Keensight Capital to release IMs for Sogelink sale in coming weeks

Keensight Capital is expected to release information memoranda (IMs) for the sale of French construction software group Sogelink in the coming weeks, according to five sources familiar with the matter.

Vendor due diligence is currently being carried out for the Paris-headquartered technology group, one source said.

Sogelink has a score of 58, according to Mergermarket‘s Likely to Exit (LTE) predictive algorithm.* The score reflects the way the company has been coming to the end of its inorganic-growth cycle.

Suitors for the business could include buyout funds such as CVC, Cinven and Hg, one source said, while French private equity firms are also expected to show interest, another added.

Sogelink is expected to be valued at between EUR 800m to EUR 1bn, the sources said, although bids are expected to come in at the lower end of the valuation range, two sources added. The company is expected to be marketed off higher EBITDA than the previously reported figure of EUR 50m, two sources said.

Keensight typically invests in companies with 10% growth with its average portfolio companies at around 20%, and Sogelink is no exception, one source said.

The business appointed Raymond James earlier this year to weigh a sale of Sogelink, as reported.

The company has grown rapidly since Keensight acquired it in 2019, in part by bolting on Norway’s Focus Software and Dutch software firm Locatiqs in 2022, as well as French software company ILTR in 2021.

Sogelink was also merged with French peer Geodesial, another Keensight portfolio company acquired in 2019.

Sogelink’s operates in the construction sector, an area that is “highly under-digitalised” and at least a decade behind the digitalisation of the automotive industry, one source said.

Keensight acquired the company in 2019 at around 14x EBITDA multiple, one source said. The company was sold off at around EUR 20m, as reported at the time.

Established in 2000, the company aims to streamline and simplify complex processes within infrastructure by providing cloud-based platforms that facilitate communication, collaboration, and data management.

Sogelink and Keensight did not respond to requests for comment. Raymond James, Hg, Cinven and CVC all declined to comment.

*Mergermarket’s LTE predictive analytics assign a score to sponsor-backed companies to help track and predict when an exit could occur through M&A, an IPO, a direct listing or a deSPAC transaction.