Ardian welcomes the successful IPO of Planisware, the leading project management software provider
Press release
Ardian welcomes the successful IPO of Planisware, the leading project management software provider
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18 April 2024
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Growth
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France, Paris
6 minutes de lecture
Ardian, a world-leading private investment house, welcomes the successful IPO of Planisware, a leading B2B SaaS software provider in the fast-growing Project Economy space. As part of this transaction, Ardian has partially exited its investment in the company, with Planisware's co-founders retaining a majority stake.
Since 1996, Planisware has enabled companies to improve their Project Portfolio Management (PPM) processes, from strategy definition to detailed tracking of deliverables. With its 12 offices and c. 700 employees, the company currently supports more than 545 customers, from SMEs to large corporates, in 38 countries.
The Growth team at Ardian acquired a stake in Planisware in 2003, with the co-founders remaining majority shareholders. Throughout this period, the Ardian team has shared its expertise to support Planisware's growth through four pillars of acceleration:
- Strategically supporting the company's transition to a Software as a Service (SaaS) model, while preserving its DNA of profitable growth;
- Accelerating the group's international expansion, particularly in the United States;
- Helping M&A strategy, with the acquisition of NQI in 2018 and the integration of Japanese subsidiary IFT in 2023;
- Supporting the liquidity process, throughout the structuring and monitoring of the IPO project.
In just a few years, the business has become a market leader, recognised by leading independent technology research organisations such as Gartner and Forrester. In 2023, the company, which employs c. 700 people, achieved sales of c. 156 million euros, with annual growth of 20% and an Adjusted EBITDA margin of 33%.
Planisware's IPO will enable the company to increase its visibility and brand awareness, further accelerating its development. The company’s shares will list on Euronext Paris (ticker: PLNW) with a market capitalization above 1 billion euros. Ardian will continue to support Planisware after the IPO and remains aligned with the future value creation of the company through its c. 5% remaining stake.
“Planisware's successful IPO is a recognition of the quality of our team and our solutions. I want to take this opportunity to thank Ardian which, since joining our capital and my first discussions with Dominique Senequier 20 years ago, has constantly demonstrated a true entrepreneurial spirit in supporting Planisware through its various growth phases. Their support has fully met our expectations.” Pierre Demonsant, Co-Founder & Chairman, Planisware
“I would like to thank the founders of Planisware for the trust they have shown in Ardian and congratulate them and their teams for this exceptional journey. This transaction perfectly illustrates Ardian Growth's positioning and our commitment to back management teams in their development projects. Our purpose is to support the profitable growth of European category champions, enabling them to fully unlock their potential and establish themselves as global leaders.” Alexis Saada, Head of Growth & Senior Managing Director, Ardian
“As a close partner with a strong entrepreneurial mindset, understanding Planisware’s management DNA has been the foundation of our collaboration. We are pleased and proud to have been able to accompany the company until this listing milestone.” Geoffroy de La Grandière, Managing Director Growth, Ardian
List of participants
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Ardian
- Investment team Growth: Alexis Saada, Geoffroy de La Grandière, Alexandra Da Silva
- Legal advisor: Hogan Lovells (Matthieu Grollemund, Jean-Marc Franceschi, Charlène Jouët)
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Planisware
- Founders: Pierre Demonsant, Yves Humblot, Matthieu Delille
- Independent financial advisor: Rothschild & Co (Stéphanie Arnaud, Pierre-Henri Chappaz, François Wat, Sébastien Travers, Margaux Chevillard, Guillaume Duverger, Elena Stanislav)
- Eight Advisory (Myriam Montillot, Julie Russeil)
- Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton Corporate (Marie-Laurence Tibi, John Brinitzer, Alice Chavaillard, Omeed Firoozgan, Clément Piela)
- Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton Tax (Anne-Sophie Coustel)
- Financial communications advisor: Brunswick (Hugues Boëton, Tristan Roquet Montégon)
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Joint Global Coordinators: BNP Paribas
- BNP ECM: Alexis Le Touzé, Isabelle Stoeckli, Stefano Mariorenzi, Baptiste Charoy, Nicolas Vinel
- BNP Investment Banking: Alex Bihun, Simon Edery, Alejandro Fernandez Batlle, Louis Baroin, Lisa Boveda
- BNP Equity Syndicate: Antoine Bovyn, Tristan Tassi
- BNP Senior Banker: Sylvina Mayer
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Joint Global Coordinators: Citigroup
- Citigroup ECM: Valéry Barrier, Charaf Baqouah, Nicholas Gill
- Citigroup Investment Banking: David Ibanez, Pierre Drevillon, Jean-Melchior de Roquefeuil, Nicholas Kaplan, Ismaël Senhaji
- Citigroup Equity Syndicate: Naveen Mittel, Christina Michelson
- Citigroup Senior Leadership: Laurence Parisot, Grégoire Haemmerlé, Brian Truesdale
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Joint Bookrunners: Berenberg
- Berenberg ECM: Andreas Franzen, Edouard Senlier, Pierre Sertour, Lorenzo Vannucci
- Berenberg Investment Banking: Ruben Moses, Charles-Alfred Gasquet
- Berenberg Equity Syndicate: Norberto Gomez del Moral, Bastian Schiedat
- Berenberg Coverage: David Mortlock
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Joint Bookrunners: Bank of America
- Bank of America ECM: Jérôme Renard, Maxime Servan
- Bank of America Investment Banking: Thomas Koehrer, Adeline DeJaeghere, George Kacharava
- Bank of America Equity Syndicate: Andrew Briscoe, Victor Dumas Vorzet
- Bank of America Senior Leadership: Laurent Dhome
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Joint Bookrunners: Legal advisor
- White & Case: Thomas Le Vert, Boris Kreiss, Séverin Robillard, Quentin Pipieri, Max Turner
ABOUT PLANISWARE
Planisware is a leading B2B SaaS software provider in the fast-growing Project Economy sector. Planisware's mission is to provide solutions to help organizations transform the way they design, plan and deliver their projects, project portfolios, programs and products.
With nearly 700 employees in 12 offices, Planisware operates on a large scale, serving around 545 customers in a wide range of verticals and functions in more than 38 countries, spanning Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. Planisware's customers include leading international corporations, mid-sized companies and public sector entities.
ABOUT ARDIAN
Ardian is a world-leading private investment house, managing or advising $164bn of assets on behalf of 1,600 clients globally. Our broad expertise, spanning Private Equity, Real Assets and Credit, enables us to offer a wide range of investment opportunities and respond flexibly to our clients’ differing needs. Through Ardian Customized Solutions we create bespoke portfolios that allow institutional clients to specify the precise mix of assets they require and to gain access to funds managed by leading third-party sponsors. Private Wealth Solutions offers dedicated services and access solutions for private banks, family offices and private institutional investors worldwide. Ardian’s main shareholding group is its employees and we place great emphasis on developing its people and fostering a collaborative culture based on collective intelligence. Our 1,050+ employees, spread across 19 offices in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Middle East are strongly committed to the principles of Responsible Investment and are determined to make finance a force for good in society. Our goal is to deliver excellent investment performance combined with high ethical standards and social responsibility.
At Ardian we invest all of ourselves in building companies that last.