Ardian readies Dedalus for controlling stake sale

Micaela Osella
28 March 2022

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Sponsor Ardian has appointed Morgan Stanley and UBS to sell its controlling stake in Dedalus, an Italian hospital software group, sources told this news service.

The auction is expected to kick off in the coming months with the distribution of teasers to both private equity firms and industry players, three sources close to and a source familiar with the situation said.

Dedalus generated EUR 210m EBITDA on EUR 750m of revenues in 2021, two of the sources close said. The company could reach a valuation of more than EUR 3.3bn given its solid performance and market position, the two sources added.

Ardian and Dedalus did not reply to requests for comment. UBS and Morgan Stanley declined to comment. Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), a minority shareholder in Dedalus, did not respond to requests for comment.

Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that Ardian was holding meetings with financial advisors as it assessed exit options for Dedalus.

In an interview in the Italian press earlier this month, Dedalus CEO Andrea Fiumicelli said the company is targeting EUR 1bn turnover and plans to take on 800 staff in Italy and abroad this year.

The group is strongly acquisitive, one source close said. Last year, it acquired Swiftqueue, a UK-based cloud-native appointment and scheduling solution provider, and Dobco Medical Systems, a Belgian cloud-native Enterprise Imaging provider backed by Fortino Capital Partners.

Between April and July 2021, Dedalus made another three buys: Amphi Systems, a Danish company specialising in the digitisation of health emergency processes; Dosing, a German provider of digitised SaaS medication safety solutions; and OSM, a German provider of laboratory information systems.

Ardian invested in Dedalus in July 2016. At the time, the company expected a turnover of approximately EUR 170m. In May 2021, the private equity unit of ADIA disclosed it had acquired a minority stake in Dedalus Holding from Ardian.