Frank­furt a. M. / Stutt­gart — The Fran­k­­furt-based invest­ment company VR Equi­typ­art­ner acqui­res a majo­rity stake in SIGNON Öster­reich GmbH, a Vienna-based IT service provi­der specia­li­zing in mobi­lity, infra­struc­ture and digi­ta­liza­tion. The seller is the German TÜV SÜD Group, which is selling all its shares. Signi­fi­cantly invol­ved is the manage­ment team of SIGNON Austria. The aim of the new part­ner­ship is to further streng­then the company’s posi­tio­ning in a niche market and to tap addi­tio­nal growth poten­tial. Finan­cial details of the tran­sac­tion, which is expec­ted to close in Q3 2019 subject to regu­la­tory appr­oval, were not disclosed.

Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek advi­sed the invest­ment company VR Equi­typ­art­ner GmbH on the acqui­si­tion of a majo­rity inte­rest in SIGNON Öster­reich GmbH. The complex, cross-border tran­sac­tion was hand­led jointly with the law firm DORDA. Anti­trust clearance is still pending.

The SIGNON Austria manage­ment team will conti­nue to hold a signi­fi­cant stake in the company. The part­ner­ship aims to streng­then the company’s posi­tio­ning in a niche market and tap addi­tio­nal growth poten­tial. — SIGNON Öster­reich GmbH is a Vienna-based IT service provi­der specia­li­zing in mobi­lity, infra­struc­ture and digi­tiza­tion and was foun­ded in 2011 by Paul Klein­rath and Dr. Chris­toph Bonelli under the name Evolit — Consul­ting. Two years later, the TÜV SÜD Group acqui­red a majo­rity stake in the company, making it part of the SIGNON Group. More than 50 people are curr­ently employed at SIGNON Öster­reich GmbH.

VR Equi­typ­art­ner is one of the leading equity finan­ciers in the DACH region. The company supports medium-sized family busi­nesses in solving complex finan­cing issues. VR Equi­typ­art­ner offers majo­rity and mino­rity invest­ments as well as mezza­nine finan­cing. As a subsi­diary of DZ BANK, VR Equi­typ­art­ner consis­t­ently puts the sustaina­bi­lity of corpo­rate deve­lo­p­ment ahead of short-term exit thin­king. VR Equitypartner’s port­fo­lio curr­ently compri­ses around 100 commit­ments with an invest­ment volume of EUR 500 million.

The current acqui­si­tion is alre­ady the second invest­ment by VR Equi­typ­art­ner in an IT service provi­der this year, advi­sed by the team around Dr. Rainer Hersch­lein and Bene­dikt Raisch (see deal announce­ment ICS).

Advi­sors to VR Equi­typ­art­ner GmbH: Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek
Dr. Rainer Hersch­lein, Bene­dikt Raisch (both M&A), both Stuttgart

DORDA:
Dr. Bern­hard Rieder, Lukas Schmidt (both M&A), both Vienna