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Bahrain’s Investcorp sells German software developer for $125m

Meeting in office Unsplash
Many companies now rely on specialist HR software to deal with personnel issues

Investcorp has sold German software firm softgarden for around 120 million euros ($125 million), said Hazem Ben-Gacem, co-chief executive officer of the Bahrain-based company.

The sale to Poland’s Grupa Pracuj marks a three times return on investment for Investcorp, which bought its controlling stake in the human resources software specialist in 2018, Ben-Gacem said on the sidelines of the SuperReturn conference in Berlin.

The work of human resources departments has changed massively in recent years, Ben-Gacem said, with an increased use of temporary labour and new tasks such as managing employee sabbaticals – taking their function beyond hiring and firing.

Berlin-based softgarden offers software for digital recruitment as well as features including time-tracking, vacation and absence management, and personnel file management.

Discussions between softgarden and Warsaw-based Grupa Pracuj picked up after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. Indeed, the close partnership formed between the two European countries helped get the deal over the line, according to Ben-Gacem.

Investcorp is closing its fifth technology fund in the next few months, targeting $700 million, he said.

Investcorp Technology Partners was advised on the deal by Covington & Burling, Deloitte and Kuhn & Partner. Grupa Pracuj was advised by Ebner Stolz, Houlihan Lokey and White & Case.

Grupa Pracuj did not immediately return requests for comment.