Xllnc acquires Lin Education
Xllnc Group AB (“Xllnc”), majority owned by Norvestor VII, L.P., has signed an agreement to acquire Lin Group AB (“Lin Education”). Lin and Xllnc are leading companies within their respective customer segments and will together become a leading provider within the market for consultancy services for digital end user equipment in the Nordics.
Xllnc and Lin Education will have combined revenues of SEK 2.4 billion in 2019. Xllnc delivers IT asset management solutions to large corporations and the public sector, while Lin Education is focused on delivering solutions to schools. As a group, the two brands will complement and strengthen each other. The brand, Lin Education, will continue to exist as a part of Xllnc.
“This is a perfect match. Lin Education’s journey has been very similar toXllnc’sWe both aim to be in the forefront of our respective markets and we share many similar experiences”, says Martin Backman, CEO of Xllnc.
The business model is similar between the two companies. Their customer’s needs and expectations are also similar as they are looking for ways to find more time to focus on their core business.
“With this acquisition, we will combine the two companies’ expertise in one group and continue to grow together through our mutual f knowledge. We are seeking to share experiences and evolve our service offering towards both schools and corporations”, says Martin Backman.
Lin Education was founded in Sweden in 2008 and has recently entered the Norwegian market. The Company hasgrown from two employees and a revenue of SEK 5 million to more than 120 employees and a revenue of SEK 500 million. Their offering includes delivery of laptops and tablets as well as cloud services, combined withstrategic development support and process management. The aim is to help schools utilize their digital investments better and serve as a digital transformation partner.
“This is a great timing forLin Education Norway. The Norwegian education sector is currently investing in becoming more digitized and with the backing of Xllnc, we will have larger possibilities of helping them reach their goals” says Petter Sveen, head of Norway in Lin Education. * “This partnership will be fantastic. We can see that there are a lot of similarities between our business models and many opportunities for synergies that will enable us to become a strengthened company”*, says Josef Lind, founder and previous CEO of Lin Education.
“Lin Education has been consistent in its work towards digitizing the school sector over a long period. As we do in Xllnc, Lin puts great effort into delivering digital tools and great service to create value for its customers. Lin Education has always been in the forefront of this and together, we will continue to deliver high quality services, continuing to build our brand”, concludes Martin Backman.
“Since we partnered with Xllnc, finding M&A opportunities has been set as a key pillar of the company’s strategy. Leveraging their strong network and long-standing experience in the industry, the management team of Xllnc quickly identified Lin Education as a powerful add-on to their offering. We are proud to support Xllnc in this acquisition process. Lin has developed a deep expertise in helping the education sector with their digitalization efforts and we believe this could be leveraged into other sectors as well. We are thrilled to welcome Lin Education to the Xllnc family and are excited about the next steps of this journey”, says Henning Vold, Partner at Norvestor.
The acquisition is depending on approval from the Swedish Competition Authority.
For further information: Henning Vold, Partner Norvestor Telephone: +47 908 79 581 Email: henning.vold@norvestor.com
Martin Backman, CEO Xllnc Telephone: +46 70 864 42 22 Email: martin.backman@xllnc.com
Xllnc is a supplier of IT lifecycle management solutions for large corporations. The Company had a turnover of SEK c. 1,300 million in 2018 and employs c. 200 people. Xllnc enables large companies and institutions to manage their physical IT assets to maximizes their use and improve quality and efficiency. Read more here: [_www.xllnc.com _]