Infinigate, a leading European Value Added Distributor (“VAD”) of enterprise cyber-security solutions, is to be acquired by Bridgepoint from H.I.G. Capital for an undisclosed sum.
Headquartered in Rotkreuz, Switzerland, the company offers state-of-the-art security solutions from over 70 vendors through its European network of more than 10,000 partners (resellers, integrators, consulting companies, etc.) to secure and protect data, servers, networks and the cloud. Infinigate focuses on and supports innovative security solutions that require an advanced level of expertise and knowledge. With more than 450 employees, Infinigate complements these solutions with dedicated technical, marketing, sales and professional services for both its partners and vendors. For the fiscal year ending in March, the company expects to achieve approxi-mately €630m in gross revenues.
Commenting on the transaction, Infinigate CEO Klaus Schlichtherle, said: “We thank H.I.G. for the support over the last years and welcome Bridgepoint as our new shareholder. In Bridgepoint we have found a partner who understands our strategic, high growth space and who will work with us to help us realise our ambitions for further growth. For our customer and vendor partners we will continue to be the best partner for cybersecurity solutions and will develop new services in the future to serve the market even better.”
Infinigate will continue to be led by Klaus Schlichtherle, CEO and Olaf Demuth CFO/CIO and will continue to operate with the current management team and strategy.
Christopher Brackmann, Partner at Bridgepoint and Head of DACH Investment commented: “Infinigate is an exciting platform in a growth market with an experienced management team. We very much look forward to partnering with Klaus, Olaf and their teams during this next phase of development. With Bridgepoint's support, Infinigate will be well placed to capitalise on its high-quality vendor base and long-standing reseller relationships which we seek to develop further.”
David Nicault, Partner at Bridgepoint and Global Head of Digital, Technology & Media, added: “We have been tracking for several years the cybersecurity space, one of the fastest growing and most robust segments of global IT expenditure. We are impressed by the achievements of the company and look forward to our mutual partnership, improving further the level of services offered by Infinigate to its partners.”
The underlying market for enterprise cybersecurity solutions in Western Europe is estimated at €10bn and grows continuously at c.10% p.a., driven by an increasing penetration of cybersecurity products to cope with a constantly growing cybercriminal and threat landscape and to cater to increasingly complex IT environments. In addition, proliferation of endpoints, IoT connectivity as well as increasingly stringent regulatory requirements to protect customer data further underpin the market growth trajectory for Infinigate.
Advisers for Bridgepoint involved in this transaction include: Allen & Overy (legal), EY (financial & tax), PwC (commercial).