Majority stake in ESC has been acquired by Capital A

July 2022 — The Smet family has sold a majority stake in ESC to private equity firm Capital A.

Founded in 1999, ESC is a leading Belgian IT service partner offering ERP, cloud, infrastructure, network and e-commerce solutions. The company’s core offering comprises Microsoft (MS) solutions, such as Dynamics 365 Business Central (BC), Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (CE) and Power Platform (PP), in-house developed business software, and is supplemented by solutions from other partners such as Fujitsu, Exact and Barracuda Networks. Via its offices in Nazareth and Lochristi, Belgium, ESC serves approximately 1,000 SMBs, mainly located in the Flanders region, with a focus on clients active in the building materials, production, distribution, beverage, non-profit and healthcare sectors. A clear cloud-first strategy guarantees that the company is well advanced in its future-proof SaaS offering, which ensures visibility and predictability of recurring revenue streams.

Capital A is a new investment company with a long history. The Capital A team was responsible for mid-market private equity within ABN AMRO since 1982 and previously carried the name ABN AMRO Participations. In 2018, the then investment team continued independently as Capital A. The focus and approach has always remained the same. Capital A invests in companies in Belgium and the Netherlands with a clear growth profile (autonomous or acquisitive). Its participation consists mainly of large minority or small majority stakes. The firm’s mission is to shape a new growth phase for the companies, together with their management teams.

Our role in the transaction

Oaklins’ team in Belgium acted as the exclusive financial advisor to the Smet family, the shareholders of ESC. The team in the Netherlands supported the transaction.