avocis

avocis provides multilingual customer contact management services for a range of industries including telecommunications, utilities and financial service providers.

It employs some 6,500 agents in 13 locations across Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Pro forma revenue for 2014 was €210m. Germany accounted for 53%, making it the country’s third largest provider by sales. Switzerland generated the majority of remaining revenue, where avocis is market leader in its sector.

VALUE CREATION

During the investment period, Equistone Funds worked alongside the management team to develop avocis by:

• Supporting its buy-and-build strategy, which resulted in the rapid acquisition of seven complementary businesses: Kluth Telemarketing, SIM and BNS Group, which were acquired in 2008, followed by Pro Fiducia Treuhand, adm, Dima and Freenet, which were acquired in 2009.
• Generating organic growth through expansion into the energy and financial services sectors and entry into the Austrian market.
• Delivering a series of cost-savings initiatives including a restructuring of the business and consolidation of its IT infrastructure.

THE EXIT

In March 2015, Equistone Fund III completed the sale of its investment in avocis to Capita plc.