Houlihan Lokey Advises ECM’s GEP V Fund

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that German Equity Partners V fund (GEP V or the fund), managed by German private equity firm ECM Equity Capital Management GmbH, has sold its majority stake in Berlin software developer PikeTec GmbH (PikeTec) to Synopsys, Inc., a U.S.-based global leader in electronic design automation and semiconductor IP. The fast-growing software company PikeTec specializes in testing and verifying the functionality of embedded software, with a focus on the automotive industry. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price of the transaction, which closed at signing.

PikeTec was founded in Berlin in 2007 by Dr. Eckard Bringmann, Andreas Krämer, and Dr. Jens Lüdemann. With a team of approximately 60 software developers and engineers, the company is one of the leading providers of test software. PikeTec combines the development of standard testing software with complementary testing services into a test automation proposition. The company’s Time Partition Testing (TPT) tool enables embedded systems—electronic control unit software—to be tested more accurately and efficiently than with other methods. PikeTec’s focus is on early-stage testing, such as model- and software-in-the-loop. The software specialist’s core market is the automotive industry, with OEMs and tier 1 suppliers as its main customers. With its tools, PikeTec serves customers in approximately 20 countries worldwide.

Houlihan Lokey served as the financial advisor to ECM’s GEP V fund and PikeTec's management on this transaction.