Gilde exits Comcave in trade sale

The purchase will be financed from Amadeus Fire's balance sheet. Comcave has existing financial liabilities of €200m, the payment of which will be financed from the company's cash and cash equivalents, and a bridge loan of around €170m.

Gilde acquired a majority stake in Comcave in June 2014, deploying equity from Gilde Buyout IV, which held a final close in June 2010 on €800m and was fully deployed in March 2016. The fund will have five remaining portfolio companies following the exit from Comcave, according to Unquote Data.

The GP said in a statement that it invested in streamlining the company's processes and organisational setup during the investment period. It also assisted with Comcave's nationwide expansion in Germany from its regional roots in North Rhine-Westphalia, launching in 40 locations across the country.

Gilde had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.

Company
Comcave was founded in 2004 and is based in Dortmund. It offers advanced vocational and occupational retraining courses for adults in Germany. It offers courses through its proprietary learning system GECS. The group partners with companies including SAP, Oracle, Microsoft and IHK for the development of its courses. The courses principally target commercial and IT professionals, and qualifications offered include those within the marketing and multimedia sectors.

The group offers courses at 50 locations in Germany and also offers online instructor-led courses. It has 382 employees, according to LinkedIn. Comcave is expected to generate revenues of €60m in 2019 with an EBITDA margin of more than 25%.

People
Comcave – Thomas Surwald (CEO).
Amadeus Fire – Dennis Gerlitzki (COO).

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• Topics
• Exits
• DACH
• Consumer
• Trade sale
• Germany
• Gilde Buy Out Partners