The Carlyle Group Invests in TestPlant

Award Winning International Provider of Test Automation Software Moves Into Next Phase of Growth with New Majority Owner  

London, UK - Global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ:CG) today announced it has taken a majority shareholding in TestPlant, a leading provider of functional, network and performance test automation software. The Carlyle Group is investing in partnership with the existing management team, which will continue to deliver the same innovative technology solutions and strong customer service that have led to a ten-fold increase in revenue over the last five years.

Equity for the transaction comes from Carlyle Europe Technology Partners III, a €657m Carlyle fund focused on European technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) companies and is the fourth investment by the fund.

Founded in 2008 by CEO George Mackintosh and Chairman Jon Richards and backed initially by VC firm Seraphim Capital, TestPlant’s ‘eggPlant’ product range offers a suite of easy-to-use software for test automation to help TestPlant’s customers deliver high quality enterprise and mobile applications quickly and consistently. TestPlant’s patented image-based approach to functional testing allows its customers to test their applications non-intrusively and from a true user perspective whilst its powerful performance and network emulation products allow developers to easily test applications under a range of volume and network conditions.

TestPlant is headquartered in London with development centres in the USA and UK and sales and support centres in the USA, UK, Germany, China, India and Japan as well as an extensive network of business partners. The company has more than 350 customers in more than 40 countries across sectors including financial services, aerospace & defense, TMT, retail and healthcare. 

George Mackintosh, CEO of TestPlant said: “With Carlyle we now embark on our next stage of growth supported by their global presence and wealth of experience in backing high growth software companies. They share our vision of providing easy-to-use software to support global businesses build better enterprise, on-line and mobile systems in less time and at lower cost. Everyone in TestPlant is focused on developing the best test automation products and ensuring eggPlant solutions create customer success.”

Michael Wand, Managing Director at The Carlyle Group and Fund Head for Carlyle Europe Technology Partners said: “TestPlant is an exciting business that has experienced very strong growth and emerged as a leading software supplier among a new breed of innovative software testing tools providers.  As software development processes have become agile, testing must be dramatically shortened while still delivering high quality software with a great user experience running on a multitude of devices. TestPlant’s unique technology and in-depth sector knowledge allows it to provide products that enable its customers to improve productivity by automating their software testing and deliver the product quality and speed of innovation required.   We look forward to working alongside the dedicated, talented management team to build on their historic success and to continue driving substantial future growth and expansion of the business.”

The Carlyle Group has a successful track record of investing in high growth software companies including previous investments by Carlyle Europe Technology Partners in international software companies such as The Foundry, FRS Global, Personal & Informatik, Metrologic and UC4.   Testplant continues Carlyle Europe Technology Partners’ history of partnering with emerging sector leaders with strong management teams, outstanding customer relationships and differentiated intellectual property which are transitioning into the next stage of their growth.

Carlyle was advised on the transaction by Travers Smith, KPMG and CIL.

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About TestPlant
TestPlant is an international software business based in London. It has development centers in the USA and the UK with sales and support centers in the USA, the UK, Germany, China, India and Japan as well as an extensive network of business partners. TestPlant's products are used in over 40 countries by well over 350 enterprise customers in sectors which include Financial Services, Automotive, Healthcare and Life Sciences, Media and Entertainment, Retail and Defense and Aerospace. The eggPlant range is a set of tools which supports the design, development, test and management of software applications for mainframe, desktop and mobile use in any technology platform environment. The tools are relevant in agile, mobile, web and DevOps deployments. eggPlant use improves and reports on the quality and responsiveness of software systems, reduces time to market and lowers costs by introducing process automation. The eggPlant tools have been granted patents with several applications pending. TestPlant is a Red Herring Global Top 100 company, a Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 and EMEA 500 business, a member of the Sunday Times Hiscox Tech Track 100 and is the recipient of two Queen's Awards for Enterprise.
Web: www.testplant.com
Twtter: @testplant

About The Carlyle Group
The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) is a global alternative asset manager with $188 billion of assets under management across 126 funds and 160 fund of funds vehicles as of September 30, 2015. Carlyle’s purpose is to invest wisely and create value on behalf of its investors, many of whom are public pensions. Carlyle invests across four segments – Corporate Private Equity, Real Assets, Global Market Strategies and Investment Solutions – in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, North America and South America. Carlyle has expertise in various industries, including: aerospace, defense & government services, consumer & retail, energy, financial services, healthcare, industrial, real estate, technology & business services, telecommunications & media and transportation. The Carlyle Group employs more than 1,700+ people in 35 offices across six continents.

Web: www.carlyle.com
Videos: http://www.carlyle.com/news-room/corporate-videos_new
Tweets: www.twitter.com/onecarlyle
Podcasts: www.carlyle.com/about-carlyle/market-commentary

Media Contacts:
Carlyle:
Catherine Armstrong
+44 20 7894 1632;
Catherine.Armstrong@carlyle.com

TestPlant:
Milli d'Hangest d'Yvoy
+44 20 7002 7756;
Milli.dyvoy@testplant.com

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