KKR buys Next Digital Engineering from Rohatyn
KKR has agreed to buy Ness Digital Engineering, a US-based provider of digital transformation services that has a significant back-end service delivery presence in India, for an undisclosed sum.
The private equity firm is making the investment from its fourth Asian fund, which closed on USD 15bn last year. The deal is worth more than USD 500m, according to a source close to the situation.
The seller is The Rohatyn Group, which took ownership of Ness with the acquisition of Citi Venture Capital International (CVCI) from Citigroup in 2013. CVCI completed a USD 307m take-private of Ness – then described as an outsourced provider of IT and business services – in 2011.
Founded in 1998 and headquartered in New Jersey, Ness provides end-to-end digital transformation services with a focus on digital software products and platforms. These include cloud engineering, data and analytics, experience design, intelligence engineering, and Salesforce-based solutions.
It works across the financial services, manufacturing, transportation, media and entertainment, education, and technology sectors, serving more than 150 clients, including Hewlett-Packard, Western Asset, Instinet, S&P Global, and Pearson Vue. The company has offices across the US, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Many of its 4,000 staff are based in Eastern Europe and India.
“Digital transformation and adoption is a critical strategy for businesses of all sizes worldwide. Against this backdrop, KKR believes that Ness is well-positioned for growth, supported by its exceptional, experience-led product engineering heritage,” said Gaurav Trehan, a partner and India CEO at KKR, in a statement.
Ness joins an expanding KKR software and business services portfolio in Asia. The GP bought Australia’s MYOB, a small business accounting software provider, in 2019 and added a similar company, Japan-based Yayoi, at the end of 2021. Probe CX, an outsourced customer experience specialist active in Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines, was acquired earlier this year.
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