Software M&A in Europe
We reviewed international deals extensively in our June webinar, and delivered a special report on what’s happening in Europe. We were able to look at several of our own deals, and we’re also looking forward to announcing several more soon.
Firstly we covered France, where our client Esterel, headquartered in Paris, signed a Share Purchase Agreement with ANSYS, a US-based systems software and simulation vendor. That deal is valued at 42 million Euro or roughly 2.8X revenue.
In April we closed a deal in the Ukraine, our first deal that deep in Eastern Europe. Surprisingly, rather than a cross-border deal, Ciklum secured an investment of $17M for a minority stake from a local investor who won out over two Western European bidders. We assumed the company would be acquired by another European group, even potentially in Eastern Europe, but Ukrainian investors aren’t known for investing in IT services.
Deals like this make it clear that the world is certainly flat, at least when it comes to tech deals. This is especially true for companies that have built good tech, that have advanced the state of the art.
It’s also worth noting that even with all the turmoil in Europe at the moment, we’re still seeing lots of activity there. And it’s not just general buyers, it’s strategic buyers, financial buyers, and private equity buyers.
We’ve seen a strong software focus by private equity firms in Europe and they are staying active. An excellent example is Francisco Partners, who bought both Email Vision and Efront in France. A number of other firms are sending teams to Europe or opening offices here, and Europeans are looking to buy as well, hoping to diversify risk. For a Euro company, geographically diversified customers are invaluable in spite of the turmoil in Europe.
So, as you can see, regardless of the economic uncertainty in Europe at large, the tech market is going strong as companies are acquired and firms are still looking to acquire.
Posted by MiroParizek, Managing Director on 17 July 2012
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