Funds managed by Cornerstone Partners and funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. (“Oaktree”) have entered into a purchase agreement to acquire IT Kontrakt (“ITKontrakt”) a leading vendor of IT services outsourcing in Poland from Work Service S.A. (“WS Group”).
The preliminary share purchase agreement was concluded on the 31st of March 2017. The company will be acquired by a partnership of Cornerstone Partners and Oaktree from WS Group. The transaction requires approvals from relevant third parties, including the consent of the Polish competition authority (UOKiK).
ITKontrakt is a leading player in the IT services outsourcing market in Poland, offering staff augmentation, custom software solutions and managed services for blue-chip multinational clients from various industries including pharmaceuticals, financial services, TMT and automotive.
ITKontrakt has been successfully operating in the Polish market for more than 13 years, and recently entered several countries in Western Europe as well as Malaysia. In 2016, the Company had above 1,300 IT specialists.
“Our company’s key strength is a strong team of experienced employees focused on quality services for our customers. Over the last few years, ITKontrakt has experienced rapid growth and the new partnership with Cornerstone Partners and Oaktree opens new opportunities to support further expansion in Poland and abroad,” said Leszek Kowalczykiewicz, CEO of ITKontrakt and Tomasz Pyrak, VP of ITKontrakt.
“Right now, the Polish market for outsourcing IT services is undergoing a structural change driven by the growth of shared service centres and outsourcing activities. We see ITKontrakt as an attractive asset to capitalize on this trend,” said Maciej Dyjas, Managing Partner at Cornerstone Partners.
“Following our acquisition of ProService, a financial services company, in March 2016, this current deal is another step in our partnership with Oaktree to build platforms providing comprehensive and complementary services in specific high growth sectors” added Przemysław Krych, the founder and Managing Partner at Cornerstone Partners.
“We believe that, as new shareholders, we will be able to provide IT Kontrakt with a global platform to better support the growing needs of their clients and to continue its successful strategy of servicing multinational and domestic clients,” said Karim Khairallah, a Managing Director of Oaktree’s European Principal Group.
After the acquisition of ProService, this is the second joint transaction of Cornerstone Partners and Oaktree’s European Principal Group in Poland. Cornerstone is an exclusive partner of Oaktree’s European Principal Group in sourcing, executing and supporting equity transactions in Poland and other CEE countries.
The partnership between Cornerstone Partners and Oaktree’s European Principal Group invests in private equity transactions in Poland and CEE, with a focus on backing strong management teams to grow and transform their businesses.