Deloitte Legal assists Main Capital Partners in successful exit by way of sale of Onventis to Keensight

A Düsseldorf-based Deloitte Legal team led by Max Lüerßen (Counsel) and Felix Felleisen (Partner, both Corporate/M&A) advised Main Capital Partners ("Main") on the sale of Onventis, a cloud pioneer for digital transformation of purchasing and finance processes, and its Dutch, Austrian and Swedish subsidiaries to Keensight Capital (“Keensight”), one the leading European Growth Buyout firms.

Main Capital Partners’ sale of Onventis to Keensight marks another highly successful exit for Main and furthers its track record of Top-Quartile Returns. Main Capital invested in Onventis in 2019 and has supported the company in becoming a leading Source-to-Pay (S2P) provider for midsize enter-prises. Keensight, a recognized technology-specialized investor dedicated to pan-European Growth Buyout, will support Onventis in the next growth phase.

Founded in 2000 with headquarters in Stuttgart, Onventis’ offer steers source-to-pay processes of direct and indirect materials in strategic and operational procurement. Keensight, who have been interested in the Spend Management software space for years had identified Onventis early on as leader, understanding that Onventis differentiates itself by a strong suite product offering, a clear strategic vision, and seamless execution. Keensight will support Onventis on its way to further de-velop into an international mid-market SaaS champion. Throughout the partnership, the entire Onventis management team remains on board and invests alongside Keensight Capital.

Over Main’s investment period, the company evolved from a DACH -focused towards a pan-European leader in Spend Management software with local presences now also in the Netherlands, Sweden and Austria. During this period, the company developed into an attractive rule-of-40 company with a strong focus on recurring revenues growth and overall revenues increasing by more than 2.0x. In addition, Main Capital backed Onventis with two strategic acquisitions in the spend analytics and invoice management space to extend the product offering of the group and enhance international presence.

“Deloitte Legal in Germany and, in particular, Max Lüerßen and Felix Felleisen have advised us on a variety of platform and add-on acquisitions, including our investment in Onventis back in 2019 as well as the German parts of Onventis add-on transactions in the Netherlands and Sweden," says Sven van Berge Henegouwen, Managing Partner at Main Capital Partners. "In view of their track record, which also includes other recent strategic exits, they were the perfect match for also advising us on the important sale of Onventis to Keensight. Not only could we build on their experience and our joint track record, but also profit from their collaborative approach, including in dealing with issues important to members of the Oventis management team and their further tax and legal advisors. Thanks to their excellent business acumen, focus on issues that matter to us, great understanding for management’s needs and pragmatism, they made a great contribution to making this divestment process a great success for all stakeholders."

The team led by Düsseldorf-based Deloitte Legal lawyers Felix Felleisen and Max Lüerßen had advised Main Capital on a number of platform and add-on transactions since 2015; more recently, Deloitte Legal has also repeatedly acted for Main as sell-side advisors, for example in the sale of financial software provider b+m Group to German technology investor LEA Partners and the strategic sale of artegic to UNITED Marketing Technologies by DuMont.

Advisor Main Capital:
Deloitte Legal: Max Lüerßen (Counsel, Corporate/M&A, Düsseldorf, Lead), Felix Felleisen (Partner, Corporate/M&A, Düsseldorf, Co-Lead); Frauke Heudtlass (Partner, Employment Law, Düsseldorf); Dr. Fleur Johanna Prop, LL.M. (Counsel, Corporate/M&A, Düsseldorf); Nicole Deneke, Nicole Rurik (Associates, Corporate/M&A, Düsseldorf), Leonie Onkelbach (Associate, Employment Law, Düsseldorf).

Deloitte Financial Advisory: Mathias Keller (Partner), Sven Hausen (Director); Matthias Mihurko (Senior Manager), Janis Fabio Balthasar (Manager), Akshey Kapur (Senior Consultant), Niklas Linder (Senior Consultant, all Deloitte Financial Advisory, Düsseldorf)

_{Published: January 2023}