Aksìa-backed Covisian bolts on Grupo GSS

Unquote understands that the deal was financed with equity drawn from Aksìa Capital IV fund and a debt package provided by a pool of banks composed of Crédit Agricole, BNL-BNP Paribas Italy and Banco BPM.

According to the deal, GSS shareholders reinvested in Covisian and acquired a small minority stake in the company.

Following this acquisition, Covisian expects to reach revenues of €300m and employ a staff of 14,000 people across 12 countries in Europe and the Americas.

Aksía acquired and merged contact centre companies Contacta and Visiant Contact through simultaneous management buyouts in 2016, and subsequently renamed the group Covisian. As part of the transaction, the GP retained a 55% stake in the merged business, while existing shareholders of the two target companies acquired the remaining 45% stake. The firm deployed capital from its Aksía Capital IV Fund, which held a final close on €110m in April 2016. 

Grupo GSS is the fifth bolt-on inked by Covisian, following the acquisitions of Italian customer management specialist RBS; credit collection company CSS; CRM digital system developer Vivocha; and Telesurvey.

Company
Bilbao-based Grupo GSS is a customer care and client management service for financial businesses, and has a presence in Spain, Latin America and the US. The company employs 7,700 staff and generated revenues of €120m in 2018.

People
Aksìa Group – Marco Rayneri (partner); Sara Perillo (investment director).
Covisian – Antonio Turroni (CEO).
Grupo GSS – Cesar López Perez (CEO).

Advisers
Acquirer – Garrigues (legal); Accinni Cartolano e Associati (legal); De Luca & Partners (legal); EY (tax).
Company – Clairfield International (corporate finance); Lincoln International (corporate finance); Simmons & Simmons (legal).

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• Topics
• Expansion
• Southern Europe
• Support services
• Aksia Group
• Spain
• Italy
• Build-up
• Buy-and-build
• EY (Ernst & Young)
• Lincoln International