Wiersholm advises Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. ("KKR") in their acquisition of a 76.9% ownership in Visma Holding ("Visma")

Wiersholm advises Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. in their strategic acquisition of a 76.9% ownership in the Norwegian company Visma. The transaction values Visma at an enterprise value of NOK 11 billion.

KKR is a world leading private equity investment fund with over 900.000 employees in their portfolio companies. KKR is a global firm with industry-leading private equity experience, and offices in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Australia. For further details please see www.kkr.com.

Visma is a leading provider of business software and business processes for accounting & payroll. The group comprises five business areas which are Visma Software, Visma BPO Accounting & Payroll, Visma Procurement & Collecting, Visma Retail and Visma System Development & Integration. Visma is headquartered in Oslo, Norway. The Visma Group is represented in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Romania and the UK. To visit the press release from Visma  please click here.

The parties signed a share purchase agreement on 25 September 2010, and the transaction is expected to close later this year.

A Wiersholm team headed by lead counsel Ståle Gjengset advised KKR on the transaction in close cooperation with KKR’s international counsel on the transaction Simpson Thacher & Bartlett whose team was headed by their lead counsel Gregory W. Conway.

Additional Wiersholm team members included Jarle Kvam (partner), Åsfrid Vågslid Haga (associate), Kristen Vegge (associate), Audun Hagene Egge (associate), Ragnar Lindefjeld (associate), Atle Gabrielsen (associate) and Martin Haukland (associate).

For further information, please contact:

Ståle Gjengset
partner             

T: +47 210 210 00
E: sgj@wiersholm.no