goetzpartners was mandated by HQ Equita for the successful acquisition of EBERTLANG using its transaction advisory services: M&A, Debt Advisory & CDD services

HQ Equita, the Germany-based direct investment company of HQ Capital, mandated goetzpartners with M&A, Debt Advisory and CDD services on the acquisition of a majority interest in EBERTLANG, a leading value-added software distribution player, from Beyond Capital Partners and the company's founders.

Based in Wetzlar, Germany, EBERTLANG is one of the leading value-added distributors 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, service automation and continuity, and also offers comprehensive training, consulting and service support to both 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 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.

"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.

goetzpartners acted as sole and exclusive M&A advisor to HQ Equita, while also delivering Commercial Due Diligence services. goetzpartners continuously supports HQ Equita with its Debt Advisory Services. We are pleased of the successful outcome, which emphasises our competence in creating outperforming process tactics for our customers paired with unmatched execution and coordination power as well as speed and "to-the-point" results through our Transaction Advisory Services.

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 as of September 30, 2018 and more than 145 employees across 10 offices worldwide, HQ Capital has the platform and experience needed to effectively allocate capital in private markets.

ABOUT HQ EQUITA

HQ Equita is HQ Capital’s private equity direct investment arm. The firm has developed into an established and trusted partner for middle-market companies with approximately $1 billion Euros of capital invested in over 30 small- and medium-sized enterprises in the German-speaking DACH region since 1992.

ABOUT EBERTLANG

EBERTLANG focuses on software for IT professionals and is one of the leading value-added distributors in German-speaking Europe today. Since its founding in 1995 EBERTLANG offers classic sales work and access to over 17,000 specialized IT resellers. EBERTLANG also provides support for software vendors in the market launch of new products, the localization of software and corresponding sales strategies, and ensures steadily growing brand awareness. The extensive range of services include trainings for resellers, audits and on-site integration, which is also carried out in cooperation with the company's own channel partners.

TRANSACTION TEAM

M&A:

Milan Saric
Managing Director
Email

Daniel Bentrup
Director

Julius Adrian Rieker
Associate

Patrick Bobak
Associate

Lukas Niedermeier
Analyst

Debt Advisory:

Philipp Widmaier
Director
Email

Sebastian Achleitner
Associate Director

Marius Wolter
Associate

Commercial Due Dilligence:

Dr. Sigurd Kitzer
Partner
Email

Dr. Norbert Danneberg
Senior Industry Expert

Dr. Cedric Duvinage
Senior Manager

Stephan Schömer
Consultant

Jonas Koppe
Associate Consultant

Matthias Seiler
Associate Consultant