Herkules Private Equity Fund III is to sell Gothia Financial Group to arvato, a business process outsourcing provider owned by Bertelsmann SE & Co. Gothia is a European credit management solutions provider.
Herkules Private Equity Fund III acquired Gothia in 2008. During Herkules’ ownership the company has been transformed into having state of the art routines, reporting and internal processes. Furthermore, Gothia has driven significant top line growth with revenues more than doubling in the period. The main part of the increase relates to strong organic growth, especially within the administrative and financial services segment (AFS). In AFS Gothia has launched a series of products the recent years, including the client friendly e-commerce solution "PayByBill". In addition Gothia has acquired two businesses in the UK and a smaller company in Spain to expand its European footprint.
Headquartered in Oslo, with strong presence in the Nordic region, Gothia has expanded its presence to Germany, Holland, UK, Ireland and Spain through a combination of greenfield developments and acquisitions to become a truly European player. Gothia currently employs around 1,200 people throughout Europe and serves more than 2,000 clients.
"Gothia has become a leading European credit management solutions provider. During Herkules’ ownership Gothia has substantially strengthened its organisation, market presence and product portfolio at the same time having solid earnings growth every year. We have had a great cooperation with the strong management team and it is definitely with mixed feelings we are selling Gothia. With this sale, Herkules Private Equity Fund III has completed its second exit with highly attractive returns," says Rikke Tobiasson Reinemo, partner, Herkules Capital.
Trond Kristian Andreassen, the chief executive of Gothia says: "Herkules has played an active and strategic ownership role in Gothia. The co-operation with Herkules has been extremely good. We view arvatos interest in Gothia as a proof of the solid work that has been done by the whole organization during Herkules ownership period and arvato as the ideal partner for Gothia. Going forward we believe Gothia will be part of a strong European player and will continue to develop innovative and value enhancing services for our clients."
Herkules and Gothia management have sold 100 per cent of the shares in Gothia Financial Group to arvato. The transaction is subject to approval from competition authorities and financial supervisory authorities.