Francisco Partners, KKR to buy minority stakes in Italy's TeamSystem, sources say. Published on 09/11/2026 at 08:43 am EDT - Modified on 09/11/2026 at 09:23 am EDT MILAN/LONDON, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Private equity firms Francisco Partners and KKR have agreed terms to buy minority stakes in Italian software company TeamSystem from its main investor Hellman & Friedman, three people familiar with the matter said. H&F agreed to sell a stake of around 10% in TeamSystem to Francisco Partners, while a further roughly 5% stake was sold to other investors including KKR, the sources said. The deal values TeamSystem, which provides accounting, payroll and business management software to companies and professionals, at between EUR8 billion and EUR10 billion ($9.27 billion to $11.59 billion), two of the people said. The deal comes after a steep selloff in software stocks this year, partly driven by concerns about AI's impact on the sector. Those fears have weighed heavily on valuations and threatened to derail transactions across the industry. Against that backdrop, the transaction is an encouraging sign for private equity firms with significant exposure to software assets in their portfolios. The transaction allows H&F to cash in part of its investment while transferring its remaining stake to another fund managed by the private equity firm, two people and another separate source said. All the people spoke on condition of anonymity because the terms are private. H&F, Francisco Partners, KKR and TeamSystem all declined to comment. It also demonstrates the ability of H&F to reduce its stake in a major holding through a so-called private IPO process, enabling it to return capital to investors at a time when sponsors have struggled to bring their largest portfolio companies to the public markets. BET ON BUSINESS SOFTWARE One of the people said TeamSystem products are closely integrated with government e-invoicing systems used by small and medium sized enterprises, making its products harder for AI-driven competitors to replicate. H&F, which first invested in TeamSystem in 2016, held a 69% stake in the company as of July, according to a corporate filing. The same filing showed that Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADIA, which acquired stakes in TeamSystem from H&F in 2023, owned 12.8% and 9.8%, respectively. The Financial Times reported in July that the buyout firm was seeking a valuation of about EUR8 billion for the business. That valuation implied a multiple of roughly 16.5 to 17 times TeamSystem's 2025 adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of EUR476 million. TeamSystem currently generates more than EUR1.3 billion in revenue and about EUR600 million in core earnings, according to one of the sources. When H&F first invested in the company, it generated an EBITDA of EUR75 million, the person added. Elsewhere in the industry, private equity firm Silver Lake announced this week that it will merge its two French software companies, Cegid and Silae, creating a group valued at more than EUR10 billion. ($1 = 0.8628 euros) (Reporting by Elvira Pollina and Amy-Jo Crowley in London, editing by Anousha Sakoui and Louise Heavens) By Elvira Pollina and Amy-Jo Crowley (C) Reuters - 2026

Latham & Watkins has advised TeamSystem, a European provider of AI-powered cloud-based SaaS solutions for small and medium businesses, on issuing €700 million senior secured fixed rate notes due 2032. The firm also advised on increasing TeamSystem's revolving credit facility from €350 million to €409.5 million. TeamSystem operates across Italy, Spain, Turkey, France, and Israel, providing mission-critical software that enables digital transformation for SMBs and professional customers. The company is backed by Hellman & Friedman. The senior secured notes offering strengthens TeamSystem's capital structure as it continues expanding its cloud-based platform across European markets.

Infrastructure capital accelerates: data centers lead $32 billion AI buildout. Global investors deploy record capital across energy, connectivity, and AI compute infrastructure Eighty-three infrastructure deals closed across seven days last week - a pace that signals sustained capital momentum in the infrastructure buildout race. The volume alone warrants attention. But the composition is more revealing: data center deployment now anchors infrastructure investment, with nearly a third of all signals focused on digital infrastructure, power access, and connectivity for AI compute. From SpaceX securing $6.3 billion for an AI compute facility to Cypress Creek Secures $3.5B for Solar and Storage, capital is flowing toward the infrastructure required to scale artificial intelligence systems globally. Data centers dominate the infrastructure cycle. Data centers accounted for 27 signals in the past week - just under a third of all infrastructure activity. This concentration reflects a structural shift in private capital priorities. The category encompasses everything from hyperscale facilities (Prometheus Hyperscale's multi-gigawatt Wyoming campus, now approved for development) to specialized infrastructure for specific computing needs (Groq's $650 million funding round for inference chips and cloud infrastructure). Three patterns emerge within this cohort: First, mega-deals are normalizing. DataBank secured $1.45 billion for a data center buildout, Pattern Energy deployed $1.2 billion in structured equity for utility-scale renewable power (SunZia), and Digital Realty announced a 600MW campus in Kansas. These are not one-off announcements. They reflect sustained LP capital and developer confidence in 24-36 month project horizons. Second, power infrastructure - not real estate - is the bottleneck. Verse raised $54 million in Series B funding specifically to accelerate power connections for AI data centers. TAR raised $27 million for behind-the-meter renewable power systems. This detail matters: developers can license land and secure permits relatively quickly. Power is the constraint. Investors now chase solutions to that constraint. Third, geographic diversification is underway. The United States dominates by deal count (45 of 83 signals), but European expansion is visible (Teamsystem's €700 million bond issuance in Italy, Prometheus planning European data center capacity). Asia-Pacific activity remains lower in visible deal volume but shows signs of acceleration. Renewable energy and power integration accelerate. Renewable energy and power infrastructure combined for 22 signals - roughly 27% of all infrastructure activity. This reflects both structural demand from data centers (which consume 1-2 megawatts per 100MW of compute) and regulatory momentum toward carbon-neutral infrastructure in Europe and certain U.S. states. Cypress Creek's $3.5 billion solar and battery storage deployment is the headline here. But the category also includes smaller, more specialized plays: Noveria Energy's grid integration deal with TenneT Germany (connecting variable renewable output to the transmission grid), CIM Group's $600 million construction financing for permanent power capacity, and multiple merchant power projects securing development approval. The narrative thread is clear: capital is confident that renewable energy can meet peak AI infrastructure demand. No major deals required fossil fuel baseload. Instead, developers are building hybrid systems (solar + battery + grid integration) and securing investment through structured equity and construction financing. Capital sourcing signals institutional conviction. The funding mechanisms matter as much as the headline figures. Structured equity deals (Pattern Energy), construction financing (CIM Group), and equity rounds for enabling technologies (Verse, TAR) all appeared in the past week. These mechanisms indicate that institutional LPs - pension funds, endowments, and dedicated infrastructure funds - are not just allocating to megadeals. They are investing in the supply chain and financing infrastructure to deploy capital faster. Seedcamp's €279 million fund raise (aimed at European-stage startups) and the broader fundraising activity in infrastructure-adjacent spaces (software, connectivity, power management) suggest that the LP appetite extends beyond the headline rounds into the full ecosystem. What the market is telling InforCapital, partnership. Infrastructure investment at this pace and composition tells InforCapital, partnership three things: First, the AI infrastructure buildout is not slowing. Capital remains confident in multiyear deployment horizons. Second, power and connectivity are now bottleneck investments - not afterthoughts. Third, geographic diversification is accelerating, which should ease bottleneck risks in the U.S. market. The risk to this narrative remains macro: sustained high interest rates could slow construction start timing, though deal structures (like Pattern Energy's arrangement) are already addressing this through long-term power purchase agreements that de-risk project returns. For now, the data shows a market in sustained motion. Eighty-three signals in seven days is not a sprint. It is the cadence of institutional capital finding conviction in a structural thesis.