Atlassian Champion: TIMETOACT GROUP acquires Atlassian Platinum Solution Partner catworkx

TIMETOACT GROUP, a leading provider of IT services for medium-sized businesses, large corporations and public institutions in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, has acquired catworkx, an Atlassian Platinum Solution Partner with offices in Hamburg, Vienna and Winterthur. The acquisition supports the expansion of TIMETOACT GROUP’s consulting portfolio into a leading Atlassian partner in German-speaking countries. The partnership between the two groups, which has already existed for some time, is now being consolidated and expanded under the umbrella of TIMETOACT GROUP. While the founders of catworkx are stepping down, its directors will continue to lead their respective companies and will also become shareholders in TIMETOACT GROUP. The merger remains subject to approval by the relevant competition authorities. The parties agreed not to disclose the details of the transaction.

TIMETOACT GROUP, headquartered in Cologne, currently comprises nine specialised company brands at 17 locations across Germany, Austria and Switzerland: ARS, CLOUDPILOTS, edcom, IPG, novaCapta, PKS, synaigy, TIMETOACT and X-INTEGRATE. With around 750 employees, and a comprehensive portfolio of software and consulting services, the digitisation expert primarily concentrates on medium-sized and large companies from industry, finance and the services sector, as well as public institutions. TIMETOACT is also an Atlassian Platinum Solution partner in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and, together with catworkx, is now the leading partner for the software and collaboration tool developer in the DACH region.

catworkx is one of the largest Atlassian Platinum and Enterprise Solution partners in German-speaking Europe, with locations in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and specialises exclusively in the field of Atlassian solutions. The group has operated as an Atlassian partner from the outset, with the service offering for the entire Atlassian product range supported since 2002. It comprises process consulting and implementation, app development, platform solutions for operations, official Atlassian training, comprehensive licencing services and company-critical product installations in the large-scale enterprise area. catworkx generated sales of approximately EUR 30 million in 2021 with around 75 employees.

The existing directors of the catworkx companies, Michael Lüer, Michael Bernhard, Andreas Krupp and Alexander Frank, will continue to lead the group. Furthermore, they now hold a stake in TIMETOACT GROUP together with their colleague Johann Krahfuß. Agreement was quickly reached during the bilateral decision-making process and joint synergy and growth potential was identified. TIMETOACT will amalgamate its existing Atlassian Team with catworkx and will henceforth position the Group’s Atlassian consulting portfolio under the “catworkx” brand. At the same time, catworkx can now offer its customers the entire service portfolio of TIMETOACT GROUP. For TIMETOACT GROUP, the transaction is its second acquisition since funds advised by Equistone Partners Europe acquired a majority stake in the company in June 2021, and represents an additional, strategically significant step in the group’s growth.

“The acquisition by TIMETOACT GROUP will allow us to optimally accelerate our consistent growth and sustainability for our customers. I am delighted that catworkx will be a member of a larger umbrella brand in the future, as its values are tailor-made for us. Valuable synergies will also be created that will significantly increase the value of catworkx in terms of its strategic importance,” says Oliver Groht, founder of catworkx.

“I can’t wait to supplement TIMETOACT GROUP with our excellent Atlassian team, deepening and expanding our existing, tried and tested collaboration, and working with TIMETOACT under the "catworkx" brand to become the leading Atlassian partner in the German-speaking region,” adds Michael Lüer, director of catworkx Germany.

“The acquisition of the catworkx Group is a key step towards expanding our Atlassian consulting portfolio. We were impressed by the company’s outstanding market position, decades of experience and in-depth knowledge, and its highly motivated management team. During the due diligence phase, we already began to take the next steps to expand our market position – and we’re now looking forward to building on these together with catworkx,” says Frank Fuchs, Co-Director of TIMETOACT GROUP.

Felix Binsack, Co-Director of TIMETOACT GROUP, adds: “Agile working methods drive innovation and digital transformation and can be employed right across an organisation. As well as development tools, Atlassian also offers tools – particularly Jira Align and Jira Service Management – to integrate the entire organisation as an agile team. With its own claim of being able to tackle even complex projects for the entire customer organisation, catworkx and TIMETOACT GROUP are a perfect fit. Thanks to the supplementary portfolio of TIMETOACT GROUP, we are one of the DACH Atlassian champions.”

The merger remains subject to approval by the relevant competition authorities.

Frank Fuchs, Christian Koch and Felix Luxen are responsible for the transaction on behalf of TIMETOACT GROUP. TIMETOACT GROUP was advised during this transaction by AC CHRISTES & PARTNER (Financial & Tax), de Angelis Rechtsanwälte (Legal), P+P Pöllath & Partners (Legal), Pinsent Masons (Legal, Competition Law), Tax Team and Schweiger Advokatur (Tax & Legal, Switzerland), Dr. Richard Forster (Legal, Austria) and Shearman & Sterling (Legal, Debt). The catworkx shareholders were advised during the transaction by Quandriga (M&A), Marger Trust (Financial) and Pier11 (Legal).