Frankfurt, 18 May 2015 – Advent International (“Advent”), one of the largest and most experienced global private equity investors, today announced that it has signed an agreement to sell GFKL Financial Services AG (“GFKL”), one of the leading providers of receivables management services in Germany, to funds advised by Permira. The transaction is subject to antitrust approval. The purchase price has not been disclosed.

GFKL manages a receivables portfolio of €16.6 billion for clients from various industries, amongst them banks, insurance companies, online retailers and telecommunications companies. GFKL is one of the very few service providers in the market that has a high quality professional receivables management offering not only for major corporations, but also for medium-sized companies (German Mittelstand). In 2014, GFKL raised sales to €244 million (2013: €196 million).

Funds advised by Advent acquired GFKL from a consortium of investors in December 2009. At the time, the Company was a broad financial services conglomerate active in leasing, factoring, software and receivables management, which was undergoing restructuring. Advent provided equity through a capital increase to stabilize GFKL and successfully managed to refocus the Company towards its core business, receivables management services, as well as the purchase and service of Non-Performing Loan portfolios.

With Advent’s support GFKL also significantly invested in sales, operations, finance and IT so as to enable the efficient and fast processing of claims settlement on behalf of clients. GFKL has gained market share and is today a leading independent provider for receivables management in Germany. GFKL has furthermore repeatedly been awarded Standard & Poor’s best possible servicer rating “Strong, Outlook Stable”.

Dr Christian Stoffel, Director at Advent International in Germany, said: “GFKL has gone through an impressive transition and the current management team has done a great job in developing GFKL in partnership with Advent. We are convinced that GFKL is very well positioned to continue its successful expansion and gain further market share based on its highly professional approach and competitive platform. We wish GFKL with its management team and employees all the best in continuing the Company’s growth trajectory.”

The Permira funds will support the GFKL management as it capitalises on the company’s huge growth potential in Germany and worldwide. An increasing number of companies are outsourcing their receivables management today, particularly small and medium-sized businesses which often lack the resources to do it themselves. The increasing importance of e-commerce also creates further growth opportunities for GFKL. Finally, the debt collection market in Germany is very fragmented which creates numerous consolidation opportunities.

“We see a lot of opportunities for GFKL to expand its activities in Germany and internationally and accelerate its growth. The Permira funds’ experience in investing in leading financial services and software companies globally and the strength of their international network make them ideal partners to support the company’s growth strategy in the years ahead,” says Philip Muelder, Partner in the Financial Services Team at Permira.

Kamyar Niroumand, Chief Executive Officer of GFKL, said: “We look forward to entering our next chapter of growth together with Permira as a new, equally experienced and reliable partner. We thank Advent International for its ongoing support in refocusing our group and in developing a highly competitive platform. We are very well positioned to further expand our business and continue to work together with our clients from various industries. In addition, we aim to play an active role in consolidating the market.”