The German consulting firm KPS, advised by Baker Tilly, joins the wave of mergers and acquisitions in the SAP segment, and acquires the Catalan ICE Consultants in order to strengthen its presence in southern Europe and expand its portfolio of services.
About ICE
ICE Consultants Europe is a Catalan company specialising in process improvement consultancy services, basically SAP implementation and adaptation solutions, planning tools and CRM (customer service management).
The company's clients include companies such as Seat, Cobega, Freudenberg, Revlon, Sanofi and SAR-Quavite, and it is active in sectors such as retail, consumer goods, pharmaceuticals and the automotive industry.
ICE is an international company with customers in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and some countries in North and South America.
The managing partners behind this technology consultancy firm are engineers Lluís Sans, Javier Pan and Francisco Fernández. Until now, the first two have shared 50% of the capital.
Corporate finance analysis ICE
ICE has registered a growth trend in recent years, reaching a total turnover of €7.80M in 2015 and obtaining an EBITDA of €944,000. The company's profitability, measured as EBITDA divided by sales in 2015, was 12.09%. All indications are that the acquisition by KPS will strengthen ICE's position in the market by opening up to more European customers.
Recently, several operations have been carried out in SAP companies in Spain, such as the purchase of Tecnocom by Indra or the acquisition of Drago Solutions by Devoteam. Given this panorama in the SAP sector, ICE saw the need to join a large European player in order to be able to compete.
KPS buys ICE
The German group KPS, specialised in consulting for the digital transformation of commerce, has acquired 100% of ICE Consultant. The transaction allows KPS to further strengthen its presence both in Spain and internationally and to expand its portfolio of services. The company currently has a team of 800 consultants and provides services to companies such as Lidl, Hugo Boss, Puma and Deichmann.
KPS was advised on the deal by Baker Tilly, which offers global tailor-made Audit, Consultancy and Tax-Legal, Accounting, Labour and Management solutions to SMEs and multinational companies. Baker Tilly has 30 years of experience and is part of Baker Tilly International, one of the world's top 10 professional services networks.
KPS, led by Leonardo Musso, is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, where it closed Monday at €16.81 per share, with a market capitalisation of €608.69M. The German group, which expects to turn €160M in 2017, aims to become one of the world's leading digital transformation consultancies.
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