Hg sells EidosMedia to Capza

Alessia Argentieri
04 May 2021

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Hg has sold its majority stake in Milan-based EidosMedia, a content management system specialist, to Capza.

Hg hired GCA Altium and Linklaters to run the sale of the company in February 2021, attracting the interest of Ardian and Capza, and marketing the company based on €6m EBITDA, according to Unquote sister publication Mergermarket.

Capza invested in the company alongside EidosMedia's management team, led by CEO Christian Pelanconi, who will continue to direct the company's operations.

The GP deployed equity from Capza 5 Flex Equity, which has a €500m target and a €700m hard-cap.

This is Capza's second deal in Italy, following its investment in Monviso, a producer of baked goods, in January 2018. The GP opened an office in Milan and appointed Stefano Zavattaro as head of Italy in January 2021.

Capza plans to support EidosMedia in expanding its customer base, developing new partnerships with system integrators in key geographies, investing in innovation across the entire product portfolio, and implementing the company's buy-and-build strategy.

The sale ends a six-year holding period for Hg, which acquired a majority stake in EidosMedia via its HgCapital 7 fund. The GP bought the company from Italian private equity firms Wise and Aksia Group at a multiple of 10x its 2014's EBITDA. HgCapital Trust contributed £8.3m to the deal, while EidosMedia's management team reinvested in the business.

Under Hg's ownership, the company transitioned to a software-as-a-service model and diversified its offering, while further expanding into the digital media, financial research and corporate segments.

Previous funding
Italian GP Wise invested in EidosMedia in November 2010 through its Wisequity III fund, alongside Aksia Group. They bought a 30% stake each, in a transaction that valued EidosMedia at around €70m, equal to an EBITDA multiple of 7x.

The management team retained the remaining 40% stake in the business. BPM and Meliorbanca provided a debt package of medium and long-term loans to support the transaction.

Company
Established in 1999, EidosMedia provides content management software to media, research and financial services companies.

EidosMedia's flagship product is Méthode, a digital publishing platform used by 30,000 journalists across 600 titles globally to create, customise and deliver content across print and web media channels.

EidosMedia's client base includes The Financial Times, Ouest France, Il Sole 24 Ore, News Corp, Funke Mediengruppe, Deutsche Post and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), as well as ratings agencies and investment banks.

Headquartered in Milan, the company employs 200 staff across its offices located in Italy, France, Germany, the UK, Australia, the US and China. It generates annual revenues of €29m, of which around 80% comes from outside of Italy.

People
Capza – Christophe Karvelis-Senn (founder, executive chair); Stefano Zavattaro (head of Italy).
EidosMedia – Christian Pelanconi (CEO).

Advisers
Acquirer – Gitti and Partners (legal); EY (financial due diligence); Value Partners (commercial due diligence); Lincoln International (debt advisory).
Vendor – GCA Altium (corporate finance); New Deal Advisors (financial due diligence); Linklaters (legal); Deloitte (tax).
Company – Scotto Partners (corporate finance).