Danish media reported today that LanguageWire Ltd., a European Language Service Provider (LSP), ranked among the top 30 in the world, was fully acquired by the UK private equity group Bridgepoint for an amount close to DKK 1.5 billion (approx. $235 million).
The company was founded in 2000 by Henrik Lottrup and Thor Angelo, and sold a majority stake to CataCap Management A/S in 2017. In late 2018, LanguageWire acquired Belgium-based Xplanation, thus expanding its geographic presence and diversifying its client base into new segments. LanguageWire clients include Pandora, H&M, and BMW. In 2020, the company reported revenues of $66.2 million.
According to the newspaper Børsen, CataCap planned to start a structured sales process for LanguageWire in the Fall of 2021, but the offer from Bridgepoint was so good that they accepted it before the process was initiated.
“I can only say that we as sellers are immeasurably happy. It is a great price that was paid, which reflects the company’s future potential,” said Rasmus Lokvig, a partner at CataCap, to the Danish newspaper. With a stake of 20-25% in the company, Henrik Lottrup benefits from the second sale of his shares in LanguageWire and completes his exit from the company.
Second acquisition in Scandinavia in 30 days
This transaction marks the second major deal in the Nordics in less than 30 days. At the end of July, MultiLingual reported that Swedish LSP Semantix was acquired by TransPerfect for more than its annual revenue, representing the exit of private equity fund Segulah from the language industry.
The Nordic market is especially attractive to the language industry because of the number of global brands headquartered in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland that export to the rest of the world, and the strong purchasing power of the consumer market for international brands that want to sell there. It is also a region with welfare states, providing language services for all citizens not fluent in local languages.
