Hg-backed Visma weighs sale of Custom Solutions division

Auri Aittokallio , Ryan Gould and Charlie Taylor-Kroll
09 May 2022

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Business software and IT provider Visma is exploring a sale of its Custom Solutions business, four sources familiar with the matter said.

The Oslo, Norway-based group, which is backed by buyout group Hg, invited investment banks to pitch for the sale mandate in recent weeks, according to three of the sources.

Visma Custom Solutions generates approximately EUR 50m in EBITDA, three of the sources said. In the event of a sale, it could be valued in the region of EUR 700m-EUR 900m, two of these sources and another of the sources added.

The asset is likely to attract interest from both sponsors and trade buyers, one of the sources said.

Visma Custom Solutions is formed of several branches, which, according to the company's website, work closely together to develop bespoke solutions to clients. The branches include Visma Consulting, Visma bWise, Visma Digital Commerce, Visma Digital Marketing, Avento, Giant Leap, Create Solutions and Concepts Consulting.

Visma is exploring the sale of the business as a part of a strategy to carve out non-core assets before a potential IPO, two of the sources and a sector banker said. The IPO could take place before summer 2023, one of the sources added.

Last year, a Visma spokesperson was quoted in a news report saying that the company could float in 2023 but a more specific timeline for the potential listing was not given.

The entry of a new group of minority investors in the business, including Aeternum Capital and Folketrygdfondet, the Norwegian government pension fund, in September 2021 valued the business at NOK 165bn (EUR 16.5bn).

Visma's LTM revenue (as of February) stood at EUR 2.2bn. It has over 15,000 employees and 1.2 million customers, according to its website.

Hg first invested in Visma in 2006, making a partial realisation in 2010, followed by reinvestments in the company in 2014 and 2017.

Visma was established in Oslo in 1996 through the merger of MultiSoft, SpecTec and Dovre Information Systems. Under its current ownership structure, Hg holds 54.8% of the company, with the remainder held by GIC (18.1%), CPP Investments (6.1%), Warburg Pincus (4.7%), ICG (3.3%), TPG (3.1%), General Atlantic (1.7%), Folketrygdfondet (0.6%) Aeternum (0.6%) and Vind (0.4%).

It offers enterprise software for private and public sector organisations, including for accounting, invoicing, procurement, school administration, and human resources, and financial management, as well as consulting services. It operates across the entire Nordic region as well as the Benelux and Central and Eastern Europe.

Visma is an active market consolidator, and so far, this year alone has made 14 acquisitions, according to Mergermarket data. The company was in talks with tens of potential targets and had a list of around 1,000 potential targets, Head of M&A Sindre Talleraas Holen said in an interview with Mergermarket in 2020.

Visma and Hg did not respond to requests for comment.