Management buyout with a financial investor as a way to unlock the company's growth potential
In February 2019, GPEF III acquired significant majority share in the IT services company CN Group. GPEF III acquired the Company in February 2019 from its Danish founders. The transaction included a minority co-investment of the management team with a long track record with the Company and represents one of the successful succession stories with Genesis Capital.
CN Group is a well-established nearshore software development company with 28-year long history, which serves predominantly large blue-chip clients from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Scandinavia. CN Group employed over 270 professionals servicing customers in the production centres in Prague and Zlín in Czech Republic, Bratislava in Slovakia, and Bucharest in Romania.
The investment idea was to support the further growth of the Company, both organically and via suitable add-on acquisitions, as well as to strengthen the sales team and support its activities towards a greater customer diversification.
CN Group significantly exceeded its plans during the cooperation with Genesis Capital. Covid-19 had only limited negative effect on certain projects, however, its impact on revenues was more than offset with the income from new business.
In August 2021 Genesis Capital sold its shareholding to Ciklum, a global product engineering and digital services company. Over the 2.5 years with GPEF III, the Company’s management team in cooperation with Genesis Capital achieved outstanding revenue and profitability growth, increasing