In the dynamic landscape of IT solutions in the SME market, Trustteam’s trajectory stands out as a compelling story of strategic growth. Trustteam’s journey with Ardian, from 2018 to 2022, is a prime example of a successful partnership.
-
6 acquisitions
in France and Belgium between 2019 and 2022
-
30%
of the firm’s revenues came from France at exit
-
6,500 active clients
Trustteam tripled its revenues and significantly expanded its customer base
When Ardian acquired a majority stake in Trustteam from Naxicap Partners in 2018, the company already showed a proven track record of organic growth. Thanks to the Ardian Expansion team’s extensive support and deal-making experience, Trustteam significantly accelerated its buy-and-build strategy with 6 build-ups completed in only 3 years.
Indeed, two strategic acquisitions were realized in France, illustrating the capacity of the group to replicate its model in cross border countries. When Ardian exited, France represented more than 30% of the firm’s revenues. The synergy between operational excellence and strategic growth initiatives during Ardian’s tenure allowed Trustteam to triple its revenues, while initiating its internationalization phase and significantly expanding its customer base to 6,500 active clients.
Buy-and-build foundations
Founded by Stijn Vandeputte in 2002, Trustteam is an IT services provider offering solutions for cloud, hardware and networks, software, VoIP technology and technical support for SMEs.
Our strategy is to provide a full range of software and services and to install as many of them as possible to each customer. We use acquisitions to gain more customers but also to add new products and services that we can then cross-sell to all our customers.
Crossing borders and bringing enhanced value to clients
The Expansion team at Ardian saw potential in Trustteam due to their strong track record of growth, as well as their impressive reporting experience. To be able to accelerate Buy & Build strategy, financial reporting from the initial stages of a company is crucial. Trustteam showed their dedication to accurate and diligent reporting, much of this due to their experience with financial sponsors as well as acquisitions. Finally, Stijn Vandeputte demonstrated his personal dedication by reinvesting 80% of his proceeds in the deal.
All the acquisitions we had done before Ardian invested had been small but once they were on board we could look at acquiring much bigger IT services companies, which allowed us to grow a lot faster.
With Ardian’s guidance and expertise, Trustteam started to internationalize its activity. As IT services for the SME market are local businesses in their nature, and as Trustteam had offices in Belgium close to the French border , we saw the potential to grow into France, as the Group had not yet explored this territory.
Another significant change was including management teams as shareholders, to promote alignment and solidify commitment.
Accelerating expansion through collaboration
Throughout our four-year collaboration, Trustteam not only expanded its operational footprint across Belgium and France, but also improved its operational capabilities and further solidified its market position through advancing its cross-selling and up-selling, thereby augmenting its ARPU (Average Revenue Per User).
We developed a very close relationship during our time together. Our team supported Trustteam during acquisitions, taking care of financing, negotiation, due diligence and more.
We succeeded because one of Ardian’s main focuses is to agree on a business plan that is sound but then to go further than the plan, not just to achieve it.
Deal Team
-
Ardian
