-term equity financing to build and strengthen world-class companies. For more information see: www.apax.com.

 

About DTCP

DTCP is an investment management firm focused on growth equity and digital infrastructure. Founded in 2015, the firm has raised more than $1 billion in funds from corporate and institutional investors and invested in over 60 companies. DTCP Growth invests in leading enterprise application and infrastructure software companies. To learn more about DTCP, please visit dtcp.capital.

 

About Summit Partners
Founded in 1984, Summit Partners is a global alternative investment firm that is currently managing more than $23 billion in capital dedicated to growth equity, fixed income and public equity opportunities. Summit invests across growth sectors of the economy and has invested in more than 500 companies in technology, healthcare and other growth industries. Summit maintains offices in North America and Europe and invests in companies around the world. For more information, please see www.summitpartners.com or follow on LinkedIn.

In the United States of America, Summit Partners operates as an SEC-registered investment advisor. In the United Kingdom, this document is issued by Summit Partners LLP, a firm authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Summit Partners LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales with registered number OC388179 and its registered office is at 11-12 Hanover Square, London, W1S 1JJ, UK. This document is intended solely to provide information regarding Summit Partners’ potential financing capabilities for prospective portfolio companies.

 

Media Contacts

 

Apax Partners

Katarina Sallerfors / +44 20 7666 6526 / Katarina.Sallerfors@apax.com

Luke Charalambous / +44 20 7872 6494 / Luke.Charalambous@apax.com

Matthew Goodman / James Madsen, Greenbrook | +44 20 7952 2000 | apax@greenbrookpr.com

 

DTCP

John Klein

john.klein@dtcp.capital

+49 160 680 9906

 

Summit Partners

Meg Devine

mdevine@summitpartners.com

+1 617 824 1047

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LiveVox, a Leading Cloud-Based Contact Center Platform, to Merge with Crescent Acquisition Corp to Become a Publicly Traded Company in an $840 Million Transaction

Golden Gate Capital

LiveVox will be only the second publicly-traded pure-play CCaaS compan
• Transaction includes $75 million PIPE anchored by top-tier mutual fund and institutional investors
• Current LiveVox owners, led by majority shareholder Golden Gate Capital, expect to hold approximately 59% of the newly public company

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–LiveVox, a leading cloud-based provider of customer service and digital engagement tools, today announced it has entered into a merger agreement with Crescent Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ: CRSA), a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company. Upon closing of the transaction, LiveVox will become a publicly traded company, and its common stock will be listed on NASDAQ under the symbol “LVOX”.

Founded in 2000, LiveVox is a next-generation contact center platform that seamlessly unifies omnichannel communications, CRM, and WFO functionality into a single cloud-based customer engagement solution. Facilitating over 14 billion interactions annually, LiveVox simplifies the customer engagement process by unifying all conversations and interactions into a single pane of glass, creating a seamless transition for agents across communication mediums. The Company distinguishes itself from its closest competitors by reducing or eliminating the greatest friction points that prospective customers face, including security, compliance, and data integration. By removing these barriers, LiveVox makes the AI and digital applications customers want easy to implement. The Company expects to generate $129 million of revenue in 2021, approximately 26% higher than its 2020 revenue.

“We capitalize on the growing need for support agents to provide an unparalleled customer experience with our unique solutions platform,” said Louis Summe, co-founder & CEO of LiveVox, who will continue to lead the business post-transaction. “Our full-service offering allows our clients to provide their customers with the exceptional relationship management they deserve along with the safety, security and ease of integration they have long come to expect.”

“We believe that LiveVox’s state-of-the-art software, its visionary management and its broad enterprise customer base position it perfectly to accelerate its growth with the visibility and capital from this transaction,” Robert Beyer, Executive Chairman, and Todd Purdy, CEO of Crescent Acquisition Corp, jointly said. “Global conditions have pushed digital transformation to the forefront, and customer-facing businesses are anxious for a decisive leap towards a unified, cloud-based solution. We are also fortunate to have found such an exciting growth opportunity within the portfolio of an industry-leading private equity firm, Golden Gate Capital, who will remain a significant shareholder and partner and continue to guide the Company’s next level of substantial growth in the public markets.”

“We have been incredibly impressed by LiveVox’s expansive growth since we invested in the Company seven years ago,” said Rishi Chandna, Managing Director of Golden Gate Capital. “LiveVox’s meaningful investment in its product portfolio and focus on building out the Company’s sales and marketing efforts has transformed the business into a leading pure-play CCaaS provider with a larger total addressable market. We are excited to continue working closely with LiveVox, alongside our new partner in Crescent, to support the Company’s management team in delivering mission critical, easy-to-deploy contact center software to enterprise customers.”

Transaction Overview

The transaction has been unanimously approved by the Board of Directors of Crescent Acquisition Corp, as well as the Board of Directors of LiveVox and is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including the approval of the shareholders of Crescent Acquisition Corp.

The combined entity will receive approximately $250 million from Crescent’s trust account, assuming no redemptions by Crescent’s public stockholders, as well as $75 million in proceeds from a group of institutional investors and $25 million from a forward purchase agreement entered into by Crescent Capital Group Holdings LP. Upon completion of the transaction and assuming no redemptions, Golden Gate Capital and various current minority owners of LiveVox expect to hold approximately 59% of the newly public company, subject to various purchase price adjustments. Of the total approximately $350 million of cash from Crescent and the other institutional investors, up to $220 million will be used to purchase a portion of the equity owned by existing LiveVox shareholders, an anticipated $100 million will be added to LiveVox’s balance sheet to be used to accelerate and enhance the Company’s commitment to providing a superb customer experience through its next-generation contact center platform, and the remainder will be used to pay transaction expenses. Upon the closing of the transaction, Crescent Acquisition Corp’s name will be changed to “LiveVox Holdings, Inc.”

Additional information about the proposed transaction, including a copy of the merger agreement and investor presentation, will be provided in a Current Report on Form 8-K to be filed by Crescent Acquisition Corp with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and available at www.sec.gov.

Conference Call Information

Crescent Acquisition Corp’s investor conference call and presentation discussing the transaction can be accessed by visiting www.crescentspac.com. A telephone replay of the call is available by dialing 412-317-6671 and entering passcode 14296511. A transcript of the call will also be filed by Crescent Acquisition Corp with the SEC.

Advisors

Credit Suisse is acting as lead placement agent, financial advisor and capital markets advisor and BofA Securities, Inc. is acting as private placement agent and capital markets advisor for Crescent Acquisition Corp. Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Jefferies Group LLC and Stifel Financial Corp. are serving as financial advisors to LiveVox. Kirkland & Ellis LLP is acting as legal counsel to LiveVox and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP is acting as legal counsel to Crescent Acquisition Corp.

About LiveVox

LiveVox is a next-generation contact center platform that powers more than 14 billion transactions a year. By seamlessly integrating omnichannel communications, CRM, and WFO, LiveVox delivers exceptional agent and customer experiences, while helping to reduce compliance risk. LiveVox’s reliable, easy-to-use technology enables effective engagement strategies on channels of choice to help drive contact center performance. Founded in 2000, LiveVox is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Atlanta, Denver, St. Louis, Colombia, and Bangalore. To learn more, visit www.livevox.com.

About Crescent Acquisition Corp

Crescent Acquisition Corp is a Special Purpose Acquisition Company formed by Crescent Capital, Robert D. Beyer and Todd M. Purdy for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses or assets.

About Golden Gate Capital

Golden Gate Capital is a San Francisco-based private equity investment firm with over $17 billion of committed capital. The principals of Golden Gate Capital have a long and successful history of investing across a wide range of industries and transaction types, including going-privates, corporate divestitures, and recapitalizations, as well as debt and public equity investments. Notable software and services investments sponsored by Golden Gate Capital include Infor, BMC, Neustar, Ensemble Health Partners, Vector Solutions, and 20-20 Technologies.

Additional Information about the Proposed Transaction and Where to Find It

This communication may be deemed solicitation material in respect of the proposed business combination between Crescent Acquisition Corp and LiveVox (the “Business Combination”). The Business Combination will be submitted to the stockholders of Crescent Acquisition Corp and LiveVox for their approval. In connection with such stockholder vote, Crescent Acquisition Corp intends to file with the SEC a preliminary proxy statement on Schedule 14A and, when completed, will mail a definitive proxy statement to its stockholders in connection with Crescent Acquisition Corp’s solicitation of proxies for the special meeting of the stockholders of Crescent Acquisition Corp to be held to approve the Business Combination. This communication does not contain all the information that should be considered concerning the proposed Business Combination and the other matters to be voted upon at the annual meeting and is not intended to provide the basis for any investment decision or any other decision in respect of such matters. Crescent Acquisition Corp’s stockholders and other interested parties are urged to read, when available, the preliminary proxy statement, the amendments thereto, the definitive proxy statement and any other relevant documents that are filed or furnished or will be filed or will be furnished with the SEC carefully and in their entirety in connection with Crescent Acquisition Corp’s solicitation of proxies for the annual meeting to be held to approve the Business Combination and other related matters, as these materials will contain important information about LiveVox and Crescent Acquisition Corp and the proposed Business Combination. The definitive proxy statement will be mailed to the stockholders of Crescent Acquisition Corp as of the record date to be established for voting on the proposed Business Combination and the other matters to be voted upon at the special meeting. Such stockholders will also be able to obtain copies of the proxy statement, without charge, once available, at the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov, at the Company’s website at http://www.crescentspac.com or by directing a request to Crescent Acquisition Corp, 11100 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 2000, Los Angeles, CA 90025.

Forward-Looking Statements

This communication contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These statements may be made directly in this communication. Some of the forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking words. Statements that are not historical in nature, including the words “anticipate,” “expect,” “suggests,” “plan,” “believe,” “intend,” “estimates,” “targets,” “projects,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “may,” “will,” “forecast” and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are based upon management estimates and forecasts and reflect the views, assumptions, expectations, and opinions of Crescent Acquisition Corp or LiveVox, as the case may be, as of the date of this communication, and may include, without limitation, changes in general economic conditions, including as a result of COVID-19, all of which are accordingly subject to change. Any such estimates, assumptions, expectations, forecasts, views or opinions set forth in this communication constitute Crescent Acquisition Corp’s or LiveVox’s, as the case may be, judgments and should be regarded as indicative, preliminary and for illustrative purposes only. The forward-looking statements and projections contained in this communication are subject to a number of factors, risks and uncertainties, some of which are not currently known to Crescent Acquisition Corp or LiveVox, that may cause Crescent Acquisition Corp’s or LiveVox’s actual results, performance or financial condition to be materially different from the expectations of future results, performance of financial condition. Although such forward-looking statements have been made in good faith and are based on assumptions that Crescent Acquisition Corp or LiveVox, as the case may be, believe to be reasonable, there is no assurance that the expected results will be achieved. Crescent Acquisition Corp’s and LiveVox’s actual results may differ materially from the results discussed in forward-looking statements. Additional information on factors that may cause actual results and Crescent Acquisition Corp’s performance to differ materially is included in Crescent Acquisition Corp’s periodic reports filed with the SEC, including but not limited to Crescent Acquisition Corp’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 and subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Copies of Crescent Acquisition Corp’s filings with the SEC are available publicly on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov or may be obtained by contacting Crescent Acquisition Corp. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. These forward-looking statements are made only as of the date hereof, and neither Crescent Acquisition Corp nor LiveVox undertake any obligations to update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

No Offer or Solicitation

This communication is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer or invitation for the sale or purchase of securities, assets or the business described herein or a commitment to the Company or the LiveVox with respect to any of the foregoing, and this Current Report shall not form the basis of any contract, nor is it a solicitation of any vote, consent, or approval in any jurisdiction pursuant to or in connection with the Business Combination or otherwise, nor shall there be any sale, issuance or transfer of securities in any jurisdiction in contravention of applicable law.

Participants in Solicitation

Crescent Acquisition Corp and LiveVox, and their respective directors and executive officers, may be deemed participants in the solicitation of proxies of Crescent Acquisition Corp’s stockholders in respect of the Business Combination. Information about the directors and executive officers of Crescent Acquisition Corp is set forth in the Company’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019. Information about the directors and executive officers of LiveVox and more detailed information regarding the identity of all potential participants, and their direct and indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, will be set forth in the proxy statement for the Business Combination when available. Additional information regarding the identity of all potential participants in the solicitation of proxies to Crescent Acquisition Corp’s stockholders in connection with the proposed Business Combination and other matters to be voted upon at the special meeting, and their direct and indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, will be included in the proxy statement that the Company intends to file with the SEC. Investors may obtain such information by ready such proxy statement when it becomes available.

Contacts
For LiveVox:

Investor Contact:
Michael Bowen and Marc Griffin
LiveVoxIR@icrinc.com
203-682-8299

Media Contact:
Katie Creaser
LiveVoxPR@icrinc.com
516-993-6584

For Crescent Acquisition Corp:

Investor Contact:
Lasse Glassen
Addo Investor Relations
lglassen@addoir.com
424-238-6249

Media Contact:
Bill Mendel
Mendel Communications
Bill@mendelcommunications.com

For Golden Gate Capital:

Sard Verbinnen & Co
David Isaacs / Chloe Clifford
GoldenGate-SVC@sardverb.com

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