EuroPE Pulse - Weekly #11, 04/17

Last week, the private equity and tech investment landscape buzzed with strategic finesse and insightful moves. Let's explore the pivotal moves that are reshaping the investment landscape, offering a glimpse into the thrilling transactions and dynamic trends that are at the forefront of everyone's mind.

Large Cap Private Equity Highlights:

• Verdane solidified its stance in the regulatory tech space by acquiring a majority stake in Corlytics Ltd. This partnership is poised to fuel Corlytics’s continued ascent in delivering top-notch regulatory intelligence and compliance solutions.
• EQT waved goodbye to Rimes, a leading light in enterprise data management for the investment industry, entrusting its journey to Five Arrows. This transaction not only marks a significant exit for EQT but also showcases Five Arrows's ambition in the data management sector.
• Keensight Capital, with support from CVC Capital Partners and the leadership team at Sogelink, orchestrated the LBO of Sogelink, signaling a strategic move towards enhancing digital transformation in construction and urbanism.
• Vista Equity Partners’ acquisition of Model N for a cool $1.25bn underscores the enduring allure of specialized enterprise solutions in life sciences, a strategic addition to Vista's prestigious portfolio. General Atlantic spearheaded a $425m preferred equity investment in Buyers Edge Platform, signifying robust confidence in digital procurement's transformative impact on the foodservice industry.

Middle Market Moves beckoned attention as well:

• Nalka Invest and Kirk Kapital gracefully exited Norstat, handing the baton to Triton Partners, a move that bespeaks the enduring value of consumer data platforms in the digital era.
• EMH Partners' investment in Stonebranch echoes the growing market appetite for automation and orchestration solutions, setting the stage for a tantalizing growth trajectory.

Strategic Stirrings in Tech M&A and Investment:

• Accenture's acquisition of Axis Corporate signals a strategic move to deepen its banking sector consultancy offerings in Spain, a testament to the sector's evolving dynamics.
• The logistics sector received a tech infusion as WiseTech Global expanded its empire with Aktiv Data, aiming to enhance customs and freight forwarding solutions in Finland.

Growth Tech & VC Spotlight illuminated the forward-thrust with:

• Simbian Inc. emerged as a disruptor, successfully closing an oversubscribed, $10 million seed funding round. This investment will catapult the launch of its innovative platform - the first generative AI copilot for cybersecurity teams, marking an exciting evolution in the cybersecurity sector.
• Onum marching ahead with $28M in its coffers, aiming to redefine data management efficiency for businesses, showcasing the unyielding investor faith in data optimization startups.

Market Buzz:

• KKR is exploring options to exit IT solutions firm BMC Software Inc., potentially valuing the enterprise at about $15 billion in a sale or IPO. This move marks a pivotal moment, indicating KKR's adept strategy in leveraging market momentum to evaluate the best outcomes for its high-value investment.
• KKR also made headlines, revealing ambitions to mirror the Berkshire model, aiming for long-term private equity ownership dividends, signaling a strategic blueprint for future expansions.

Each of these segmented narratives from Large Cap happenings to dynamic Tech M&A activities underscores the market's ingenuity, and strategic sagacity. These stories carry the essence of what is shaping the investment landscape, laying foundations for future breakthroughs and market shifts. If you're eager to delve deeper into these insights and uncover the nuanced dynamics shaping the private equity landscape, our newsletter, crafted just for you, is ready below.

Follow us on LinkedIn: EuroPE Pulse: Deals & Insights

LARGE CAP PRIVATE EQUITY

Verdane acquires majority stake in Corlytics

Apr 10 | Private Equity Wire

Specialist growth investment firm Verdane has acquired a majority equity stake in Corlytics, a provider of regulatory intelligence and policy compliance technology. The investment will support the Corlytics’s continued growth.

Companies: Corlytics Ltd, Verdane Capital Advisors AS

EQT to sell Rimes, a global leader in enterprise data management solutions for the investment industry, to Five Arrows

Apr 9 | EQT Group

EQT is pleased to announce that EQT Mid Market Europe (“EQT”), together with its co-shareholders, has agreed to sell Rimes (“Rimes” or the “Company”) to the Five Arrows Long Term Fund and Five Arrows Principal Investments (together “Five Arrows”). Five Arrows is the alternative assets arm of Rothschild & Co.

Companies: EQT AB, Rothschild & Co SCA

Paul Hastings Advised Keensight Capital in the LBO of Sogelink Structured with CVC Capital Partners

Apr 10 | Paul Hastings

Paul Hastings (Europe) LLP advised Keensight Capital in connection with the LBO of Sogelink, structured with CVC Capital Partners and the management team led by Fatima Berral. Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Lyon, Sogelink is a software, cloud and mobile solutions provider and has driven the digitalization of its ecosystem over two decades.

Companies: CVC Capital Partners, Paul Hastings LLP

Negotiations initiated between EQT and ICG Infra for Ocea Group acquisition

Apr 8 | Smart Water

Ocea is a provider of smart water and heat metering infrastructure in France, operating under long-term inflation-linked contracts in an industry benefiting from long term visibility and regulation-driven growth. Ocea helps the energy transition through measurement of individual consumption, which significantly incentivizes customers to make more environmentally conscious decisions.

Companies: EQT AB

Vista Equity Partners acquires Model N for $1.25bn

Apr 9 | Private Equity Wire

Vista Equity Partners, a global investment firm focused on enterprise software, data and technology-enabled businesses, will acquire Model N, a provider of revenue management solutions for the life sciences industry, in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $1.25bn.

Companies: Model N Inc, Vista Equity Partners LLC

General Atlantic leads $425m preferred equity iBuyers Edge Platform investment

Apr 8 | Private Equity Wire

Buyers Edge Platform, a specialist in digital procurement solutions for the foodservice industry, has secured a $425m preferred equity investment from a consortium led by General Atlantic Credit’s Atlantic Park fund.

Companies: General Atlantic LLC

KKR targeting $1tn AUM in next five years

Apr 11 | Private Equity Wire

TOP STORY: KKR & Co has set its sights on increasing AUM at the private investment firm to at least $1tn in the next five years, and has laid out a plan to scale its core businesses to reach the target, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Companies: Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co

Thoma Bravo plans to raise $20 billion for Thoma Bravo Fund XVI

Apr 8 | AK&M

AK&M 08 April 2024 14:45 The American investment company Thoma Bravo LLC plans to raise about $20 billion for a flagship stock buyback fund Thoma Bravo Fund XVI LP. This is reported by foreign media. Thoma Bravo is simultaneously looking for investors to raise $7.0 billion for Discover Fund V, a new fund in the medium-sized business market.

Companies: Thoma Bravo LLC

Eurazeo launches EPVE3 fund with Moonfare technology

Apr 11 | Private Equity Wire

French private equity firm Eurazeo has launched Eurazeo Private Value Europe 3, a vehicle that enables fundraising via private banks, family offices and asset management advisors across Europe, as part of the €35bn firm’s partnership with private equity investing platform Moonfare.

Companies: Eurazeo SE, Moonfare GmbH

European semiconductor dealmaking shows signs of life – Dealspeak

Apr 9 | Mergermarket

While the US and Asia-Pacific continue to dominate the global semiconductor industry, Europe’s plan to keep chipping away until it has a bigger piece of the action is gradually starting to yield results. In June, the European Commission (EC) approved plans by 14 member states, including France, Germany and the Netherlands, to provide up to EUR 8.1bn in public funding to support research and development (R&D) in microchips and other semiconductor technologies.

MIDDLE MARKET PRIVATE EQUITY

Nalka Invest and Kirk Kapital acquire Norstat from Triton Partners

Apr 11 | Private Equity Wire

Triton Partners’s Triton Smaller Mid-Cap Fund I has agreed to sell European consumer data collection platform Nemas Holdco (Norstat) to Swedish private equity firm Nalka Invest, with Danish investment firm Kirk Kapital acting as a large minority shareholder.

EMH Partners make significant minority investment in Stonebranch

Apr 8 | EMH Partners

Stonebranch is a leading provider of service orchestration and automation solutions. EMH Partners will support Stonebranch in its next phase of growth to become the leading IT Automation provider globally alongside the existing shareholder Elvaston. Stonebranch is well-positioned in the highly attractive global Workload Automation market with double-digit annual growth rates.

Companies: EMH Partners GmbH

STG Partners acquires Gresham Technologies

Apr 11 | Private Equity Wire

Alliance Bidco, a limited company indirectly owned by Symphony Technology Group, a $10bn US private equity firm focused on data, software and analytics, has agreed to an all-cash ￡146.7m take-private of Gresham Technologies, a UK fintech specialising in solutions for data integrity and control, banking integration, payments and cash management.

KPS Capital Partners acquires majority stake in Sport Group from Equistone

Apr 11 | Private Equity Wire

Funds advised by mid-market private equity firm Equistone Partners Europe will sell their majority stake in Sport Group, a German manufacturer of artificial turf and synthetic outdoor sports and leisure surfaces, to New York-based private equity firm KPS Capital Partners.

GOF advises PANGEA Unternehmerkapital on acquisition of GETECO GmbH

Apr 11 | The Legal 500

The commercial law firm Gütt Olk Feldhaus advised PANGEA Unternehmerkapital GmbH on the acquisition of GETECO GmbH. The acquisition was carried out through the software holding NUBE Software GmbH, through which PANGEA focuses on acquiring majority stakes in medium-sized B2B software companies. With more than 10,000 daily users, GETECO has established itself as a cornerstone ... Continue reading "GOF advises PANGEA Unternehmerkapital on acquisition of GETECO GmbH"

Companies: PANGEA Unternehmerkapital GmbH

Triton Partners acquires V&N Group from VolkerWessels

Apr 9 | Private Equity Wire

Funds advised by European mid-market private equity firm Triton Partners have agreed to acquire VolkerWessels Verbindingen en Netwerken, a multi-utility service provider of energy & utility, connectivity and building installation services in the Netherlands and Germany.

Advent to buy Ryan Reynolds-backed fintech Nuvei in $6.3 bn deal

Apr 5 | Private Equity Insights

Private equity firm Advent International has agreed to buy Canada’s Nuvei NVEI.TO in a deal that values the payments technology firm, which has received financial backing from actor Ryan Reynolds,...

Companies: Nuvei Corp

White & Case advises Zalando and H&M on investment in Infinited Fiber Company

Apr 5 | White & Case

Global law firm White & Case LLP has advised apparel and e-commerce companies Zalando and H&M on a development financing round for Finland-based circular fashion and textile technology group Infinited Fiber Company Oy (Infinited Fiber). The development financing by the apparel and e-commerce companies reinforces their long term commitment to Infinited Fiber.

Companies: H&M Hennes & Mauritz AB, Infinited Fiber Co Oy, White & Case LLP, Zalando SE

Clean Tech Investment Briefing: Sunfire wins €500m backing to advance EU green hydrogen vision

Apr 5 | BusinessGreen

BusinessGreen's latest round-up of the most exciting early clean tech investments, featuring electric buses, carbon removal parks and thermal batteries

Companies: SunFire GmbH

Small-cap PE firms generating best returns, says HEC Paris

Apr 10 | Private Equity Wire

Smaller players in the small-cap private equity world are generating the best returns, with Renovus Capital Partners claiming the top spot with a performance score of 3.89, according to a recent ranking by HEC Paris Business School in partnership with Dow Jones.

TECH M&A & INVESTMENT

The rise and fall of Atos, the European tech champion now €4.65 billion in debt

Apr 10 | France 24

French IT services and consulting firm Atos unveiled a refinancing plan on Tuesday that failed to fully reassure investors. In this edition, we take a look at how the company, which provides cybersecurity services to the Olympic Games and supercomputers for France's nuclear arsenal, accumulated close to €5 billion in debt.

Companies: ATOS SE

Accenture Acquires Axis Corporate to Expand Banking Sector Management Consulting Capabilities in Spain

Apr 9 | NelsonHall

Apr 08, 2024 | Mergers and Acquisitions by

Companies: Accenture PLC

WiseTech Global acquires Aktiv Data to expand global customs capability into Finland

Apr 9 | FreshPlaza

WiseTech Global, developer of leading logistics execution software CargoWise, has announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Aktiv Data, a provider of electronic customs and freight forwarding solutions in Finland. Founded in 2006, and headquartered in Jakobstad, Aktiv Data offers a...

Companies: WiseTech Global Ltd

A1 Austria to Acquire NTT Austria in Digitalisation Strategy

Apr 6 | TelecomTalk

A1 Austria is set to acquire the IT services provider NTT Austria GmbH. A1 Austria will acquire 100 percent of the shares in NTT Austria GmbH after approval by the respective authorities, the telco said this week. This follows A1 Austria's acquisition of NTT's Alcatel Lucent telephony business in spring 2021. Also Read: A1 Group Boosts 4G, 5G Coverage in Tourist Regions; America Movil Expands Stake in Telekom Austria Acquisition... Read More

Companies: A1 Telekom Austria AG, Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp, NTT DATA Group Corp

The biggest enterprise technology M&A deals of the year (so far)

Apr 5 | Perforce

2024 is off to a slow start compared to last year’s M&A market, which saw Cisco offering $28 billion for enterprise cloud protection company Splunk, and the closing of not one but two $69 billion acquisitions after more than a year in regulatory limbo. Antitrust regulators in the US and Europe are proving increasingly willing to hold technology giants to account, derailing or delaying proposed acquisitions and enforcing commitments they made to secure past deals.

GROWTH TECH & VC SPOTLIGHT

Onum raises $28M to help businesses extract more value from their data at lower costs

Apr 11 | Connect World

Onum is on a mission to give companies complete control over their exploding pools of data while delivering real-time observation and orchestration – all while lowering costs. Founder and CEO Pedro Castillo, previously the founder of Devo, the cloud analytics and security platform valued at over $2 billion, launched Onum in 2023.

Companies: Devo Technology Inc, Insight Venture Management LLC

Simbian raises $10M to automate security operations with generative AI

Apr 11 | SiliconANGLE

Simbian Inc., a startup that has developed what it says is the first generative artificial intelligence copilot for cybersecurity teams, revealed today that it has closed on an oversubscribed, $10 million seed funding round to launch its new platform. Today’s round was led by security and AI-focused investors such as Cota Capital, Icon Ventures, Firebolt [...] The post Simbian raises $10M to automate security operations with generative AI appeared first on SiliconANGLE.

Companies: Datadog Inc

Scavenger AI secures €1.1m pre-seed funding for data-driven decision making

Apr 11 | High-Tech Gründerfonds

The AI start-up helps companies to use their data to make the best possible decision under any circumstances. Scavenger AI receives € 1.1 million from High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Calm/Storm Ventures, Femventix and the B4i Investment Fund. The new capital will be used to launch the first version of the software on the market and serve customers on the waiting list. Frankfurt, 8 April 2024 – The German data analytics & AI start-up

Companies: High Tech Gruenderfonds Management GmbH

#Portfolio - Auf diese Startups wettet Insight Partners derzeit in Deutschland

Apr 8 | Deutsche Startups

Insight Partners geh?rt zu den gro?en Namen der VC-Szene. Zuletzt machte sich Insight hierzulande aber rar - abgesehen von Investments in Aily Labs, Sparetech und buynomics. Zudem gelangen bei Blinkist und LeanIX millionenschwere Exits. ExpressSteuer war dagegen ein Flop.

Companies: Buynomics GmbH, Insight Venture Management LLC

Successful Exit for HTGF: CData Software Acquires Data Virtuality

Apr 5 | High-Tech Gründerfonds

CData’s acquisition of Data Virtuality marks a new era for the company by providing customers with powerful, centralized data integration platforms that solve for the most pervasive data management challenges today. High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) led the seed round in 2012 as one of the first institutional investors together with Technologiegründerfonds Sachsen (TGFS) and supported the successful development of Data Virtuality. Axel Nitsch, Principal at HTGF: R

Companies: High Tech Gruenderfonds Management GmbH

Elon Musk Projects AI to Eclipse Human Intelligence Within Two Years

Apr 9 | EconoTimes

In a candid exchange on X spaces, Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO, forecasted a near-future where artificial intelligence surpasses the intellect of the smartest humans by as early as next year. Despite technical setbacks, Musk's discussion with Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norway's wealth fund, underscored the rapid advancements in AI, including developments at his own startup, xAI.

Companies: Tesla Inc

INSIDER SCOOP & MARKET BUZZ

KKR Co-CEOs Following Berkshire Model With Private Equity Bets

Apr 11 | BNN Bloomberg

KKR & Co. Co-Chief Executive Officers Joe Bae and Scott Nuttall are taking a cue from Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s business model by betting big on long-term private equity ownership and the ensuing dividends.

Companies: Berkshire Bancorp, Berkshire Hathaway Inc, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co

KKR Said to Weigh Sale or IPO for $15 Billion BMC Software (1)

Apr 10 | Bloomberg Law

KKR & Co. is again reviewing options to exit IT solutions firm BMC Software Inc., which could be worth about $15 billion including debt in a sale or initial public offering, people familiar with the matter said. The buyout firm has received inbound interest from other private equity firms interested in potentially acquiring Houston-based BMC, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information.

Companies: BMC Software Inc, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co

Approaching EV Turmoil Will Shake Up European Automakers

Apr 7 | Forbes

Europe's auto industry seems to be in rude health with sales humming along nicely, but trouble is brewing as the electric revolution stumbles and EU targets look harsh.

Companies: JD Power

Secondary market activity surges as US investors discount PE stakes

Apr 5 | Private Equity Wire

US institutional investors are offloading their private equity holdings at slashed prices, reflecting a broader trend of reducing exposure to the illiquid asset class, with pension funds and endowments leading the charge, according to a report by the Financial Times.

Apex Group leverages blockchain to open up access to global private market funds

Apr 4 | Private Equity Wire

Apex Group has become the first transfer agent and fund service provider to administer regulated securities, using blockchain as the book of record, enabling private market funds to access a more diverse and significantly larger pool of qualified investors.