Hg increases stake in Visma, valued at $12.2bn

Katharine Hidalgo
21 August 2020

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Hg has increased its stake in software company Visma, which has been valued at $12.2bn.

Hg Saturn 2 will provide the majority of the new invested capital to acquire a further stake in Visma from a group of current investors, including Montagu, which will fully exit the business. Hg's Genesis 7 fund will also reduce its holding in Visma.

Hg Saturn 2 held an interim close on $4bn in March 2020, while Hg Genesis 7 closed on £2bn in April 2013. The latter fund has LPs including the BBC Pension Scheme and the Cambridge University Endowment Fund. Net IRR for the fund was 14.96% as of September 2019, according to Unquote Data.

New investors Warburg Pincus and TPG will invest in the business for the first time, acquiring minority stakes. Existing investor CPPIB will also acquire an additional stake, alongside other current co-investors in the business, including General Atlantic, which invested earlier in 2020.

The transaction will leave Hg with a 54% stake in the business, with co-investors GIC, ICG, CPPIB, Warburg Pincus, TPG, General Atlantic and management.

Previous funding
Hg led the de-listing of Visma from the Oslo Stock Exchange in 2006 and has been the lead or co-lead investor in Visma for the last 14 years. The GP acquired Visma 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 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.

In April 2019, Cinven made a final realisation of its investment in Visma, selling a €750m stake to Hg and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) at a €6.5bn valuation.

Company
Headquartered in Oslo and founded in 1996, Visma is a provider of enterprise software focusing on HR, accounting and management systems. It employs 11,000 people.

People
Hg – Nic Humphries (senior partner).

Advisers
Equity – Arma Partners (corporate finance); Jefferies (corporate finance); Carnegie Investment Bank (corporate finance);
Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom (legal); Kirkland & Ellis (legal); Deloitte (corporate finance); EY (financial due diligence, tax); Alvarez & Marsal (operational due diligence); OC&C (commercial due diligence).
Vendor – Goldman Sachs (corporate finance); BofA Securities (corporate finance); ABG Sundal Collier (corporate finance); Linklaters (legal); Wiersholm (legal); Deloitte (financial due diligence); Crosslake (IT due diligence); OC&C (commercial due diligence).