Amadeus And Northzone Join Peter Larsson In Episerver Buyout

Aug. 24, 2007 - PRLog -- EPiServer has established clear market leadership in Scandinavia with its award winning web content management system, which provides developers with a technically outstanding and functionally simple development platform.  EPiServer (http://www.episerver.com) is today deployed by over 50,000 users in more than 1,800 companies, supported by some 200 partners and systems integrators.  

The company is profitable and is significantly exceeding estimated industry growth of 13% per annum*.  With new equity finance as part of the buyout funding, EPiServer will accelerate growth by significantly scaling up its international operations and expanding its global partner network.

Today’s corporate web and portal environments are changing rapidly with ever more functions being added and web content management systems (WCM) becoming the primary control hubs for business.

Peter Larsson, who joins the Board as CEO, was formerly CEO of Protect Data until its purchase this year by CheckPoint for over $600 million.  Before that, Peter had held senior management positions with Sunguard and Ericsson and gone on to found and build Common Agenda, a consultancy advising early stage software companies.  Founder, Mikael Runhem, remains a shareholder and will be the company’s CTO.

Commenting on the buyout, Amadeus’ Jeppe Zink, who joins the EPiServer Board, said: “Corporate websites are rapidly changing from static corporate brochures to mission critical, interactive, customer relations tools. EPiServer is strongly positioned in this transformation”.

Hans Otterling of Northzone Ventures, who also joins the Company’s Board, added: “I have tracked EPiServer during the past few years. The company’s rapid growth and profit margins are very impressive. EPiServer is well positioned to expand internationally with a strong product portfolio and a team of extraordinarily talented people.”

Michael Runhem, Founder and CTO added: “Having established market leadership in Scandinavia, it is now time for the company to realise its international ambitions, which this transaction enables through the addition of experienced investors and Peter Larsson.”

Advisers on the transaction were, for the investors, Hamilton and Grant Thornton and, for EPiServer, Keystone Advisors and Wistrand.

For further information, please contact:
Jeppe Zink, Amadeus Capital Partners +44 (0)20 7024 6900 or Chantal Ligertwood, PR for Amadeus, +44 (0)1235 834091
Hans Otterling, Northzone Ventures +46 706 23 28 28
Peter Larsson, EPiServer, +46 (0)708 327 268

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About EPiServer AB: www.episerver.com
EPiServer AB is a privately owned Swedish software company, founded in 1994. EPiServer is one of the leading companies in the Web Content Management business with the platform EPiServer. EPiServer is today, with more than 2700 large installations, one of the most sold Web Content Management Systems in the world. EPiServer has local offices in Sweden, Norway, India and UK. Sales are handled through a network of over 200 certified partner companies worldwide.

Website: www.episerver.com