KKR to buy majority stake in Norway’s software company Visma for $935 mln

Private equity firm and leveraged buyout specialist, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), yesterday said it is buying 77 per cent stake in Norwegian software company Visma A/S from a consortium led by venture capital firm HgCapital, for $935 million (5.5 billion kroner) in cash.

Oslo-based Visma is a provider of business software and services for accounting and administration. The company comprises four business areas, Visma Software, Visma BPO Payroll and Accounting, Visma Procurement & Collecting, and Visma Retail IT Solutions.

Visma, with 2009 revenues of about $558 million has more than 220 000 customers across Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Romania and the UK.

New York-based KKR, which is making its first acquisition in Norway, is paying $935 million for a 77-per cent stake in Visma, valuing the software company at $1.88 billion (11 billion kroner) including debt of $725 million (4.5 billion kroner) and excluding the $148 million (900 million kroner) cash held by Visma.

KKR, which has $54 billion funds under management, is buying the stake from a consortium led by HgCapital, which includes Intermediate Capital Group, a British-based provider of mezzanine finance and Citi Private Equity.

With $3.8 billion under management, London-based HgCapital, which held a 50 per cent stake in Visma, will retain 17.7 per cent, while Visma's management will hold the remaining 5.3 per cent.

HgCapital had acquired Visma in 2006 in a bidding war with Britain's biggest accounting software company Sage Group, which had valued Visma then at 4.3 billion kroner.