Exit: H.I.G. Europe sells CONET to IK Investment Partners

Hamburg — H.I.G. Capi­tal (“H.I.G.”), a leading global alter­na­tive invest­ment firm with over $45 billion of equity capi­tal under manage­ment, is plea­sed to announce that an affi­liate has signed a defi­ni­tive agree­ment to sell CONET (the “Company”) to IK Invest­ment Part­ners. H.I.G. acqui­red a majo­rity stake in the Company in 2017. The tran­sac­tion is subject to clearance by the rele­vant anti­trust authorities.

CONET is a leading digi­tal trans­for­ma­tion part­ner focu­sed on public sector clients and with a dedi­ca­ted SAP prac­tice. The Company offers its blue-chip custo­mer base services and solu­ti­ons in the areas of IT consul­ting, soft­ware deve­lo­p­ment and high-secu­rity IT opera­ti­ons. CONET, foun­ded in 1987 and head­quar­te­red in Hennef, Germany, employs over 1,100 specia­lists across 13 loca­ti­ons in Germany, Austria and Croatia.

With the support of H.I.G., the Company imple­men­ted a compre­hen­sive expan­sion stra­tegy both orga­ni­cally and through acqui­si­ti­ons. CONET bene­fit­ted from H.I.G.’s substan­tial exper­tise and exten­sive network in the IT services sector as well as its expe­ri­ence in successfully execu­ting buy-and-build stra­te­gies. After H.I.G.’s initial invest­ment in 2017, CONET comple­ted three stra­te­gic acqui­si­ti­ons which broa­dened its service offe­ring. During the past four years, CONET’s manage­ment more than doubled the Company’s reve­nue and streng­the­ned the Company’s posi­tion as a leading, inte­gra­ted and trus­ted part­ner for the digi­tal trans­for­ma­tion of its diver­si­fied custo­mer base.

Anke Höfer, CEO of CONET, said: “H.I.G.’s trust­wor­thy and support­ive guidance was an essen­tial element for CONET to conti­nue its excep­tio­nally successful growth by expan­ding geogra­phi­cally and by adding addi­tio­nal IT and consul­ting solu­ti­ons. Toge­ther, we have successfully grown CONET into a leading and trus­ted digi­tal trans­for­ma­tion part­ner for our customers.”

Dr. Holger Klein­garn, Mana­ging Direc­tor at H.I.G., said: “We are deligh­ted to have supported CONET in its successful growth trajec­tory towards a leading digi­tal trans­for­ma­tion provi­der. CONET demons­tra­tes H.I.G.’s ability to deve­lop compa­nies through a sustainable combi­na­tion of orga­nic growth and acqui­si­ti­ons, while at the same time further opti­mi­zing the service port­fo­lio to offer inte­gra­ted solu­tion for customers.”

Chris­tian Kraul-von Renner, Mana­ging Direc­tor at H.I.G. said: “The coope­ra­tion between CONET’s manage­ment team and H.I.G. has been excel­lent. Today, the Company is perfectly posi­tio­ned for further growth, and we wish the manage­ment team contin­ued success in the future.”

The parties have agreed not to disc­lose further details of the transaction.

About CONET
CONET has been a trus­ted IT part­ner for SAP, infra­struc­ture, commu­ni­ca­ti­ons and soft­ware deve­lo­p­ment since 1987. Accor­ding to the latest survey by leading German IT publi­ca­tion Chan­nel­part­ner, CONET is ranked #2 among medium-sized German IT systems and consul­ting compa­nies. Custo­mers from indus­try and commerce, the public, as well as defense and secu­rity sectors alike, value CONET’s commit­ment to quality. CONET’s product solu­ti­ons for Criti­cal Control Room Commu­ni­ca­ti­ons, Custo­mer Colla­bo­ra­tion, Enter­prise Content Manage­ment and Busi­ness Process Manage­ment are in use world­wide. CONET curr­ently employs more than 1,100 busi­nesses and IT specia­lists at 13 loca­ti­ons throug­hout Germany, Austria and Croa­tia. For more infor­ma­tion, please refer to the CONET website at www.conet.de.

About H.I.G. Capital
H.I.G. is a leading global alter­na­tive assets invest­ment firm with over $45 billion of equity capi­tal under manage­ment.* Based in Miami, and with offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Ange­les, San Fran­cisco, and Atlanta in the U.S., as well as inter­na­tio­nal affi­liate offices in London, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Bogotá, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, H.I.G. specia­li­zes in provi­ding both debt and equity capi­tal to small and mid-sized compa­nies, utili­zing a flexi­ble and opera­tio­nally focu­­se­­d/­va­lue-added approach.

Since its foun­ding in 1993, H.I.G. has inves­ted in and mana­ged more than 300 compa­nies world­wide. The firm’s current port­fo­lio includes more than 100 compa­nies with combi­ned sales in excess of $30 billion. For more infor­ma­tion, please refer to www.higcapital.com.