NEXNET GmbH (Germany) - Dec 2007

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01 December 2007

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On December 28, 2007, Cipio Partners sold its portfolio company NEXNET GmbH to strategic investor MR.NET services GmbH & Co KG. Financial terms were not disclosed. The trade sale to MR.NET represents a successful realisation from Cipio Partners’ Cipio Partners Fund I, a 2004 vintage secondary direct fund, significantly contributing to this fund’s top quartile performance.

Cipio Partners had initially invested in NEXNET in Q3 2004. During the three years of its investment, NEXNET achieved strong growth in revenues and profitability, penetrated new verticals and expanded its services portfolio into the very large debt collection market. In 2007, having successfully implemented its original investment thesis, Cipio Partners decided to exit NEXNET through a targeted sale process involving a small group of strategic buyers. Privately held MR.NET services, one of the fastest growing European outsourcing service providers to the telecommunications, cable and utility markets, had approached Cipio early in 2007 to discuss a possible combination. During the ensuing discussions, MR.NET emerged as the logical buyer of NEXNET, offering both significant operational synergies as well as an exciting future for the combined entity with more than 140 employees, revenues of greater than €45m and a list of blue-chip customers.

Berlin-based NEXNET was founded in 2000 and is a provider of billing, receivables management and debt collection services to the telecommunications and cable markets. The company currently manages more than 5 million active customer accounts and employs a staff of approximately 100. In 2006, NEXNET generated revenues of €14.6m up from approximately €13.3m in 2005. Dr Hans-Dieter Koch and Christoph Wedegaertner managed the transaction for Cipio Partners.

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Equity - Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, Bernd Mayer, Carsten Böhm (Legal)