Proskauer, a leading international law firm, today announced that its client, FPE Capital, a specialist software and services growth investor, has successfully sold IWSR, the leading B2B data and intelligence provider to the global drinks industry, as part of a buy-out backed by Bowmark Capital.
The terms of the transaction are not disclosed and the buy-out includes a re-investment by the IWSR management team.
IWSR has a highly international research reach and client base and during FPE's investment has invested very significantly into new areas of research within the drinks market – such as e-commerce, no-and-low alcohol drinks and COVID impacts - alongside its long-established global volume database. In addition, the business has made a material investment into the technology base of the business and in November 2020 it made the strategic acquisition of Wine Intelligence, which brought to the group an expanded product offering and the ability to expand consumer research and insight across all categories of the drinks industry. In just under three years of FPE's ownership the business increased revenues by 110% and increased EBITDA by 160% and the sale marks a highly successful first exit for FPE from its second, spin-out fund which closed in 2017.
Proskauer lawyers who worked on the transaction included Richard Bull, Jenny Bowe, Bradley Mycock (M&A), Stephen Pevsner and Rebecca Wallis (Tax).