Private equity firm Hg has transferred around €500m of assets from its €19bn software platform Visma into a newly created Luxembourg-based vehicle, as longer-term listing plans for the business remain on hold, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The report cites company filings and unnamed people familiar with the matter as revealing that the carve-out involves roughly 30 Visma subsidiaries being moved into a new entity called Norvato. The transaction is understood to include participation from Hg alongside other Visma investors such as Intermediate Capital Group.
Sources said the restructuring is intended to streamline parts of Visma’s portfolio ahead of a potential future exit, with the move initially conceived as part of preparations for a public listing. However, those IPO plans – once expected to centre on a London market debut – have now been delayed amid weaker sentiment in software equities and uncertainty over the long-term impact of artificial intelligence on the sector.
Visma had previously been preparing for a flotation that could have supported London’s equity markets, but the timeline has since shifted, and a listing is no longer expected in the near term.
Hg originally acquired Visma more than two decades ago and has since expanded the group significantly through acquisitions, building a decentralised portfolio of more than 170 businesses across multiple jurisdictions. The latest spinout is understood to involve smaller portfolio companies and is being viewed as an internal reorganisation rather than a full disposal.
The move highlights how private equity owners are increasingly exploring alternative routes to manage and eventually exit large software assets as public market conditions remain subdued. Hg, which manages over $100bn in assets, has previously used a combination of fund-to-fund transfers and partial realisations to recycle capital within its Visma investment structure.
