The quoted private assets growth investor Bridgepoint is buying a majority stake in transport modelling company PTV Group.
The previous owner Porsche Automobil Holding SE will retain what is called “a significant minority stake in the company”. The price has not been disclosed.
They say the partnership between Bridgepoint and Porsche SE aims to “further expand PTV’s position as the world’s leading software provider for intelligent and environmentally friendly mobility”.
PTV has been going for more than 40 years in the mobility and logistics fields. The Karlsruhe-based company provides software products including micro- and macroscopic modelling and simulation of traffic, real-time traffic management as well as data-based visualisation and analysis of traffic flows – to more than 2,500 cities and municipalities – all based on proprietary traffic algorithms. PTV also provides software for the planning and optimisation of logistics processes, especially in the route optimisation space.
Carsten Kratz, Partner and Head of DACH at Bridgepoint, said, “It is fundamentally Bridgepoint’s goal to invest in successful, sustainable companies in growth markets. With PTV, we are gaining a global leader for our portfolio that enables cities, municipalities, and other organisations to meet the social, environmental, and economic demands of our time. In addition, the company also represents the ideal platform to pursue further acquisitions in the field of intelligent mobility ecosystems.”
Lutz Meschke, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board Finance of Porsche SE and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of PTV, commented, “The market for intelligent mobility and logistics offers enormous growth potential due to the decarbonisation and urbanisation megatrends. The company has developed positively under the leadership of Christian U. Haas and the right steps have already been implemented to position PTV in the best possible way in this dynamic market. Due to its unique portfolio in the software sector, PTV is also particularly suitable as a platform for inorganic growth. In Bridgepoint, with their buy-and-build expertise, we found the right partner for the management team around Christian U. Haas to lead PTV together into a very successful future.”
Christian U. Haas, CEO of PTV Group, added, “Since I joined PTV almost two years ago, we have made considerable progress with the transformation of PTV into a software company with state-of-the-art cloud and SaaS competencies, generating a positive response from our customers. I am convinced that PTV will take a leading role in solving the challenges in the fields of mobility and logistics.”
In a statement the company comments that nowadays, cities face enormous challenges such as advancing urbanisation, increased environmental and air pollution, congestion in transport networks and the need to meet CO2 reduction targets. Intelligent transport and logistics concepts are therefore already essential today. Bridgepoint expects the market for the respective solutions to continue to grow significantly in the future. For PTV, this means not only considerable organic growth potential, but also the opportunity to penetrate further areas of the value chain through acquisitions to become the preferred partner of cities and companies for future-oriented, efficient and sustainable mobility solutions.
The transaction is subject to customary competition and regulatory clearances.
(Picture – PTV)
