[April 2016]
Axcel invests in Lessor Group
Copenhagen, Denmark-based private equity firm focusing on mid-market companies Axcel is to buy Lessor Group, an Allerød, Denmark-based specialist in IT-based payroll and HR systems through its two brands Lessor and Danløn.
The amount of the deal, which is subject to the approval of the competition authorities, was not disclosed.
The investment is designed to help Lessor to grow organically, via geographical expansion, increased investments in product development and via acquisition opportunities.
Founded by the Fich family in 1972 and led by CEO Henrik Fich, Lessor Group provides small, medium-sized and large companies with IT solutions for payroll, time and attendance, shift scheduling and HR. Today, more than 45,000 Danish and 1,500 international companies use the Group’s solutions. Following the deal, it will remain independent.
Richard Hall, Chief Executive and Founder of CloudOrigin, led the team providing vendor technology and operational due diligence to the Lessor Group and their finance advisers FIH Partners.
“The Lessor Group has a broad range of on premise and Software as a Service product offerings, addressing the payroll and HR planning sectors, using bespoke solutions in multiple technologies as well as leveraging the Microsoft Dynamics ERP platforms, spanning a wide range of segments from major enterprise and public sector organisations through to micro and SME firms including their latest Danløn online solutions. These have been developed organically since 1972 in many waves, predominantly serving clients in the Nordics and Germany, but expanding rapidly internationally from their headquarters in Denmark and offices in a range of other geographies including an offshore development presence in Malaysia.
“Hence the challenge was to build a comprehensive view of their current solutions, the technology stacks and human development capabilities serving each and paint a clear picture of how they were investing development resource into their future strategic products and market growth strategies. Which of course needed to be both clearly stated and exhaustive to allow potential investors to quickly build an accurate picture of their technical strengths across the board.
“Our experience dealing with leading, high growth SaaS firms, multi-billion TMT global buyouts and working on behalf of leading trade and Private Equity acquirers all helped shape our process to be efficient in terms of access to Lessor leadership and technical staff while anticipating the likely questions and concerns that buyside teams would raise.
“As a result, Axcel were able to pursue an accelerated due diligence process and strike a great deal far faster than is typical in such a transaction”.