Houlihan Lokey Advises Waterland

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Netrics, a portfolio company of Waterland, has been acquired by Bregal Unternehmerkapital. The transaction closed on December 20, 2023.

Formed as a merger of the Waterland portfolio companies Netrics, Tineo, and nexellent, Netrics has developed into one of the largest and most powerful cloud and modern workplace providers in Switzerland. In the past two years, Netrics has completed two further acquisitions: BlueStone Consulting and PageUp.

Netrics currently serves more than 600 enterprise and SME customers from diversified industries, allowing employees to work in a modern, efficient, and secure way. The company is a 10-time Microsoft Gold Partner for applications—cloud and modern workplace—employing approximately 140 people across four offices in Switzerland. Netrics also founded an independent consulting boutique for the digitalisation of the workplace in Basel under the name AliceBlue AG.

Bregal Unternehmerkapital is a leading family-backed investment firm with offices in Zug, Munich, and Milan. As a part of a family-owned business that has grown over several generations, the funds advised by Bregal Unternehmerkapital invest in midsized companies based in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Northern Italy.

Houlihan Lokey acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Waterland.

Given Houlihan Lokey’s strong track record in the IT services sector, it was engaged as the sole financial advisor to Waterland. Houlihan Lokey’s role involved the provision of comprehensive support for management and shareholders. This included the preparation of marketing materials and business plans, coordination of the due diligence process, and facilitation of transaction negotiations.