CEO leads €131m bid to take Tecnotree private

• The CEO of BSS vendor Tecnotree is part of a consortium that has bid to acquire the company and take it private 
• The €131m takeover offer has sent to company’s shares soaring by almost 40%
• It is the latest in a series of M&A deals in the BSS sector

Finnish BSS vendor Tecnotree has received a takeover bid worth €131m from a consortium headed up by the company’s CEO of nine years, Padma Ravichander, along with Helios Investment Partners and existing major Tecnotree investor Fitzroy Investments.

The offer, which values the Espoo, Finland-based company’s shares at €5.70 each and which is supported by the vendor’s board, has sent the specialist firm’s share price soaring by almost 40% on the Helsinki exchange to €5.57. 

Commenting on the offer, Jyoti Desai, vice chair of Tecnotree’s board of directors, stated: “Over a year ago the board of directors undertook an extensive review process to evaluate the financing options for its ambitious growth plan. As part of that process, the board of directors explored a number of strategic options, whilst also considering the local market dynamic of the shares trading at a significant discount to fair value due to devaluation of the US dollar against the euro, as well as frontier and emerging market exposure. The board of directors believes that this tender offer allows the company to continue its existing and current relationships with the existing customers while providing an attractive liquidity event for all shareholders and holders of equity securities. Tecnotree has a long track record in key emerging and frontier markets across the globe, which carry with them an inherent higher level of volatility. Helios also has a long track record in these markets and, as a partner, will provide more stability for our customers and our employees.”

The news came as Tecnotree, a profitable company that generated revenues of €71.6m in 2024, announced it expects its 2025 full year revenues to “grow by mid- to high-single digit percentage in constant currency terms” compared with the previous year, and that it expects its 2026 revenues to “grow by low- to mid-single digit percentage in constant currency terms”. 

Tecnotree has about 90 telco customers for its BSS products (billing, charging, order management, subscriber management and so on), primarily across multiple markets in Asia Pacific, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. Its customers include Claro (América Móvil), Indosat Ooredoo, MTN Group, STC, Ooredoo and Zain.

The move is the latest in a series of M&A announcements in the BSS sector, the latest of which were the acquisition of Matrixx by Amdocs, Qvantel’s recently completed acquisition of Optiva and the planned $2.9bn acquisition of CSG by NEC (the parent company of major BSS player Netcracker). 

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV