Carlyle and Mercapital buy into Spanish IT

The Carlyle Group, a US private equity firm, and Mercapital, a Spanish mid-market firm, have acquired Arsys, a Spanish provider of web hosting and domain registration services, for €160m (US$230m).

Founded in 1996, Arsys is the dominant player in the Spanish domain name registration and web hosting market. The business has more than 500,000 domains registered, 170,000 clients, 250 employees and commercial activities in Spain, France and Portugal. In 2007, Arsys expects to generate revenues of more than €40m.

“Having analyzed a great number of opportunities in this exciting sector, both in Spain and across Europe, we are delighted to have been able to invest in Arsys, which we believe has huge potential,” said Fernando Chueca, associated director at Carlyle, in a statement.

Mercapital, which has total funds under management of more than €1.4bn, is currently investing from its €550m Mercapital Spanish Buy-out Fund III vehicle.