Gimv backs MBO of Luciad

The new financing will enable Luciad to begin targeting the air traffic management market with its system solutions software. It will also start developing solutions to cater to the real-time civil applications industry, such as oil & gas, telecoms and mining.

Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed, however Gimv has confirmed that the amount paid for its majority stake in Luciad was in the form of an all-equity ticket.

According to Gimv, the deal was sourced through an investment bank. Luciad's "ample growth potential" and future-proof product portfolio were the main motivations behind the GP's investment.

Debt
No debt was provided for the transaction.

Company
Luciad, which was founded in 1999 as a spin-off from University KU Leuven, is based in Leuven with additional offices in Paris, Ankara in Turkey and Reston in the US. The company employs 80 staff and generated turnover of €11.3m in 2012.

Luciad supplies software designed to aid in the development of situational awareness systems for system integrators. Situational awareness is used by air traffic control, military command and the emergency services to hold a detailed and up-to-date knowledge of an environment through a continuous stream of data that captures any variables or changes in the area.

Luciad's software provides both data processing and analysis in regard to geographical information through the use of sensors such as satellites and radar. Its clients include Eurocontrol, Nato, Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

People
Marc Melviez is the CEO of Luciad. Tom Van de Voorde is a partner at Gimv. Van de Voorde, along with associate Nick Medaer and chief legal officer Edmond Bastijns, worked on the deal for the GP. Gimv's representative on Luciad's board of directors has not yet been appointed.

Advisers
Equity - Grant Thornton (Financial due diligence, tax); Stibbe (Legal).

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Buyouts
• Benelux
• Technology
• Belgium
• Gimv