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Private equity company EQT has sold a €3bn stake in its software company IFS at a significantly increased valuation, bucking a broader slump in deals amid the market volatility caused by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The Swedish group has brought Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board as new investors in IFS, giving the company a €15bn valuation, according to an EQT statement.
Technology investment firm Hg will increase its stake in IFS to become a co-controlling shareholder with EQT.
In total about €3bn of new money will go into IFS, according to a person familiar with the matter. EQT will sell down some of its stake as part of the transaction and investor TA Associates will also remain a shareholder.
IFS’s new valuation marks a near doubling from three years ago, when it was last valued at about $8bn in a deal that added Hg as an investor, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The latest deal, which confirms a previous Financial Times report, comes at a time when takeovers and public listings are seeing a chill as dealmakers wait to assess the impact of Trump’s sweeping trade battles.
“Despite all this turbulence in these markets, people know the story for a long time and IFS has consistently delivered growth,” said Johannes Reichel, a partner at EQT focused on technology.
Takeovers, which had already disappointed lofty expectations for the start of this year due to falling stock markets, have suffered a further slowdown because of heightened uncertainty and market shifts in recent days.
The decline in activity has prompted private equity groups to search for ways to return cash to their backers such as selling slices of a business, particularly when it comes to larger assets.
IFS was founded in 1983 and delisted by EQT from Stockholm’s stock exchange in 2016. The company has expanded by providing software to large businesses including via acquisitions, and generated more than €1.2bn in revenue last year.
“Every business right now is obviously evaluating what’s happening on global trade. We feel we’re particularly resilient,” said IFS chief executive Mark Moffat, citing the company’s business providing core services to customers in sectors such as defence and utilities.
EQT is also set to sell Karo Healthcare, the maker of the E45 moisturiser, to investment group KKR in a buyout that values the healthcare company at about €2.6bn.
