Innofour Joins Sesa Group
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INNOFOUR B.V., A COMPANY OPERATING IN THE FIELD OF SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS FOR ELECTRONIC DESIGN, JOINS THE SESA GROUP THROUGH A BUSINESS COMBINATION WITH VAR GROUP. VAR GROUP EXPANDS ITS INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE BY ENTERING THE BENELUX AND SCANDINAVIAN MARKETS
Empoli (FI), March 7, 2025
Sesa (SESA – SES.MI), a leading operator in Digital Technology, System Integration and Business Applications for the business segment, with approximately 3.2 billion euros in consolidated revenues and 5,700 employees in the fiscal year ending April 30, 2024, has acquired, through its wholly owned subsidiary Var Group S.p.A., a 60 percent stake in InnoFour B.V. (“InnoFour”).
InnoFour will be progressively integrated into the Var Industries Business Unit, further strengthening the company’s expertise and software solutions for the engineering sector in the European market.
This transaction enables Var Group to extend its presence in the Benelux and Scandinavia, confirming its internationalization strategy to support the digital transformation of manufacturing enterprises.
InnoFour, established in 2008 with headquarters in Almelo (Netherlands) and offices in Stockholm and Lund (Sweden) and Stavanger (Norway), specializes in software solutions for Electronic Design Automation (EDA), simulation, and Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE), as well as in engineering services for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) software. Its client base includes industrial and enterprise customers operating in sectors such as electronics, aerospace, naval engineering, defense, automotive, and automation.
The company, with revenues of approximately 6 million euros in the 2024 fiscal year, an EBITDA margin of about 10 percent, and 15 specialized professionals, is a Siemens PLM Software partner and develops engineering software solutions on Siemens Digital Industries Software platforms.
By combining professional Computer-Aided Engineering software with design and consulting services, InnoFour serves around 250 international engineering-intensive enterprise customers based in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland.
Through this transaction, the Sesa Group continues to strengthen its digital engineering expertise and solutions in key European markets characterized by a strong manufacturing base oriented toward digital transformation.
Var Group will integrate InnoFour into its Var Industries Business Unit, established in 2017 following the acquisition of Tech Value S.p.A., and subsequently expanded through the integrations of PBU CAD-Systeme GmbH (February 2019) and Cadlog Group S.r.l. (May 2021).
The Var Industries Business Unit currently generates approximately 65 million euros in annual revenues, with 50 percent coming from international markets, and employs about 200 specialized professionals.
The acquisition was completed based on valuation criteria consistent with those generally adopted by the Sesa Group, applying a multiple of 5 times the target company’s average normalized EBITDA.
InnoFour’s founding and managing partners, Peter Bakker, Jaap Schuurman, Rick Stroot, and Bas Hassink, will continue to be involved in management with an equity commitment, supporting sustainable business development and integration within the Var Industries Business Unit.
The Sesa Group continues to pursue its growth trajectory in terms of both resources and digital expertise through targeted industrial M&A to generate sustainable, long-term value for all stakeholders.
“Through the business combination with InnoFour, we are extending our presence into new and strategic market areas, consolidating our role as a digital partner of European manufacturing clusters and accelerating the transformation of engineering-intensive companies. With this transaction, we strengthen our European Digital Engineering hub to support industrial design, leveraging the most innovative technologies to offer increasingly advanced solutions.
Thanks to the industrial partnership with InnoFour, we will expand our organization, supporting the digitalization of manufacturing enterprises with more than 200 professionals and revenues of around 65 million euros across key European countries in the fiscal year ending April 30, 2025" said Francesca Moriani, CEO of Var Group and Filippo D'Agata, Head of Var Industries of Var Group.
“We are delighted to join the Var Group and Sesa Group organizations to accelerate the growth of our capabilities, expand our market presence, and contribute our expertise to the Group’s overall growth. By adding innovative skills and solutions such as Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) and extending our presence into new markets, we aim to strengthen digital capabilities and develop innovative solutions that support engineering-intensive companies across major European and international markets” said Peter Bakker, Jaap Schuurman, Rick Stroot and Bas Hassink, Founders and Managing Partners of InnoFour.
"We are continuing to invest in technological innovation and expertise, strengthening our specialization in electronic design software solutions and further expanding our portfolio of skills and software for the engineering sector. This business combination is part of the Group’s ongoing industrial transformation, increasingly focused on consulting, digital platforms, and innovative technologies across key areas such as process digitalization, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity, with the goal of generating sustainable, long-term value for all stakeholders" said Alessandro Fabbroni, CEO of Sesa