Cornerstone and Oaktree buy IT Kontrakt

The transaction value was not disclosed, though Work Service will reap PLN 147m from the sale, which it will use to pay liabilities and expand the workforce of the core group. 

Work Service acquired a 75% stake in IT Kontrakt in May 2012 for PLN 52m and has since increased its holding to 95%.

Oaktree will take the lead on the transaction, drawing capital from Oaktree European Principal Fund IV to finance the deal. This is the second joint transaction in Poland by the partnership after the GPs teamed up to acquire ProService in March 2016.

Cornerstone partners exclusively with Oaktree to source, execute and support equity transactions in CEE countries.

Company
IT Kontrakt was founded in Wrocław in 2004. It creates and leases out specialised teams of IT professionals for large IT projects. It has been a part of the Work Service group, which provides a range of HR consulting and staff outsourcing services to corporate clients, since 2012. IT Kontrakt employs 1,340 people and generated a turnover of PLN 192m in 2016.

People
Oaktree Capital Management – Karim Khairallah (managing director).
Cornerstone Partners – Maciej Dyjas, Przemysław Krych (managing partners).
IT Kontrakt – Leszek Kowalczykiewicz (CEO).

Advisers
Equity – Weil Gotshal & Manges (legal); EY (financial due diligence, tax); PwC (commercial due diligence).
Vendor – Azimutus (M&A); CMS Cameron McKenna (legal).

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