Cornerstone Partners is an investment management company, active in non-real estate private equity market in Poland since 2001. Combined track record of Cornerstone’s partners is proven by more than 60 companies to exit with an average IRR of above 35 percent. Cornerstone invests in private equity transactions in Poland and CEE with a focus on backing strong management teams to grow and transform their businesses.
The prominent investments of Cornerstone’s managing partners include several investments in healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors (such as Lux Med, the leading outpatient clinics network in Poland that was eventually acquired by BUPA / UK), investments in retail and consumer goods (such as leading Polish brands EMPIK and SMYK and joint-ventures with Zara, Sephora, Chanel and Dior), industrial, manufacturing and infrastructure (such as Kęty, Relax Wind, Budimex, DTH Capital / New York, Immobel, Domy Towarowe Centrum and many others).
In January 2016, in a consortium with Bridgepoint and Griffin Real Estate, Cornerstone acquired the Smyk Group – a leading retail network of stores with toys, clothes and accessories for children in Poland and operating in Germany, Ukraine, Russia and Romania – from Eastbridge and Penta Investments. The transaction value was EUR 250 million. Cornerstone Partners is a partner of Oaktree’s European Principal Group in sourcing, executing and supporting equity transactions in Poland and other CEE countries.
In February 2016, the partnership made an acquisition of ProService Finteco (former ProService Agent Transferowy), the leading fund administration services provider in Poland, with PLN 62 billion in assets under administration, in order to build European fintech offering middle office and IT services for TFI, banks and insurance companies. In order to achieve this goal, in 2016 and 2017 Cornerstone had made several add-on acquisitions of smaller companies, among others: Aspartus (which provides insurance companies with software for handling property, life and communication products), Bonair (an IT company specializing in asset management solutions), IFAS (specializing in valuation of funds). In 2018, ProService Finteco acquired two more companies – Makeitright and Turbine Analytics (which operate on the market of process automation tools for banks, insurance companies and SSC/BPO centers).
Moreover, in June 2017, Cornerstone Partners enlarged its portfolio through acquisition of IT Kontrakt, the company providing high-quality services in outsourcing of IT professionals and innovative IT solutions that are comprehensively supporting business processes. Along with the acquisition, Cornerstone Partners together with Oaktree Management launched the Avenga – a software engineering platform operating in the US, Germany and Poland with approx. 2,500 IT specialists focusing on support for automotive, financial, insurance, pharma & life sciences, and real estate clients, which since then has been extended by the next acquired companies, as follows:
- In October 2018, IT Kontrakt acquired 51% stake in SolidBrain, and the remaining shares will be acquired in 2019. SolidBrain is a leader on the market of IT outsourcing services in Poland, offering both outsourcing IT specialists and services of project management, development and software testing.
- In February 2019, IT Kontrakt acquired a majority stake in CoreValue. CoreValue is an IT outsourcing company based in the United States, providing traditional Cloud based CRM implementation services and Mobile applications to industries such as Pharmatech, Healthcare, and Finance. The development centers of the company are located in Ukraine and Poland, and deliver solutions to Fortune 500 companies, as well as to medium and large enterprises in the United States and Europe.
- In June 2019, the IT Services Competence Platform expanded to include another recently acquired company – Sevenval Technologies, a leading German consultancy for digital transformation with a strong digital user experience and technology background. The acquisition will strengthen the presence of the Platform on the DACH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) market.
Cornerstone Partners also owns a minority stakes in Bombardier Transportation Rail Engineering – the Poland’s largest rail engineering company (since 2010) and E-TOTO, Poland’s third largest betting company (since 2014).