KKR has agreed to acquire a majority stake in the leading cloud infrastructure and hosting provider for small-sized enterprises (SMEs), developers and tech-savvy prosumers

Contabo operates in a market that is characterized by strong and resilient growth benefiting from structural trends of SME digitalization, migration to cloud based infrastructure and increasing popularity of community-based gaming

Strategic partnership with KKR will support Contabo in its next phase of international expansion

Frankfurt, Germany, 8 June 2022 – KKR, a leading global investment firm, announced today that KKR has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Contabo, a global cloud infrastructure and hosting provider based in Germany. As part of the transaction, existing investor Oakley Capital will retain a minority stake in the business, alongside management and hosting entrepreneurs Thomas Strohe, Jochen Berger and Thomas Vollrath.

Contabo is a fast-growing cloud infrastructure and hosting provider, offering SMEs, developers, prosumers, and gamers simple, easy-to-use cloud services with a best-in-class price-performance proposition. With a global network of 23 data centres in Europe, the US and Asia, Contabo is serving a diversified mix of more than 250,000 customers in different industries across approximately 150 countries.

The strategic partnership with KKR will help enable Contabo to further invest in its infrastructure and pursue its organic growth ambitions by expanding its product and technology portfolio as well as the company’s international footprint. The company is excellently positioned in a market that has shown strong and resilient growth in recent years, driven by structural trends and market dynamics, including SME digitalization, migration to cloud based infrastructure and increasing popularity of community-based gaming.

Thomas Noglik, CEO of Contabo, said: “I am delighted to enter this strategic partnership, which will allow us to unlock the next phase of Contabo’s global ambitions. With our platform, we want to provide developers, prosumers and small businesses around the world access to simple, user-friendly and cost-effective cloud infrastructure and hosting services and we strongly believe that with KKR we have found the ideal partner with the right expertise to support us in our next phase of growth.”

Jean-Pierre Saad, Partner and Head of Technology for Private Equity in EMEA and Laura Schröder, Director at KKR, commented: “The demand for reliable cloud infrastructure services offered at leading price-performance ratios has considerably accelerated over the recent years, and is set to continue to increase in the foreseeable future. With its differentiated value proposition in this market and its strong customer satisfaction, Contabo is well positioned to benefit from those market trends. We are excited by the opportunity to work with Thomas, the rest of the management team and Oakley Capital to further realize the full potential of Contabo,drawing on our experience from investing in the cloud infrastructure and hosting markets globally.”

Peter Dubens, Managing Partner at Oakley Capital, added: “After almost three years working closely with Contabo, we are excited to continue this partnership and welcome KKR as co-investor who will lend their deep technology investing experience and a track record of successfully helping European businesses scale internationally.”

KKR is one of the most active investors focused on building leading global technology enterprises, with global tech investments including Körber Supply Chain Software, Cegid, Exact Software, Darktrace, Onestream and Box among others. The investment in Contabo builds on KKR’s experience investing in the cloud infrastructure industry globally, with investments including OVHcloud, Cloudera, Ensono and GoDaddy, among others.

KKR will invest in Contabo through its European Private Equity Strategy.

About KKR

KKR is a leading global investment firm that offers alternative asset management as well as capital markets and insurance solutions. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people and supporting growth in its portfolio companies and communities. KKR sponsors investment funds that invest in private equity, credit and real assets and has strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKR’s insurance subsidiaries offer retirement, life and reinsurance products under the management of Global Atlantic Financial Group. References to KKR’s investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds and insurance subsidiaries. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR), please visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.