MKB Fonds, the private equity firm that moved from Amsterdam to Buitenplaats ‘Wester-Amstel’ in Amstelveen at the beginning of this year, will continue its investments strategy – which focuses on grouping ICT service providers. Earlier this month she participated in IT service provider Tredion from Gorinchem.
Tredion, from Gorinchem, was founded in 1999 by the current DGA, Jan van Wijgerden. Tredion installs, manages and maintains the ICT environment for SMEs and medium-sized companies and organizations. The company is also a specialist in the field of IT-security and productivity. Tredion has grown into a company that provides thousands of workstations for its customers with IT and telecom. In order to provide its customers with a complete range of services, Tredion has also been offering telecom services since 2013. The company is distinguished by the high degree of standardization and automation of internal processes and systems. The company employees approximately 40 people and generates €7 million in turnover annually.
The ICT market is developing at a rapid pace. Companies are often insufficiently able to follow developments independently or deliberately choose to focus on their core activities. The participation in Tredion is one of a series of participations that MKB Fonds previously acquired in the ICT services sector. MKB Fonds quickly built a cluster under the name of Futureproof Group, in which nine comparable companies now work together. Together they realize more than €60 million turnover with approximately 350 employees. These companies benefit from economies of scale and knowledge sharing. Tredion is also part of this agreement. The security and productivity competences of Tredion are a valuable addition within the group and also creates more geographical coverage.
Emiel Havinga, partner at MKB Fonds explains: “The trend for further consolidation is clearly evident in the market for ICT service providers. A fragmented marketing like this lends itself well to such a strategy and we see that there is a great need for group formation.”
Although the outbreak of the coronavirus is causing significant losses in companies in many sectors, in many cases this does not apply to companies in the ICT services sector. Jan van Wijgerden adds: “In the current market conditions, the importance of good IT and telecom has become clear more than once. We do not see any negative effect on the results for the time being, as IT is seen as a crucial link to be able to work from home or in part and to facilitate home education. ICT was indispensable during the financial crisis of 2008 and over the years companies have become even more dependent on ICT for their business operations.”