Forterro Gains Investor in Partners Group
ERP Software Provider Onboards New Ownership To Pursue a Vision for Growth
Photo Caption: Pictured from left to right are Simon Anliker, Partners Group; Charles Rees, Partners Group; Paul Smolinski, Forterro; Dean Forbes, Forterro; Bilge Ogut, Partners Group; Lara Kuendig, Partners Group; Ivan Urosevic, Partners Group; Simon Kohlenberger, Partners Group
London, UK, March 1, 2022—Forterro, a European provider of ERP software and services for the industrial midmarket, today announced that Partners Group, a leading global private markets firm, acting on behalf of its clients, has acquired the company from Battery Ventures for €1 billion. The deal was signed last week and is set for completion following the necessary clearances.
Since it was founded ten years ago, Forterro has grown to employ more than 1,200 employees who work from over 40 office locations around the world to support specialised ERP software solutions and more than 10,000 small and midsize manufacturers. “In many ways, that strong growth means the company is now at an inflection point,” said Dave Tabors, a private equity partner at Battery Ventures, which has backed Forterro since 2012. “Forterro’s performance as part of our software-buyout strategy has been notable, and we are honoured to pass the lead to Partners Group for its next chapter,” he said.
“Over the past year, we have spent a great deal of time developing strategies for growth and investing in the people and infrastructure we need to achieve a brand new vision—something we’ve been calling ‘Forterro 3.0’,” said Dean Forbes, CEO of Forterro. “The final piece of the puzzle was partnering with an investor that would share this vision with us, and Partners Group is the right partner for us.”
“Forterro has been on an incredible journey, evolving from a Nordics-based on-premise manufacturing ERP vendor to an extremely well-run, pan-European group of specialised ERP businesses,” said Bilge Ogut, partner and head of private equity technology at Partners Group. “We came to the table confident in the quality of Forterro’s products and the people behind them. However, it’s the group's prospects for growth—underpinned by its exceptional 2021 results—that has us really excited about our path forward together.”
Indeed, the investment follows a year of stellar financial performance, with Forterro recently closing its strongest year in the company’s history and particularly notable growth in both recurring revenue and EBITDA.
“We are ready to become more than the sum of our parts,” said Forbes. “We join with Partners Group today to begin a journey toward becoming a unified, subscription-based and cloud-ready ERP platform with a broader range of capabilities that will more deeply serve the industrial midmarket.”
Arma Partners acted as an exclusive financial advisor to Forterro on the transaction.