Hg agrees the sale of itm8 to Axcel

RNS Number : 8243L

HgCapital Trust PLC

17 May 2022

 

Hg, the Manager of HgCapital Trust plc ("HGT"), today announces that it has agreed the sale of itm8, a leading supplier of IT services for private businesses and the public sector in Europe.

The terms of the transaction have not been disclosed and completion is subject to closing conditions.

HGT, whose shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange, gives private and institutional investors the opportunity to participate in all Hg's investments.

This transaction values HGT's investment in itm8 at approximately £33.4 million. This would represent an uplift of £4.2 million (14% or 0.9 pence per share) over the carrying value of £29.2 million in the Net Asset Value ("NAV") of HGT at 31 March 2022.

Note that these figures only relate to HgCapital Trust's share of Hg's overall investment in itm8.

Based on the 31 March 2022 reported NAV, the pro-forma NAV of the Trust is expected to be £2.0 billion (or 434.0 pence per share).  HGT's available liquid resources, which includes the undrawn bank facility of £250 million for future deployment (including all announced transactions, and the dividend payable in May) are estimated to be £380 million (19% of the 31 March 2022 NAV).

Hg agrees the sale of itm8 to Axcel

Together Hg and itm8 have more than doubled the size of the business,

creating a leading SME technology provider in Europe

Herning, Denmark and London, United Kingdom. 17 May 2022. Hg, a leading software and services investor, today announces that it has agreed the sale of itm8, a leading supplier of IT services for private businesses and the public sector in Europe, to Axcel, a Nordic private equity fund.

Today itm8 has a team of more than 1,100 IT experts, supporting more than 4,200 customers within four business-critical areas: Cloud Services, Digital Transformation, Application Services and Cyber Security.

itm8 (formerly IT Relation) has more than doubled in size since Hg first invested in 2018, as measured by revenues, employees and the size of its customer base.

Hg's focus and expertise in the SME Technology Services sector in Europe has supported itm8's growth by identifying and implementing several strategic initiatives. These include supporting the acquisition of 13 businesses to the group, all significantly adding to itm8's customer offering, enabling itm8 to complete an end-to-end offering to serve larger customers more effectively.

Henrik Kastbjerg, CEO of itm8, said: "Hg have been a valued partner who, with their extensive knowledge within IT services, have contributed to the scaling and professionalisation of our fast-growing company. It has been a great pleasure to work with the whole team. We wish the team all the best for the future."

Nick Jordan, Partner at Hg, said: "We wish the itm8 team well after what has been a truly effective and enjoyable partnership. For many years we had seen a clear opportunity to develop a high quality, single scale provider which could deliver a wide set of services to SMEs in the cloud. Henrik and his team had built an exceptional business to do this and there was a clear opportunity scale. It's been hugely satisfying to achieve this, and we are delighted that the business will continue to thrive with a new strategic partner."

Hg's investment in itm8 was consistent with Hg's focus on SME Technology Services in Europe, with other activity in this sector including investments in Zitcom (2015), Register (2017) and team.blue (2019), all providers of online hosting services to SMEs.

The terms of the transaction have not been disclosed and completion is subject to customary closing conditions.

For further details:

Hg

Tom Eckersley   [phone]

HGT

Laura Dixon  [phone]

Brunswick

Azadeh Varzi    [phone]

[e-mail]

About HgCapital Trust plc

HgCapital Trust plc, whose shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange (ticker: HGT.L), gives investors exposure through a liquid vehicle to a portfolio of high-growth private companies in the software and services sector. The selection of new investments and creation of value in these businesses are managed by Hg, 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.

The contents of the Hg, HgCapital Trust, itm8 and Axcel websites are not incorporated into, and do not form part of, this announcement.

 

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