IT provider netgo group headed for growth: Waterland portfolio company secures three acquisitions in less than one month

netgo group, one of Germany’s leading IT service providers, is pushing ahead with its ambitious buy-and-build strategy together with majority shareholder Waterland Private Equity. It has acquired numerous IT service providers yet again: The acquisitions of nitsche Group and Glöckler & Lauer have strengthened the netgo tax division’s market leadership position in the consultancy business with a focus on tax consultants, auditors and attorneys. Notably, this has also allowed the company to expand its regional presence in southern Germany. The acquisition of CONTENiT GmbH further expands netgo group’s software portfolio in the fields of Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and document management systems (DMS).

The acquisitions of nitsche Group, Glöckler & Lauer and CONTENiT integrate seamlessly into a series of eleven strategic acquisitions altogether that netgo has completed over the past four years or so with Waterland Private Equity’s support. These acquisitions have transformed netgo group into one of the leading one-stop shops for small and medium-sized enterprises. They have also expanded the group by a factor of more than five. The company intends to press ahead with its successful growth path through organic initiatives and further acquisitions in the heavily fragmented IT system house market. It is convinced that its most recent acquisitions mark the beginning of a new growth phase for the group.

nitsche Group employs around 100 people. As well as its headquarters in Kaufering near Landsberg am Lech, it also has branches in Ellwangen, Munich, Stuttgart and Ulm. Glöckler & Lauer was established in Neu-Ulm in 1978 and, like nitsche, is one of the market-leading DATEV hosting partners and Microsoft cloud service providers. Both companies act as central IT service providers for tax advisors, auditing firms and small and medium-sized companies and provide them with a comprehensive one-stop shop of cutting-edge IT solutions. As part of netgo tax, Germany’s leading DATEV specialist, they are set to expand their competencies and capacity in the Application Service Provider (ASP) business. nitsche founder and managing director Markus Nitsche joins the management of netgo tax, while co-founder and managing director Martina Vogler will support netgo in an advisor role with her experience and expertise. Thomas Lauer, shareholder and managing director of Glöckler & Lauer, will continue to remain in his position in the company.

netgo group CEO Oliver Mauss explains: “With nitsche Group and Glöckler & Lauer, we have brought two leading companies on board, while significantly expanding netgo tax’s presence throughout Germany by moving into the south of the country. At the same time, we are taking major steps to further solidify our pole position in the ASP business, while offering a unique service portfolio to clients throughout Germany.”

Established in 1998, CONTENiT has also become part of the group. The leading partner for software provider d.velop primarily helps small and medium-sized corporate clients to implement and operate enterprise content management (ECM) and document management systems (DMS). The Bocholt-based IT service provider also helps companies to realise cross-functional and company-wide solutions for holistic information management. netgo had already owned a 50 percent shareholding since 2018. The acquisition of the outstanding shares therefore allows an even closer integration of the company into netgo group. The transaction will allow netgo group, established in 2007, to benefit from 25 experienced employees in the fields of ECM and DMS.

As a one-stop shop with a full IT service offering, netgo can support its clients as a locally present IT partner while also offering specialised know-how and solutions such as software development or the process mining solution mpmX.

“We have already been collaborating successfully with CONTENiT for many years. This acquisition gives us the opportunity to work with a united, high-performance team and allows us to expand the netgo portfolio in key parts of our strategy”, adds Oliver Mauss. “The digitisation and optimisation of business processes is one of netgo’s core competences, and CONTENiT’s expertise and service portfolio are an important step in the company’s journey to enhance these areas still further.”

The acquisitions are part of a systematic buy-and-build strategy that netgo is driving forward dynamically with its investor Waterland Private Equity. “Since the beginning of our partnership with netgo in 2019, we have been able to significantly expand our presence in a heavily fragmented market. A total of eleven acquisitions have already significantly expanded the portfolio for small and medium-sized companies and secured new customers and market share. We are committed to pushing ahead further with this growth course in the future. In time, we will develop a leading integrated group, both through organic impulses and additional strategic acquisitions”, says Dr. Carsten Rahlfs, Managing Partner of Waterland.

Waterland has considerable experience in the sectors of digitisation, IT and telecommunications thanks to its numerous previous and current investments. Aside from netgo, the DACH portfolio in these segments includes GOD (software development), enreach (Unified Communications), Skaylink (managed enterprise platform), Serrala (payment technologies), Netrics (enterprise IT) and MT (IT service provider).