Main Capital Partners, a Netherlands-headquartered private equity (PE) investor, is in talks with multiple software targets in France, where it set up an office in February, Co-Head France and Senior Investment Manager Jonas Kruip told Mergermarket.

The firm is interested in both add-on acquisitions for existing portfolio companies that are interested in expanding to France, and in new platform deals, Kruip said. It is in advanced talks with one platform acquisition target in the security-software space, and expects to announce a deal soon, he added.

The Hague-based Main Capital plans to make investments in France via two vehicles it raised last year, the EUR 1.9bn Main Capital VIII flagship fund and the EUR 500m Main Foundation II fund, he said.

The sponsor plans to continue its B2B software company-focused strategy in France, he said. It first deployed its software investment strategy in the Netherlands, and then internationally, in DACH, the Nordics, Belgium and the US, and plans to bring the resultant know-how to France, he added.

It is on the lookout for vertical software players, or those that provide software for one particular segment such as healthcare, government or real estate. It also invests in horizontal players that provide software in security, enterprise and HR-tech domains to multiple segments, he said.

As elsewhere, it is open to targets in France with revenues ranging from EUR 3m to EUR 100m, and would provide tickets ranging from EUR 5m to EUR 150m.

The firm’s new office in Paris is co-headed by founder and CEO Charly Zwemstra and is also staffed by Kruip, and Sander Wens. A fourth staff member is anticipated to join in 2Q and, based on the traction so far, there is scope for more hiring this year, he said.

French add-ons deals

Main Capital has 50 portfolio companies based in Benelux, DACH, the Nordics in the US, and several of them are interested in making add-on acquisitions in France, Kruip said.

Dutch, vertically focused healthcare-software provider SDB Groep is interested in expanding into France via M&A and is looking at targets in the healthcare-software space with large customer bases, to which it could potentially cross-sell its product, he said. The company has already made 10 add-on deals and has a headcount of 450.

Fellow Dutch player, business-process management software company Bizzdesign, has already made its first acquisition in France, of enterprise software company Mega International, and is on the lookout for more, he said. It recently took over Germany-based Alfabet, a platform for business transformations, following which it has around EUR 110m in revenues and over 600 employees, as reported.

Dutch construction-software specialist Pro4all is active in cross-border M&A and is interested in French deals as a next step, he said. It has already made deals in Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands, most recently acquiring Dutch quality, health, safety and environment software provider VeiligWerk.

Netherlands-based residential real-estate software provider Zig also aims to enter the French market via M&A and is already looking at several potential add-ons, he said. The business has already made its first international acquisition, of German property-management software company Doozer.

Back in 2015, Main Capital raised EUR 85m fund Main IV. It has raised a new fund every two years since, typically doubling or more than doubling the size of the previous one. Its original investor base consisted mostly of local and non-institutional LPs, but has gradually transitioned to a global and more institutional LP base, Kruip said. Dutch asset-management company APG has provided EUR 70m to Main Foundation II, as reported.