Puzzel sponsor Marlin approaches buyers for exit via William Blair

The sellside has been speaking to sponsors for several months about a possible sale of the Norway-based call-centres-as-a-service (CcaaS) provider, one of the sources said.

No final decision has been made on when a formal sale will launch, one of the sources said. A sector consultant familiar with the process added that the process is likely to begin in the autumn.

At the time of publication, Puzzel has a score of 54 on Mergermarket's Likely to Exit (LTE) predictive algorithm*, particularly driven by the asset being held for longer than the median period for similar funds, and that it has been 289 days since its last loan was obtained.

The company recorded FY21 revenue of NOK 222.8m (EUR 20m) and a loss of NOK 16.5m, according to most recent company accounts. It reported NOK 235.4m in both long- and short-term debt. 

Marlin acquired Puzzel on 3 May 2019 from Herkules Capital. Since then, Puzzel has made four bolt-on acquisitions: UK-based Logicalware in 2019; UK-based U-WFM in 2020; Sweden-based Vergic in 2021; and, most recently, Swedish tech company S2 Communications in November 2022.

Headquartered in Oslo, Puzzel was originally formed in 2017 through a spin-off of Intelecom Group, according to its website. Puzzel now serves clients across Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the UK, Finland and Bulgaria via several subsidiaries. 

Marlin Equity Partners and Puzzel did not respond to requests for comment. William Blair declined to comment.

*Mergermarket's LTE predictive analytics assign a score to sponsor-backed companies to help track and predict when an exit could occur through M&A, an IPO, a direct listing or a deSPAC transaction.

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