Carlyle gets personal

US private equity giant the Carlyle Group has acquired almost 30% of German human resource software vendor Personal & Informatik for an undisclosed sum.

Carlyle bought 24.9% of P&I shares directly and was permitted to acquire a further 4.44%. The private equity firm intends to exercise these options after it achieves antitrust clearance in Germany and other jurisdictions.

This is not the first time Carlyle has invested in P&I; in 2004 the firm bought two thirds of the company and achieved growth of 185% EBIT and a 36% increase in revenues. Since Carlyle’s exit in 2007, the HR vendor has been experiencing growth of 6-8% per annum.

Managing director of the Carlyle Group, Michael Wand said: “We have been monitoring P&I closely since out exit and the company has continued to perform well. In order to reach its full potential of becoming a major European HR software vendor we believe the company will benefit from a strong single shareholder.”

P&I is listed on the Prime Standard segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The Wiesbaden-based vendor works with small and medium sized companies across Europe. It achieved turnover in the period 2008/09 of €59m with EBIT of €13m.