Battery Ventures has reinvested in Forterro only five months after it sold the company to Partners Group, according to Bloomberg and others. Battery Ventures has now bought back 10% of the company after it sold the company in March for €1 billion. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed. However, Bloomberg reported that Forterro’s value is unchanged by the new investment.
Dave Tabors, Private Equity Partner at Battery Ventures, commented: “With the vast opportunities for continued growth, and a deep belief in the vision shared by Forterro CEO Dean Forbes and its new lead investor, Partners Group, we are excited to double down on Forterro during its next chapter, deploying new capital into the business.” (Source PE HUB EUROPE)
Did they ever leave
According to Bloomberg, the inference is that it never wanted to end its involvement in the fast-growing ERP company. It introduced OrderWise to Forterro, its most recent acquisition. It only sold to Partners Group because it needed to return the capital to investors from the investment fund it was using. The new investment came from a recently raised $530 million fund, the Battery Ventures Select Fund II, a companion fund to the $3.3 Battery Ventures XIV fund it announced in July.
This does not add any capital to Forterro, and it seems possible this was always part of the original agreement with Partners Group, or an option at least. What it means is that Forbes has access to the expertise and network of Battery Ventures as it looks to further expand its footprint across Europe in mid-market ERP.
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
None of Battery Ventures, Partners Group and Forterro seems to have issued a press release around this announcement, despite the importance for Forterro (as of writing this article).
They since have: Press Release
The presumed €100 million investment is a significant share of the company. What will be interesting is, as Forterro continues to grow through acquisition, will it look for another round of funding and will Battery Ventures participate in this?
