March 25, 2019
HQ Equita Acquires Leading Value-Added Software Distributor EBERTLANG
Bad Homburg, March 25, 2019 – HQ Equita, the direct investment company of HQ Capital, is acquiring a majority interest in the leading value-added software distributor EBERTLANG from Beyond Capital Partners and the company’s founders. Based in Wetzlar, Germany, EBERTLANG is one of the leading value-added distributor of infrastructure software for small and mid-sized companies in German-speaking Europe. The company provides software solutions for email archiving, back-up, IT-security, automation and continuity, and offers comprehensive training, consulting and service support for partners and software vendors.
“EBERTLANG is the ideal partner for small and mid-sized companies to maintain their IT-infrastructure for the future and fulfilling ever-increasing regulatory requirements, such as legally compliant archiving of emails. EBERTLANG is optimally positioned and set up for megatrends including digitization, IT-security, cloud services and regulatory compliance. We are delighted to enter the next phase of EBERTLANG’s development, working together with the strong team that founders Steffen Ebert and Volker Lang have built,” explained Florian Wiemken, partner with HQ Equita.
“EBERTLANG is a success story and has enormous potential. We are pleased to have actively guided the company and its management in an important phase of growth. With HQ Equita the company will have a financially strong, stable and reliable partner for future growth,” says Christoph D. Kauter, Managing Partner of Beyond Capital Partners.
EBERTLANG is the central interface between small- and medium-size companies and leading software vendors. The company offers these vendors access to the highly fragmented German-speaking market, with more than 17,000 IT-system houses, and provides both software distribution as well as product and channel management, marketing, training and technical support. EBERTLANG guides system houses in executing managed services and SaaS concepts for their end customers. EBERTLANG uses its industry-leading business intelligence database and personalized customer care throughout the process.
“With the support of HQ Equita, we plan to drive our already-strong growth even higher. In addition to expanding our solutions portfolio in the software area, we plan to significantly strengthen our service offerings – which IT professionals in the German-speaking countries already value – in order to offer even better support to system houses in all matters relating to sophisticated infrastructure,” explained Steffen Ebert, founder and Co-CEO of EBERTLANG. “Besides expanding our offerings, with help from HQ Equita we will also advance our upcoming national and international expansion – also through acquisitions,” added Volker Lang, second founder and Co-CEO. Discussions with potential acquisition targets have already been started.
HQ Equita will hold the majority interest in EBERTLANG through a newly established holding company, in which the management will also hold an interest. The purchase price was not disclosed.
HQ Equita was supported in the transaction by goetzpartners (M&A, commercial due diligence, debt advisory), Alvarez & Marsal (financial due diligence) and Watson Farley & Williams (law and taxes). Beyond Capital Partners was supported in the transaction by Lincoln International (M&A), Latham & Watkins (law) and EY (financials). The management of EBERTLANG was advised by CMS (law).
About HQ Capital
HQ Capital is a global alternative asset manager that has been investing in private equity and U.S. real estate on behalf of institutions and family offices since 1989. With approximately $12 billion in assets under management and more than 145 employees across 10 offices worldwide, HQ Capital has the platform and experience needed to effectively allocate capital in private markets.
HQ Equita is HQ Capital’s private equity direct investment arm. HQ Equita has developed into an established and trusted partner for middle-market companies, with approximately $1 billion of capital invested in over 30 small- and medium-sized enterprises in the German-speaking DACH region since 1992.
About EBERTLANG
EBERTLANG is the leading value-added distributor of infrastructure software for small and mid-sized companies in German-speaking Europe. Founded in 1995 and based in Wetzlar, Germany, the company’s approximately 60 employees provide leading software solutions and services in the areas of email archiving, back-up, IT-security, automation and IT-failover to a network of around 17,000 partners.
About Beyond Capital Partners
Beyond Capital Partners is a holding company focused on acquiring majority interests in profitable mid-sized enterprises in German-speaking Europe (Germany, Austria, Switzerland). With its portfolio companies LDBS Lichtdienst, Larsen Indoor Light Concept, Heitronic, sysob IT and BigCityBeats, Beyond Capital Partners currently holds interests in five businesses in the areas of lighting services, IT security and lifestyle & entertainment.
Contact HQ Capital:
Ulrich von Rotenhan
Director Marketing
+49 6172 401 818
press@hqcapital.com
www.hqcapital.com
Contact EBERTLANG:
Steffen Ebert
Co-CEO
+49 6441 67118 600
steffen.ebert@ebertlang.com
www.ebertlang.com
Contact Beyond Capital Partners:
Christoph D. Kauter
Managing Partner
+ 49 172 865 2169
c.kauter@beyondcapital-partners.com
www.beyondcapital-partners.com