Storm of M&As in the IT sector
Mergers and acquisitions that are accompanied by the entry of foreign players into the Greek market have tended to be the rule for at least the last three years in the IT sector.
The mandatory public offer jointly submitted by the founder of Epsilon Net, Ioannis Michos, by National Bank – which controls 7.5% – and by the fund General Atlantic, to acquire 37.08% of the publicly traded IT company, adds to the strong action in the IT sector in the first four months of this year.
On Tuesday, the subsidiary of the foreign fund Ginger Digital BidCo took the decision to issue two convertible bond loans totaling 250 million euros. Through the bond, BidCo is expected to finance the greater part of the amount required to acquire 37.08% or 20,100,000 shares of Epsilon Net worth €241.2 million, given that the price is set at €12 per share.
Since the beginning of March, the process of acquiring 100% of Entersoft by Olympia Group and the fund Imker Capital has been under way, with the two figures being the main shareholders of the business software company SoftOne. With the mandatory public offering filed, the Olympia Group and the Imker fund, through their affiliate Verdalite, currently own 91% of Entersoft.
Also, since the beginning of the year, a series of acquisitions have taken place, such as the acquisition by SoftOne of a majority stake in the company Twinsoft, which operates in software for the restaurant industry. But also the acquisition by Epsilon Net of a series of software applications from Lavisoft.
What is fueling the action in the industry is the rapidly growing business software market, whose value, at the European level, is €56 billion and should reach €82 billion by 2029, growing 7.12% annually.
In the past 12 months, 70 transactions totaling €17.5 billion have taken place in the European software industry, with the average value of each ranging from €100 million to €600 million, per Mergermarket.
As analysts explain, the digitization of public and private sector businesses has boosted demand for business software and solutions related to resource management, customer relationship management and supply chain management.
