HgCapital acquires Zitcom and ScanNet

RNS Number : 8030J

HgCapital Trust PLC

22 December 2015

 

22 December 2015

HgCapital, the Manager of HgCapital Trust plc ("The Trust"), has today announced investments in Zitcom and ScanNet, two leading Danish hosting and cloud solutions providers. The terms of the transactions were not disclosed.

HgCapital Trust plc will invest in Zitcom and ScanNet, alongside other institutional clients of HgCapital, who will participate through the Mercury TMT Fund. The Trust, whose shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange, gives private and institutional investors the opportunity to participate in all HgCapital's investments. The Trust will contribute a total of approximately £3.2 million.

The combined acquisitions of Zitcom and ScanNet represent the seventh investment by the Mercury TMT Fund and, following completion, the Fund will be approximately 45% invested.

Based on the 30 November 2015 reported NAV (including all announced transactions) the Trust's liquid resources available for future deployment are estimated to be £84.2 million (17% of the pro-forma 30 November 2015 NAV, excluding a £40 million standby facility). The transaction will reduce the Trust's outstanding commitments to invest in HgCapital deals to approximately £154 million (31% of the pro-forma 30 November 2015 NAV).

HgCapital announces investments in Zitcom and ScanNet

HgCapital has today announced investments in Zitcom and ScanNet, two leading Danish hosting and cloud solutions providers. The investment is being made in partnership with the Zitcom co-founder and CEO, Stefan Rosenlund.  The investment was made from HgCapital's Mercury Fund which focuses on growth buyouts in the technology sector across Europe. The terms of the transactions were not disclosed.

Zitcom was founded in 2000 and operates under the Wannafind, UnoEuro, Curanet and Zitcom brands. The business has demonstrated fifteen years of consistent revenue growth and provides cloud services to more than 100,000 business and private customers in Denmark. ScanNet was founded in 1995 and provides services to a further 13,000 customers. The combination of Zitcom and ScanNet will create a business with a leading position in both mass and managed hosting markets for SMEs in Denmark.

HgCapital's objective is to support the Zitcom and ScanNet management teams and employees in building a clear champion in Denmark, based on their excellent reputation for service delivery, unique operating platform and attractive multi-brand strategy.

Nick Jordan, a Director in the HgCapital Mercury team, said:

"Stefan and his team at Zitcom have built a highly differentiated hosting business in Denmark addressing attractive growth segments of the cloud solutions market. We are delighted to be supporting them to accelerate the development of the business and the combination with ScanNet is a key first step of this journey. HgCapital has a long track record of investing in SME-focused technology business in Denmark and the wider Nordic region and we are pleased to be adding Zitcom/ScanNet to this portfolio"

Stefan Rosenlund, CEO of Zitcom, said:

"With the investment from HgCapital, Zitcom has found the perfect partner to accelerate and continue our mission of delivering scalable and solid IT products from our state-of-the-art platform along with ScanNet. The investment will help my team and I to strengthen and grow our position in the Danish market and we couldn't be more excited about the endeavour ahead of us."

Bo Fallesen, Founder of ScanNet, said:

"We are very happy with this transaction that will create a clear Danish leader in the hosting industry. We could not have wished for a better ending of our ownership of ScanNet"

Nordic M&A acted as exclusive financial advisors to ScanNet A/S

Clearwater International acted as exclusive financial advisors to Zitcom A/S

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For further details:

HgCapital

Laura Dixon                                           [phone]

Maitland

Seda Ambartsumian                               [phone]

Tom Eckersley                                      [phone]

About HgCapital Trust plc

HgCapital Trust plc is an investment trust whose shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange (ticker: HGT.L). The Trust is a client of HgCapital, giving investors exposure to a portfolio of high-growth private companies, through a liquid vehicle. New investments and existing portfolio companies are managed by HgCapital, 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.

Neither the contents of HgCapital Trust's, HgCapital's, Zitcom's or ScanNet's websites 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.

 

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