Mergers, Acquisitions, Partnerships in December 2022 / January 2023

20 years of expertise in SAP

The digital, consulting and software company Valantic strengthens its SAP expertise with the SAP consultancy ComSol. 

The SAP partner ComSol offers consulting services for retail and consumer goods companies and supports companies in the holistic S/4-based business transformation: from the design of competitively differentiated business processes to implementation and subsequent operation (application management). ComSol offers SAP implementation and consulting, development and support services, SAP licenses, project management and in-house training. The range of consulting and products is tailored to the needs of retail and consumer goods companies.

“With the addition of ComSol, our workforce in this area has grown to more than 850 employees.“

Holger von Daniels,
CEO and Founder, Valantic

By using industry-tested business processes (Industry Best Practices) based on S/4, existing SAP customers can benefit not only from shorter implementation times, but also from the associated positive effects of standardization, harmonization and automation of their business processes. "Through the merger with ComSol, we can support our multinational customers and the upper midmarket even more holistically in digitization: from the definition of the digitization strategy to the design of the customer journey to the implementation of state-of-the-art SAP systems," emphasizes Holger von Daniels, founder and CEO at Valantic.

Solution in SAP Financials

The demands on companies in the housing, construction and real estate industries are increasing. This is also expressed in the desire for digital payment processes and electronic banking solutions.

As a service provider for the industry, the digitization experts at Promos Consult are therefore expanding their cooperation activities in payment transactions. Cooperation partners are PlusForta, a provider of rental deposit guarantees, and Aareal First Financial Solutions, a specialist for integrated payment transactions. Both are subsidiaries of Aareal Bank. Aareal Bank's BK01 payment transaction system, which is a leader in the housing industry, has already been used for 20 years by the majority of Promos' clients for accounts receivable and credit-side debits. The new partnership complements this offering with new digital products.

"The platform solution enables new payment methods to be integrated into existing payment and booking processes in our customers' SAP systems without media discontinuity. On the one hand, the digitization of processes leads to cost savings and higher process quality. On the other hand, it also makes the rental product more attractive because tenants can use the payment method they are accustomed to from other areas of their lives in the rental relationship as well," says Thoralf Beyer, Chief Sales Officer, describing the benefits.

Partnership for digitization

Digital transformation in manufacturing: Scheer will develop low-code and platform for the GEC Digital Production System.

The partnership of the two owner-managed companies German Edge Cloud and Scheer brings together two pioneers of digital transformation. Improvements in quality, resilience, -deliverability, transparency and OEE are the key benefits. German Edge Cloud (GEC) is part of the Friedhelm Loh Group and specializes in edge and cloud solutions, especially for industry-related applications and store floor apps for the digitalized manufacturing of tomorrow. The manufacturing and IIoT specialists accompany smart factories from the first digitization steps to agile, digital production management. Scheer has developed a leading software platform to simplify and accelerate the development and integration of digital production applications and the automation of innovative manufacturing processes.

"In industry, speed and flexibility count in digitalization - due to the economic challenges.“

Friedhelm Loh, owner and Chairman of the Executive Board,
Loh Group

"Our family-owned companies are united by a passion for innovation," says Professor Friedhelm Loh, owner and CEO of the Friedhelm Loh Group: "In industry, speed and flexibility in digitization now count - also and especially against the backdrop of the current and upcoming economic and social challenges. Driving this forward is a key objective of the strategic partnership between German Edge Cloud and Scheer." Professor August-Wilhelm Scheer, founder and owner of Scheer Holding, says: "We are very happy to have found an innovative partner in the industry for Scheer. GEC and Friedhelm Loh Group have deep knowledge and practical experience of industrial automation processes. Scheer brings expertise in application development, integration and process automation. Together, we provide the manufacturing industry with easier access to value creation with IIoT. Above all, medium-sized businesses will benefit from this."

Cubeware sale

Rödl und Partner has advised Primrose Investments on the sale of German business intelligence software provider Cubeware to US-based Insightsoftware. With the transaction, Insightsoftware, a portfolio company of TA Associates, HG Capital and Genstar Capital and provider of reporting, analytics and performance solutions, aims to strengthen its presence and customer base in Europe. The interdisciplinary Rödl-and-Partner team was led by Mario Schulz, who together with Juliane Krafft provided legal support for the carve-out, transaction structuring and negotiations.

Primrose Investments is part of India Builders Corporation (IBC), an internationally renowned Indian real estate developer with generations of real estate experience. The company says it has expertise in other business areas such as plantations, hospitality, hospitals, educational institutions and software development. Cubeware specializes in business intelligence and performance management platform.

Designing for Sustainability is the name of the research collaboration between the Hasso Plattner Institute and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which was signed at a ceremony in New York City on November 2. The program is designed to advance joint scientific research at both institutes in the areas of sustainable design, innovation, computer science and digital technologies, as well as the translation of research results into practice. With this commitment, HPI and MIT aim to address global challenges as expressed in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The program will connect faculty and students from both institutions to maximize societal impact. "This collaboration brings new opportunities for research and for our students," says Christoph Meinel, professor and managing director at HPI and head of the Department of Internet Technologies and Systems.

Company mergers

Despite the current difficult macroeconomic environment, the number of corporate mergers and acquisitions among technology service providers remains well above the historical average.

As a result, 161 transactions were made globally this year. That's down two percent from the same period last year in 2021, but up more than 40 percent from 2019. Service providers, technology vendors and private equity firms continue to look hard for capabilities in cloud, engineering, data analytics, user experience and cybersecurity. Most analysts expected acquisition activity to slow significantly this year due to the global economic turmoil, according to Information Services Group.

The number of corporate mergers and acquisitions among technology service providers has remained high so far in 2022.

At least for the number of mergers and acquisitions, this is not the case. However, the value of these acquisitions has fallen by more than half compared to last year, as companies are currently focusing on smaller, bolt-on acquisitions. For example, there were ten percent more acquisitions in the current year compared to 2021 that remained below the $50 million mark.

IT costs at a glance

The digital transformation is changing the perception and self-image of traditional IT and DP/Org departments, and this is also creating a new need for service providers.

In many companies, the IT department is still regarded exclusively as a cost factor. The fact that the department is making an increasingly growing value contribution is often overlooked. On the one hand, this relates to the cost efficiency achieved by IT throughout the company, for example through the automation of processes. On the other hand, IT is increasingly becoming part of innovative products and services that already have a positive impact on the economic result and also ensure future viability. In order to make the relationships between the costs caused by IT and the value it adds transparent, it is essential to have holistic management across the complex IT service interdependencies. This is made possible by the integrated and holistic IT business management tool from the Karlsruhe-based software provider Bee360.

To offer companies an optimal combination of technology and consulting, Bee360 and MHP have agreed on a strategic partnership. Björn Kasten, Partner of Digital Platforms and Solutions at MHP: "IT and the underlying infrastructure are becoming easier to use. At the same time, intelligent and optimal interaction between the components is becoming more and more demanding. Our joint motivation for the strategic partnership is to leverage the potential of Bee360 and MHP and provide companies with a solution that enables them to meet this challenge. Today, it is more important than ever to maintain an overview of the organization and to focus on the value contribution of IT. This represents a significant value proposition for businesses."