EQUATIV acquired by BRIDGEPOINT

TA Associates and Montagu acquired a majority stake in Harvest from Five Arrows (Rothschild & Co), which had owned the company since 2019. Five Arrows successfully delisted the company in 2020 (valued at EUR120M then) and executed a rapid build-up strategy. The deal was competitive, with interest from Wendel and Cinven, and was structured primarily as an equity deal.

Summit Partners has finalized the landmark acquisition of a majority stake in Doctrine, representing the largest transaction to date in the French LegalTech ecosystem. The deal, valued above 100 million EUR, marks a significant entry for the US-based growth equity firm into the European legal intelligence market, utilizing its dedicated European investment vehicle. The transaction structure includes a minority reinvestment by Peugeot Invest, the family office of the Peugeot family, ensuring a continued French presence in the company’s capital. This strategic move facilitated the full exit of historical early-stage investors, including Kima Ventures and Frst, while allowing a significant portion of the company’s workforce to participate in the new equity structure. The strategic rationale for the investment is centered on accelerating Doctrine’s internationalization and supporting its expansion into European law services. Despite historical friction with traditional legal publishers, the company’s transition to institutional ownership validates its AI-driven model as a global industry standard.

The acquisition of Viasat Group by Targa Telematics is a strategic move aimed at creating a leading global player in the IoT and digital solutions market for connected mobility. The deal is expected to strengthen Targa Telematics' position in the Italian market and accelerate its European expansion, while also enhancing its capabilities in the development and implementation of innovative electronic solutions. The integration of Viasat Group's operations is anticipated to drive significant synergies, particularly in the areas of research and development, sales and marketing, and operational efficiency. The combined entity will have a strong presence in eight European countries, as well as a presence in Chile, and will be well-positioned to capitalize on the growing demand for connected mobility solutions. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, and is expected to be completed in the first half of 2023. The strategic rationale behind the deal is to create a global leader in the IoT and digital solutions market, with a comprehensive portfolio of products and services that cater to the evolving needs of the automotive and mobility sectors. The acquisition is expected to drive significant revenue growth, improve profitability, and enhance the combined entity's competitive position in the global market.

The Carlyle Group has entered into exclusive negotiations to acquire a majority stake in Lacour Group. This marks the first-ever opening of Lacour's capital since its 1985 inception. CEO Angelo Maida will significantly reinvest alongside Carlyle to remain a key stakeholder. The strategic rationale for the transaction is to transform Lacour from a French market leader into a pan-European champion through an aggressive external growth strategy. The deal is supported by a unitranche debt facility provided by Capza. Following the investment, Lacour aims to leverage Carlyle's expertise in software and automotive sectors to conquer adjacent markets and integrate innovative AI-driven features into its SaaS platform, targeting over €50 million in revenue for 2023.

This transaction involves the sale of 100% of Quanos Solutions by IK Partners (via the IK Small Cap II Fund) to Keensight Capital. The exit marks the culmination of a successful four-year holding period during which IK transformed three separate software entities into a unified, market-leading brand through a disciplined M&A and integration strategy. The strategic rationale for the acquisition by Keensight centers on the continued digitization of the industrial aftersales market and the potential for Quanos to expand its InfoTwin cloud platform globally. Keensight intends to support the existing management team in its next phase of growth, focusing on further international market penetration and opportunistic acquisitions.

NeoXam, a global provider of data management and transaction software for financial institutions, has entered a new strategic chapter following a majority investment from Eurazeo. Through its Small-Mid Buyout team, Eurazeo invested over �100 million in the company, facilitating the exit of historical partners Cathay Capital and Bpifrance, who had been shareholders since 2018.

PTC has signed a definitive agreement to acquire ServiceMax. The deal involves the full integration of ServiceMax’s field service management (FSM) capabilities into PTC’s broader digital thread portfolio, effectively extending the product lifecycle into post-sale customer operations. This acquisition is a cornerstone of PTC’s "closed-loop" PLM strategy. By adding ServiceMax, PTC gains the ability to connect the digital definition of a product (managed in PLM/CAD) with its actual performance and service history in the field (managed via FSM). The integration allows for a seamless flow of data where IoT solutions (ThingWorx) can trigger service orders in ServiceMax, while technicians can leverage 3D AR work instructions (Vuoforia) derived from the original CAD models (Creo). This comprehensive view allows manufacturers to close the loop between engineering and service, improving spare parts inventory management (Servigistics) and overall asset uptime.

This transaction is a secondary leveraged buyout, marking the transfer of absolute majority control from the exiting historical private equity syndicate back to a new lead financial sponsor. Following a highly competitive auction process meticulously managed by premier investment banks, the returning sponsor successfully secured exclusivity to execute the acquisition alongside the company's original financial sponsor and the deeply reinvested executive management team. To adequately capitalize this massive operation, the deal structure incorporates a substantial senior debt package, providing the optimal leverage required to support the target's ongoing aggressive expansion strategy and its transition toward broader mobility insights.

EcoVadis has raised $500 million in a global investment round co-led by Astorg and BeyondNetZero (General Atlantic), establishing the company as a "sustainability impact unicorn". The strategic rationale for the deal is to accelerate EcoVadis’ global scale-up, particularly in the US and Asian markets, and to bolster its AI and machine learning capabilities. The fresh capital will also be used to fund strategic acquisitions and deepen its sustainability intelligence offering, such as Scope 3 carbon emissions management. The deal comes amid record demand for ESG transparency, with EcoVadis reporting 50% revenue growth over the previous 12 months. This investment positions the company to influence decision-making across enterprise, procurement, and financial platforms through its existing partnerships with SAP, Microsoft, and Coupa.

W.A.G payment solutions plc entered into a restructured definitive agreement to acquire substantially all of the operational assets of WebEye Telematics Zrt. This corporate carve-out is structurally sequenced into two distinct tranches to successfully navigate and mitigate prior regulatory hurdles formally raised by the Hungarian authorities. The first tranche exclusively encompasses the acquisition of all non-Hungarian subsidiaries, while the second tranche meticulously executes the transfer of the domestic operations. Strategically, this transaction represents a highly value-accretive maneuver deliberately designed to accelerate sector consolidation within the Commercial Road Transportation landscape. The direct integration of an extensive portfolio of over 58,000 connected trucks immediately expands the captive customer base of the combined entity, unlocking substantial cross-selling opportunities for integrated payment and advanced mobility solutions. By actively harnessing the robust proprietary data continuously generated by the acquired telematics infrastructure, the platform is uniquely positioned to accelerate the deployment of next-generation mobility services, thereby driving profound operational efficiencies for transport operators