Bridgepoint acquires majority stake in iC Consult from Carlyle

Munich/ Frank­furt a. M. — Bridge­point, one of the worl­d’s leading growth inves­tors in the mid-market, has acqui­red a majo­rity stake in iC Consult, the worl­d’s largest vendor-inde­­pen­­dent provi­der of iden­tity secu­rity services, head­quar­te­red in Munich. As part of this tran­sac­tion, Bridge­point is ente­ring into a part­ner­ship with the foun­der and CEO of iC Consult, Jürgen Bier­mann, and the manage­ment of iC Consult. Bier­mann and the manage­ment team will retain a stake in the company, while Carlyle will sell its entire stake. 

The closing of the tran­sac­tion is subject to custo­mary condi­ti­ons, inclu­ding the neces­sary regu­la­tory appr­ovals, and is expec­ted to take place in the third quar­ter of 2026. The parties have agreed not to disc­lose the purchase price or further details of the transaction. 

Foun­ded in 1997, iC Consult has grown to become the worl­d’s largest inde­pen­dent iden­tity secu­rity specia­list with more than 850 employees world­wide in North America, Europe and Asia. The company offers a compre­hen­sive port­fo­lio of consul­ting, imple­men­ta­tion, inte­gra­tion and mana­ged services to help orga­niza­ti­ons secure access to criti­cal IT systems and data. As a core compo­nent of modern cyber secu­rity archi­tec­tures, IAM ensu­res that the right users and systems have access to the right resour­ces at the right time. 

iC Consult supports major custo­mers from various indus­tries world­wide, inclu­ding finan­cial services, the auto­mo­tive and manu­fac­tu­ring indus­tries and the public sector. The services are firmly ancho­red in the custo­mers’ IT envi­ron­ments and form the basis for long-term custo­mer relationships. 

In recent years, the company has recor­ded strong growth — its Euro­pean busi­ness grew by around 20 percent annu­ally between 2020 and 2025. The company has also expan­ded its presence in the USA during this period. iC Consult opera­tes in a large and fast-growing market: The market for IAM services in Europe is esti­ma­ted at around €2.5 billion with expec­ted double-digit growth rates, driven by incre­asing cyber thre­ats, regu­la­tory requi­re­ments and the rapid proli­fe­ra­tion of digi­tal iden­ti­ties, inclu­ding those rela­ted to agen­tic AI. 

In part­ner­ship with Bridge­point and under the leader­ship of Jürgen Bier­mann, iC Consult will focus on driving its inter­na­tio­nal expan­sion, streng­thening its mana­ged services offe­ring and further inves­t­ing in AI-enab­­led capa­bi­li­ties. In addi­tion, the company will moder­nize and further deve­lop its service port­fo­lio, conti­nue to grow through selec­tive acqui­si­ti­ons and build a scalable global IAM platform. 

Bridge­point has exten­sive expe­ri­ence in tech­no­logy and cyber secu­rity services and has assis­ted a number of specia­li­zed compa­nies, inclu­ding Infi­ni­gate, a value-added distri­bu­tor specia­li­zing in cyber secu­rity, and DataEx­pert, a specia­list in digi­tal foren­sics and cyber secu­rity services, and also has exten­sive expe­ri­ence in scaling inter­na­tio­nal tech­no­logy and services companies.

Jürgen Bier­mann, foun­der and CEO of iC Consult, said: “Today marks the begin­ning of an exci­ting new chap­ter for iC Consult. As an entre­pre­neu­rial part­ner, Bridge­point brings capi­tal, deep indus­try exper­tise and a strong track record in scaling busi­nesses inter­na­tio­nally. We share a clear goal of further streng­thening our posi­tion as the worl­d’s leading inde­pen­dent iden­tity secu­rity specia­list, expan­ding our global presence and trans­forming iC Consult into a truly AI-native company. Toge­ther, we will make targe­ted invest­ments in our people, our skills and our plat­form to deli­ver sustainable value to our clients — espe­ci­ally at a time when the rapid, AI-driven growth of digi­tal iden­ti­ties makes iden­tity secu­rity more important than ever.”

Chris­to­pher Brack­mann, Part­ner at Bridge­point and respon­si­ble for invest­ments in the DACH region, added: “iC Consult is an outstan­ding company in a struc­tu­rally attrac­tive and dyna­mi­cally growing market. Its leading posi­tion in the field of iden­tity secu­rity and its strong roots in Germany make the company an ideal part­ner for Bridge­point. We look forward to shaping the next phase of growth toge­ther with Jürgen and his team and to consis­t­ently driving forward the further expan­sion of a leading plat­form for iden­tity security.”

Maciej Chrys­tow­ski, Direc­tor in Bridge­poin­t’s tech­no­logy team, added: “iC Consult is charac­te­ri­zed in parti­cu­lar by its outstan­ding tech­no­lo­gi­cal exper­tise in a highly complex and busi­­ness-criti­­cal area of cyber secu­rity. With the growth acce­le­ra­ted by AI and the incre­asing comple­xity of digi­tal iden­ti­ties, iden­tity secu­rity is beco­ming even more important. We see considera­ble poten­tial to moder­nize and further deve­lop the plat­form in a targe­ted manner — inclu­ding by expan­ding capa­bi­li­ties for secu­ring agent-based AI. At the same time, we want to streng­then the mana­ged services offe­ring and selec­tively use M&A opti­ons to further streng­then the company’s inter­na­tio­nal presence.”

Consul­tant Bridgepoint:
Canac­cord Genuity and Piper Sand­ler (finance), Kirk­land & Ellis (legal), Altman Solon (commer­cial), EY Parthe­non (finance, tax, IT & cyber and ESG) and Marsh (insu­rance due diligence).

Consul­tant iC Consult and Carlyle:
Lincoln Inter­na­tio­nal (Finance), Latham & Watkins (Legal), McKin­sey & Company (Commer­cial) and PwC (Finance).

About Bridge­point

Bridge­point is one of the worl­d’s leading mid-market inves­tors specia­li­zing in private equity, infra­struc­ture, credit, secon­da­ries and private wealth. With over USD 98 billion in assets under manage­ment and a strong local presence in Europe, North America and Asia, Bridge­point combi­nes global reach with local market know­ledge and sector exper­tise to consis­t­ently deli­ver strong returns across cycles. 

About iC Consult

iC Consult is the worl­d’s largest inde­pen­dent provi­der of iden­tity secu­rity services. With over 850 experts and a global presence in North America, Europe and Asia — inclu­ding near­sho­ring and offs­ho­ring capa­bi­li­ties — we help the worl­d’s biggest brands protect and manage their digi­tal identities. 

We deli­ver custo­mi­zed iden­tity solu­ti­ons at the highest level — through in-depth exper­tise, conti­nuous inno­va­tion and state-of-the-art tech­no­lo­gies. As a trus­ted part­ner of over 30 leading iden­tity and cyber secu­rity vendors — and reco­gni­zed by leading analysts — we offer vendor-inde­­pen­­dent support to solve any iden­tity chall­enge. — Our end-to-end port­fo­lio includes all profes­sio­nal and mana­ged iden­tity secu­rity services: consul­ting, archi­tec­ture, imple­men­ta­tion, inte­gra­tion, support and opera­ti­ons. We help orga­niza­ti­ons drive key initia­ti­ves such as Zero Trust, Iden­tity Threat Detec­tion & Response and AI Secu­rity — inclu­ding the manage­ment and protec­tion of agen­tic AI envi­ron­ments and the use of GenAI to moder­nize their iden­tity infrastructure.