DC Advisory advised ARDIAN on the acquisition financing of Competence Call Center (“CCC” or the “Company”), one of the leading business process outsourcing (“BPO”) service providers in Europe, headquartered in Berlin, Germany. Following the acquisition of Imes-Icore in August, the transaction marks DC Advisory’s second successful buyside debt advisory mandate for ARDIAN Expansion Fund IV in H2 2017.
ARDIAN will acquire the shares of CCC from pan-European private equity firm Silverfleet Capital. The management team headed by CEO Christian Legat, COO Ulf Herbrechter and CFO Thomas Nemec will hold a significant stake in the Company and is fully committed to leading CCC during its next growth phase. Following ARDIAN’s previous investment in CCC between 2009 and 2013 via its AXA Expansion Fund II, this transaction marks the beginning of CCC’s second partnership with the investor.
CCC was founded in Vienna, Austria, in 1998 and has become one of the leading European BPO service providers, with a particularly strong footprint in the DACH region. The Company offers a broad range of high-quality communication solutions across telephone, e-mail, chat and social media channels such as up/cross selling, complaint management, technical support and social media monitoring. With more than 5,500 staff, CCC operates 18 locations across eight countries, ten of which are based in the DACH region, four in Eastern Europe, three in Turkey, and one in France. Services are offered in more than 28 languages to a broad customer base including blue-chip and fast growing companies in the B2C, telecommunication, social media and travel industries.
The acquisition was partly financed by a debt package including a super senior RCF and term loan facility, and a unitranche, arranged by Bank of Ireland and Blackrock. Bank of Ireland was acting as facility agent and security agent.
DC Advisory ran a competitive financing process with a select number of senior banks and debt funds, and managed to have credit documentation signed within less than two months from first lender approach. Most notably, DC Advisory’s involvement enabled ARDIAN to submit a fully financed offer at the confirmatory bid deadline already. The acquisition of CCC confirms DC Advisory’s ability to effectively run a competitive financing process, achieve committed financing and negotiate credit documentation within a very limited timeframe.
The transaction remains subject to approval from the competition authorities. Financial details have not been disclosed.
