Acquisition of Webhelp alongside KKR
FR
Sycomore Corporate Finance acted as financial advisor to Webhelp, its co-founders and management team
The investment in Webhelp will be made primarily by the KKR European Fund IV and follows KKR’ strategy of investing behind strong European entrepreneurs and their teams to build global companies and industry leaders.
The acquisition enables Webhelp to strengthen its position as an independent business process outsourcer. Webhelp will continue to be headquartered in Paris, France and led by the current management team.
In June 2011, Charterhouse had acquired a 60% stake in Webhelp, from Barclays Private Equity and Astorg for €300m. The remaining 40% stake was retained by the management.
During Charterhouse ownership, Webhelp has improved revenues from €200m to a forecast €725m in 2015, the number of contact centers has increased from 12 to more than 80 while the number of employees globally has risen from 7,000 to in excess of 30,000.
Rationale
Support Webhelp in its growth development to become a leading, independent global business process outsourcer
Founded in 2000, Webhelp is specialised in comprehensive customer experience management services across a range of digital, social, mobile and traditional voice channels to an international client base.
Webhelp reported an annual turnover of €528m for the year 2014 and has a workforce of more than 30,000 people. It expects the turnover to increase to €725m in 2015.
Founded in 1976, KKR (NYSE: KKR) is a global investment firm that manages investments across multiple asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit strategies and hedge funds.
With $129.6bn assets under management as of December 31, 2016 KKR is present in 16 countries across 5 continents.