Paragon buys Unicepta

The company's management has retained a minority stake and will remain in control of strategy.

Paragon drew equity for the transaction from its €412m buyout fund, which held a final close in July 2014.

Debt funds were pitching up to 5.5x leverage to support bids from two private equity firms and a French sponsor, according to a report by Unquote sister publication Debtwire.

The vendors were targeting a valuation in excess of 10x the company's €6m EBITDA, according to the report.

Unicepta reported annual sales growth rate of 18% for the last 10 years, resulting in a turnover of €32m for 2017.

Company
Unicepta was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Cologne. The company provides media monitoring, media analysis, digital consulting and communication consulting for around 350 clients worldwide. It has 700 employees across its offices in Cologne, Berlin, Stuttgart, Washington, Shanghai and Krakow.

People
Paragon Partners – Krischan von Moeller (founding partner).
Unicepta – Claas Sandrock (managing partner).

Advisers
Company – William Blair (corporate finance); P+P Pöllath + Partners (legal).

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