Apax Partners SAS has put part of its stake in Belgian business communications company Dstny up for sale, according to two sources familiar with the situation.
The Paris-based private equity fund has asked boutique investment bank Q Advisors to handle the stake sale; Dstny provides cloud communications solutions to European service providers the sources said.
Information memoranda has been distributed to prospective investors, one of the sources said, with the other source adding that the business generated a FY 2022 EBITDA of EUR 40m.
Dstny is seeking to expand the company’s geographic presence, especially in Southern Europe, a private equity executive said adding that a new sponsor could aid in this endeavour.
The company’s investment in new technologies instead of a reliance on old tech has made the stake sale more attractive to investors, the executive added.
Dstny has completed a range of bolt-on acquisitions in 2022 including a majority stake in German telecommunications company easybell on October 25, UK-based customer software solutions company Tactful AI on May 26, UK-based Microsoft Teams integration specialist Qunifi on March 28 and Sweden-based analytics firm Meridix on January 11.
Q Advisors aided Dstny on the easybell transaction, according to a press release.
Formerly known as Destiny, the company was founded in 2008 by CEO Daan De Wever and co-founder Samuel De Wever.
Apax Partners acquired 100% of Dstny alongside management from Mentha Capital for EUR 150m in 2019. At the time, Dstny had annual revenue of EUR 65m.
The business now has 2 million users, according to its website. It provides cloud communications solutions including phone systems, video calling capabilities, AI data mining, chatbots and analytics services.
Headquartered in Brussels, Dstny has 750 employees in seven European countries including Belgium, Netherlands, France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, UK and had annual turnover of around EUR 190m in 2021, according to its website.
Dstny could not be reached for comment at the time of publication. Q Advisors and Apax both declined to comment.
