Providence Equity Partners and Five Arrows to Jointly Lead A2MAC1 Through its Next Phase of Growth
• Five Arrows Principal Investments and Management to re-invest alongside Providence Equity Partners
• A2MAC1 is a clear market leader, well-positioned to benefit from strong automotive & mobility ecosystem tailwinds
• Frank Bunte, CEO of A2MAC1, will continue to lead the business
LONDON & PARIS – 8 NOVEMBER 2022 – Five Arrows Principal Investments ("Five Arrows") and Providence Equity Partners ("Providence") are delighted to announce they have entered into an agreement to invest together in A2MAC1, the global leader and provider of vehicle benchmarking insights and solutions across the mobility industry. Both Five Arrows and Providence are sector-focused, theme-driven firms with expertise and a track record in data & software across a series of end-markets, including automotive and mobility.
A2MAC1, the global leader in automotive and mobility technology benchmarking, has rigorously analysed industry-wide technology and innovations since its inception in 1997. The company is continuously enhancing its cutting-edge insights, working with leading global customers in the automotive and mobility supply chain and serving OEMs, OESs and their suppliers. A2MAC1 provides the most comprehensive benchmarking insights and solutions across the automotive and mobility industry, with over 1,550 car and 60+ van teardowns to date, all powered by a state-of-the-art proprietary SaaS platform and database. The A2MAC1 platform has become the industry reference and is used by more than 650,000 users from over 500 customers globally.
A2MAC1 has continuously innovated and consistently grown since its inception through new customer wins, continuous product development and service innovations, driven by best-in-class leadership. Since 2019, the business has significantly accelerated this momentum through highly accretive product-led M&A and partnerships, extending its capabilities and expertise across international and industrial borders. This includes the acquisitions of Adaccess, ecs, Improvalue, Coram, and Effution, as well as partnerships with sustamize. As a result, A2MAC1 has successfully expanded its portfolio from static technology benchmarking into other mission-critical and actionable insights, such as cost and performance insights, with customers now having access to a 360° suite of holistic vehicle benchmarking capabilities and its ecosystem.
Today, A2MAC1 can respond to customers' needs on a global scale, served by more than 700 employees in 17 locations across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Frank Bunte, who has been instrumental since joining A2MAC1 in 2020 and brings over 24 years of experience, will remain and continue to lead the company as CEO.
Frank Bunte, CEO of A2MAC1, remarked: "This transaction is a testament to the hard work of our global team, the strength and successful execution of our transformation and global growth plan, and demonstrates the long and expansive runway ahead of A2MAC1. On behalf of the entire A2MAC1 team, I am thrilled and grateful to continue working with our partners at Five Arrows, and warmly welcome our new partner, Providence, as we seek to continue taking the business from strength to strength, motivated by continuously expanding the value of our platform and actionable insights for all customers and their employees worldwide."
Karim Tabet, Senior Managing Director and Co-Head of Europe, and Davis Noell, Senior Managing Director and Co-Head of North America at Providence, said: "We believe A2MAC1 is an outstanding business that is poised to benefit from strong tailwinds as the automotive and mobility industry evolves and demands new technologies, intelligence, and efficiencies. In many ways, A2MAC1 is at an early stage, and we see great potential for its continued growth through providing more value to its global OEM and OES customers. Frank and his team, with the support of Five Arrows, have done a remarkable job positioning A2MAC1 for the future and we look forward to working with them in this next growth phase."
Emmanuel Roth, Co-Managing Partner, and Nicolas Robin, Managing Director at Five Arrows, added: "Since our investment in 2017, we have made it our mission to continuously enhance the strategic positioning of A2MAC1. Through continued platform and strategy development under the exceptional leadership of Frank Bunte, combined with product-led M&A, the company has more than tripled in size, becoming the undisputed global leader in automotive benchmarking insights and SaaS. We are delighted to continue to support A2MAC1 as it embarks on the next phase of its growth. We believe there is significant whitespace for future growth across automotive and mobility insights with further opportunities beyond this."
A2MAC1 and Five Arrows were advised on the sell-side by Harris Williams and Jefferies (M&A), Paul Hastings (Legal), BCG (Commercial), Alvarez & Marsal (Financial) and PwC (Technology and ESG). Five Arrows was advised on the buy-side by Alantra (M&A) and Bredin Prat (Legal).
Providence was advised by Raphaël Financial Advisory and Arma Partners (M&A), Kirkland & Ellis, Allen & Overy, and Gide Loyrette Nouel (Legal), FTI Consulting (Financial), Roland Berger (Commercial), West Monroe (Technology), and PwC (Tax).
Frank Bunte and the management team were advised by Callisto and Jeausserand-Audouard (Legal).
The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023, subject to customary closing conditions. Financial terms were not disclosed.