InterForm Sells Majority Stake to Private Equity Firm
July 24, 2024 Alex Woodie
InterForm A/S, the Danish output management vendor whose products are resold by Infor and other application vendors, has sold a majority stake of itself to VIA equity, a private equity firm also based in Denmark. InterForm says it will use the investment to accelerate business development around the world.
InterForm A/S has been targeting IBM midrange systems with its output management software since the company was founded back in 1987. While it supports open systems today, it has more than 4,000 installations on IBM i and predecessor systems, which makes InterForm arguably the most heavily used output management system on the platform.
The company’s growth caught the attention of VIA equity, which specializes in buying or investing in small to midsize software and IT services firms. The company, which has more than €400 million under management, took a majority stake in InterForm; terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“We have followed the development of InterForm for several years and are very impressed by the accomplishment of the management and the employees of InterForm,” stated Benjamin Kramarz, Investment Responsible and Managing Partner at VIA equity, in a press release. “InterForm has demonstrated remarkable innovation and growth, and we see tremendous potential in their offering going forward.”
InterForm CEO Peter Sørensen says the move represents the company’s strong position in IBM i software development.
“It’s not that often a PE is investing in an IBM i software platform,” Sørensen tells IT Jungle. “It may help when the owner and CEO is 43 years old, and have been delivering double digit growth for six years in a row. It’s not common in an IBM i field where we are used to diminishing numbers and market in general.”
Sørensen, who will stay on as CEO, says the company will use the investment to accelerate growth.
“This partnership will help us deliver our output management solutions to a wider range of businesses, ensuring that their critical business documents, processes, and workflows always runs smoothly,” he said in a press release. “We are excited about the opportunities this partnership will bring and are confident in the positive impact it will have on our employees, customers and partners.”
