Posted: May 16, 2013

London – GMT Communications Partners (GMT), the European media and communications focused private equity group, together with Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS), a private equity firm that invests in the information, education, media, marketing and business services industries in North America and Europe, are delighted to announce that they have teamed up with Management to provide growth capital to IT-Ernity, a provider of business critical managed services and shared hosting for SMEs in the Netherlands.

Founded in 2002 by its Managing Director, Sebastiaan de Koning, and R&D Manager Tom Pfeifer, IT-Ernity offers a comprehensive catalogue of standardised fully managed solutions, including system administration, protection, security, application management and other outsourcing services. Through the shared services and connectivity categories, the company offers shared hosting, domain registration and secure infrastructure connectivity through xDSL and fibre. Since 2008, the Company has increased in scale through fourteen acquisitions, strengthening its existing customer base and services portfolio.

The Netherlands is a highly attractive market for the delivery of internet services in Europe due to the success of the AMS-IX exchange, one of the largest data transport hubs in the world, with over 70 connected carriers and the fastest broadband speeds in Europe. Additionally, the regulatory environment is highly favourable with regards data storage and the energy network is one of the most reliable in Europe. As a result of the logistical infrastructure and the countrys central location, it is estimated that a third of the data centres in Europe are located within the Netherlands.

IT-Ernity deploys its services through a sophisticated flexible cloud server infrastructure and dedicated high-end servers, which are housed in state-of-the-art data centre facilities. The company serves a diverse and growing customer base of over 40,000 customers, including a significant amount of cloud and managed services customers, primarily in the SME market. Expansion capital will be provided through a combination of equity, from GMT, VSS and management, who have acquired the majority shareholding from Nedvest Capital, in addition to debt financing from ING and ABN-AMRO.

Morgan Callagy, Partner at VSS, who will join the Board of the Company following the transaction, said:

“The success of Sebastiaan de Koning and his team at IT-Ernity speaks for itself, and it is a privilege to be joining forces with them. Since its foundation in 2002, IT-Ernity has delivered excellent growth, driven by strong market fundamentals and an attractive regulatory landscape, and we expect this new partnership to continue to take advantage of these market conditions in the coming years.”

Stefan Franssen, Partner at GMT, who will join the Board of the Company following the transaction, said:

“This is a fantastic opportunity to acquire a fast-growing business in an attractive niche of the IT industry. The management team at IT-Ernity have done a superb job in recent years, building the company through a string of acquisitions, and we look forward to helping them deliver on their ambitious expansion plans in the coming years.”

Sebastiaan De Koning, Managing Director of IT-Ernity commented:

“This investment will give us the financial and strategic resources we require to take IT-Ernity to the next stage of its development. We have been fortunate over the past 11 years to have established a team of committed and highly skilled individuals, and I look forward to building on our successes to date alongside GMT and VSS.”

GMT Communications Partners (www.gmtpartners.com) is a European independent private equity group focused exclusively on the media, information, entertainment and telecommunications industries, having actively invested in the European marketplace for the past 20 years. As industry practitioners, GMT focuses heavily on developing new strategic directions for established businesses that are able to benefit from new communication technologies. Since its foundation in 1993, GMT has invested in 32 companies and completed 70 bolt-on transactions across 19 countries, exclusively in European media/communications.

Veronis Suhler Stevenson (www.vss.com) is a private equity and debt capital fund management company dedicated to investing in the information, education, media, marketing and business services industries in North America and Europe. VSS provides capital for buyouts, recapitalizations, growth financings and strategic acquisitions to companies and management teams with a goal to build companies both organically and through a focused add-on acquisition program. Since the closing of the first VSS buyout fund in 1987, VSS has managed four buyout funds and two structured capital funds with initial aggregate committed capital in excess of $3.1 billion. The six funds have to date invested approximately $2.7 billion in 73 portfolio companies which have in turn completed over 320 add-on acquisitions.

Nedvest Capital (www.nedvest.nl) is an independent Dutch private equity firm investing in profitable medium-sized Dutch companies. Nedvest Capital takes a long-term view in its investment decisions, with buy and build activity driving growth. The targeted companies contribute to society and the environment in a sustainable manner. In addition to capital, Nedvest Capital brings knowledge and expertise to its investments.