William Blair acted as the financial advisor to Questel, a portfolio company of Eurazeo Capital, IK Investment Partners, and RAISE Investissement, in connection with its pending acquisition of NovumIP, a group comprised of PAVIS and Novagraaf and a portfolio company of Paragon Partners. The transaction was announced on March 8, 2021. The transaction is subject to the definitive approval of the German Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) as well as customary antitrust clearance. The transaction is expected to close around July 2021.
Transaction Highlights
- Strong IP management software and services franchise: Questel, Eurazeo Capital, and IK Investment Partners were attracted to William Blair’s extensive industry knowledge and transaction experience advising IP management software investors and businesses. The transaction builds on William Blair’s existing experience in the IP management software market, having advised on the sale of Anaqua to Astorg.
- Entrenched and long-standing relationship: William Blair has developed strong and trusted relationships with Questel, Eurazeo Capital, and IK Investment Partners over the course of many years.
- Continued momentum in DACH region: This transaction demonstrates William Blair’s continued momentum as a leading mid-market advisor in the region and further enhances its relationships with leading mid-market financial sponsors, including Paragon Partners.
About the Companies
Questel’s mission is to facilitate the development of innovation in an efficient, secure, and sustainable way. Questel is a true end-to-end intellectual property solutions provider to more than 15,000 clients and one million users across 30 countries. Questel offers a comprehensive software suite for searching, analyzing, and managing inventions and IP assets. Questel also provides services throughout the IP lifecycle, including prior art searches, patent drafting, international filing, translation, and renewals. These solutions, when combined with their IP cost management platform, deliver clients an average savings of 30-60% across the entire prosecution budget.
PAVIS and Novagraaf joined forces in 2019 to provide clients with a wider range of IP advisory, administration, and technology-led services. The collaboration was sparked by recognition of the importance placed by IP owners and their advisers on having access to a single, go-to resource for all their IP needs, including both commercially-focused legal and consulting and tech-enabled IP services.
PAVIS is a leading provider of IP management services worldwide. For more than 40 years, PAVIS has been a valuable partner for law firms and corporate IP departments with large IP portfolios. Innovative technical solutions, well-established procedures and a high degree of automation have made PAVIS into one of the most efficient and reliable IP management service providers. PAVIS has a focus on patent annuity payments and trademark renewals. Its subsidiary PAVIS Payments is officially approved as a regulated payment service provider in accordance with the Payment Services Supervision Act. As a result, PAVIS is able to provide all services in full compliance with statutory requirements.
For more than 130 years, Novagraaf has been helping iconic brands and innovative organisations around the world drive competitive advantage. One of Europe’s leading IP consulting groups, Novagraaf specialises in the protection and global management of IP rights, including trademarks, patents, designs, domain names and copyright. Based in the Netherlands, Novagraaf has 18 offices worldwide, and acquired Thomsen Trampedach in 2020. The firm is unique in its ability to provide clients with tailored legal expertise, efficiency-gaining administrative services, and proactive commercial insights.
Learn more about our technology investment banking expertise.