VR Equitypartner GmbH: VR Equitypartner supports Cygna Labs in the acquisition of NCC Group’s DDI business

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VR Equitypartner supports Cygna Labs in the acquisition of NCC Group’s DDI business

Frankfurt am Main/Miami, 30. January 2023 – Cygna Labs has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire NCC Group’s DDI business. The acquisition includes the purchase of the DDI Guard™ product, the portfolio of DDI customers, and NCC Group’s team of DDI experts. Cygna Labs was supported by the Frankfurt-based private equity company VR Equitypartner (VREP), which has a minority stake in the Miami based company. Cygna Labs is a highly specialized software developer with a focus on serving enterprises worldwide and a leading provider of DDI, cloud security, and compliance technology. With the acquisition of NCC Group’s DDI business, Cygna Labs establishes its presence in the UK and further strengthens its intellectual property.

NCC Group is a global cyber and software resilience business operating across multiple sectors, geographies, and technologies. With a significant market presence in the UK, Europe, and North America, and a growing footprint in Asia Pacific, the company works with organizations to assess, develop and manage their cyber resilience posture to enable them to take advantage of the opportunities that sustain their business growth.

Cygna Labs is a software developer and one of the top three global DDI vendors. Many Fortune 100 customers rely on Cygna Labs’ DDI products and services, in addition to its industry-leading security and compliance solutions, to detect and proactively mitigate data security threats, affordably pass compliance audits, and increase the productivity of their IT departments.

The acquisition of NCC Group’s DDI business is a very important step for Cygna Labs as it establishes its UK presence and expands its team of highly specialized DDI experts who will serve many large UK-based and global enterprise organizations. The addition of DDI Guard to its intellectual property will ensure a seamless integration for NCC Group customers while strengthening its team to help better serve its global client base.

“Bringing together Cygna Labs’ innovative spirit and the power of our global footprint with the expertise of the NCC Group’s DDI team will benefit our existing and new customers”, says Alexander Häcker (CEO, Cygna Labs Group GmbH). “The team from NCC will become part of the N3K team, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cygna Labs Group. We are committed to ensuring streamlined processes, agility, and the tools needed to enhance our independent full DDI-managed service offering.”

Christian Ehrenthal, CEO of Cygna Labs Corp., adds: “As we continue our trajectory towards expanding our reach to the UK market, this acquisition not only brings us closer to fulfilling our mission of providing a seamless approach to security and compliance solutions but extends our market presence, a key objective for Cygna Labs. We are thrilled to expand our product portfolio and, in turn, provide our customers with the best in DDI services and support.”

Christian Futterlieb, Managing Director of VREP, also welcomes the company’s development: “With the acquisition of NCC Group’s DDI business, Cygna Labs is continuing its successful growth story: Following the acquisition of Diamond IP last year, this latest acquisition enables Cygna Labs Group to drive internationalisation and to further expand its intellectual property. We are pleased that we were able to support the successful transaction.”

VR Equitypartner – Overview:

VR Equitypartner is one of the leading private equity companies in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The company supports family-owned SMEs in a target-driven manner and brings decades of experience in finding strategic solutions to complex financing issues. Investment initiatives include growth and expansion financing, corporate succession, and shareholder changes. VR Equitypartner offers majority and minority shareholdings as well as mezzanine financing. As a subsidiary of DZ BANK, Germany's leading cooperative bank, VR Equitypartner consistently puts the sustainability of corporate development ahead of short-term exit thinking. VR Equitypartner's portfolio currently comprises around 60 portfolio companies with an investment volume of EUR 400 million.

For further information see www.vrep.de.

VR Equitypartner’s transaction team:

Michael Vogt, Sarah Ostermann, Jens Schöffel, Alexander Koch
 

Consultancy firms that VR Equitypartner has involved in the transaction:

Buyside M&A advisory: goetzpartners Corporate Finance (Adelin Trusculescu, Frieder Rieker)

Legal: Hogan Lovells International LLP (Dr. Christoph Naumann, Charles Jemmett, Gaspare Chirillo)

Finance: Grant Thornton (Harald Weiß, Karmen Krvina)

Tax: Grant Thornton (Stefan Hahn, Torben Schlitt)

Commercial: BARC (Dr. Martin Böhn, Michael Schiklang)

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