Knop Investments takes majority stake in GITP

Led by the financial sponsor Knop Investments alongside the executive management team, the acquisition of GITP finalizes a fundamental transition in the target's capital structure after 77 years of continuous historical independence. Officially executed on November 19, 2024, this leveraged buyout orchestrates the complete transfer of all outstanding shares from the historical sole shareholder, the foundational Stichting GITP. Under the newly established financial architecture, the acquiring family-backed investment firm secures absolute majority control of the human capital specialist, while the incumbent leadership cadre, steered by Chief Executive Officer Else Slegers, actively reinvests to acquire a strategic minority equity position. This specific management buyout mechanism guarantees strict operational alignment between the incoming institutional capital and the existing organizational vision. The strategic rationale underlying this transaction centers on financing a highly ambitious dual-pronged expansion thesis: executing a programmatic buy-and-build consolidation strategy and aggressively funding the internal modernization of proprietary digital assessment technologies. The freshly deployed funds will immediately support the recruitment of specialized new talent and fundamentally scale the firm's online service delivery capabilities to meet evolving corporate demands. The transaction perfectly aligns with the acquiring fund's core mandate, specifically targeting assets that produce an EBITDA situated between €1 million and €15 million. To flawlessly execute this complex structural change of control, the selling foundation officially mandated the corporate finance boutique Lindenaar & Co to act as the exclusive sell-side financial advisor throughout the entire competitive process. The mandated advisory team took comprehensive responsibility for drafting the confidential information memorandum, constructing the foundational financial model, systematically identifying potential institutional investors, and rigorously evaluating incoming bids. Furthermore, Lindenaar & Co directly piloted the final contractual negotiations and strictly coordinated the exhaustive due diligence procedures required prior to the definitive signing. Internal deal execution for the acquiring sponsor was managed directly by the dedicated investment professionals Maurits Koning and Maarten Prins, securing the patient capital necessary to scale the acquired platform.