Oakley to combine Grupo Primavera with Silver Lake’s Cegid

The transaction will see Oakley Capital Fund III increase its stake in Madrid-headquartered Grupo Primavera and roll over its equity into Cegid, according to a press release. Oakley Capital become a minority shareholder in the combined company alongside Cegid’s investors KKR and AltaOne. Oakley Capital will receive shares in the new business worth approximately EUR 500m, according to a source familiar.

The consortium of investors will work with Cegid CEO Pascal Houillon, Grupo Primavera CEO Santiago Solanas, and the rest of the management team, according to a press release.

The combination establishes Cegid’s leadership in Iberia and allows Grupo Primavera to leverage Cegid’s presence in Latin America to expand. The combined group will have pro forma revenues in the Iberia region of more than EUR 150m this year.

Cegid, a global leading provider of cloud business management solutions, has a strong foothold in countries including France, Portugal, Spain and is present in 12 other countries selling in more than 130 countries.

In December 2021, Mergermarket reported that Cegid’s owners could pursue a mid-term IPO.

Oakley Capital invested in the group via Oakley Capital Private Equity III, which held a final close on EUR 800m in September 2017. The fund targets mid-market companies with an enterprise value of EUR 60-300m in western Europe, according to Unquote Data.

The sponsor acquired Ekon is 2019 as standalone platform, which went on to snap up another 11 companies, including Pimavera Business Software Solutions in June 2021 to form Group Primavera.

Cegid was taken private in 2016 by Silver Lake and AltaOne in a EUR 580m deal. In June 2021, KKR acquired a minority stake in Cegid, in a deal that valued the company at EUR 5.5bn, according to Unquote Data.

Founded in 1983, Lyon-based Cegid provides cloud business management solutions for finance, human resources, retail and entrepreneurial sectors, among others. It has 3,600 staff across 15 countries, according to its website. It has 350,000 clients and posted revenues of EUR 632m in 2021, according to the press release.

Oakley Capital declined to comment.

Company
Grupo Primavera has 800 employees across five countries and posted revenues of EUR 76m in 2021. The company provides cloud-based software solutions to 165,000 customers. It offers invoicing, accounting, and enterprise resource planning to small businesses and mid-market segments across Spain, Portugal, and Africa.

People
Oakley Capital – Peter Dubens (partner).
Silver Lake – Christian Lucas (co-head, EMEA; vice-chairman of the board of directors).
KKR – Jean-Pierre Saad (partner).
AltaOne Capital – Shahriar Tadjbakhsh (managing partner).
Grupo Primavera – Santiago Solanas (CEO).
Cegid – Pascal Houillon (CEO).

Advisers
Vendor (Oakley Capital) – Paul Hastings (legal)

 

[Editor's note: The article has been updated post publication to add legal advisory details for the vendor.]

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