Greenberg Traurig has advised Symfonia on a growth buyout investment from Accel-KKR. Goodwin Procter advised Accel-KKR on the acquisition while Kirkland & Ellis advised the investor on the debt financing.
Upon closing, Accel-KKR will join current investor Mid Europa Partners as a shareholder of Symfonia.
According to Accel-KKR's announcement, "Symfonia is one of the leading providers of financial management, payroll, and ERP software to accounting offices and small- and medium-sized enterprises in Poland." It offers "business-critical FMS/ERP/Payroll/HCM software to a diversified and loyal customer base of over 50,000 SMEs."
Accel-KKR is a technology-focused investment firm with USD 19 billion in cumulative capital commitments. The firm focuses on software and tech-enabled businesses and developing strong partnerships with the management teams of its portfolio companies.
"This investment will enable Symfonia to build on its existing leadership position and strong brand equity in Poland to become a Central and Eastern European (CEE) regional leader by accelerating organic growth plans and expanding upon a successful M&A strategy," Accel-KKR stated. "Since its origin over 25 years ago as a business unit in and subsequent carveout from the Sage Group plc in March 2021 led by MidEuropa, Symfonia has supported the digital transformation of thousands of Polish SMEs. Today, a loyal customer base of over 50,000 SMEs across Poland rely on Symfonia daily for mission-critical business software."
According to the same announcement, "since MidEuropa's acquisition, Symfonia has added to strong organic growth with three high-quality acquisitions, namely: Reset2, one of the leading payroll software providers in Poland (as reported by CEELM on September 15, 2021); Cloud Planet, a native cloud-based solution provider for the micro & small customer segment in Poland (as reported on October 25, 2021); and HRTec, a provider of cloud HR management software (as reported on May 22, 2022).
"I am incredibly proud of what our Symfonia team has accomplished with the support of MidEuropa in establishing our independence and cementing our market leadership," Symfonia CEO Piotr Ciski commented. "I believe the success that we achieved in just two years is a phenomenon in the Polish technology market. We're just getting started: we have ambitious plans, and with the global experience, software domain expertise, and M&A depth that Accel-KKR brings to the table, we believe we can expand our leadership in and beyond Poland even more quickly and effectively."
The Greenberg Traurig team was led by Partner Anna Halas-Krawczyk and Local Partner Michal Bobrzynski and included Local Partner Maciej Kacymirow and Associate Adam Andula.
Editor's Note: After this article was published, WKB Lawyers announced it had advised Accel-KKR on Polish aspects of its acquisition of a majority stake in Symfonia. The firm's team included Managing Partner Aleksander Stawicki, Partner Jakub Jedrzejak, Counsel Wojciech Kulczyk, and Lawyers Magdalena Purol, Zuzanna Cybulska, and Filip Rybak.
