TA Associates is responsible for hedgehog, the majority

Heiko Gloge is in active role TA Associates is responsible for hedgehog, the majority

The Bremen Melchers group sold the Software provider hedgehog, the majority of the financial investor TA Associates. Under new ownership, the companies are expecting the founder, the operative that he writes “the growth story of the hedgehog” to continue.

At Igel Technology, a new Era is dawning. The North American financial investor TA Associates is now the majority shareholder of the Bremen-based manufacturer that develops Software for the end-user Computing and Thin Clients manufactures. The previous owners, the trading house C. Melchers and Heiko Gloge, founder and longtime CEO of Igel, maintain a minority stake in the company. Its headquarters remains in Bremen, the Software development in Augsburg, Germany. Financial Details, such as the purchase price and the amount of the shares, the Parties did not call.

Heiko Gloge, founder and longtime CEO of Igel, withdraws from the operating business.

In the course of the transaction Gloge retires from operating activities, and changes to the six-member Advisory Board. The IT professional handing over a year ago, the role of global CEO Jed Ayres, who had come in 2016 as North America chief and Chief Marketing Officer hedgehog. As Managing Director of the Gloge belonged to since the management of the company. A member of the new Boards also his longtime business partner, Nicolas Helms, Director of the Melchers group.

New Management Structure

The Management of the hedgehog with the participation of TA has a new structure, which is similar to the Anglo-Saxon societies. So there will be an Executive Leader of a Team, which is headed by Ayres as CEO. The body of the speaker (Chairman) of the Advisory Board, is thus taking an active Part. For this Position, Igel has won the industry veteran Bill Veghte, the former head of the Windows division of Microsoft and Chief Operating Officer at HP before the Split.

“We are convinced that, in TA, found the right Partner,” commented Gloge the entry of the Investor. The focus, among other things, to support Software provider, and I know the subscription models that stand behind their business, exactly. “TA can bring in additional expertise, and so the growth story of hedgehog further. This synergy was for us a very important decision point.“ The Private-Equity firm, which is headquartered in Boston, in an office in Menlo Park in Silicon Valley, holds, about 50 kilometers from the American headquarters of the manufacturer in San Francisco.

Pleased the hedgehog-founder is shown in conversation with the IT BUSINESS, also about the fact that top managers Veghte, in the future, as the Chairman of the Board, the manufacturer is involved. “With his network and his extensive Knowledge, he will help, we can enhance the good relationship that has built up Igel technology partners, and deepen.”

“Emotional Moment”

The largest incision of the transaction means for the Entrepreneur himself and his Partner helmet. “We are pulling out our active operational role, and the further development of the company will accompany you in the Advisory Board.” Gloge is since 1993 the brand hedgehog, first with the division Melchers Netkom, which he headed at the time, as a distribution partner of the Augsburg-based Thin-Client-provider. As the Fort was in the throes of the Dotcom crisis in question, took Melchers, the Assets and founded at the end of 2000, the new Igel Technology. Gloge involved at the time, with a share of 30 percent. For him and Helms the exit from the operating business was “a very emotional Moment”.

The two business partners started almost ten years ago about their succession and reflect on how the founders reported. You had been aware of the fact that ultimately they will have to find an Investor who takes the development of the hedgehog “a leader in the hands”. Two major steps in its Evolution, the company wanted to implement before, but still. The first one was the Expansion of business in the United States, with the hedgehog since 2013 in the second start-up successful. “For us as a medium-sized company from Bremen, who knows the great world about its port, it was already a challenge in the North American market to arrive.” In the meantime, the manufacturer achieved almost 40 percent of its revenues.

From the Thin Client Software

The second major step in the repositioning of the hedgehog was as a Software provider. Even if experts in the operating system and Management tools from the manufacturer saw from the beginning the value of the portfolio, was the perception of the market, especially on the form factor. The Era of the Thin client as a stand-alone Hardware category tends to Gloges evaluation, however, the end. “Everything you need today, is an Access Device, to the Cloud. This is a Thin-Client concept, but a Hardware-agnostic. We need to think of the Software.“

That hedgehog with the repositioning in the market passed, the business figures. The provider increased in the corona of the year 2020, the Software revenue by 20 percent, while total sales increased slightly. More detailed Figures for the past year, the Bremen-based on your end-user Computing conference, the Igel Disrupt 2021known, at 25. February, will take place virtually. There, the company informs its customers and partners about the new operating system, new Security features, and last but not least, the new partner program that will apply this year.

The new Igel-Investor TA Associates has been operating since 1968 on the market and has been involved since then, to more than 500 companies in the world. The technology sector is one of five core sectors of the Private Equity firm. To the current Portfolio, in the TA about eight billion dollars has been invested, among others, the Software provider Flexera and Ivanti. Previous investments, AVG (Avast) and Sophos were.

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