TeamSystem’s private equity owners look at stake sale at €8bn valuation

The private equity owners of Italian technology group TeamSystem are discussing a sale of a stake in the business at a more than €8bn valuation, in a process that would test investor appetite for software groups as advances in AI drive fears of disruption to the sector.

Hellman & Friedman, the investment firm that acquired TeamSystem a decade ago, is working with bankers to explore the sale of a minority stake in the group, said people familiar with the matter.

The deal could attract interest from other private equity firms, the people said, cautioning that discussions remained at early stages and no transaction was certain.

A successful stake sale with a valuation topping €8bn would represent a strong rise in the business’s worth since California-based Hellman & Friedman acquired it in 2016 for about €1.2bn.

Such a deal would also allow Hellman & Friedman to return cash to some of its own backers at a time when the buyout industry is under pressure to sell assets and return money to institutional investors.

TeamSystem provides accounting, payroll and business management software for small and medium-sized enterprises. The group is rolling out AI products and may be more resilient to technology shifts because of its 3mn-strong customer base, said people familiar with the business.

The group’s sales have grown by several times since its acquisition in 2016 and now generate revenues of €1.15bn. That figure is up from about €250mn a decade ago.

However, investors have grown more skittish about backing software companies this year because of rising fears about AI disruption. Some transactions, such as a planned initial public offering in London of the €19bn European software group Visma, have been shelved because of volatile markets.

Hellman & Friedman has previously sold stakes in TeamSystem, most recently in 2023. Investors in a separate 2021 deal have enjoyed strong gains of roughly three times their investment, according to a person familiar with the matter.

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