Hg announces investment in IFS and WorkWave

RNS Number : 6147G

HgCapital Trust PLC

30 March 2022

 

Hg, the Manager of HgCapital Trust plc ("HGT"), today announces an investment in IFS and WorkWave.

The terms of the transaction are not disclosed. The investment is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions.

HgCapital Trust plc will invest approximately £114.2 million in IFS and WorkWave, with other institutional clients of Hg investing alongside HGT through the Hg Saturn Funds.

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

Note that these figures only relate to HGTs share of Hg's overall investment in IFS and WorkWave.

HGT's liquid resources available for future deployment (including all announced transactions, equity raised via tap issuance and undrawn bank facility) are estimated to be £318 million (16% of the pro-forma 28 February 2022 NAV of £2.0 billion).

The investment will reduce HGT's outstanding commitments to invest in Hg transactions to approximately £792 million (40% of the pro-forma 28 February 2022 NAV).

Hg joins EQT and TA Associates as investors in IFS and WorkWave

· Hg will become a significant minority investor, in a transaction valuing IFS and WorkWave at $10bln USD.

· EQT to remain the majority shareholder, with TA as a significant minority shareholder.

· EQT, Hg, and TA will form a trio of world-class investors with decades of software experience, backing IFS and WorkWave for their next wave of growth.

London, England - March 30, 2022 - IFS , the global cloud software company, today announced that Hg, a leading software and services investor, has agreed to become a significant minority shareholder in IFS and WorkWave. Long-term investor EQT remains the majority shareholder, with Hg and TA Associates as significant minority shareholders. The transaction values IFS and WorkWave at $10bln USD and sets both companies up to further grow their position as leading players in growing sectors.

IFS is the software vendor for organizations who want to differentiate on service. The IFS Cloud platform is fully composable, with a broad industry depth, and packed with innovation so that companies can be their best when it matters to their customers - at the Moment of Service. With thousands of the world's most respected brands as customers, IFS is a recognized provider across multiple sectors including Service Management (both Field Service Management and Enterprise Service Management), Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). WorkWave's suite of products empower service-oriented companies in its target verticals to reach their full potential through scalable, cloud-based software solutions that support every stage of a business life cycle, including marketing, sales, service delivery, customer interaction and financial transactions.

Following consecutive years of consistent growth at both IFS and WorkWave, the combined investment from EQT, TA and Hg, an investor with over 20 years' focus on software business across Europe and North America, will help the companies further accelerate growth organically and inorganically through acquisition.

Darren Roos, CEO of IFS and Chairman of WorkWave, said: "We're proud to have built two amazing software brands - and we continue to go from strength-to-strength. We are structured to scale, we have outstanding technology, and our people and partners remain obsessed with our customers' success. These have been the foundations of our success at both IFS and WorkWave, and now with the additional backing and software expertise of Hg alongside EQT and TA, we have the ability to accelerate even faster."

Nic Humphries, Senior Partner and Head of the Saturn funds at Hg, said: "We have spent well over 20 years with a strong focus on enterprise software. As a result we have followed IFS' success for several years and recognize it as a very high-quality cloud business. Its consistent performance and growth are a result of a compelling and differentiated proposition, built by a strong management team led by Darren. Both IFS and WorkWave offer very strong cloud products in verticals which are growing rapidly and we therefore see clear runway for sustained growth for the business."

Johannes Reichel, Partner at EQT added: "IFS is well positioned to take advantage of several global thematic trends, including customer wanting to digitalize their core operations enabling them to deliver even better service to their customers as well as more sustainable usage of their resources and assets. We believe there are long-term growth opportunities that IFS can capitalize on, especially with the combined support of EQT, Hg and TA helping fuel growth."

Naveen Wadhera, Managing Director at TA, said: "As industries and enterprises push to digitize and streamline their core operations, it presents even greater opportunity for innovative software leaders. We have been impressed by IFS' and WorkWave's strategic response to this market opportunity and believe the companies are well positioned for sustainable, accelerated growth, with a focus on strengthening product capabilities and expanding in targeted industry verticals. We are thrilled to continue supporting the development journey of IFS and WorkWave, together with Darren and the management team, EQT and now Hg."

The transaction is subject to customary conditions and approvals and is expected to close during Q3 2022.

Arma Partners acted as exclusive financial adviser to the sellers on this transaction alongside White & Case (legal), Kirkland & Ellis (legal) and PwC (financial and tax).

For further details:

Hg

Tom Eckersley   [phone]

HgCapital Trust

Laura Dixon  [phone]

Brunswick

Samantha Chiene  [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, IFS, EQT and TA's websites are not incorporated into, and do not form part of, this announcement.

 

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