EMERAM subsidiary ]init[ takes over Swiss Ironforge Consulting

Munich/Berlin — ]init[ AG für digi­tale Kommu­ni­ka­tion, a port­fo­lio company of the invest­ment compa­nies EMERAM and Rivean Capi­tal, is expan­ding its inter­na­tio­nal public sector busi­ness with the acqui­si­tion of the Swiss company Iron­f­orge Consul­ting AG. The tran­sac­tion, effec­tive Septem­ber 1, 2022, has now been successfully comple­ted. The aim is to tap into the Swiss market as well as to further deve­lop the port­fo­lio for end-to-end digi­tiza­tion solu­ti­ons. ]init[, with more than 800 employees, is conside­red one of the leading project service provi­ders in the field of digi­tal transformation.

Since Septem­ber 1, ]init[ has held 100 percent of the shares in the Swiss IT consul­tant Iron­f­orge. Iron­f­orge Consul­ting AG is an estab­lished player in the Swiss market since 2009 with 35 employees. The company’s custo­mers include a large number of Swiss fede­ral minis­tries. In addi­tion, Iron­f­orge also works for admi­­nis­­tra­­tion-rela­­ted compa­nies such as Swiss Post and Swiss­com. Among other things, Iron­f­orge has parti­ci­pa­ted in the deve­lo­p­ment of a Swiss ePor­tal for the administration.

The part­ner­ship will further streng­then Ironforge’s posi­tion in its core markets in Switz­er­land and enable it to accom­pany the Swiss admi­nis­tra­tion along the entire digi­tiza­tion process. The company is thus alig­ning itself with the conti­nuing growth in demand for holi­stic digi­tiza­tion in the public sector and is crea­ting offe­rings for the consis­tent intro­duc­tion and opti­miza­tion of front-end and back-end solutions.

The current manage­ment team of Iron­f­orge around the two mana­ging direc­tors Roberto Santo­vito and Gianni Lepore will accom­pany the further deve­lo­p­ment of the company. Both will retain a stake in the company to drive the expan­sion of Iron­f­orge toge­ther with ]init[. In return, Harald Felling, CEO of ]init[ AG, will join the board of direc­tors of Iron­f­orge AG.

Dr. Chris­tian Näther, Mana­ging Part­ner at EMERAM Capi­tal Part­ners (Photo: Emeram), comm­ents: ”]init[ is a digi­tal success story par excel­lence. With the acqui­si­tion, the company streng­thens its inter­na­tio­nal orien­ta­tion and gains an important loca­tion abroad. As a busi­ness deve­lo­p­ment part­ner, we compre­hen­si­vely support ]init[’s dyna­mic growth course. This has enab­led the company to signi­fi­cantly expand its market posi­tion in recent years. We conti­nue to see considera­ble oppor­tu­ni­ties for the future, also through further acquisitions.”

Harald Felling, CEO of ]init[ AGIron­f­orge and we share a common culture, a very simi­lar DNA and a strong focus on the public sector. We are ther­e­fore deligh­ted to be able to promote Iron­f­orge with our many years of expe­ri­ence in end-to-end digi­tiza­tion in the public sector and support it in its further growth. In this way, we want to help shape the digi­tal trans­for­ma­tion of Switzerland’s like­wise fede­rally orga­ni­zed administration.”

Gianni Lepore, foun­der and CEO of Iron­f­orge AG, adds: “With ]init[ as an expe­ri­en­ced part­ner, Iron­f­orge will conti­nue its success story with even more power. We want to signi­fi­cantly expand our depth and breadth of services in order to provide our custo­mers with even better support for IT projects and digi­ta­liza­tion projects. In this way, we want to become a central driver of user-centric digi­tiza­tion for the Swiss administration.”

The parties have agreed not to disc­lose the purchase price.

Advi­sors ]init[ : Noerr and Wenger Platt­ner (Legal) and BDO (Finan­cial)

About ]init[ — www.init.de

]init[ AG für digi­tale Kommu­ni­ka­tion is one of the leading full-service provi­ders for digi­tal projects in Germany. The company employs over 800 people (FTE) in Berlin, Bremen, Hamburg, Colo­gne, Munich and Mainz.

With fee reve­nues of over EUR 138 million, ]init[ is one of the ten fastest-growing Inter­net agen­cies accor­ding to the BVDW 2022 ranking. In the ranking of digi­tal expe­ri­ence service provi­ders by Lünen­donk & Hossen­fel­der, ]init[ ranked 13th in 2021 as a “rising star” with an impro­ve­ment. ]init[’s more than 500 custo­mers include the Press and Infor­ma­tion Office of the German Fede­ral Govern­ment as well as nume­rous fede­ral and state minis­tries, Conti­nen­tal AG, BSH Haus­ge­räte and Heidel­berg Cement.

ABOUT Iron­f­orge Consul­ting AG ‑www.ironforge.ch

Iron­f­orge Consul­ting AG is an inde­pen­dent and neutral IT consul­ting company based in Muri near Bern and a subsi­diary of the German ]init[ AG für digi­tale Kommu­ni­ka­tion since Septem­ber 2022. The Iron­f­orge manage­ment team is formed by Roberto Santo­vito (COO) and Gianni Lepore (Foun­der and CEO). They are the first point of cont­act for all matters.

In its core areas of Project Services and Busi­ness Services, Iron­f­orge supports its custo­mers from the plan­ning and concep­tion to the imple­men­ta­tion of their ICT projects. The consul­tants include expe­ri­en­ced IT project mana­gers, busi­ness analysts and poly­va­lent IT experts. In addi­tion to nume­rous Swiss fede­ral offices and various cantons, custo­mers also include admi­­nis­­tra­­tion-rela­­ted compa­nies. Iron­f­orge curr­ently employs 35 people and was foun­ded in 2009.

About EMERAM CAPITAL PARTNERS — www.emeram.com

EMERAM is one of the leading invest­ment mana­gers for medium-sized compa­nies in German-spea­king count­ries. Funds advi­sed by EMERAM provide more than €500 million in capi­tal for the deve­lo­p­ment of growth compa­nies. The port­fo­lio includes compa­nies from the Technology/Software, Value-added Services and New Consu­mer Stap­les sectors. EMERAM acts as a long-term busi­ness deve­lo­p­ment part­ner for its compa­nies and promo­tes the sustainable growth (orga­nic and inor­ga­nic) of the port­fo­lio compa­nies. In addi­tion, the focus is on the imple­men­ta­tion of holi­stic ESG concepts.

The port­fo­lio curr­ently consists of six plat­form invest­ments with a cumu­la­tive work­force of more than 2,500. The compa­nies conti­nuously achieve double-digit orga­nic sales growth. In addi­tion, a total of 30 add-on acqui­si­ti­ons to date have acce­le­ra­ted growth and enab­led inter­na­tio­nal expansion.