EQT and Verdane to exit Forsta

EQT and Verdane have agreed to sell Forsta to Press Ganey. No financial terms were disclosed. Jefferies acted as financial advisor to Verdane, EQT Private Equity and Forsta on the transaction.Based in the UK, Forsta is a provider of customer experience and market research software and services to enterprise customers and market research professionals.

PRESS RELEASE

EQT and Verdane are pleased to announce that the EQT Mid Market US fund (“EQT Private Equity”), together with the Verdane Capital IX fund (“Verdane”) have agreed to sell Forsta (the “Company”) to Press Ganey, a leader in patient, member, employee and consumer experience across the healthcare ecosystem.

Headquartered in London, U.K., Forsta is a leading provider of customer experience and market research software and services to enterprise customers and market research professionals. Forsta provides solutions in Quantitative (including Surveys & Reporting), Qualitative (including Digital Qual & Live Video, Video Insights), and Voice of the Customer / Voice of the Employee segments, to help deliver intelligence with clarity, confidence, and impact.

The company now known as Forsta was born in 2021 out of a shared thesis at EQT and Verdane of creating an integrated quantitative and qualitative offering for market research agencies and corporate customers. The move was achieved by combining Verdane-owned Confirmit, which Verdane merged with its portfolio company Dapresy in 2020, with FocusVision, acquired by EQT Private Equity in 2015.

The combination doubled the size of the business to create scale for increased investment in product development and go-to-market, while further shifting the business mix towards software. The combined company was subsequently rebranded as “Forsta” to unify the brand strategy and create an integrated go-to-market approach, focused on delivering holistic human insights.

Hajo Krösche, Managing Director within EQT Private Equity’s Advisory Team, said, “Our investments in Forsta’s digital backbone and people have resulted in a compelling technology offering and a track record in human experience solutions, which will serve as invaluable assets to the combined platform going forward. We are excited to have found a long-term home for Forsta in Press Ganey, a company and team with whom we have had a strong relationship for many years.”

Pål Malmros, Partner at Verdane, said, “Forsta will now make the next generation of patient and customer experience better and truly human-focused through its world-leading customer experience and market research technology, allowing Press Ganey to make a quantum leap in its ‘experience of care’ technology solution. Press Ganey’s relationship to Forsta dates back to the Confirmit years, and this event marks the culmination of a growth journey the Verdane team originally set out on in 2017 through our investment in Dapresy. We want to thank the Forsta and EQT teams for an excellent partnership that we now look forward to continuing with Press Ganey.”

Kyle Ferguson, CEO of Forsta, said, “With the critical support of EQT and Verdane, we have created and scaled a comprehensive platform for human experience insights. We look forward to partnering with Press Ganey and to leveraging our world class technology and expertise to accelerate growth across the combined business.”

The transaction is subject to customary conditions and approvals, and is expected to close in H1 2022.

Jefferies acted as financial advisor and Sidley Austin LLP acted as legal advisor to Verdane, EQT Private Equity and Forsta.

About EQT
EQT is a purpose-driven global investment organization with more than EUR 73.4 billion in assets under management across 28 active funds. EQT funds have portfolio companies in Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Americas with total sales of approximately EUR 29 billion and more than 175,000 employees. EQT works with portfolio companies to achieve sustainable growth, operational excellence and market leadership.