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Cinven Nears Deal for German Software Maker think-cell

Cinven Ltd., the U.K. buyout house, is close to a deal to buy a controlling stake in German software company think-cell, , according to people familiar with the matter, adding to a flurry of private-equity acquisitions of founder-led companies.

As part of the transaction, think-cell’s founders Markus Hannebauer and Arno Schoedl will keep some of their holdings in the Berlin-based firm, said the people who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. An agreement could be announced as early as this week, they said.

Founded in 2002, think-cell reported 88 million euros in revenues and 80 million euros in pretax profit in 2019, according to public filings. Publicly traded peers are usually valued at 10 times revenue and in some cases at more than 20 times pretax profit. That means think-cell could be valued at significantly more than 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion), the people said.

Cinven and think-cell declined to comment.

The software company creates tools to help create charts and slides on Microsoft Corp.’s PowerPoint and has some 800,000 paying users, according to its website.

The sale of a majority stake in think-cell to private equity is in line with a broader industry trend. Founders, including companies in Asia, have been fueling dealmaking to resolve succession issues, cash in on high valuations and manage the next phase of growth.

Cinven has done some of the most-high profile private-equity deals in recent years in German-speaking Europe, including the buyout of generic drugmaker Stada Arzneimittel AG and ThyssenKrupp AG’s elevator business.

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