Aars is strengthening its IT investment in the Nordic region through the acquisition of Visma's Cloud Infrastructure Services division. Through the acquisition of Visma Exso, Visma EssCom and 50.1 percent of Value Retail Consulting, the presence and delivery capacity as an IT supplier in the Nordic market is strengthened.
Aars is already the main owner of the IT service company InfoCare with around 1,200 employees and a presence in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. The IT investment is now being strengthened by the purchase of the Swedish and Norwegian part of Visma's Cloud Infrastructure Services division (Visma CIS) i.e. the companies Visma Exso, Visma EssCom and 50.1 percent of Value Retail Consulting, with a total of 420 employees.
Aars brings together InfoCare and the Visma companies under a common ownership as part of a long-term plan to further develop and build a larger Nordic IT supplier. The four IT companies complement and strengthen each other's product and service offerings and will strengthen delivery capacity and presence for customers in the Nordic market. The competition authorities in Norway and Sweden has approved the acquisitions.
- The purpose of the acquisition is to build a large solid and attractive supplier of IT services to the Nordic market. Together with Infocare and Visma CIS we will find out exactly how the business finally will be organized. As owners we want to make arrangements to strengthen the overall geographical presence of Visma CIS and InfoCare in the Nordics, which in turn will benefit customers in forms of better access to both services and technicians, says Runar Kvåle, Investment Director at Aars.
Visma Exso and Visma EssCom deliver critical IT services to a wide range of customers within various industries. The largest are within the retail market. The geographical coverage is broad with 27 offices and 23 partner offices in Norway and Sweden. Value Retail Consulting provides consulting services to customers within the same industries.
- Aars has expressed a clear ambition to strengthen its investment in IT services, and I am convinced that they will be a good owner for our CIS businesses. For Visma this sale means that we continue to refine our position as a leading supplier of mission-critical software in Europe, says Merete Hverven, CEO at Visma.
Increased delivery capacity and wider customer offer, InfoCare supplies installation support and maintenance of IT and technological equipment throughout the Nordic region. Aars has been the main owner of the company since 2018 and the majority of the company's service deliveries are related to the retail market. InfoCare has grown significantly in recent years and annually performs more than 400.000 service deliveries in the Nordic region.
-Exso and EssCom have some overlapping activities with InfoCare within technical services. The companies together will increase delivery capacity as a result of the technician network being doubled. At the same time, Visma CIS adds something new with their industry expertise, operational and support services as well as a product offering says Runar Kvåle.
A strong IT and technology investment, Aars today owns businesses in a number of different industries and has an long term investment plan. The acquisition of the Visma companies is part of building an even stronger portfolio within IT and technology and Aars today has, among other things, holdings in InfoCare, Visma CIS, OneCo, Micro Matic and Iterate.
Oslo, 1. november 2022
