Lucht Probst Associates (LPA) acquires long-standing Baden-Württemberg technology company
Combined product portfolio makes LPA Group a full-service provider in capital market digitalisation
First step of expansion towards the finance and capital hub of Switzerland
Frankfurt am Main, Bodman-Ludwigshafen 09.09.2019: LPA,
a leading specialist and provider of technology innovations for capital
markets and financial institutions (CapTech) in Europe, and technology
developer EffCom have now joined forces. Founded in 1983 by Uwe Zimmer, EffCom,
just like LPA, is working on the digitalisation of capital markets with
its approximately 40 employees and has developed a wide range of
market-leading technology solutions to achieve its targets. Using
EffCom’s product portfolio and particularly its customer base, LPA is
building on its leading position in the CapTech sector in Europe and is
gaining more customers and market shares especially in the DACH region
and in France. This means that, following the international acquisitions
of Modelity in Tel Aviv and Capital Market Partners (CMP) in
Copenhagen, the Frankfurt-based company is taking a further step towards
becoming the global market leader in CapTech with its majority
shareholder Motive Partners by its side.
CapTech companies develop technology solutions and products that help
financial services companies to enhance their ability to innovate in
their capital market activities. Specifically, they use their offerings
and services to support their customers in scaling their business
activities (through automation for example), improving their business
processes through sustainable optimisation and digitalisation, and
reversing falling margins and returns – always in compliance with
existing and future regulatory standards.
Following the integration of EffCom, the LPA Group is gaining a
company that has been one of the leading CapTech businesses in Germany
since it was founded thanks to its range of products and solutions. True
to the demands placed on customer service and sustainability by founder
Uwe Zimmer, the company based in Baden-Württemberg develops
technologies that more than meet customer expectations and exceed market
demands. This means that the software solutions “EffCom Textation” for
workflow-controlled document creation and especially “EffCom Passiv+”
for securities settlement in credit institutions are a suitable addition
to the LPA CapTech Suite. EffCom has so far been the market leader in
German banks with the latter solution.
Another part of the acquisition is factor-i GmbH Zertifikatefabrik
which belongs to EffCom. It provides managed services in FinTech and
Regtech in the context of document generation for structured products
and has so far contributed to approximately 350,000 securities issues
per year. Not yet active in this segment, LPA is extending its own value
chain and can from now on act as a full-service provider of digital
products and solutions for capital markets.
The company’s location at Lake Constance places LPA significantly
closer to the important finance and banking hub of Switzerland, which
means that it can support its on-site customers even better in future.
At the same time, there are new possibilities for LPA to approach new
business even more proactively in the Alpine republic and gain other
well-known national and international customers.
The local expertise of EffCom’s present management team, Peter
Zugmantel and Stefan Groganz, is a great help. They will stay on board
and will take over site management in Ludwigshafen.
Peter Schurau, CEO of the LPA Group: “Thanks to EffCom, the LPA
Group is able to add even more know-how and expertise for the
digitalisation of capital markets. More than 30 years of work has
already gone into developing CapTech services and products at Lake
Constance, with the aim of paving the way for financial businesses into
digital transformation. This fits in very well with LPA’s business
activities. It is therefore a logical step to jointly use all this
knowledge and experience and to drive the impact and growth of the whole
group even further. I am very much looking forward to working with
Peter Zugmantel, Stefan Groganz and their team.”
Stefan Lucht and Roland Probst, founders and directors of LPA,
commented: “The DNA of LPA and EffCom are almost identical in many
areas. For both firms it has always been, and still is mainly about
automating the products and processes of financial companies on the
capital markets, making them more efficient, transparent and
cost-effective. EffCom founder Uwe Zimmer and the whole team, which has
been led by Peter Zugmantel and Stefan Groganz for some time now, have
earned a great reputation and considerable success in the CapTech sector
over the years. We are very happy to be able to move forward together
from now on. A warm welcome at LPA to Peter and Stefan as well as the
entire EffCom team.”
Uwe Zimmer, founder, main shareholder and former CEO of EffCom, added:
“The fact that we are now part of the LPA Group fills me with pride and
joy. Because under the roof of Europe’s leading CapTech group we can
apply our know-how and long-standing expertise in capital market
technologies even more extensively and on a greater international level.
These are completely new possibilities for us. At the same time, we are
also contributing to continued growth and, thanks to our proximity to
Switzerland, to LPA’s further international expansion.”