Hg sells Foundry to Roper Technologies for £410m

Kenny Wastell
19 March 2019

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Hg has sold UK-based visual effects software developer Foundry to listed US trade buyer Roper Technologies for ТЃ410m.

The sale brings to an end a four-year holding period for the vendor, which was invested in the business via £2bn vehicle HgCapital 7.

Goldman Sachs, Atairos and Charterhouse Capital Partners were also involved in the bidding process for the company, Unquote understands.

Under Hg's tenure, the business has invested in product development, with a particular focus on its digital design division. It also recruited former Capita software executive director Craig Rodgerson as CEO in 2017.

According to publicly available documents, Foundry's ultimate parent company, The Foundry Topco No 2, generated underlying EBITDA of £13.3m from revenues of £43.9m in 2017, up from £9.3m EBITDA and £39.1m turnover in 2016.

Hg hired M&A adviser Arma Partners to sell the asset, which marks the third time Arma has advised the business following its £77m sale to Carlyle in 2011 and subsequent £200m sale to Hg in 2015.

Previous funding
Foundry first received backing from private equity in 2009, when Advent Venture Partners invested in its management buyout.

Carlyle then acquired the business from Advent in 2011, in a transaction reportedly worth £75-100m.

Hg acquired Foundry from Carlyle for an enterprise value of £200m in 2015.

Company
Founded in 1996, London-headquartered Foundry is a provider of visual effects software for use in media production and design. Its clients include media production companies Pixar, ILM, MPC, Walt Disney Animation and Weta Digital, in addition to corporates including Mercedes, New Balance, Adidas and Google.

The business has a headcount of 300 and serves 6,000 customers in 100 countries, according to a statement. It has additional offices in Manchester and Austin, and also employs staff in China, Japan, Australia and continental Europe.

People
Hg – Nic Humphries (senior partner).
Foundry – Craig Rodgerson (CEO).

Advisers
Company – Arma Partners (corporate finance); Skadden (legal); Deloitte (tax).