Private Equity · Profile from Private Equity Research Companion
Hg (formerly HgCapital)
Europe's largest software-focused private equity investor: a former Mercury Asset Management/Merrill Lynch captive that became independent in 2000, abandoned generalist buyouts for B2B software and tech-enabled services, and built Visma into one of the most valuable private software companies in the world.
At a glance
- Founded
- Origins in Mercury Private Equity (1990s); independent partnership since December 2000
- Headquarters
- London; offices in Munich, San Francisco, New York, Singapore and others (~400 staff, reported)
- AUM
- "over $75bn" funds under management (2025, per public profile); some 2026 sources cite >$110bn total including co-investment and Saturn 4 (treat as reported)
- Fund families
- Saturn (large-cap), Genesis (upper mid-market, Europe), Mercury (lower mid-market), Hg Wealth/evergreen
- Listed vehicle
- HgCapital Trust plc (LSE), a feeder that invests alongside Hg funds
- Sector focus
- B2B application software and tech-enabled services: tax & accounting, ERP, payroll & HR, legal, governance/risk/compliance, insurance, automation, healthcare software
- Leadership
- Nic Humphries (Senior Partner / Chairman role, reported), Matthew Brockman (Managing Partner, reported) and a broader partner group
11 deals and moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2006
Visma
Take-Private and Multi-Cycle Ownership
2010
Manx Telecom
Corporate Carve-out
2015
Access Group
Buyout and Buy-and-Build
2016
Transporeon
Buyout
2017
Zellis
Carve-out
2018
IRIS Software
Secondary Buyout
2018
MediFox
Buyout and Merger
2020
Visma Recapitalisation
Hg-Led $12.2bn Recapitalisation
2022
Ideagen
Take-Private
2024
AuditBoard
Growth-to-Buyout
2026
OneStream
Take-Private