Proventis Partners advises the shareholders of the software engineering specialist PIXEL Group on the sale to the Ingenics Group

Munich, July 28th, 2020 – Proventis Partners advised the shareholders of PIXEL Group GmbH, Munich, on the sale of 100% of their shares to the Ingenics Group, Ulm. The PIXEL Group has more than 160 employees in three subsidiaries – Mixed Mode GmbH, PIXEL GmbH and NETexpress – and is active in software development for embedded solutions, complex applications and IT infrastructure support.

Challenges of the transaction

The PIXEL Group specialises in the implementation of digital transformation projects and has realised over 4,500 development projects since 2005. Many customer relationships have existed for decades. Within the mandate of the five partners, Proventis Partners was exclusively entrusted to find a suitable partner to enable the further growth of the PIXEL Group.
After a great deal of international interest, the owner-managed Ingencis, Ulm, emerged as the most suitable new owner. In spite of the special circumstances caused by Covid19, it was possible to realise a tailor-made transaction structure that met the different interests of the individual sellers. This included streamlining of the pre-deal shareholder structure, the implementation of a share roll-over model including debt facilities, and a ring-fencing for deferred purchase price elements.

Simon Ashdown, CEO und majority shareholder of Pixel Group, commented: “We would like to thank Jan Poerschmann and his team, who have supported us with their network, their longstanding mid-market M&A experience, the necessary empathy, creativity and industry expertise. The individual, tailor-made solution that was achieved in the end fulfilled all our expectations and offers the company a great perspective together with Ingenics to meet the increasing customer needs within the digital transformation”.
“We would like to thank the shareholders of the PIXEL Group for the trustful and constructive cooperation over the past months” says Jan Poerschmann, Partner at Proventis Partners, “and we wish the remaining shareholders all the best within the new Ingenics structure. We are convinced that the new team will jointly develop many innovative digital transformation concepts for their national and international clients”.

The role of Proventis Partners

For Proventis Partners, the sale of the PIXEL Group is another transaction in the IT & Business Services sector. The Proventis Partners team (Jan Porschmann, Partner, Florian Liepert, Director, Maximilian Gluchowski and Winnie Fuchs, Associates) was responsible for the management of the entire project: this included process strategy development, development of the equity story, preparation of documentation, international approach of potential buyers as well as the coordination of the due diligence process and leading the commercial negotiations. Legal advisors to the sellers were Dr. Florian Herrmann and Alexander Uhl, both from Langwieser Rechtsanwälte.

About PIXEL Group

The PIXEL Group is a company in the field of software development, which has positioned itself as a recognized solution partner for digital transformation due to its broad technological competence. The three subsidiaries “PIXEL”, “Mixed Mode” and “NETexpress” support companies in various industries with professional services in the areas of software development, embedded & software engineering, and IT support & consulting. The PIXEL Group, which was founded in 1988, employs around 160 people at its locations in Gräfelfing and Regensburg.
Find further information about PIXEL GROUP at www.pixel-group.de

About Ingenics

Ingenics AG is a globally active consulting firm, which has successfully positioned itself for over 40 years as a strategy and project partner for medium-sized and large companies. The Ingenics service portfolio in the form of strategy advisory, process and organization consulting as well as planning and implementation covers the entire business value chain. The company is positioned as an expert and driving force in the field of digital transformation and is constantly developing new, innovative industry 4.0-compatible solutions with future potential. The Ingenics Group, headquartered in Ulm, Germany, employs over 525 people at 15 locations worldwide.
Further information about Ingenicsis available at www.ingenics.com

About Proventis Partners

Proventis Partners is a partner-managed M&A advisory firm whose clients include mainly corporate groups, medium-sized family businesses and private equity funds. With 30 M&A consultants, Proventis Partners is one of the largest independent M&A consultancies in the GSA region with offices in Hamburg, Cologne, Munich, and Zurich. The industry focus of the partners includes Industrials & Chemicals, Business Services, Consumer & Retail, Media & IT, Healthcare, as well as Energy, where- in the partners realized more than 300 successfully completed transactions with a cumulative transaction value exceeding 10 billion Euros. Through its exclusive membership in Mergers Alliance – the leading international partnership of M&A specialists who have realized more than 800 transactions worldwide with a total value of around 40 billion US dollars since 2010 – Proventis Partners offers market coverage in the world’s leading business centers. Through the 20 members of the Mergers Alliance, with over 200 M&A professionals in 40 offices, Proventis Partners has direct access to local decision makers in Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia, and Africa.