Deal is biggest investment ever in cyber/cloud value-added distribution; further growth
planned as management team prepares to extend services, portfolio and global footprint.
PARIS, FRANCE – April 13th, 2018 – Exclusive Group, the value-added services and
technologies (VAST) group, today announced significant new investment from global private
equity firm Permira to take a majority stake in the business. The transaction secures
substantial funding and resources to fuel the next stage in Exclusive Group’s development
and hyper-growth, with the existing management team, led by CEO Olivier Breittmayer,
further focused on expanding service offerings, vendor portfolio and presence, operations
and global footprint.
“This investment both validates and enables our trajectory to become the global specialist
VAD for cybersecurity and cloud migration, extending our value-based service offerings and
strengthening our global reach,” said Olivier Breittmayer, CEO of Exclusive Group. “We are
delighted to welcome on board Permira and their renowned technology team, whose
resources will be invaluable in the next chapter of the Exclusive story. This partnership
preserves and builds upon the unique business culture and platform that our people have
shaped over the last decade, and which holds the key to our continuing success.”
Exclusive Group’s unique positioning and business strategy is centred on a ‘global-local’
value model that exceeds both the scale of local VAD specialists and the general approach of
global broad line distributors. This has brought unprecedented success for more than a
decade by targeting two core markets (cybersecurity and cloud) with very high growth
profiles. The resulting strong organic growth and astute strategic acquisitions have seen a
doubling of revenues every two years, culminating in total sales for 2017 of 1.75bn€ (up 38%
from 1.27bn€ in 2016).
Michail Zekkos, Partner in the technology team at Permira said: “Exclusive’s impressive
growth to date has demonstrated its success in meeting the current shortage of skills in
security, hybrid IT and digital faced by the IT industry. We believe that services is the place
to be in cybersecurity and cloud, and that the specialised distribution role occupied by
Exclusive at the centre of the channel will become ever more critical. We look forward to
working with the team on supporting further organic growth and strategic acquisitions in the
years ahead.”
The transaction is subject to customary conditions and is expected to close in the next few
months.
Advisors on the transaction included: Morgan Stanley, Natixis Partners, White & Case, PWC,
Fidal KPMG and Goodwin Procter.
About Permira
Permira is a global investment firm. Founded in 1985, the firm advises funds with a total
committed capital of approximately €32bn and makes long-term investments in companies
with the objective of transforming their performance and driving sustainable growth. The
Permira funds have made over 200 private equity investments in five key sectors: Consumer,
Technology, Industrials, Healthcare and Financial Services. Permira employs over 200 people
in 14 offices across Europe, North America and Asia.
For more information visit Permira’s Website