Premium

Partners Group Acquires Civica from OMERS Private Equity

Canadian pension fund OMERS Private Equity had signed a deal to sell UK business software provider Civica for 1.06 billion pounds ($1.38 billion).

Investment manager Partners Group, a global investment manager with over 50.76 billion pounds ($66 billion) in assets under management, will acquire the company just four years after the private equity arm of Ontario pension fund bought Civica. At the time, the company was valued at 390 million pounds ($508 million). The sale generated a 2.6-times return on investment for the private equity group.

OMERS manages investments on behalf of 470,000 members form city governments, emergency services and local agencies across Ontario.

UK-based Civica provides business critical software and services to 2,000 major customers in 10 countries. Clients include the Electoral Commission, who used its software to support real-time tracking of votes in the EU referendum, along with the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which leverages Civica’s solution to respond to international crises. Of the fifteen-year-old business’ 3,700 staff, approximately 75% are located in the UK. As an Omers portfolio company, Civica has carried out 12 acquisitions, most recently the buyout of human resources software specialist Carval.

Switzerland-based asset manager Partners Group serves more than 900 institutional investors worldwide and has invested over $80 billion in private equity, private real estate, private debt and private infrastructure since its foundation in 1996.

Moving forward, Partners Group will seek to build out Civica’s international reach.

“Local and regional governments everywhere are digitalising their processes in order to offer more cost-effective and user-friendly services to the public, and Civica has the necessary expertise in supporting digitalisation and efficiency gains in the public sector,” stated Partners Group's Bilge Ogut.