Cinven buys majority stake in Think-Cell

Co-founders Markus Hannebauer and Arno Schödl will retain a minority stake in the business.

A source close to the situation told Unquote that the GP had followed Think-Cell for a number of years, establishing relationhips with its founders and their advisers.

The same source added that such market peers are generally valued at multiples of more than 10x revenue and 20x EBITDA.

Bloomberg reported that the company could be valued at more than €1bn, based on valuations of its listed market peers. 

Financing for the deal has been underwritten by banks, the same source said.

Cinven is investing in Think-Cell via its seventh buyout fund, which held a final close in May 2019 on €10bn. The fund makes investments of €200m and above and was 14% deployed as of October 2020, according to Unquote Data.

The GP said in a statement that it sees an opportunity to enhance the company’s sales and marketing, as well as potential to expand the company internationally.

Company
Think-Cell is headquartered in Berlin and was founded in 2002. The company’s software aims to allow users to create charts and graphs within PowerPoint. The company has 800,000 users, according to a statement. Think-Cell posted 2019 revenues of €88m, an increase of 13% on the previous year. The company generated EBIT of around €80m in 2019, an increase of 14% on the prior year.

People
Cinven – Bruno Schick (partner); Chris Good (partner).
Think-Cell – Markus Hannebauer (co-founder, CEO); Arno Schödl (co-founder, CTO).

Advisers
Equity – Freshfields (legal).

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• Buyouts
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• Cinven