HGGC Closes Sale of hybris to SAP

HGGC said Thursday it completed the sale of hybris Software to SAP. with the exit, HGGC said that it has returned all of the committed capital from its $1.1 billion debut fund.

PRESS RELEASE

PALO ALTO, Calif.—August 1, 2013—HGGC, a leading middle market private equity firm, today announced that it has completed the sale of omnichannel commerce technology leader hybris Software to SAP (NYSE: SAP).  With this exit, HGGC has now returned all of the committed capital from its $1.1 billion debut fund, with eight platform investments remaining in its portfolio out of 13 total platforms. This transaction follows the sales of Sunquest Information Systems and Power Holdings in 2012, and Grand Isle Shipyard in 2011.
Under HGGC’s ownership, hybris solidified its position as the world’s leading independent ecommerce platform, according to Gartner, when it merged with HGGC’s portfolio company iCongo, an eCommerce software and services provider, in 2011.
“Partnering with HGGC was the right decision for hybris at a critical time in the evolution of our business,” said Carsten Thoma, Co-Founder and President of hybris. “They provided both the financial resources that we needed to maintain our rapid growth rate and helpful strategic guidance to help position the company for long-term success.”

“We are extremely proud of our investment in the company, which is a textbook example of HGGC’s investment and operating methodology,” said Rich Lawson, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of HGGC. “It shows our expertise in technology-enabled services that help companies become more efficient, our focus on closely-held businesses, and our preference for investing alongside great management teams who remain committed to their businesses. HGGC will continue to deploy this model in the future and look for new opportunities to partner with world class management teams and founders.”

Today hybris has more than 500 corporate B2B and consumer brand customers using its solutions, including W.W.Grainger, Rexel, General Electric, Thomson Reuters, 3M, Toys“R”Us, Metro, Bridgestone, P&G, Levi’s, Nikon, Galeries Lafayette, Migros, Nespresso and Lufthansa.

“This sale is a great result for hybris, SAP and for HGGC and our investors,” added Steve Young, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of HGGC. “SAP is the perfect buyer for hybris and home for its employees. The company is well-respected for its acquisition approach, preserving strong technology brands while providing the resources to flourish while operating as an independent business unit of SAP. We are confident that hybris has a very bright future.”

About HGGC
Based in Palo Alto, California, HGGC is a leading private equity firm focusing on leveraged buyout, recapitalizations and growth equity transactions in the middle market. The firm seeks to partner with strong management teams and founders to build companies capable of generating sustainable growth. With years of collective deal and operational experience, HGGC brings best practices from private equity and global corporations to help middle market businesses in a wide range of industries outperform the market. The firm is currently investing out of a $1.1B Fund. For more information, please visit www.hggc.com.

About hybris AG
hybris helps businesses on every continent sell more goods, services and digital content through every touchpoint, channel and device. hybris delivers OmniCommerce™: state‐of‐the‐art master data management and unified commerce processes that give a business a single view of its customers, products and orders, and its customers a single view of the business. hybris’ omni‐channel software is built on a single platform, based on open standards, that is agile to support limitless innovation, efficient to drive the best TCO, and scalable and extensible to be the last commerce platform companies will ever need. Both principal industry analyst firms rank hybris as a “leader” and list its commerce platform among the top two or three in the market. The same software is available on‐premise, on‐demand and managed hosted, giving merchants of all sizes maximum flexibility. Over 500 companies have chosen hybris, including global B2B sites W.W.Grainger, Rexel, General Electric, Thomson Reuters and 3M as well as consumer brands Toys“R”Us, Metro, Bridgestone, P&G, Levi’s, Nikon, Galeries Lafayette, Migros, Nespresso and Lufthansa. hybris has operations in 15 countries around the globe. hybris is the future of commerce™.