Investment will foster continued growth of global claims management provider

MEMPHIS, Tenn. and NEW YORK, Sept. 12, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Sedgwick, a global provider of technology-enabled risk, benefits and integrated business solutions, announced today that affiliates of funds managed by The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ : CG  ) have agreed to become the majority owner of Sedgwick in a transaction valued at approximately $6.7 billion. Current majority shareholder KKR will fully exit its position following the transaction. Funds managed by Stone Point Capital LLC and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), together with Sedgwick management, will remain minority investors.

“At Sedgwick, taking care of people is at the heart of everything we do, and I am proud that The Carlyle Group appreciates the value our colleagues create when they put our caring counts® philosophy into practice,” said Dave North, president and CEO of Sedgwick. “We are humbled by the confidence they have shown in our business model, and we look forward to partnering with Carlyle on developing and delivering innovative solutions for our clients around the world. We are grateful for the strong and value-added partnership with KKR over the last handful of years.”

On an annual basis, Sedgwick handles more than 3.6 million claims and has fiduciary responsibility for claim payments totaling more than $19.5 billion.

Stephen H. Wise, Managing Director and Global Head of Healthcare for The Carlyle Group, said, “Dave North and Sedgwick’s world-class management team have built the company into an industry leader over the last two decades. We are excited to collaborate with Sedgwick, which has distinguished itself by constantly improving the claims management and loss adjusting process to the benefit of all key stakeholders, including its colleagues, customers, insurance companies and brokers.”

“We are pleased to partner with the exceptional management team and highly talented colleagues of Sedgwick. We look forward to participating in Sedgwick’s next chapter of growth and innovation and working with the company as it builds out its global platform to meet the increasingly complex needs of its clients around the world, while leveraging the One Carlyle network,” said John C. Redett, Carlyle Managing Director and Co-head of Global Financial Services.

“We have greatly valued our partnership with Sedgwick and its exceptional management team,” said Tagar Olson, director of Sedgwick, Member of KKR, and head of KKR’s financial services investing efforts. “We look forward to watching the company’s continued success in delivering high quality technology-driven insurance solutions to clients and consumers around the globe.”

The parties are working to close the deal later this year, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

Equity capital for the investment will come from Carlyle Partners VII, an $18.5 billion fund that focuses on buyout transactions in the U.S., and Carlyle Global Financial Services Partners III, L.P., a dedicated financial services buyout fund.

BofA Merrill Lynch served as financial advisor to Sedgwick, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP served as legal advisor. BofA Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and KKR Capital Markets are expected to provide debt financing for the transaction. Morgan Stanley and Sandler O’Neill + Partners, L.P. served as financial advisors to Carlyle, and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz served as legal advisor.

About Sedgwick 

Sedgwick is a leading global provider of technology-enabled risk, benefits and integrated business solutions. The company provides a broad range of resources tailored to clients’ specific needs in casualty, property, marine, benefits and other lines. At Sedgwick, caring counts®; through the dedication and expertise of more than 21,000 colleagues across 65 countries, the company takes care of people and organizations by mitigating and reducing risks and losses, promoting health and productivity, protecting brand reputations, and containing costs that can impact the bottom line. For more, see sedgwick.com.

About The Carlyle Group

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ : CG  ) is a global alternative asset manager with $210 billion of assets under management across 335 investment vehicles. Carlyle’s purpose is to invest wisely and create value on behalf of its investors, many of whom are public pensions. Carlyle invests across four segments – corporate private equity, real assets, global credit and investment solutions – in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, North America and South America. Carlyle has expertise in various industries, including aerospace, defense and government services, consumer and retail, energy, financial services, health care, industrial, real estate, technology and business services, telecommunications and media, and transportation. The Carlyle Group employs more than 1,625 people in 31 offices across six continents.

Cincinnati and New York, September 11, 2018 – Funds advised by Apax Partners announced they have agreed to invest in Human Capital Management company Paycor. Paycor provides HR, payroll, time, recruiting, benefit administration and other services to over 38,000 medium and small-sized companies. Paycor is committed to building great software and delivering differentiated, personal client experiences.

The company has achieved 18 consecutive years of growth, recruited industry veterans to its executive team and increased headcount for proactive customer success management. At the helm is Founder and CEO, Bob Coughlin, who will continue to lead the company.

“Paycor is built on relationships – first and foremost with our customers, but also with partners, associates, investors and the community at large. Since 1990, we have dedicated ourselves to furthering these relationships, and today we are positioned better than ever to continue that mission,” said Bob Coughlin, CEO and Founder of Paycor. “We are proud to be partnering with Apax who is aligned with our strategic growth plans, shares our dedication to exceptional client service and whose expertise in software will support our SaaS HCM platform.”

Jason Wright, Partner at Apax Partners, said: “We have been tracking the payroll and HCM software market for some time due to its size and healthy growth rate. Paycor stood out for the breadth of its product offering, track record of organic growth, and customer-centric approach.

“We look forward to working with Bob and his team to continue to grow the business through investment in product development and geographic expansion.”

About Paycor

Paycor is a trusted partner to more than 38,000 medium and small-sized businesses. Known for delivering modern, intuitive recruiting, HR and payroll solutions, Paycor partners with businesses to optimize the management of their most valuable asset — their people. Paycor’s personalized support and user-friendly technology ensure that key business processes, including recruiting, onboarding, reporting, timekeeping, compliance and payroll, run smoothly. Paycor’s people operations solutions are recommended by today’s most innovative brokers, bankers, and CPAs. Learn how Paycor can transform your business by starting a conversation at http://www.paycor.com.

About Apax Partners  

Apax Partners is a leading global private equity advisory firm. Over its more than 35-year history, Apax Partners has raised and advised funds with aggregate commitments of over $50 billion. The Apax Funds invest in companies across four global sectors of Tech & Telco, Services, Healthcare and Consumer. These funds provide long-term equity financing to build and strengthen world-class companies. For more information see: www.apax.com.

Media Contacts

For Paycor:

Tanaya Lukaszewski | +1 916-712-3791 | tanaya@offleashpr.com

For Apax Partners:

Global Media: Andrew Kenny, Apax | +44 20 7 872 6371 | andrew.kenny@apax.com

USA Media: Todd Fogarty, Aduke Thelwell, Kekst | +1 212-521 4800 | apax@kekst.com

UK Media: Matthew Goodman / James Madsen, Greenbrook | +44 20 7952 2000 |

Sovereign Capital Partners, the UK private equity Buy & Build specialist, is delighted to announce the management buy-out of Asset Control, a global provider of financial data management software to banks and other financial institutions. The business is headquartered in London and has offices in the US, Singapore and the Netherlands.

ABOUT ARDIAN

The quote “A little rain never hurt anybody” is not a wise recommendation. At least not if you ask EQT portfolio company StormGeo – the leading provider of weather intelligence and decision support for companies operating in tough climate conditions at sea and onshore. With the acquisition of Nautisk, a global leader within digital charts and publications, StormGeo takes an important step in becoming a one-stop-shop for digital navigation and planning for the modern maritime industry.

In times of increasing climate change and extreme weather, the need for agile and foreseeable forecasting has never been greater. Headquartered in Bergen, Norway, StormGeo is a trusted partner for companies operating in challenging weather conditions within shipping, oil and gas, renewable energy, aviation, media and cross industries.The company’s diverse employee base, consisting of meteorologists, oceanographers and data scientists, provides tailored weather decision support and route guidance to over 9,000 ships and 1,300 offshore locations on a 24/7 basis, amongst other services.

The add-on of Nautisk is a strategic step in StormGeo’s mission to provide the most innovative and future-proof decision support solutions and services for weather-sensitive operations. With more than 100 years of industry experience, Nautisk offers state-of-the-art digital solutions for vessel navigation, including charts, voyage planning and a digital publication library. Nautisk complements StormGeo’s current maritime solutions and with the add-on, StormGeo will create a unified and complete onboard-to-onshore software platform for maritime navigation and planning.

Rikke Kjær Nielsen, Partner at EQT Partners and Investment Advisor to EQT Mid Market, comments: “The acquisition of Nautisk aligns well with StormGeo’s ambition of becoming the undisputed global leader within premier shipping services. With the combination of Nautisk, StormGeo further cements its position as an industry leader within digital solutions, enabling it to be a trusted partner to its customers on their digital journeys. EQT is excited to support the management team through the next phase of digital transformation”.

Since EQT Mid Market’s acquisition of StormGeo in April 2014, the company has expanded steadily and has grown to become a truly global champion within its sector. Following the acquisition of Nautisk, StormGeo will employ more than 400 employees from 27 offices, including six operations centers operating 24/7/365 supporting customers worldwide, across 15 countries.

During its ownership period, EQT has supported StormGeo in accelerating its digital transformation and strengthening its analytical offering. Actions include completing the strategic add-on acquisition and integration of Silicon Valley-based leader within ship routing and fleet performance, Applied Weather Technology (AWT), as well as launching “Advanced Fleet DSS”, a fleet performance software allowing customers to optimize their fuel consumption based on advanced analytics.

Moreover, StormGeo continues to invest substantially in future-proofing its portfolio to offer its customers state-of-the-art services through the research and development of next generation products within machine learning and advanced analytics.

wtransnet is the leading freight exchange in Spain and Portugal with a growing footprint in countries such as Italy, France and Germany. wtransnet is owned by Wotrant SL, founded in 1996 and headquartered in Terrassa, Spain. Wotrant has shown attractive growth in the past and created an appealing product that is used by more than 11,500 customers. wtransnet differentiates itself from its competitors with a strong focus on ensuring trust between users of the platform, for example by thoroughly screening any new carrier.

Alpega’s freight exchanges Teleroute, Bursa and 123cargo focus on other geographic areas such as France, Benelux and Romania. The combination with wtransnet promises an increase of the liquidity in terms of shipments and trucks for all freight exchanges in the Group. This will improve the value proposition to customers who will be able to access a wider market in the future. It is envisaged that all freight exchange brands in the Group, including wtransnet, continue to operate in the market with different geographical focus areas.

Alpega intends to continue its investments in innovating freight exchange products to further improve their attractiveness to customers by adding functionalities allowing for more convenience and higher efficiency in the daily use of the products.

The management of Alpega, as well its majority shareholder Castik Capital, are grateful to the founders of Wotrant SL, Jaume Esteve, Anna Esteve, Salvador Ejarque, Carmen Grau and Josép Maria Sallés about the opportunity to partner with Wotrant as this is an exciting strategic addition to the Group.

With the addition of wtransnet, Alpega is growing its carrier network to significantly more than 70,000 members across Europe, which provides for a strong value-add to its customers. Alpega was formed in 2017 as a leading global logistics software company that offers end-to-end solutions covering all transport needs, including transportation management solutions (“TMS”) and freight exchanges. Key products comprise:

• inet – TMS solution for complex, multi-modal global transportation networks including advanced analytics and 4flow vista®, an integrated transport planning and optimization software
• TenderEasy – Freight procurement solution allowing its customers to run tenders across verticals, geographies and modes
• Transwide – Modular TMS solution for shippers, logistics service providers and carriers to manage the end-to-end execution of transports
• TAS-tms – Modular TMS solution that enables carriers and freight forwarders to manage the entire transport process
• Teleroute, Bursa and 123cargo – Pan-European freight exchanges that connect to more than 50,000 carriers to offer and allocate shipments and trucks

About Castik Capital
Castik Capital S.à r.l. (“Castik Capital”) manages investments in private equity. Castik Capital is a European multi-strategy 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.

Castik Capital has an investment horizon of up to ten years – longer than most other private equity funds. This enables Castik Capital to focus resources on its portfolio companies and ensure sustainable, long-term value creation.

Founded in 2014, Castik Capital is based in Luxembourg and focuses on identifying and developing investment opportunities across Europe. Investments are made by the Luxembourg-based fund, EPIC I SLP, the first fund managed by Castik Capital, which had its final close at EUR 1bn in July 2015.