Tag Archives: Information technology

EQT combines Candidator and DGC IT Services – creates new managed IT services provider

eqt

  • EQT combines Candidator and DGC IT Services to form a new group – creating a substantially larger managed IT services provider
  • EQT to support continued growth and further strengthen the customer service offering, both organically and through select add-on acquisitions
  • Jörgen Qwist, CEO of DGC, appointed as Group CEO and Johan de Verdier, CEO of Candidator, continues as Head of Candidator with focus on Business Development and M&A for the newly combined group

Candidator, based in Alingsås, Sweden, and DGC IT Services (“DGC”), headquartered in Stockholm, are both managed IT services providers with capabilities for full IT outsourcing, providing their clients with contracted services, including hosting and cloud and application management. The EQT Mid Market fund and the EQT Mid Market Europe fund respectively acquired Candidator in February 2018 and DGC IT Services, a business segment within DGC One, in June 2017.

Today, EQT announces the combination of Candidator and DGC IT Services to form a new group, Candidator DGC. Both companies have strategic complementary characteristics with significant industrial logic for combination, and together, they will have total annual sales of around SEK 1 billion. Compared to operating as standalone entities, the significantly larger group is expected to provide improved service offerings to customers and an improved ability to serve larger clients. EQT will support the continued development of the combined group and drive further growth, both organically and through select acquisitions.

Johan Dettel, Partner and Investment Advisor at EQT Partners comments: “EQT has followed the managed IT services market for a long time and sees great industrial logic in combining the two businesses. Candidator and DGC are highly complementary, both in terms of geographical footprint and strong service offerings in different customer verticals. The IT services market is undergoing powerful change with increasing demand for security services and cloud adoption. With this new platform, EQT creates a great foundation to deliver increased customer value in these areas.”

Jörgen Qwist, CEO of DGC, will assume the role of Group CEO of Candidator DGC. Qwist comments: “Together, Candidator and DGC will become one of the largest managed IT services providers in the Swedish market, with the ambition to grow throughout the Nordic region. As a group, we will possess the wide set of services and core expertise that is needed to compete for the largest clients. I really look forward to making this growth journey with all our employees and customers.”

Johan de Verdier, CEO of Candidator, will continue to be Head of Candidator with a focus on Business Development and M&A for the newly combined group. De Verdier adds: “Candidator and DGC share the same commitment of delivering an unbelievably excellent customer experience, and we complement each other well when it comes to geography and customer mix. We now are exceptionally well positioned for a very exciting future together for all employees and customers.”

The combined group will initially go to market under their respective names, Candidator and DGC, and will gradually integrate to merge under one name.

Contacts
Johan Dettel, Partner and Investment Advisor at EQT Partners, +46 8 506 55 350
EQT Press office, +46 8 506 55 334

About EQT
EQT is a leading investment firm with approximately EUR 49 billion in raised capital across 26 funds. EQT funds have portfolio companies in Europe, Asia and the US with total sales of more than EUR 19 billion and approximately 110,000 employees. EQT works with portfolio companies to achieve sustainable growth, operational excellence and market leadership.

More info: www.eqtpartners.com

About Candidator
Candidator is a successful IT company which delivers complete IT operation, telephony and outsourcing services to companies and organizations in the Nordic market, under the motto “make it simple.”. Our vision is to be a Nordic IT partner which is recognized for delivering an unbelievably good customer experience.

More info: www.candidator.se

About DGC
DGC is a managed service provider that develops and delivers customized IT services to customers who demand high security, availability and innovation. We deliver our services, from our own infrastructure as well as public clouds, with the highest service levels and a personal commitment to our customers. We started our business in 1991.

More info: www.dgc.se

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TA Associates Announces Investment in Datix

TA associates

BOSTON and LONDON – TA Associates, a leading global growth private equity firm, today announced that it has completed an investment in Datix, a specialty healthcare patient safety software provider.

Existing investor Five Arrows Principal Investments, the European corporate private equity business of Rothschild Merchant Banking, will maintain a significant equity stake in Datix. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 1986, Datix is a leading global provider of patient safety and healthcare risk management software. The company’s suite of software products enables over 20,000 sites among more than 800 customers to address daily incident management and regulatory needs through its interconnected modular solutions. The company is headquartered in London with approximately 160 employees across four offices in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia.

“As a global company that is seeking to continuously find ways to set the standard for patient safety, we believe it is critical to have financial and operational support to ensure that our customers around the world are receiving the highest quality products and services,” said Seyed Mortazavi, Chief Executive Officer of Datix. “Given TA Associates’ deep experience within the healthcare and technology industries as well as the firm’s value-add resources, we are confident that we have found the ideal partner as we embark upon our next phase of growth. We are delighted to welcome TA as an investor and are equally excited to be able to continue our strategic relationship with Five Arrows.”

As part of the transaction, Naveen Wadhera, a Managing Director at TA Associates, and Ethan Liebermann, a Principal at TA Associates, will join the Datix Board of Directors.

Kirkland & Ellis LLP provided legal counsel to TA Associates. Sidley Austin LLP provided legal counsel and Arma Partners served as financial advisor to Datix.

About Datix
Datix has been a global pioneer in the field of patient safety over the past three decades and today is the leading provider of software for patient safety, risk management and incident reporting for the healthcare sector.

Datix aims to build and promote a culture of safety within healthcare organizations, recruiting professionals who are passionate about improving healthcare and championing technological innovation. The company continually invests in its software and services, maintaining a leadership position at the forefront of the worldwide patient safety movement.

Datix is focused on the health and social care sector. Its customers include public and private hospitals, primary care providers, GP surgeries, mental health and ambulance service providers. Within the UK, this includes more than 80% of the National Health Service. Internationally, the Datix client base is growing rapidly and includes large-scale deployments in the U.S. and Canada, as well as customers in Europe, Australia and the Middle East. Datix has offices in London, Chicago, Washington, DC and Melbourne with partners in the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand. For more information, please visit www.datix.co.uk.

About TA Associates
Now in its 50th year, TA Associates is one of the largest and most experienced global growth private equity firms. Focused on five target industries – technology, healthcare, financial services, consumer and business services – TA invests in profitable, growing companies with opportunities for sustained growth, and has invested in nearly 500 companies around the world. Investing as either a majority or minority investor, TA employs a long-term approach, utilizing its strategic resources to help management teams build lasting value in growth companies. TA has raised $24 billion in capital since its founding in 1968 and is investing out of current funds of $7.25 billion. The firm’s more than 80 investment professionals are based in Boston, Menlo Park, London, Mumbai and Hong Kong. More information about TA Associates can be found at www.ta.com.

About Five Arrows Principal Investments
Five Arrows Principal Investments is the European corporate private equity arm of Rothschild Merchant Banking, which manages €8 billion in capital, including €2 billion dedicated to corporate private equity. Five Arrows focuses on investing in European middle market companies which have strong market positions, business models with high revenue visibility and multiple levers to unlock latent value. With a pan-European portfolio of 20 companies and a large “grass roots” network of industry operators, Five Arrows specializes in select sub-segments of Healthcare, Data & Software and Technology-Enabled Business Services. www.rothschild.com/fapi

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Hg agrees sale of Allocate Software to Vista Equity Partners

HG Capital

23 April 2018: Hg today announces the sale of Allocate Software (“Allocate”), the leading international provider of healthcare workforce management software, to Vista Equity Partners (“Vista”). The terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.

Allocate supports the operational and administrative needs of healthcare professionals in all healthcare settings, enabling the delivery of safe and effective care at optimal cost, by helping organisations to have the right people in the right place at the right time. Allocate serves the largest public and private healthcare institutions around the world, with over 800 clients and over a million staff rostered daily – over 700,000 of which are now managed on the ‘Optima’ software-as-a-service platform. Allocate has 500 employees, with over 170 working in the R&D and product management function. It is headquartered in the UK.

Hg initially invested in Allocate at the end of 2014, completing a public-to-private transaction from the London Stock Exchange. Since then Hg has worked with management to materially enhance the capabilities of Allocate’s software suite, achieved greater customer engagement and supported a substantial increase in employment and skills development – with the business now employing 500 people, compared to 300 when Hg first invested. Allocate has also recently initiated a programme of international growth, seeding the future roll-out of Allocate’s core ‘Optima’ product in France, Germany, Spain and Denmark.

This is the fifth realisation from the Mercury 1 Fund to date, which in aggregate has delivered realised returns of 3.2x and a gross IRR of 46%, including proceeds from the prior sales of Zitcom to Intelligent (announced in June 2017 for 3.3x and 141% gross IRR) and Relay Software to Applied Systems (announced in August 2016 for 2.1x cost and 39% gross IRR).

Dr. Sati Sian, CEO, Allocate, said:
“The significant investment and partnership with Hg over the period has supported the company to provide valued solutions to over a million additional healthcare, and other, workers in around 11 different countries worldwide. This has helped our customers improve care delivery, provide a better experience for workers, while at the same time enabling individual organisations each to unlock as much as £4 million in annualised savings.”

David Issott, Partner at Hg, said:
“We have been delighted to partner with all of the team at Allocate over the last 3 years. Together we have built a leader in its sector and, working with an impressive management team, we have improved the operational performance of Allocate across every metric. We wish Sati and the management team well as they partner with Vista for their next phase of growth.”  

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The Apax Digital Fund to acquire Solita

Apax Digital

19 April 2018

The investment will accelerate growth and international expansion 

London and Helsinki, April 19, 2018: The Apax Digital Fund, a growth equity fund advised by global private equity advisory firm Apax Partners, today announces the acquisition of a majority stake in leading Finnish digital transformation company Solita from Vaaka Partners. Solita management will acquire a minority stake in the business, alongside the Apax Digital Fund. Financial terms of the transaction are not being disclosed.

Solita is a digital transformation company driven by data and human insight. The company provides a range of services, including strategic consulting, service design, artificial intelligence, analytics, and managed cloud services, to its fast-growing international client roster. The company was founded in 1996 and employs more than 650 digital specialists across Finland, Sweden, Singapore, and Estonia.

The investment from the Apax Digital Fund will enable Solita to boost growth in its native Finland and accelerate its international expansion, both organically and through potential acquisitions.

Jari Niska, President and CEO of Solita, commented: “We are highly committed to be our customers’ trusted advisor on their transformation journey towards a better future, and are proud of our company’s accomplishments to date, which include a near tripling of our team and revenue over the last five years. We are especially happy to have achieved this while nurturing a unique and inspiring culture. We are now delighted to partner with the Apax Digital Fund as we embark on the next stage of Solita’s growth and believe their team’s insight and experience with other leading digital transformation companies will be invaluable as we continue to expand our business.”

“We are hugely excited to partner with Solita, the leader in digital transformation in Finland, and support Jari and his talented team in developing a pan-Nordic champion,” said Mark Beith, Managing Director of Apax Digital. “Solita has an outstanding end-to-end offering, with worldclass, cross-functional teams helping customers all the way – from crafting their strategy and designing their architecture to developing cutting-edge software and integrating best-in-class data and analytics.”

Marcelo Gigliani, Managing Partner of Apax Digital, said, “The world’s most successful companies are increasingly embracing agile technology solutions to address their digital transformations and enhance their competitive advantages. Solita has a long and proven track record in supporting its clients’ digital efforts, through its unwavering focus on innovation, excellence, and people. We aim to leverage Apax’s deep experience investing in leading global digital services companies to accelerate Solita’s growth plans.”

The investment in Solita is the Apax Funds’ tenth IT services investment. Previous notable investments in the sector include Wizeline (an Apax Digital Fund investment), GlobalLogic, ThoughtWorks, EVRY, Engineering, and Zensar.

About Solita
Solita is a digital transformation company driven by data and human insight. We create culture, services and tech solutions that help us reinvent businesses and society for the better. Our services range from strategic consulting to service design, digital development, data, AI & analytics and managed cloud services. Established in 1996, Solita employs 650 digital business specialists in Helsinki, Tampere, Oulu, Singapore, Stockholm and Tallinn. For further information, please visit https://www.solita.fi.

About Apax Digital
Apax Digital advises the Apax Digital Fund, which specializes in growth equity and buyout investments in high-growth enterprise software, internet, and technology-enabled services companies worldwide. Apax Digital 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 http://digital.apax.com.

Over its more than 35-year history, Apax Partners has raised and advised funds with aggregate commitments of over $50 billion. These funds provide long-term equity financing to build and strengthen world-class companies. For further information about Apax Partners, please visit http://apax.com.

Press contacts:

Solita
Jari Niska, CEO, Solita | +358 40 524 6400 | jari.niska@solita.fi
Media: Minna Pinola | +358 40 5166 024 | minna.pinola@solita.fi

Apax Partners
Global Media: Andrew Kenny, Apax | +44 20 7 872 6371 | andrew.kenny@apax.com
UK Media: Matthew Goodman / James Madsen, Greenbrook | +44 20 7952 2000 | apax@greenbrookpr.com
USA Media: Todd Fogarty, Kekst | +1 212-521 4854 | todd.fogarty@kekst.com

 

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GP Bullhound advises Solita Group on its sale to Apax Digital

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Gp Bullhound
GP Bullhound acted as exclusive financial advisor to digital transformation agency Solita Group on its sale to Apax Digital, a high growth tech focused minority and buyout fund advised by global private equity firm Apax Partners
Solita Group is a leading provider of data-driven digital transformation services to premier Nordic and European private and public clients, with headquarters in Tampere and offices in Helsinki, Oulu, Stockholm and Tallinn. The Company offers an end-to-end digital transformation service with a focus on using data to underpin the digital transformation process.

Jari Niska, CEO of Solita Group commented: “We are pleased to team up with Apax Digital for the next phase of our exciting journey. Apax’s superior sector expertise will be pivotal in growing Solita both internationally and domestically. The highly professional team from GP Bullhound, coupled with their global presence, was instrumental in making this process a success.”

Sven Raeymaekers, Partner at GP Bullhound, commented: “With data, machine learning and artificial intelligence impacting digital agendas across public and private organisations, we see significant international potential for agencies such as Solita. We are delighted to have advised Solita Group and Vaaka Partners on this transaction to help them find the right partner for the next phase of growth.”

This is GP Bullhound’s second transaction in Finland, following the €64m sale of Rightware to Thundersoft, and further underlines GP Bullhound’s expertise in advising category leaders in the Digital Services sector, with 27 transactions completed in the last 24 months for clients including In2Media (sold to KMD), Ansira (acquired by Advent International) and Karmarama (sold to Accenture), among many others.

Enquiries
For enquiries please contact:
Sven Raeymaekers, Partner, at sven.raeymaekers@gpbullhound.com, or Ravi Ghedia, Vice President, at ravi.ghedia@gpbullhound.com.

About GP Bullhound
GP Bullhound is a leading technology advisory and investment firm, providing transaction advice and capital to the world’s best entrepreneurs and founders. Founded in 1999, the firm today has offices in London, San Francisco, Stockholm, Berlin, Manchester, Paris, Hong Kong, Madrid and New York. For more information, please visit www.gpbullhound.com, or follow on Twitter @GPBullhound.

 
Dealmakers in Technology

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The Apax Digital Fund leads $43 million funding round in Wizeline

Funding will drive international expansion and M&A 

Wizeline to continue to support the transformation of the consulting industry with its technology-driven approach

March 26, 2018 — SAN FRANCISCO and NEW YORK— Wizeline, a Silicon Valley-based outsourced product development and technology company, today announced that the company has closed a $43M Series B funding round, led by the Apax Digital Fund, a growth equity fund advised by global private equity advisory firm Apax Partners.

Wizeline builds technology platforms and offers software consulting services to provide transformative technology solutions to its customers. The company was founded in 2014 and has quickly grown to nearly 500 employees globally with year-on-year revenue growth of over 200%. The new funds will be used to accelerate growth through the scaling of development teams, sales & marketing functions, international expansion, and M&A.

Bismarck Lepe, CEO and co-founder of Wizeline, said, “Wizeline has always been focused on helping companies to innovate and to deliver better products to market faster. Software is the new frontier for all businesses, and Wizeline’s approach of marrying global talent with technology platforms allows us to deliver transformative solutions to the largest companies in the world. Tens of millions of people use a Wizeline-designed and developed product every single day.”

“We are very excited to partner with Wizeline, supporting Bismarck and his team to continue to deliver impressive growth,” said Marcelo Gigliani, Managing Partner of Apax Digital. “Wizeline has earned an enviable position in the high-end digital transformation consulting space, through its differentiated product-focused offering, its world-class engineering team, and its growing international roster of blue-chip customers. We aim to leverage Apax’s deep experience investing in leading global IT Services companies to accelerate Wizeline’s growth ambitions.”

The investment in Wizeline is the Apax Funds’ ninth IT Services investment. Notable recent investments include GlobalLogic, ThoughtWorks, EVRY, Engineering, and Zensar. Marcelo Gigliani as well as Bryan Gartner, Principal at Apax Digital, will be joining Wizeline’s Board of Directors as part of this funding.

“Apax brings decades of experience in the consulting services industry, and we believe that they are the right partner to support the organic and inorganic growth of the business,” added Lepe. “In addition to continuing to invest in our core platforms and teams, we will be focused on acquiring API/SDK-driven technologies that can accelerate the development and delivery of solutions for our customers.”

In the last year, Wizeline has doubled headcount and developed a proprietary platform that uses automation and artificial intelligence to make the traditionally complex process of software development more efficient and reliable.

The Apax Digital Fund leads $43 million funding round in Wizeline

About Wizeline
Wizeline is an intelligent software delivery and product company that employs a global network of over 5000 developers and non-technical talent to build engaging customer experiences. Headquartered in San Francisco, Wizeline is committed to collaboration without borders by sharing Silicon Valley innovation with the rest of the world. The company has offices in Guadalajara and Mexico City, Mexico, as well as in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

About Apax Digital
The Apax Digital Fund specializes in growth equity and buyout investments in high-growth enterprise software, internet, and technology-enabled services companies worldwide. Apax Digital leverages Apax’s 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 http://digital.apax.com.

Over its more than 35-year history, Apax Partners has raised and advised funds with aggregate commitments of over $50 billion. These funds provide long-term equity financing to build and strengthen world-class companies. For further information about Apax Partners, please visit http://apax.com.

Press contacts:  

Wizeline
Caroline Buck | press@wizeline.com

Apax Partners
Global Media: Andrew Kenny, Apax | +44 20 7 872 6371 | andrew.kenny@apax.com
USA Media: Todd Fogarty, Kekst | +1 212-521 4854 | todd.fogarty@kekst.com
UK Media: Matthew Goodman / James Madsen, Greenbrook | +44 20 7952 2000 | apax@greenbrookpr.com

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IM SQUARE secures significant financing support from EURAZEO and launches its US Distribition Platform

Eurazeo

iM Square announces its renewed objective to invest with current and future shareholders over $500 million within 2 to 4 years

iM Square announces the launch iM Global Partner US, its new American distribution platform

PARIS/LONDON(16th of March 2018)

iM Square, the sole European investment and development platform dedicated to asset management, successfully secured a new financing commitment from Eurazeo, one of its founding shareholder, after having completed its initial ambitious growth phase. Eurazeo is committed to support iM Square’s investments over the next few years and is expected to become its reference shareholder.

Other founding shareholder Le Groupe Dassault / La Maison will also participate. This new commitment will enable iM Square to acquire additional 3 to 6 entrepreneurial active asset managers with $1 to 20 billion of AUM, high growth potential and complementary strategies, such as alternative management. Most of the targeted asset managers are based in the US and Europe. In additional to permanent capital, iM Square also brings financial and operational support as well as taylor-maid investment and distribution capabilities to its partners, which makes iM Square’s model unique in Europe.

Since 2015, iM Square has successfully acquired minority stakes in two US asset management companies: Polen Capital, an independent management firm specialised in growth stocks and Dolan McEniry Capital, specialised in US corporate bonds. The performances of these two asset managers are remarkable and their AUM continue to undergo strong growth: Polen Capital’s AUM grew from 7.5 to $17.4 billion since the partnership with iM Square in 2016, while Dolan McEniry’s grew from 5.8 to almost $6.5 billion since iM Square’s stake was acquired.

In addition, iM Square keeps on seeking for new shareholders which have distribution and investment capabilities, in the US and Europe. Supported by a strong pool of long term investors, iM Square’s objective is to invest with current and future shareholders over $500 million within 2 to 4 years.

Philippe Couvrecelle, Founder and CEO of iM Square, declares: “This additional commitment from our shareholders is a mark of trust and confidence which will allow us to accelerate the rollout of our project, not only by acquiring stakes in new partner companies to complete our product offering, but also by strengthening our distribution capability. Indeed, it comes at a time when we are launching our US distribution platform and developing our distribution resources in Europe and within other markets. It will enables to bring our current and future partners not only A source of permanent capital, but also a unique distribution task force to partner and service their growth.

”Marc Frappier, Managing Partner of Eurazeo Capital, comments: “We are convinced that financial services, and asset management in particular, are a promising investment sector for Eurazeo that benefits from solid fundamentals. The launch of IM Square is a wonderful initiative that combines growth and entrepreneurial spirit, in a particularly deep market, offering its shareholders the opportunity to deploy several hundred million euros. We are delighted to support its founders by providing them with the long-term horizon and financial strength adapted to their market.”

Launch of a US distribution platform, a unique differentiating advantage to entrepreneurial asset manager. iM Square also announces the launch of its US distribution platform , based on the model of its European one. The company will support and develop the operational distribution capability of its current and future partners in Europe and the US, which are both core markets. In order to ensure the ambitious development of iM Global Partner US, iM Square announces the appointment of Jeffrey Seeley as Head of iM Global Partner US.

As former Head of Distribution at AMG Funds, he has a perfect knowledge of US distribution platforms, strategic partnerships as well as collaboratively working with our investment management partners to continue their asset growth successes.

Through its two platforms, iM Square will bring its support and expertise in European and US distribution to its partners’ funds. iM Square aims to help its partners reach significant international clients (private banks, Institutional investors, banking and insurance groups, funds selectors and distribution platforms) and notably their capacity to develop UCIT funds within European markets.

The two iM Global Partners platforms’ teams will bring together strong expertise based out in Europe and the US. The objective is to grow the team to 20 people to ensure the best partnership possible with the investment companies bringing not only a global distribution platform for their products but also a tailored access to unexplored client capabilities and segments of distribution.

Philippe Couvrecelle, President of iM Square, concludes: «We have strong ambitions for the development of our two distribution platforms in order to provide our current and future partners with the capability to support their growth and to bring them an international distribution capacity, allowing the m to fully focus on the management and performances of their funds».

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Advisors (iM Square)

Financial: Hottinguer Corporate Finance (Philippe Bonhomme, Djilali Bou-Abdallah, Romain Guillemin)

Legal: Cazals Manzo Pichot (Romain Pichot) ; SVZ Avocats (Géraud de Franclieu, Céline Raynal) ; CMS

Bureau Francis Lefebvre (Jérôme Sutour)

Advisors (Eurazeo)

Legal: Goodwin Procter (Maxence Bloch, Samuel Berrebbi, Arnaud David)

About iM Square Group

iM Global Partner

The Group iM Square aims to build a global development and investment platform dedicated to asset management sector, targeting talented, independent, already mature

and local market recognised investment companies (mostly in the US, but also in Europe and Asia). iM Global Partner aims to accelerates its funds range growth. Its funds can be managed by iMGP or being delegated to iM Square’s asset management companies, in order to help them grow globally. Amundi, Eurazeo, Dassault and La Maison are iM Square’s founding shareholders which have enabled its launch in June 2015. iM Square is currently seeking for one or several new significant international shareholders and also may finances its long-term growth through a possible IPO.

About Eurazeo

With a diversified portfolio of approximately €15 billion in assets under management, Eurazeo is a leading global investment company with offices in Paris and Luxembourg, New York, Shanghai and Sao Paolo. Its purpose and mission is to identify, accelerate and enhance the transformation potential of the companies in which it invests. The Company covers most private equity segments through its five business divisions–Eurazeo Capital, Eurazeo Croissance, Eurazeo PME, Eurazeo Patrimoine and Eurazeo Brands. Its solid institutional and family shareholder base, robust financial structure free of structural debt, and flexible investment horizon enable Eurazeo to support its companies over the long term. As a global long-term shareholder, the firm offers deep sector expertise and a gateway to global markets, and enables the transformational growth of its companies.

Eurazeo is listed on Euronext Paris.

ISIN: FR0000121121

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Bloomberg : RF FP

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Reuters : EURA.PA

 

Press contacts iM Square

Steele & Holt agency Daphné Claude – daphne@steeleandholt.com/ +33 6 66 58 81 92

Charlotte Forty de Lamarre – charlotte@steeleandholt.com /+33 7 72 32 6 74

Gaétan Pierret – gaetan@steeleandholt.com / +33 6 30 75 44 07

Press contacts Eurazeo

Sandra Cadiou – scadiou@eurazeo.com / +33 1 44 15 80 26

 

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Altamir to invest via the Apax France IX fund in Business Integration Partners (Bip), a leading European consulting company

Altamir

Paris, 15 March 2018 – As announced in our press release dated 8 March, a new transaction has been signed by Apax Partners SAS: the acquisition of Business Integration Partners (Bip), a leading European consulting firm headquartered in Italy, from its management team and Argos Soditic.

Founded in 2003, Bip delivers management consulting, business integration and IT/digital transformation services supporting international companies in their innovation strategies and in the adoption of disruptive technologies. The company is present in more than 11 countries with over 1,800 professionals.

The objective is to establish Bip as an undisputed global player in the market by pursuing both organic and external growth, and by accelerating its international development and industry diversification.

The transaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2018.

 

About Altamir

 

Altamir is a listed private equity company (Euronext Paris-B, ticker: LTA) founded in 1995 and with almost €800m in assets under management. Its objective is to provide shareholders with long term capital appreciation and regular dividends by investing in a diversified portfolio of private equity investments.

Altamir’s investment policy is to invest via and with the funds managed by Apax Partners SAS and Apax Partners LLP, two leading private equity firms that take majority or lead positions in buyouts and growth capital transactions and seek ambitious value creation objectives.

In this way, Altamir provides access to a diversified portfolio of fast-growing companies across Apax’s sectors of specialisation (TMT, Consumer, Healthcare, Services) and in complementary market segments (mid-sized companies in French-speaking European countries and larger companies across Europe, North America and key emerging markets).

Altamir derives certain tax benefits from its status as an SCR (“Société de Capital Risque”). As such, Altamir is exempt from corporate tax and the company’s investors may benefit from tax exemptions, subject to specific holding-period and dividend-reinvestment conditions.

 

For more information: www.altamir.fr

 

Contact

Agathe Heinrich

Tel: +33 1 53 65 01 74

E-mail: investors@altamir.fr

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Open Systems makes the Internet a safer place

eqt

In times of increased cyber criminality and malware attacks, being able to respond to them while protecting your data is no longer a necessity, but a matter of survival. Companies today are faced with a fundamentally-shifting complex world, offering game-changing opportunities in the digital space. Digitalization allows companies to be closer to their customers, delivering faster, better and more proactive services and products. Having said that, the digital transformation also creates new and significantly larger threats of business interruption and targeted attacks. However, fear is a bad advisor to embrace the future.

EQT Mid Market Europe portfolio company, Open Systems, is a pure-play MSS provider that is committed to working on the forefront of cybersecurity. Based in Zurich, Switzerland, Open Systems monitors and secures IT networks and business-critical applications for global companies, NGOs and institutions with a digital footprint. Open Systems offers a unique and fully integrated service portfolio consisting of Secure SD-WAN as a Service, Threat Analytics and Prevention, Managed Detection & Response Services and SOC as a Service.

With offices in Zurich, Sydney and New York and deployed security services in more than 180 countries, Open Systems takes responsibility to protect their customers in their digital space. The company’s 140 employees, of which 40 are dedicated to R&D and continuous development of the security platform, are working 24/7 as DevOps Security Operations team to ensure that their customers’ data is in safe hands.

Open Systems brings more than 25 years of industry experience and enjoys a competitive advantage with regards to combining a highly scalable security platform with around-the-clock availability to highly skilled customer service, making it a one-stop-shop for holistic security solutions in the digital space. The company’s frontline staff holds all relevant international regulatory certifications, allowing them to respond and act on security breaches, threats and malware attacks on a global scale.

Since EQT invested in Open Systems in June 2017, the focus has been on strengthening the company’s go-to-market approach and sales organization, further developing the comprehensive product roadmap towards Security as a Service (SeCaaS) with full respond & defend and analyze & detect security capabilities and to continue Open Systems’ internationalization into Germany and the US by leveraging EQT’s global platform.

“The global MSS market is currently at a tipping point”

While ignoring the potential of digitalization is not an option in a competitive market, the risks involved are severe. More specifically, a single incident can kill entire companies. Recent disastrous cybersecurity incidents at enterprises such as Maersk stress that the digital value creation chain and cybersecurity risks are inseparable. Now, there is increased customer awareness of risk and cyber criminality against companies. Stringent data privacy regulations and accelerated developments in digitalization and IoT have resulted in enhanced compliance complexity for companies’ in-house IT departments. The shortage of in-house security expertise and adoption of new technologies drive customer demand to partner with MSS providers.

“The global MSS market is currently at a tipping point where it is expected to almost double in size by 2020. Open Systems’ business model is highly scalable with good operating leverage for international expansion and its technology is deeply integrated into the company’s structure, which enables a high degree of automation. EQT has deep sector expertise in this area from portfolio companies such as, Utimaco, IFS, Automic, Unomaly and Hacker One. Together with Open Systems, EQT looks forward to supporting the company’s continued growth trajectory and accelerated international expansion”, says Florian Funk, Partner at EQT Partners, Investment Advisor to EQT Mid Market Europe.

Global 2000 enterprises, as well as medium to large companies across all sectors, trust Mission Control Security Services by Open Systems to protect their businesses and end users. The spectrum of clients ranges from Gate Group (GATE:SW) to Sulzer (SUN) and from SOS Children’s Villages to UBS AG, and underlines that Open Systems’ highly standardized services are delivered to a broad range of verticals.

Open Systems’ CEO Martin Bosshardt adds: “The global MSS market is highly fragmented in terms of numbers, types of providers and their geographic coverage. The support of EQT and its Industrial Advisors will enable further advancements in Open Systems’ security platform and will empower us in taking the next step in growing our presence in primarily the DACH region and the US. Our ambition is to reinvent the market for cybersecurity. Together with EQT, we are ready to take the next step in making the Internet a safer place for our customers.”

 

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TeleComputing strengthening its position in the Nordic markets- acquires integration specialists iBiz Solutions

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TeleComputing has acquired the Swedish IT-company iBiz Solutions. The growth in areas such as machine learning, artificial intelligence and Internet of Things leads to more complex IT-solutions and a greater need of integrations.

“The acquisition strengthens TeleComputings position in the Nordic countries, and facilitate further growth in a market where integrations and external IT-operations are becoming increasingly important,” says CEO of TeleComputing, Terje Mjøs.

iBiz Solutions is a company with strong technical competencies, business acumen and a good reputation, which is a good match with Telecomputings position and ambitions. “The acquisition also strengthens our efforts in our advisory and consultancy services, both in Norway and Sweden,” says Mjøs.

The strengthening of portfolio of services with profound competencies in System Integration, is a good fit with TeleComputings competencies in Hybrid Cloud Solutions and IT-operations.

“Current and new customers of TeleComputing will have access to an even better service portfolio, and customers of iBiz Soltutions will have access to our broad service portfolio, and can utilize our competencies in hybrid cloud solutions and advisory capabilities,” says Mjøs. “With a strengthened service offering, we are able to cover broader aspects of customers’ requirements, both for existing and new customers.”

IBiz Solutions is one of the leading companies within systems integrations in the Nordics, and offr consultancies on IT-architecture and integration to large companies and organizations in Northern Europe. The company also has a wide offering of courses within integration and APIs.

Companies that want to strengthen their competitiveness need legacy systems and new systems to be able to “communicate”. System Integration enables systems to work together and makes room for innovation and increased competitiveness. The new opportunities within computer analysis through Big Data and the Internet of Things (IoT) presupposes apt solutions for integrations.

“IBiz Solutions is recognized as a leading company in system integrations in Sweden, and recently won the Microsoft Partner of the Year award in the category Intelligent Cloud. – The skills and customer-base of IBiZ Solutions is a good fit with TeleComputings broad service offerings and advisory capabilities,” says Mjøs.

IBiz Solutions has just over 50 employees, and shows profitable growth through many years. The revenue in 2017 was 65 million NOK. The company serves over 50 companies in the Nordic countries, such as Scandic, Olav Thon Group, Statkraft, Caverion and Forex bank. The company’s headquarters is in Karlstad, and it has offices in Oslo, Stockholm, Norrköping and Gävle.

TeleComputing is owned by the IK VII Fund. For more information (in Norwegian) please click here.

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