Private equity firms circle Unit4

According to Unit4, the interested parties have offered to buy all outstanding shares in the company – around 29.7 million – for up to €35 per share.

Unit4 stressed that a sale is not yet concrete and that the company has engaged in exploratory discussions following the preliminary interest from private equity firms.

The company has appointed ING Corporate Finance and Oppenheimer Europe as financial advisers for the potential sale. De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek has been hired as legal adviser.

Unit4 was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Sliedrecht with several international offices. The company employs approximately 4,300 staff and recorded turnover of €469.8m in 2012 as well as an EBITDA of €86.2m, which represented increases of 5.4% and 3.2% from 2011 figures respectively.

The company develops business software and provides a range of support services for its customers. Unit4's software can be deployed either through the cloud or on premises. Customers can purchase either an "all-in-one" enterprise resource planning system or individual software systems, such as Consolidation and Cash, AccountAnalyser and Business Analytics.

Unit4's software is designed to minimise costs and provide simpler, faster solutions to the public and commercial sectors. The company has a client base of approximately 5,500 entities across 100 countries. Customers include Exeter College in the UK, City of Oslo council, Pacific International Lines, Teleca and Euronav.

Chris Ouwinga and José Duarte are joint CEOs of Unit4, while Ouwinga is also the company's president. In January next year, Ouwinga will take up the position of non-executive director and chairman of Unit4's supervisory board, with Duarte becoming sole CEO of the company.

Unit4 floated on the NYSE Euronext Amsterdam in 1998.

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