P2P Provider OpusCapita Being Sold to U.S. Equity Firm

OpusCapita Solutions, the Finnish procurement provider known for procure-to-pay solutions and catalog management, is being sold by its parent company, Posti Group Corp., to the U.S. asset management firm Providence Equity Partners, of Rhode Island, according to an announcement.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the agreement was signed March 8 and awaits some regulatory approval, the statement said.

OpusCapita, based in Helsinki, provides digital solutions and transaction processing for source-to-pay cash management, and product information management. It was founded in 1984, and it has eight offices in Europe and the United States, and has 350 employees and 3,000 customers globally, according to the announcement.

Spend Matters’ co-founder and analyst Jason Busch said OpusCapita has a number of under-appreciated assets in its portfolio.

“Our coverage of its procurement and catalog management suggests it is particularly suited for specific use cases, especially those involving significant complexity in managing complex supplier, catalog and product information,” Busch said. “Under new ownership, we hope these solutions will receive the sales, marketing and channel investment they deserve to compete more effectively on the world stage — the foundations are in place for success if more companies knew about them.”

Spend Matters analyst Xavier Olivera said the transaction would be beneficial if it helps OpusCapita compete for more P2P projects.

“OpusCapita is without a doubt a P2P suite, with capabilities that should put it on the map with the great procure-to-pay players,” Olivera said. “Its strengths go through e-procurement, with its specialization in MRO, to its solution to payments, with its additional capabilities in treasury and cash management.”

(See Spend Matters’ “OpusCapita: What Makes It Great” and our Vendor Snapshot Series: Background and Solution Overview; Platform Strengths, Weaknesses; Summary and Competitive Analysis)

In 2018, OpusCapita accounted for about 4% of Posti Group’s net sales, the statement said. Posti Group, also of Finland, said it is selling OpusCapita to focus on its core business: postal, parcel, e-commerce and logistics, the announcement said.

The transaction won’t require any actions from OpusCapita’s customers, the statement said.

OpusCapita acquired jCatalog in 2016, and CEO Patrik Sallner put the current transaction in perspective.

“This change comes as the next natural step in OpusCapita Solutions’ evolution,” Sallner said in the statement. “Over the past three years, we have divested non-core activities in order to focus our business on digitalizing and automating our customers’ finance and procurement processes.

“New ownership will allow OpusCapita Solutions to increase investments into key strategic initiatives while benefiting from Providence Equity’s insight and experience in driving global growth.”

Providence, which has over $40 billion in aggregate capital commitments, has been investing in Europe for two decades, but the OpusCapita deal is its first growth stage software investment in Europe, the statement said.

Providence Managing Director Gopi Vaddi said in the announcement that the “new partnership will enable various investments in product development and customer-facing functions.”

“We are excited to support OpusCapita Solutions in its endeavors to have customers stay ahead of procurement trends as digital and automated transaction capability become a critical element of any business network,” Vaddi said.