EQT buys majority stake in Thinkproject from TA

The deal remains subject to competition authority approval and is expected to complete by the end of 2020.

TA, Bachmaier and Thinkproject's management will reinvest as part of the transaction, according to a statement.

The deal values Thinkproject at more than €700m, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Unquote sister publication Mergermarket reported in November 2020 that bids in the sale process were due to be collected by 9 November. Thinkproject's 2020 EBITDA was estimated at €30m and the company was expected to generate a valuation of more than 20x.

According to Unquote sister publication Debtwire, unitranche leverage bids were expected to be around 7x, while senior leverage would be in the 5-5.5x range.

TA acquired a majority stake in the company in December 2016. NIBC and SEB provided senior debt financing to back the buyout, according to Debtwire. At the time, TA was deploying via vehicles including TA XII, which held a final close in June 2015 on $5.3bn. The deal was valued in the €25-50m range, according to Unquote Data.

During the investment period, Thinkproject made a number of add-on acquisitions in Europe, New Zealand and the UK, including Germany-based Conclude.

EQT plans to support Thinkproject's expansion to new geographies and products, and also intends to support further add-ons for the company.

EQT is investing via EQT IX, which was announced in January 2020. The fund is expected to be 15-20% deployed based on its target of €14.75bn. The vehicle has a hard-cap of €15m. The fund invested in Sweden-based IFS in July 2020 and Thinkproject will be its fifth investment. The fund deploys equity tickets of €150m-1bn.

Company
Founded in 2000 and based in Munich, Thinkproject is a software platform that helps companies manage construction and engineering projects. It offers nine cloud-based software products covering areas including workflow management, budget control and contract management. The business has 2,750 clients, according to a statement. Thinkproject's turnover grew by 25% between 2018 and 2019, according to a statement from the business. The company has 450 employees; it employed 200 staff at the time of TA Associates' investment in 2016.

People
EQT – Florian Funk (partner).
TA Associates – Morgan Seigler (managing director).
Thinkproject – Gareth Morgan (CEO); Ralf Gruesshaber (CFO).

Advisers
Equity – Milbank (legal).
Company – Arma Partners (corporate finance); Hengeler Mueller (legal); Travers Smith (legal).

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