[May 2015]
Apax Partners offer of circa NOK 3.8 billion (circa £380 million) for the buyout of all outstanding shares in leading Nordics systems integrator and cloud services provider EVRY ASA has progressed as of 8th May 2015 so that their bid vehicle now owns 88% of the issued shares and voting rights.
CloudOrigin provided IT, Operational and Strategic advice to Apax for this key deal in the European IT services and cloud sector. Richard Hall, CloudOrigin founder and CEO led the team.
Strategic rationale
Apax is one of the world’s leading private equity firms. It operates globally and has more than 30 years of investment experience. Apax has advised funds that total over €30 billion in aggregate. Funds advised by Apax invest in companies across four global sectors of Consumer, Healthcare, Services and Technology & Telecommunications. These funds provide long-term equity financing to build and strengthen world-class companies.
Apax’s considerable international IT services expertise will help EVRY to accelerate its strategy to develop the strong aspects of the business, including the bank and finance solutions portfolio, scaling up its focus on industry verticals in the Nordic countries and at the same time continue to strengthen its regional footprint. The Apax Funds will support EVRY’s strategy for its transformation to offer competitive next generation cloud-based IT operations and to pursue accretive M&A opportunities.
The Apax Funds will provide EVRY with financial backing, expertise and support for investments and acquisitions in accordance with EVRY’s long-term strategy for profitable growth.
EVRY will remain headquartered in Norway and preserve its Nordic heritage while adding scale and state of the art technology in order to compete efficiently in an increasingly global industry. EVRY’s strong brand recognition in the Nordics is a key component in the further growth of the Company.
Arve Johansen, Chairman of the Board of EVRY stated: “On the basis of an evaluation of how EVRY can improve deliveries for its customers even further and create greater value through strategic actions, the Board of Directors decided to initiate a structured process to explore various strategic opportunities, including a sale of the Company. Following this decision, the Board has completed thorough analyses and entertained discussions with a number of parties. It has been concluded that EVRY and its shareholders will benefit from the Offer from the Apax Funds. The Board believe that the Offer safeguards the interests of all of EVRY’s stakeholders and are confident that the Apax Funds is a solid new owner for EVRY. The Offer delivers a considerable cash premium to our shareholders and the Board considers the Offer Price to recognize the strategic value of EVRY. The Board has therefore unanimously resolved to fully support the Offer and unanimously recommend it to the shareholders.”
Salim Nathoo, Partner in the Technology & Telecommunications team at Apax, said, “EVRY is a leading Norwegian provider of IT Services with a well-established customer base, broad service offering and leading technical expertise. We fully support the vision and strategy outlined by EVRY`s management to further develop its leading competitive position and to execute on the strategy. We are excited to support EVRY`s journey to become the pan-Nordic IT Services champion.”
Rohan Haldea, Partner in the Technology & Telecommunications team at Apax, added, “We are impressed by the leading position of EVRY in Norway and Sweden and look forward to working with the management team and the employees to position EVRY to deliver accelerated growth and increased competitiveness. We support EVRY’s transformation plans to cement its leadership position through offering good customer service, operating competitive end-to-end solutions and investing in organic initiatives and accretive acquisitions.”
Terje Mjøs, CEO EVRY commented: “Technology is a strong contributor to economic growth, creating sizeable growth opportunities for the IT industry. Apax’s interest in EVRY confirms and emphasizes our growth prospects and the opportunities in our market space. I am confident that private ownership will benefit our next phase of profitable growth, and we are looking forward to accelerate and expand our strategy together with Apax to fulfil our ambitions.”