Hg buys P&I in €2bn deal

Permira has remained invested in P&I, retaining a substantial minority stake.

The transaction is the fourth investment from the Hg Saturn 1 Fund, which closed on £1.5bn in 2018. The fund targets companies with equity requirements of more than £500m and enterprise values in excess of £1bn. 

P&I is the sixth company focused on HR software in Hg's current portfolio, alongside Visma, Iris, Access Group, Citation Group and Allocate Software.

Previous funding
Hg initially invested in P&I in December 2013, marking the first investment from the HgCapital 7 fund. P&I was refinanced in January 2016, returning 0.6x original cost to the fund. In September of that same year, the GP sold the business to Permira. The sale generated a 2.3x money multiple and 36% IRR for Hg.  

At the time, Permira invested via its fifth fund, which closed on its €5.3bn hard-cap in 2014. 

The company has extended its R&D capabilities over the past few years, which includes the opening of a new R&D activity in Greece in 2017. As a result, P&I developed and introduced an integrated software-as-a-service platform.

Company
Founded in 1968 and based in Wiesbaden, P&I is a provider of cloud-based HR software services and manages a subscription-based platform. Its customers range from SMEs to large enterprises and public sector organisations, mainly in Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

The business posted a €62.4m EBITDA and generated a consolidated turnover of €133m in 2018/19, employing 430 people, according the a financial statement of the company. 

People
Hg – Justin von Simson (managing partner); Michael Biehl (Hg Saturn director); Carlo Pohlhausen (Hg Saturn principal).  
Personal & Informatik – Vasilios Triadis (CEO).
Permira – Jörg Rockenhäuser, Stefan Dziarski (partners).

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