Hg announces further investment in team.blue

RNS Number : 4360R

HgCapital Trust PLC

06 July 2022

 

Hg, the Manager of HgCapital Trust plc ("HGT"), today announces a further investment in team.blue, a leading digital enabler for companies and entrepreneurs across Europe.

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

As a result of the transaction, HGT will make a net investment of approximately £16.4 million in the business, with other institutional clients of Hg investing alongside HGT through the Hg Genesis Funds.

This transaction values HGT's existing investments in team.blue at £51.3 million. This would represent an uplift of £8.8 million (21% or 1.9 pence per share over the carrying value of £42.5 million in the Net Asset Value ("NAV") of HGT at 31 March 2022.

Note that these figures only relate to HGTs share of Hg's overall investment in team.blue.

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

Based on the 31 March 2022 reported NAV, the pro-forma NAV of the Trust is expected to be £2.1 billion (or 456.4 pence per share). HGT's available liquid resources, which includes the undrawn bank facility of £250 million for future deployment, are estimated to be £455 million (22% of the 31 March 2022 pro-forma NAV of £2.1 billion).

The investment will reduce HGT's outstanding commitments to invest in Hg transactions to approximately £573 million (27% of the pro-forma 31 March 2022 NAV).

team.blue strengthens leadership team and prepares for further expansion

team.blue, a leading digital enabler for companies and entrepreneurs across Europe, today announces that it has received further investment and continued support from Hg, a leading software and services investor

The investment will help to supercharge the business and enable team.blue to implement ambitious plans for further expansion in its product offering of online solutions, as well as increase its local presence across more countries in Europe

team.blue is bringing additional capacity and capability into its executive management team by appointing a new CEO, President and Executive Chair.

In 2019, team.blue was created with the merger of three European hosting groups: Combell Group, TransIP Group, and Register Group. Since it was formed in 2019, the group has scaled significantly, acquired complementary businesses and has expanded its operations to four more countries and across multiple new online solutions such as privacy and compliance tools, e-commerce, agency solutions and web site development.

team.blue is also bringing additional capacity and capability into its executive management team. Claudio Corbetta, previously CEO of one of the founding members of team.blue and currently deputy CEO of the Group will become CEO of the business.  Jonas Dhaenens will move to a role of President and Dawn Marriott will be appointed as Executive Chair.

Working together, the Executive Team will leverage on decades of industry and sector experience focusing on further enhancing team.blue's world class operations, executing an ambitious M&A strategy across Europe and developing value creation projects across the Group.

Claudio Corbetta brings more than 25 years of experience to team.blue in leadership roles that have transformed brands meeting the online needs of the small business community.

"At team.blue, we have amazing people across multiple countries, and they are the real reason why millions of businesses choose us. We speak our customers' languages and understand their cultures and local needs. We use this local connection to customise products and services so we are there for our customers at all times. This strengthening of the team and continued long-term backing of Hg will enable us to continue to achieve this through organic expansion and acquisitions into different regions, whilst also expanding our online solutions." Claudio Corbetta, CEO at team.blue

As a founder of team.blue, Jonas Dhaenens has delivered a successful growth strategy, fuelling impressive growth and forging new paths into emerging segments set to play a critical role in the group's evolution.

"Over the past 20 years, team.blue has become a digital champion offering online solutions to millions of European SMEs. Today marks the beginning of a new phase in the evolution of team.blue and I am personally excited to focus on spending more time with ambitious entrepreneurs across Europe looking to join the team.blue ecosystem." Jonas Dhaenens, President at team.blue

Dawn Marriott is a serial CEO and Chair, having worked at several global technology and service businesses, focused on best-in-class, senior operations. Dawn will focus on implementing an ambitious value creation plan across team.blue.

"team.blue is full of dedicated, knowledgeable, innovative and collaborative people, which is exactly what we need in order to deliver world class products to our customers. Combining this with high quality support is key to fulfil our purpose, to help our customers achieve their business potential by connecting them with the world. I am incredibly proud and excited to be part of this brilliant team." Dawn Marriott, Executive Chair at team.blue

Hg has a history of backing entrepreneurs and businesses that provide digital and online services to SMEs, creating industry champions by scaling platforms internationally, through transformational M&A and organic growth, backed by Hg's sector experience and operational support.

"team.blue have built an exceptional business addressing the need for SMEs to digitise and provide more services online. We look forward to the next phase for the business, as team.blue expands into new, adjacent products to offer its customers, whilst embarking on an ambitious value creation plan to accelerate several commercial initiatives around product and technology." Nick Jordan and Joris Van Gool, Partners at Hg

The terms of the transaction have not been disclosed and completion is subject to 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 and team.blue websites are not incorporated into, and do not form part of, this announcement.

 

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