Stuttgart – Austrian firm Catalysts GmbH is set to become part of newly established IT service provider Cloudflight. Catalysts specialises in digitalisation and cloud transformation. DBAG Fund VII, which is advised by Deutsche Beteiligungs AG, has acquired a majority holding in Catalysts GmbH and in Kassel-based Crisp Research AG in the context of two management buyouts in order to create the new structure. Going forward, the two companies will form the Cloudflight Group. In addition to an employee share scheme, the two founders of Catalysts will also hold significant stakes. The main objective of the new structure is to push ahead with the firm’s European growth strategy. The parties agreed not to disclose the purchase price. The transaction is currently awaiting approval from the competition authorities, with completion scheduled for June 2019.
A German-Austrian CMS team headed by lead partner Dr Maximilian Grub advised the founders of Catalysts, Christoph Steindl and Christian Federspiel, on all legal aspects of the transaction.
Catalysts, headquartered in Linz, Austria, is a service provider specialising in agile software development. In addition to major companies, its customer portfolio also includes hidden champions from the upper-tier SME segment. The company specialises in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality and big data. Catalysts employs around 300 people at locations in Austria, Romania, Germany and the Netherlands. According to the company’s own data, it has grown at an average annual rate of over 30% since it was established.
Crisp Research AG is an independent IT research and consulting company based in Kassel, in the federal state of Hesse. Founded in 2013, the company assesses current and upcoming trends in technology and the market. Crisp Research also assists companies with digital transformation of their IT and business processes.
CMS Germany
Dr Maximilian Grub, Lead Partner
Dr Tobias Schneider, Partner
Dr Sabina Krispenz, Counsel
Dr Tobias Will, Senior Associate
Simone Philipp, Associate
Susanne Waldhans, Associate, all Corporate/M&A
Dr Martin Mohr, Counsel
Dr Olaf Thießen, Counsel, both Tax
Dr Michael Kraus, Partner, TMC
Dr Christian Haellmigk, Partner, Competition & EU
Philipp Dittmann, Associate, Labor, Employment & Pensions
CMS Austria
Johannes Trenkwalder, Partner
Florian Mayer, Associate
Press Contact
presse@cms-hs.com
Social Media cookies collect information about you sharing information from our website via social media tools, or analytics to understand your browsing between social media tools or our Social Media campaigns and our own websites. We do this to optimise the mix of channels to provide you with our content. Details concerning the tools in use are in our privacy policy.