Axcel acquires Loopia and Active 24 from Visma

The deal marks the sixth investment from Axcel's latest buyout vehicle, Axcel V, which held a final close on its hard-cap of €617m in April 2018.

Axcel plans to expand the company, which offers web domains, shared web hosting and IT services, in existing markets by increasing sales of its services, as well as through consolidation in existing and new geographic markets.

Visma has been under private equity ownership since 2006, when it was acquired in a NOK 4.32bn take-private by HgCapital 5. In October 2010, KKR acquired a 76.9% stake in the company, reducing Hg's stake to 17.7% in a NOK 11bn EV deal. Four years later, Cinven invested in the company alongside KKR and HgCapital (now trading as Hg), splitting the ownership stakes at 31.3% each, with management holding the balance.

KKR agreed to sell its entire stake to a consortium of investors led by Hg, in a deal valuing the business at NOK 45bn, in June 2015.

Visma and Dutch HR software developer Raet, both backed by Hg, are set to merge, according to a recent report by Unquote sister publication Debtwire. Visma has launched a €300m term loan add-on financing to syndication towards the €623.1m acquisition of Raet, according to the Debtwire report, which cited three sources familiar with the situation.

Company
Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Västerås, Sweden, the company is a mass hosting provider offering domains, shared web hosting and services to around 350,000 small and medium-sized businesses.

Products are sold through the Loopia brand in Sweden and through the Active 24 brand in the Czech Republic with sales in other European markets including Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain and the UK.

People
Axcel – Christian Bamberger Bro (partner).
Visma – Øystein Moan (CEO).
Loopia, Active 24 – John Hugosson (CEO).

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