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The family founders of one of the largest Central European road telematics companies sold 100% share in Princip a.s., to EUROWAG, one of the largest European providers of payment solutions for road mobility

Sector
Road telematics
Target company
Princip a.s.
Seller
Founding family
Buyer
W.A.G. Payment solutions a.s.
Our role
Advisory to seller
Transaction size
Undisclosed
Year
2017

Princip a.s. is a leader in developing electronic devices and firmware for road telematics in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Four thousand customers used Princip’s telematic units and cloud-based software solutions in more than 70.000 vehicles in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and other countries of the CEE region. This makes it also an important European telematics competitor. Princip has also been a valued R&D partner and supplier to leading fleet management services providers, offering complex services to their customers, including solutions under white-label.

W.A.G. payment solutions, a.s. (WPS: LN) known widely under EUROWAG brand has been present on the market since 1996. It ranks among the largest European providers of integrated payment and technological solutions for road mobility. Its traditional customers include professional transport companies and hauliers. More than 15 thousand customers and their 250+ thousand drivers from all over Europe rely on EUROWAG’s payment solutions. The company has a direct presence in 18 counties with 1000+ staff. Acquisition of Princip served as an entry for EUROWAG into the fast-growing road telematics shortly after it received significant investment from global PE fond TA Associates and represented an important milestone towards EUROWAG’s listing on the London Stock Exchange in 2021.

Merger Vision acted as an exclusive M&A advisor to the founding family and organised an international tender process among leading strategic investors.

  • Merger Vision contacted us in 2015, introduced a potential investor and convincingly presented awareness of the development of our industry at the European and global levels. At that time, PRINCIP, as a family-owned company, focused mainly on developing new products and strengthening its position as a leader in the Czech market. While this has attracted the interest of local competitors and business partners, Merger Vision has helped us better to understand our position among European competitors in road telematics. The advisory team of Merger Vision also gained our trust with detailed knowledge of the ongoing consolidation worldwide and personal contacts with several potential investors. We, therefore, accepted their recommendation to launch a sales tender with the participation of major strategic investors from all continents. The sale process was conducted very professionally and surprised us not only with the high number of written offers received but also with the terms offered. This enabled us to select a partner for PRINCIP offering attractive terms and a guarantee of further development of the company.

    Vladimír Vejvoda, Princip a.s.

    founder and CEO

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