Axcel buys Conscia from Via Venture

Axcel partner Christian Bamberger Bro confirmed to unquote" the value of the deal is in excess of DKK 500m and was made through the GP's 2010-vintage DKK 4.6bn Axcel IV fund. He also said the deal had been proprietary, with Axcel reaching out to Conscia.

VVP will fully exit its 35% stake in Conscia, with Axcel taking 80% of the company's shares and management holding the remaining 20%. The exit comes less than three years after VVP backed Conscia, in a December 2012 deal that valued the company at DKK 212m.

The new investment will support the company's plans for international growth, particularly in Scandinavia, with thr aim to increase revenue from the current DKK 550m to DKK 1bn within five years.

For Axcel, the buyout is the firm's first since acquiring Silkeborg Data in December 2013 and follows a period in which the GP sold off underperforming portfolio companies, including clothes retailer Noa Noa, Vital Petfood Group, hardwood flooring manufacturer Junckers and furniture logistics company LGT Logistics.

However, the same period also saw Axcel fully exit its extraordinary success story, Pandora, selling off its final 4% stake for five times what it had originally paid for the entire company. This put the total return for Pandora at a reported 40x money.

In the past six months, Axcel has also experienced a very public struggle in finding a successor to 63-year-old managing partner Christian Frigast. The saga culminated with the CEO of publisher Egmont, Steffen Kragh, backing out of a contract to succeed Frigast at the last minute.

Axcel is now supposedly close to securing Frigast's replacement. This will allow the GP to focus on raising its next fund, which is rumoured to launch in the second half of this year or early 2016. The GP has raised all of its previous funds at five-year intervals, launching its previous two vehicles in 2005 and 2010, respectively.

Debt
Nordea provided an all-senior debt package for the transaction, which there is currently no plans to syndicate.

Previous funding
Via Venture Partners backed Conscia in December 2012, investing in return for a 35% stake in the company.

Company
Conscia is a Danish company providing IT network, mobility and security services.

Founded in 2003, the company posted revenues of DKK 550m last year with profits of around DKK 50m.

The company is based in Brøndby, west of Copenhagen, and employs a workforce of around 65.

People
Axcel partner Christian Bamberger Bro led the deal for the acquirer. Jakob Rybak-Andersen is a partner at Via Venture Partners and board member of Conscia. Mogens Branholm is the CEO of Conscia.

Advisers
Equity – PwC (Financial due diligence); Gorrissen Federspiel (Legal)

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• Unq2015June