December 7th, 2015
Hellman & Friedman Acquires Controlling Interest In TeamSystem Holding SpA From HgCapital, Bain Capital, ICG and Management
LONDON, U.K.
Private equity funds affiliated with Hellman & Friedman LLC (“H&F”) acquire a controlling interest in TeamSystem Holding SpA (“TeamSystem”), beginning a new chapter of growth for the Italian software company. Management will continue to invest in the business going forward and HgCapital intends to retain a minority stake.
TeamSystem, founded in 1979, is a leading provider of software applications to professionals and enterprises in Italy across different segments, offering a broad range of business-critical, on-premise and on-cloud solutions to a diversified base of over 200,000 customers.
Federico Leproux, CEO, remarked: “This transaction confirms the great value we have built in our business serving our customers with best-in-class solutions, support and distribution. All of us at TeamSystem are excited to partner with Hellman & Friedman given their extensive expertise in software and their commitment to further accelerate growth and continuously evolve our business, investing behind innovative products and world class service. TeamSystem’s management and I are also very appreciative of HgCapital’s and Bain Capital’s support of our growth strategy over the past several years and are thrilled with the proposed continued participation of HgCapital going forward.”
“TeamSystem is an outstanding software franchise, with a long and successful track record of providing market-leading products to thousands of different Italian professionals and enterprises. We are excited to partner with Federico Leproux and his management team in the coming years and are confident that TeamSystem will continue to lead the market in terms of innovation by offering its customers a full suite of cloud-enabled software solutions that will significantly improve the efficiency of their businesses”, said Blake Kleinman, Managing Director at Hellman & Friedman.
Philip Sternheimer, Director at Hellman & Friedman, added: “Federico and his team have consistently grown TeamSystem to a leadership position in the Italian software market for accountants, lawyers, labour advisors and SMEs. It’s a privilege to partner with this energetic team to deliver the next phase of growth.”
Patrick Healy, Deputy CEO of Hellman & Friedman, added: “This investment leverages our deep expertise in technology and marks a continuation of our strategy to invest in strong franchises with significant growth opportunities.”
HgCapital intends to roll a minority portion of its proceeds into the new transaction. Jean-Baptiste Brian, a Director at HgCapital, said, “We have had a very successful partnership with TeamSystem and are proud of what the Company has achieved since we first entered into that relationship. At the same time, we believe that there are numerous further growth opportunities ahead and would be excited to contribute to the next leg of that journey.”
Ivano Sessa, Managing Director at Bain Capital, added: “Bain Capital initially bought TeamSystem in 2004 from Palamon and sold the company in 2010 to HgCapital, reinvesting at that time. Our investment in TeamSystem has been a close partnership with the management team over the last eleven years, helping the business to significantly become a market leader.”
Mediobanca SpA acted as financial advisor to Hellman & Friedman on this transaction. Rothschild acted as financial advisor to HgCapital on this transaction.
About Hellman & Friedman
Hellman & Friedman is a leading private equity investment firm with offices in San Francisco, New York, and London. Since its founding in 1984, H&F has raised over $35 billion of committed capital. The firm focuses on investing in superior business franchises and serving as a value-added partner to management in select industries including software, internet & media, financial services, business & information services, healthcare, energy & industrials and retail & consumer. For more information on Hellman & Friedman, please visit www.hf.com.
About HgCapital
HgCapital is a sector expert private equity investor, supporting management teams to grow industry champions. Deeply resourced sector teams focus on specific sub-sectors and investment themes to identify companies occupying an established market position, and which have the potential to grow faster than their market, create employment and become the leader in their industry. HgCapital’s dedicated portfolio management team provides practical support to management teams to help them realize their growth ambitions. HgCapital invests in expanding segments of the TMT, Services, Industrials, Healthcare and Renewable Energy sectors across Western Europe.
Based in London and Munich, HgCapital manages over £5 billion for some of the world’s leading institutional and private investors. For further details, please see www.hgcapital.com.
About Bain Capital
Bain Capital is one of the world’s foremost privately-held alternative investment firms, with approximately $75 billion of assets under management in several pools of capital including private equity, venture capital, public equity, and credit products. Bain Capital’s more than 400 professionals are collectively the single largest investor in all of its funds and its private equity team is dedicated to investing in and building its portfolio companies. Founded in 1984, Bain Capital has made private equity, growth, and venture capital investments in more than 450 companies around the world, and has deep experience across key vertical industries including consumer and retail, financial and business services, healthcare, industrials, and technology, media and telecommunications.
Having first established its European presence 15 years ago, Bain Capital Private Equity now has local offices in London, Munich and Luxembourg.
Media Contacts
Hellman & Friedman
Hugh Morrison / Charlotte McMullen
Montfort Communications
+44 (0) 7921 881800
morrison@montfort.london / mcmullen@montfort.london
HgCapital
Jean-Baptiste Brian
+44 (0)20 7089 7888
Maitland
Jamie Dunkley
+44 (0)20 7379 5151
Bain Capital
Ed Gascoigne-Pees / Hazel Stevenson
Camarco
+44 (0) 203 757 4984 / 89
ed.gascoigne-pees@camarco.co.uk / hazel.stevenson@camarco.co.uk
Neither the contents of HgCapital’s, HgCapital Trust’s or Hellman & Friedman’s websites or Bain Capital’s nor the contents of any website accessible from hyperlinks on the websites (or any other website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.