HG CAPITAL takes majority stake in VISMA GROUP

Private equity sponsor Hg has agreed to a further investment to cement its majority ownership position in cloud software provider Visma. This equity syndication broadens the shareholder base through a secondary sale, welcoming approximately 20 new institutional backers, including Altaroc, Jane Street, and the NYC Retirement System. Concurrently, the existing investor consortium (comprising ICG, TPG, and Visma's management team) is rolling over capital to reinvest in the platform. As part of the corporate reshuffle, the legacy Hg Genesis 7 fund will fully exit its remaining position in the business. For Hg, maintaining its 17-year stewardship of the asset secures funding for Visma's ongoing cross-border market penetration. Following a recent geographical expansion into France, Germany, Portugal, Peru, and Iceland, the software group now operates across 28 countries. Having streamlined its business model in 2022 by divesting non-core IT consulting and cloud infrastructure divisions, Visma operates as a pure-play SaaS provider. Under the continued leadership of CEO Merete Hverven, the commercial roadmap focuses on leveraging this expanded institutional network to drive product innovation, specifically targeting AI-driven automation within its core accounting and ERP software solutions for SMBs.

In the past, the company had already been the subject of several LBOs, notably led by Hg Capital / Kkr / Cinven in 2014 and Hg Capital / Gic / Montagu Private Equity / Icg in 2017. This succession of buyouts highlights the strong attractiveness of the company's business model.