Clearwater International advises Kirona on its sale to Advanced

Clearwater International has advised specialist workforce management and resource scheduling software provider Kirona on its sale from private equity firms Livingbridge and LDC to Advanced, a provider of business software and services backed by US-based investment firm Vista Equity Partners.

Kirona delivers a full range of workforce management software, from task planning and resource scheduling, right through to workflow and analytics tools and support services. Its solutions drive the productivity and effectiveness of an organisation’s field-based workforce. Its product portfolio also integrates with other IT systems such as finance and HR which means that, along with its strong vertical expertise, Kirona is highly complementary to Advanced.

Advanced is one of the UK's largest and fastest growing software companies, providing enterprise and market focused solutions allowing customers to drive efficiencies, savings and growth opportunities through right-first-time software solutions. The transaction further strengthens Advanced’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) offering, by extending its Human Capital Management (HCM) capabilities for public, private, and health & care organisations. Advanced will be able to harness the Kirona team’s extensive experience, talent, skills and network to extend its ERP offering to its combined 16,500 UK customers.

This is the fourth transaction in which Clearwater International has advised Kirona, having first advised on its MBO supported by LDC in 2011, followed by its acquisition of Xmbrace in 2012, and subsequently advising on its secondary buy-out backed by Livingbridge in 2014.