Keensight takes Onventis as Main exits; Palladio’s Unigasket makes US play

Unigasket Group, which is backed by Palladio Holding, has acquired Newark, Delaware-based MTO Hose Solutions, a manufacturer of PTFE tubes.

Good morning Eurohubsters, Craig McGlashan here with the Thursday Dealflow.

Opening up today we have a cloud procurement firm moving from Main Capital Partners to Keensight Capital, then a Palladio Holding-owned European firm making an acquisition in the US. Northleaf Capital Partners hires for its London office, and finally we get a little insight from Carlyle Group on its investment outlook.

Procurement. A cloud procurement company has switched private equity hands. Keensight Capital has bought Onventis from Main Capital Partners, the firms announced this morning.

Onventis works in the middle markets of Germany, Benelux and the Nordics. Headquartered in Stuttgart, the firm aims to aid source-to-pay processes of direct and indirect materials in strategic and operational procurement.

Keensight plans to support Onventis’s growth into an international mid-market SaaS leader. The Onventis management team is staying in place and investing alongside Keensight.

“We have identified this company as a leading cloud procurement provider, and Onventis’ already prominent market positioning, strong brand and attractive profile have convinced us of the company’s high calibre,” said Yuri Mikhalev, partner at Keensight Capital, in a statement.

Main invested in Onventis in 2019 and helped it become a source-to-pay provider for mid-size companies, according to the statement. Over that time, Onventis moved from a focus on the DACH region to becoming pan-European, with a presence in the Netherlands, Sweden and Austria. Its overall revenues increased by more than 2x and it made two strategic acquisitions.

Hose about that. Unigasket Group, which is backed by Palladio Holding, has acquired Newark, Delaware-based MTO Hose Solutions, a manufacturer of PTFE tubes. No financial terms were disclosed.

Headquartered in northern Italy, Unigasket is a producer of industrial pipes. Since 2018 Palladio Holding has a controlling 75 percent stake in the company while Vittorio Calissi, president and founder of Unigasket, holds the remaining 25 percent.

On the deal, Simone Giovannelli, a senior partner of PFH Palladio Holding, said in a statement: “The acquisition of MTO Hose Solutions represents a further important step in the implementation of the strategic plan of the Unigasket Group. We believe that in terms of size, managerial competence, commercial presence, technology and production know-how, the group is today an undisputed market leader in its reference segments”.

Read more on the deal here.

Welcome aboard. Canadian private markets firm Northleaf Capital Partners has named Stewart Hay as vice chair, global investor solutions.

Hay will in the new role support the continued expansion of Northleaf’s global private markets investor coverage. Working with its business development and investor relations teams, he will operate out of the firm’s London and Los Angeles offices.

Most recently, Hay was global head of private markets client strategies at abrdn.

Read more about Hay’s experience and how he will fit into Northleaf in our full coverage here.

Tailwinds. Finally, to find out what Carlyle Group’s senior executives in Europe are thinking, head over to our affiliate site Private Equity International.

PEI’s Carmela Mendoza asked how Carlyle is finding growth opportunities in Europe, given all the continent’s troubles with growth and energy supply.

The full article is here, but one snippet was that Carlyle’s Europe buyout team has managed to make about five or six investments each year – despite some of the macroeconomic woes – in firms it believes are likely to benefit from the tailwinds driven by one – or more – of its four macro growth trends. Those trends are digitalisation, healthcare, emerging global wealth, and sustainability and climate change.

Jonathan Zafrani, managing director, partner and co-head of Carlyle Europe Partners, told Carmela: “The investment themes we pursue are not entirely insensitive to the macroeconomic changes, but we think they show resiliency in difficult times. Companies will likely continue to invest in technology to improve their performance. Healthcare is a priority. Consumers and governments are investing more money in renewables.”

That’s it from me today. Nina Lindholm will be with you tomorrow to take you into the weekend.

Cheers,

Craig