News

Castik Capital has acquired Munich-based Ipan Group, a provider of IP management services and software, to Warburg Pincus. No financial terms were disclosed.

PRESS RELEASE

LONDON, May 16, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Warburg Pincus, a leading global private equity firm focused on growth investing, today announced the sale of ipan Group (“ipan”), one of the leading providers of IP management services and software, to Castik Capital.

Since its acquisition by Warburg Pincus in 2014, ipan has added over 100 new customers and more than tripled its revenues. This strong growth has been driven by ipan’s expansion into new locations in the US, UK, France, the Nordics and Benelux. With the support of Warburg Pincus, ipan has been been actively growing its services offering via the acquisitions of software providers Unycom and IPSS as well as the acquisition of a minority stake in IPfolio. Earlier this year, ipan further expanded its product offering by launching ip-x-change, a new open platform for IP related Software and Services.

In February 2018, ipan appointed Dr Jens Lütcke as CEO succeeding the founder of ipan, Anton Bory, who continues to be closely involved with the business as an Advisory Board member.
Max Fowinkel, Managing Director at Warburg Pincus International LLC, said: “We are proud of the transformative investments and significant growth that ipan has achieved during our ownership. As growth investors, we feel privileged to have supported ipan in building a leading provider of IP management services and software and we wish the entire ipan team continued success.”

Anton Bory, founder of ipan, said: “Warburg Pincus has been a great partner and has provided us with tremendous support on our growth initiatives such as our strong internationalization, the three acquisitions completed together and, most recently, the launch of ip-x-change.”

Dr. Jens Lütcke, CEO of ipan, commented: “Based on the investments made and the strategic decisions taken together with Warburg Pincus, ipan is strongly positioned to continue its accelerated growth in the IP sector.”

About Warburg Pincus
Warburg Pincus LLC is a leading global private equity firm focused on growth investing. The firm has more than $44 billion in private equity assets under management. The firm’s active portfolio of more than 150 companies is highly diversified by stage, sector, and geography. Warburg Pincus is an experienced partner to management teams seeking to build durable companies with sustainable value. Founded in 1966, Warburg Pincus has raised 17 private equity funds which have invested more than $60 billion in over 800 companies in more than 40 countries. To date, Warburg Pincus has announced investments of over $800m in 13 companies in Germany including ipan, 1&1 Internet, inexio, Blue Yonder, easycash and Domus Healthcare.

The firm is headquartered in New York with offices in Amsterdam, Beijing, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Luxembourg, Mumbai, Mauritius, San Francisco, São Paulo, Shanghai, and Singapore. For more information, please visit www.warburgpincus.com.

About ipan group
ipan group (Intellectual Property Associates Network), is a leading provider of IP management services and software, supporting the largest IP owners around the globe. Founded in 2004, ipan is a strategic alliance of renowned IP experts committed to providing clients a level of quality, transparency and cost savings not available through any other source in the IP market. In 2015, ipan became ipan group with the acquisition of IPMS provider Unycom, followed by IPSS in early 2017. In late 2017, ipan group announced it had acquired a significant minority stake in US-based IPfolio, the provider of next-generation IP management software.

Headquartered in Munich, Germany, with offices in Austria, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Serbia, Sweden, the UK and the United States, the company’s disruptive approach to optimizing process and cost has made it the solution of choice for the largest IP owners and one of the world’s fastest growing IP service and software companies. For more information, please visit http://www.ipan-services.com