TA Associates, Partners Group buy Unit4 in $2bn deal

Following the deal, TA Associates will acquire a majority stake, while Partners Group will hold a minority. Unit4 CEO Mike Ettling will stay on with the business and continue to lead the company, supported by the existing management team.

Last February, Advent mandated Arma Partners to run the sale of Unit4, which attracted several private equity bidders. KKR, Apax and Hellman & Friedman reached the second round of the auction, while Bain Capital and CVC's offers were considered too low, according to Unquote sister publication Mergermarket.

The sale to TA Associates and Partners Group ends a seven-year holding period for Advent, which took Unit4 private from the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange in a €1.2bn deal.

Company
Established in 1980, Unit4 specialises in providing enterprise resource planning software to mid-market enterprises and organisations. It serves around 6,000 customers, primarily operating across the professional services, non-profit, higher-education and public sectors.

The company is headquartered in the Netherlands, with further offices in 26 countries across Europe, North America, the Asia-Pacific region and Africa.

Unit4 generates revenues of approximately €410m and EBITDA of around €110m, according to press reports.

People
TA Associates – Morgan Seigler (managing director).
Partners Group – Bilge Ogut (partner, global head private equity technology).
Unit4 – Mike Ettling (CEO).

Advisers
Vendor – Arma Partners (corporate finance); Evercore (corporate finance); De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek (legal).
Equity – Alvarez & Marsal (corporate finance); Kirkland & Ellis (legal).

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