Almere / Rosmalen / Hamburg — Waterland Private Equity (“Waterland”) continues to successfully drive the long-term buy & build strategy at its portfolio company-Enreach: The fast-growing, pan-European provider of unified communications solutions (UCaaS) acquires the Rosmalen, Netherlands-based cloud software provider and Microsoft partner DSD Europe and its sister company CloudLand (“DSD”) with Waterland’s support. The merger gives Enreach even greater capabilities and reach to equip digital workplaces with Microsoft software programs. Microsoft’s Office productivity solutions will be sold together with compatible Enreach solutions in the future.
Founded in 2009, DSD is a high-growth provider of IT, security and other cloud products. Through a leading cloud marketplace, DSD’s service enables more than 5,000 active re-sellers in Europe to easily and quickly acquire, activate and manage various cloud services and software, with a focus on Microsoft cloud productivity solutions.
Enreach was formed in 2018 with the support of Waterland from the merger of Swyx (Germany), Voiceworks (Netherlands) and Centile Telecom Applications (France, renamed Enreach for Service Providers), each leaders in their respective markets. Since then, Waterland has guided Enreach in its growth, including systematic acquisitions of best-in-class technologies and their roll-out across the platform. In addition, Waterland has now actively supported its portfolio company in fifteen international add-on acquisitions, five of which in the current year alone.
For Enreach, the partnership with DSD represents the next building block in a long-term buy-&-build strategy that aims to create a pan-European market leader in unified communications and cloud products and services.
Thijs van de Moosdijk, CEO of DSD, says: “As an established and well-known Own-IP-Cloud marketplace, re-sellers across Europe rely on our expertise and product portfolio. We have been looking for a strong player in the market for some time to drive our vision of digital transformation with us. We are convinced that together with Enreach we are excellently positioned for further growth.”
Stijn Nijhuis, CEO of Enreach, explains: “Thanks to Waterland’s support, we have been able to accelerate our growth even further in recent months. For the coming steps in the company, we wanted to expand our service portfolio to include a modern one-stop-shop offering for all requirements in the area of digital transformation. The chemistry with DSD was right from the start.”
Dr. Carsten Rahlfs (photo), Managing Partner at Waterland, explains: “Enreach has developed very positively over the past years. DSD is well positioned in the market and is one of the first points of contact for re-sellers throughout Europe in the area of software and cloud solutions. The acquisition opens up new, attractive synergy effects for both companies, especially in the area of cross-selling Enreach’s own-IP unified communications as well as Microsoft’s cloud productivity solutions — and is thus another important building block in our long-term buy-&-build strategy.”
Waterland has extensive experience in the field of digitization and integration of ICT service providers through corresponding investments in several European countries. In German-speaking countries, for example, Waterland already has stakes in companies such as netgo (IT systems house), the Serrala Group (payment technologies), Tineo (enterprise IT) and a managed enterprise platform Skaylink.
About Waterland
Waterland is an independent private equity investment firm that helps companies realize their growth plans. With substantial financial support and industry expertise, Waterland enables its portfolio companies to achieve accelerated growth both organically and through acquisitions. Waterland has offices in the Netherlands (Bussum), Belgium (Antwerp), France (Paris), Germany (Hamburg, Munich), Poland (Warsaw), the UK (Manchester), Ireland (Dublin), Denmark (Copenhagen) and Switzerland (Zurich). Currently, over eight billion euros in equity funds are under management.
Waterland has consistently outperformed with its investments since its inception in 1999. The firm ranks fifth globally in the 2020 HEC/Dow Jones Private Equity Performance Rankings and eighth among global private equity firms in the 2020 Preqin Consistent Performers in Global Private Equity & Venture Capital Report. In addition, Real Deals awarded Waterland the title of Pan-European House of the Year 2020 at the PE Awards.