19 Jun 2017

HgCapital, the Manager of HgCapital Trust plc (the “Company”), today announces an investment in Esendex, a leading provider of mission-critical business messaging services across Europe. This represents a further investment into the Technology Infrastructure cluster. On completion of the transaction, Esendex will be merged with existing Mercury portfolio company Mobyt, which provides similar business messaging services in Italy and France. HgCapital will have a majority share in the combined business with the Company owning c. 20% alongside other HgCapital clients. The terms of this transaction were not disclosed.

HgCapital Trust plc will invest approximately £8.9 million in Esendex (including £5.5 million in co-investment), in addition to the £2.7 million of equity already invested in Mobyt.  Other institutional clients of HgCapital will invest alongside the Company through the HgCapital Mercury Fund.

The Company, whose shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange, gives private and institutional investors the opportunity to participate in all HgCapital’s investments.

Following completion, approximately 83% of the Mercury Fund will have been invested. In February 2017, the Company committed £80 million to further investments in smaller-cap technology companies, with the Mercury 2 Fund, over the next four to five years.

Based on the pro-forma 31 May 2017 NAV, the Company’s liquid resources available for future deployment, including all announced transactions, are estimated to be £137 million (22% of the pro-forma 31 May 2017 NAV of £621.2 million). In addition, the Company has access to an £80 million standby facility, which is currently undrawn. Following the transaction, the Company will remain committed to invest approximately £474 million in HgCapital deals over the next four to five years.

HgCapital announces an investment in Esendex

19 June 2017: HgCapital has today announced an investment in Esendex, a leading provider of mission-critical business messaging services across Europe. The investment is being made from HgCapital’s Mercury Fund which focuses on growth buyouts in the technology sector across Europe. This represents a further investment into the Technology Infrastructure cluster. The terms of this transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 2001, Esendex provides a broad portfolio of high value business critical application-to-person messaging solutions to SMEs and corporate customers. Esendex’s product portfolio includes SMS, voice, email, payment and IP-based products which are delivered over rich APIs and web applications. Over 13,000 businesses in the UK, France, Spain, Ireland, Germany and Australia rely on its services to communicate with their customers and staff. Esendex employs over 140 people across its international offices. Esendex was acquired by Darwin Private Equity in July 2013.

Esendex recently acquired SMSpubli, a leading supplier of business messaging services in Spain, to further strengthen its position in this fast-growing market.

On completion of the transaction, Esendex and SMSpubli will combine with Mobyt SpA and SMSenvoi, existing HgCapital portfolio companies, which provide similar business messaging solutions in Italy and France.

The combined group will generate more than €75 million of revenue across its wide portfolio of brands and territories. The group will be led by existing Esendex CEO, Geoff Love, and HgCapital intends to back the group to further consolidate this fast-growing sector across Europe.

Esendex demonstrates many of the business model characteristics that HgCapital looks for, including: a high proportion of recurring revenues from serving a large fragmented base of SMEs, delivering an operationally critical service and the opportunity to back a strong management team.

David Issott, a Partner in the HgCapital Mercury team, said. “We are delighted to be partnering with Geoff Love, as well as the entire management team and staff at Esendex, Mobyt, SMSpubli and SMSEnvoi.com for the next phase of their journey. We are very excited to be backing this opportunity to create a leading European champion in business messaging. We will immediately look to invest further behind the group to accelerate its growth, both organically and through further acquisitions, and we will also seek to intensify the pace of technology and product development to support the group’s customers in their deployment of high value mission critical use cases.”

Geoff Love, CEO of Esendex, commented: “This is an exciting time for mobile business messaging and the combination of these four strong businesses creates a European heavyweight in application-to-person communications.  With around 200 staff and 25,000 customers, sending some 2 billion messages a year, we are extremely well-positioned to take this fast-growing industry forward. With HgCapital’s backing for further acquisitions, as well as continuing strong organic growth, we look forward to helping even more businesses transform their communications with their customers and staff.”

– Ends –

For further details:

HgCapital
Laura Dixon
+44 (0)20 7089 7888

Maitland
Tom Eckersley
+44 (0)20 7379 5151

About HgCapital Trust plc

HgCapital Trust plc is an investment trust whose shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange (ticker: HGT.L). The Company is a client of HgCapital, giving investors exposure to a portfolio of high-growth private companies, through a liquid vehicle. New investments and existing portfolio companies are managed by HgCapital, an experienced and well-resourced private equity firm with a long-term track record of delivering superior risk-adjusted returns for its investors. For further details, please see www.hgcapitaltrust.com.

Eurazeo, a leading global investment company listed in Paris, in partnership with West Street Capital Partners VII, a fund managed by the Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division (“GS MBD”), has announced the completion of the acquisition of Dominion Web Solutions(“DWS”), an integrated platform of branded marketplaces and digital marketing solutions for the powersport, RV, commercial truck and equipment industries.

Eurazeo and GS MBD reached an agreement in May 2017 to purchase the company. Eurazeo ’s total investment is $226 million for a 50% equity stake. This completes Eurazeo’s first investment in the U.S. since opening its North America headquarters in September 2016.

About Dominion Web Solutions >

Dominion Web Solutions is the leading online classifieds marketplace and marketing software solutions provider to commercial and recreational dealers. Its mission of bringing buyers and sellers together remains the core of its businesses. DWS is committed to providing innovative products to ensure that customers generate leads, drive sales and maximize profits.

Its B2C brands consist of Cycle Trader, RV Trader, ATV Trader, PWC Trader, Snowmobile Trader, and Aero Trader, producing over 7 million unique visitors monthly. Additionally, its industry leading B2B brands consist of Commercial Truck Trader, Commercial Web Services, Equipment Trader, RV Web Services and focus on supporting its dealers and manufacturers with driving impressive results as top of mind.

Dominion Web Solutions has 10 businesses and approximately 300 employees with its home office located in Norfolk, VA.

About Eurazeo>

With a diversified portfolio of approximately € 6 billion in assets under management, of which €1 billion is from third parties, Eurazeo is one of the leading listed investment companies in Europe. 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. Eurazeo is notably a shareholder in AccorHotels, ANF Immobilier, Asmodee, CIFA, CPK, Desigual, Dominion Web Solutions, Elis, Europcar, Fintrax, Grape Hospitality, Les Petits Chaperons Rouges, Moncler, Neovia, Novacap, Sommet Education, and also SMEs such as Péters Surgical and Flash Europe International, as well as start-ups such as Farfetch and Vestiaire Collective.

HgCapital, the Manager of HgCapital Trust plc (the “Company”), has announced that it has sold Zitcom, a leading Danish hosting and cloud solutions provider operating in the SME segment, to Intelligent, a Belgian headquartered provider of hosting services. The terms of this transaction were not disclosed.

The sale of Zitcom delivers a c. 3.3x investment multiple and a c. 145% gross IRR over the investment period.

The Company, whose shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange, gives private and institutional investors the opportunity to participate in all HgCapital’s investments. The Company will realise cash proceeds of approximately £8.8 million on completion of the transaction.  This represents an uplift of £4.4 million (101%) or 12 pence per share over the carrying value of £4.4 million in the Net Asset Value (“NAV”) of the Trust at 31 May 2017 which was based on the Directors’ valuation as at 31 December 2016.

Based on the 31 May 2017 reported NAV (including all announced transactions and the revaluation of the carried interest provision), the pro-forma NAV of the Company is expected to increase to £621.2 million or 1,664.4 pence per share. The Trust’s liquid resources available for future deployment are estimated to be £146 million (24% of the pro-forma 31 May 2017 NAV).

The investments within the Company’s portfolio were last valued at 31 December 2016. The Company’s 2017 interim results, including the re-valuation of the portfolio as at 30 June 2017 will be announced on 11 September 2017. 

HgCapital’s Mercury Fund sells Zitcom Group to Intelligent
 

• Exit has delivered a c. 3.3x investment multiple and c. 145% gross IRR after 18 months of ownership
• Second exit from HgCapital’s specialist lower mid-market Mercury TMT fund, which has delivered aggregate realised returns of c. 2.8x and c. 70% gross IRR
• The £380m Fund made its first investment in 2012; and has returned c. 40% of invested capital back to clients

 14 June 2017, London: HgCapital is pleased to announce that it has sold Zitcom Group, a leading Danish SME-focused hosting and cloud solutions provider, to Intelligent, a Belgian headquartered provider of hosting solutions. The terms of this transaction were not disclosed.

HgCapital partnered with the management of Zitcom Group in December 2015, representing the 7^th investment for Mercury, HgCapital’s specialist lower mid-market TMT fund. This exit marks the second full realisation for the Mercury fund, following the sale of Relay announced in August 2016 and four prior successful recapitalisations across the portfolio.

Through organic growth and acquisitions, Zitcom Group has created a leading Danish SME focused hosting and cloud solutions provider with activities in both the mass and managed hosting space, including domains website hosting, email for smaller customers and managed servers and applications for larger customers. The group has demonstrated over ten years of consistent revenue growth and provides cloud services to over 100,000 business and private customers in Denmark, operating under the brands Zitcom, Wannafind, UnoEuro, Curanet, ScanNet and Cloud.dk.

The business displays many of the characteristics that HgCapital looks for including: an attractive growth sector; a loyal customer case; a strong management team; and platform potential for M&A.

During HgCapital’s 18-month ownership period, HgCapital has supported Zitcom Group’s acquisition and integration of four companies which has helped double the customer base and revenue while close to tripling profits of the Group.

Following this sale, the Mercury 1 Fund will have returned nearly 40% of invested cost, including proceeds from the prior exit of Relay Software (announced in July 2016 for 2.1x cost / 39% gross IRR) and a combination of other portfolio company refinancings. The Fund has delivered overall realised returns of c. 2.8x cost and a c. 70% gross IRR.

Stefan Rosenlund, CEO of Zitcom Group, said: “HgCapital has been a fantastic partner for Zitcom Group and has helped us mature – both as a business and as individuals. HgCapital has been a huge asset in developing Zitcom Group into a strong and market leading hosting group ready for new challenges and new ownership. I thank HgCapital for the trust and time that they have invested in us and look forward to continue Zitcom Group’s growth journey in the Danish SME hosting market.”

Nick Jordan, Director at HgCapital, said: “It has been a pleasure to partner with the Zitcom Group management team and employees over the last 18 months and play a role in building a leader in the Danish SME hosting segment. They have transformed their sector in Denmark. We wish them continued success in this exciting new phase of their story”

HgCapital were advised by Harris Williams, Linklaters and Accura.

Norvestor VI, L.P. (“Norvestor”) and minority shareholders have sold ABAX Holding AS (“ABAX”),an international market leader within connected vehicle telematics and tracking systems, to Investcorp, a leading global private equity firm with considerable experience from the telematics industry, for an enterprise value of NOK 1.8 billion.

Since Norvestor invested in ABAX in September 2012, the Company has achieved significant growth, both organically and through add-on acquisitions.

Under Norvestor’s ownership ABAX has solidified its Nordic market leading position and become a substantial Northern European player within electronic trip logs and the wider vehicle telematics market. ABAX has secured attractive footholds in the UK, Netherlands and Poland and recently also China for further geographical growth.

During Norvestor’s ownership, ABAX has completed seven add-on  acquisitions and established operations in five new countries, resulting in a revenue increase from NOK 157 million in 2012 to NOK 471 million in 2016, representing an annual revenue growth of more than 30%. The customer base has grown from c. 6,000 to c. 26,000, and the subscription portfolio has grown from c.40,000 to almost 200,000. The ABAX organization has also grown significantly, from 85 to 350 employees. ”

Norvestor has been an important partner for ABAX. They have helped us professionalize the company and focus our strategy. During their ownership, they have among others supported us to conduct add-on acquisitions, establish operations outside the Nordics, and enabled us to position the company for further growth within the world’s vehicle telematics market.”, says Petter Quinsgaard , CEO of ABAX.“

Norvestor has been a fantastic team player. When they invested in 2012 they showed that they believed in our potential and our vision. They have supported us all the way, and they have helped us develop our organization and our high-performance culture. We now have more than 350 employees of which almost 100 of them are shareholders who have all had a fantastic journey.”,says Bjørn Erik Helgeland, COO of ABAX.“

To succeed in becoming a European leader with global potential within a highly competitive area you need to be outstanding both in product development and in sales. Petter, Bjørn Erik and their team have managed to excel in both these areas through building a culture which can serve as a benchmark for organizations aspiring to be at the top in a digitized future.

It is a pleasure to handover to a new main owner who has the knowledge and the capabilities to support the further growth of ABAX. We are confident that ABAX has what it takes to continue its success and help businesses become more effective by digitizing and automate work processes”, says Henning, old Partner in Norvestor.

The money will go to the development and marketing of the marketplace.

Wood Stock Exchange wants to make it easier for buyers and sellers of wood to find each other. Today there is no structured way to trade the timber without the seller often turn to established contacts and competitive bidding is not always sales among buyers.

This would change the Timber Exchange and has therefore built a digital marketplace to handle the timber business in a simple and transparent way. On www.virkesborsen.se to forest owners completely free easily and comparing quotes from various forestry companies to ensure the profitability of forestry.

– It is good for the seller, who can get better prices by reaching more potential customers. But it is also good for the buyer, who gets a better overview of what is available and can streamline their work significantly, says Erik Ydrén, Investment Manager at Almi Invest. The forest industry is currently being digitized, so the company is very timely.

This is the first digital marketplace for wood in Sweden. The vision is a more transparent and accessible timber market where all Swedish forest owners can make wise and business decisions in the sale of timber. A digital marketplace also provides timber buyers the opportunity to streamline their work and gain access to the timber.

– Wood Stock Exchange plays an important role in the interface between forest owners who want to do good business and timber buyers faced increasingly tough competition for wood, says Adam Aljaraidah, CEO and co-founder of Wood Stock Exchange. With Almi Invest and Olof Hallrup as investors, we both capital and expertise is of great importance for our development. Now we have all the prerequisites to make the Swedish timber market more transparent and accessible to all players. A more efficient timber market to enable new products from the forest that can replace fossil-based raw materials.

In connection with the investment goes Sven Wird, many years of technical director at Holmen and Board of Sveaskog, in as Chairman of the Timber Exchange

Ratos has signed an agreement to divest all of its shares in its subsidiary Nebula – Finland’s leading provider of cloud services to small and medium-sized companies – to Telia Company for EUR 165m (enterprise value). The divestment generates a net exit gain of approximately SEK 500m, an average annual return (IRR) of approximately 37% and a money multiple of 3.3x.

Nebula is a market leading provider of cloud services, managed services, and network services to small and medium-sized enterprises in the Finnish market. The company has approximately 44,000 customers, 90% subscription-based recurring revenue, and industry-leading profitability.

During Ratos’s four years as an active owner of Nebula the company has implemented a number of value-generating strategic initiatives. Two synergistic add-on acquisitions have reinforced its market-leading position among Finnish SMEs. Investments have been made in the company’s product development and its sales & marketing capabilities. The customer base has grown by more than 30% during Ratos’s ownership and the number of employees from 110 to 145. The annual growth rate has been approximately 12%^*) since the acquisition in 2013, with sales amounting to EUR 35.2m and an EBITA of EUR 10.6m per rolling 12 months as of 31 March 2017.

“Together with Nebula’s management and our co-investors Rite Ventures, we have focused on continued growth and profitability. Through strategic measures and added resources, we have strengthened the company’s market position. Improved customer offerings have secured strong customer relationships and high customer satisfaction. Nebula is a well-run company positioned for further growth. Following our discussions with Telia Company, which is a logical buyer, we have arrived at a purchase price that takes Nebula’s position and prospects into account. On this basis, we have agreed to sell and believe the time is right to hand over to a new owner. We are convinced that Nebula and Telia Company complement each other well and can benefit from each other’s respective strengths,” says Johan Rydmark, Investment Director at Ratos.

The selling price for 100% of the shares (equity value) amounts to EUR 110m and the enterprise value to EUR 165m. Ratos’s share of the equity value is approximately EUR 78m and the net exit gain totals approximately SEK 500m, calculated on the book value of Ratos’s holding in Nebula at 31 March 2017. Average annual return (IRR) amounts to approximately 37%. Ratos’s holding in Nebula is 73%. The transaction is expected to be completed during the third quarter and is subject to customary merger control filings.

^*) The annual growth rate includes the acquisition of Sigmatic.

Almi Invest exits from Dapresy and sells its share to Verdane Capital
Press Release • May 17, 2017 16:00 CEST
SaaS company Dapresy has developed its own analytical tool for market research where the results are presented in the form of infographic.

Almi Invest will exit from Dapresy and sells its share to the Nordic Private Equity Fund Verdane Capital IX. Norrköpingsbolaget Dapresy is a global supplier of a software platform for information visualization of market research data. The company has customers around the world and a significant proportion of the world’s larger companies use Dapresy. In connection with Almi Invest’s divestment, Verdane enters into the new main owner and investor in Dapresy.

Dapresy was founded in 2003 and is a spin-off company from Hermelin Research. In 2010, Dapresy Pro launched on a global market with customers in more than 25 countries. Customers are found in all segments with a focus on larger information-intensive companies that need to communicate market research data to larger organizations. Dapresy has transformed a mature market by allowing modern-time collaborators at all levels of a company to review market research data, tailored individually to the needs of the individual employee, with the aim of supporting more and better business decisions.

-Almi Invest entered the first external investor in 2011. Dapresy has grown steadily and had an annual revenue increase of about 30%. The success of the company is that the team has combined technical excellence with a strong commercial drive on the market side, which made them succeed in gaining global players as loyal customers. With an exit of 5 times invested capital, it enables multiple investments in promising tech startups and contributes to long-term investment activities, says Björn Persson Fund Manager Almi Invest

In 2016, Dapresy had sales of more than 50 million and now has 60 employees. In addition to the head office in Norrköping, Dapresy is represented with local offices in the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Germany and Bosnia. Through partner, the company is represented in Australia and New Zealand.

-Almi Invest and Almi Corporate Partners have been crucial to taking Dapresy where we are today. With Almi Invest as investor and Björn Persson as board member of Dapresy, the company has been able to accelerate growth, expand internationally and create a basic structure for profitable sustained growth. With Verdane as a new strong investor, we are aiming for continued strong growth in Sweden and in our international core markets, “said Torbjörn Andersson, CEO of Dapresy

Contact:

Torbjörn Andersson, CEO, Dapresy, tel: +46 (0) 709 29 94 13, torbjorn.andersson@dapresy.com

Björn Persson, Fund Manager, Almi Invest, tel: + 46 070-2074125, bjorn.persson@almiinvest.se

Maria Kessling, Head of Communications, Almi Invest, tel +46 76-880 88 10 maria.kessling@almiinvest.se

About Almi Invest

Almi Invest is Sweden’s most active investor in startups. We make investments throughout the country through 8 regional venture capital companies and a national venture capital company in GreenTech. Almi Invest manages approximately SEK 3 billion and has since invested approximately 600 startups. Our best holdings have been acquired by Google, Microsoft, Qlik and Apple, for example, or listed on different stock exchanges. Almi Invest is a venture capital company within the Almi Group.

About Dapresy

Dapresy provides a highly visual data reporting software for market research and customer experience management. Market research agency and enterprise professionals in more than 25 countries are using Dapresy Pro to deploy visually engaging dashboards to clearly communicate complex data from markets, users and customers. The company’s unique dynamic dashboards are individually tailored, deploying the right data to the right people at the right time. For marketers looking to move beyond PowerPoint and Excel, Dapresy is the faster and far more effective way to easily present market research and customer experience information from multiple sources in a way that improves decision making. Founded in 2003, Dapresy has a headquarters in Sweden with a North American headquarters in Portsmouth, NH. The firm has several other client services offices around the globe. www.dapresy.com

About Verdane

Verdane funds help ambitious companies in software, e-commerce, energy and high technology industry with flexible capital for growth. The funds can invest either in individual companies or in several at the same time, so-called portfolio transactions. The latest fund, Verdane Capital IX, has 3 billion kronor to invest in fast-growing companies. Verdane Capital Advisors has 25 employees in offices in Stockholm, Oslo and Helsinki. For more information: www.verdanecapital.com.

Rabobank and Signicat are entering the Dutch identity market together by providing digital services to businesses, supporting them in servicing their clients.

Read the full story on signicat.com or read about it in Norwegian newspaper Adressa.

This joint Digital Identity Service Provider (DISP) offers a range of online login, identity, signature and archiving solutions under the banner of Rabo eBusiness. It provides optimal convenience for a range of businesses, including insurance, energy and leasing companies as well as other financial services providers. It simplifies and improves the digital transformation they are under pressure to achieve.

Rabo eBusiness helps businesses to shape their online services in an easier, more reliable and efficient way to achieve higher online conversion. Consumers can log onto the merchant’s website using one of the identity services provided by Rabo eBusiness and can then, for example, sign a contract online. The platform is easy to integrate into the existing business processes using API technology.

Rabobank will initially focus on five customer groups: energy, telecom and insurance companies, healthcare institutions and financial services providers. Rabo eBusiness services will make it easy for them to enable functions such as onboarding new customers, signing contracts digitally and offering a dashboard for invoices or expense claims.
The market for DISPs opened on 1st April 2017 within the framework of iDIN.

Alexander Zwart, responsible for Online Channels & Access at Rabobank, explains that Rabobank already has a good starting position, having: ‘Advisory skills, a large market share in the business market, operational services and a mature salesforce. In order to be able to offer technology and a high-quality and safe range of products, we have opted not to develop it ourselves, but instead to collaborate with a well-established strategic player. Signicat has a proven Digital Identity Service platform that is considered leading in the Nordics, a mature digital identity market.’

Signicat in turn wants to expand its presence in the Dutch market. Gunnar Nordseth, Chief Executive Officer of Signicat: ‘We have been operating for some time as an identity service provider in the Nordics and are currently expanding into other parts of Europe. The Netherlands is a strategically important market for us and a European hub that has great potential for digital identity, signature and archiving services. Collaborating with an innovative bank such as Rabobank gives us the opportunity to fulfil our ambition.’

The platform has been designed to grow in tandem with market demands and can consequently be expanded to include additional services. This lays the foundation for achieving Rabobank’s strategic ambition to help its customers with the digitisation of their services.