Carlyle, a global investment firm, has decided to sell its stake in HSO to Bain Capital. HSO is a top independent Microsoft Dynamics services partner and has been a member of Microsoft’s elite Inner Circle for 19 years. Founded in 1987, HSO provides comprehensive support for the Microsoft product suite to clients in North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific, encompassing Dynamics 365, Power Platform, Azure, Fabric, and AI.
While Carlyle owned HSO, the company’s leaders to help it grow internationally, create new services, and align its market strategy with Microsoft’s cloud, data, and AI focus. They also strengthened the management team by hiring key individuals and made strategic acquisitions in the US, Canada, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.
Bain Capital will invest alongside Peter J. ter Maaten, who will remain a significant shareholder and board member, and is also investing in this deal.
KEY QUOTES:
“HSO was a quintessential CETP deal, where we found a sub-scale European hidden champion and, together with the founder, developed the business into a top two Microsoft Dynamics Partner globally over our investment period. This is what CETP does best, partnering with founders and managers of aspirational European B2B Tech businesses and turning them into global leaders. We are very proud to have partnered with Peter and the HSO team over the past six years through what has been a remarkable collaborative effort, and we believe the business will continue to thrive in the future.”
Michael Wand, Head of Europe Private Equity at Carlyle, and Thibault Thevissen, Principal on the Carlyle Europe Technology Partners (CETP) investment advisory team
“Carlyle has been an outstanding partner and I would like to thank the team for their role in HSO’s growth and global expansion since 2019, creating the leading international Microsoft Solutions Partner that HSO is today. We are excited to continue our momentum with Bain Capital, a long-term partner that also supports our vision and shares our ambition to build the world’s leading Microsoft services partner.”
Peter J. ter Maaten, founder & CEO of HSO
“HSO sits at the forefront of two secular trends reshaping enterprise technology: cloud migration and AI-led automation. Its exceptional relationship with Microsoft, deep vertical expertise, and global delivery capabilities differentiate it as the preeminent independent Microsoft Dynamics services partner today. We look forward to partnering with Peter and the team to help accelerate HSO’s global expansion and continuing to build-out its capabilities as Microsoft’s go-to partner for AI transformation.”
Christophe Jacobs van Merlen, Partner at Bain Capital
“Agentic AI is transforming the way that companies operate, and Dynamics 365 and Business Applications sit front and centre to this at Microsoft. We have always been a partner-led business, but in times like this rely even more on our leading partners to drive change in our customers’ organisations. HSO has been on the journey with us for over 20 years, and today sits among our very strongest partners globally with an exceptional level of trust and mutual respect between our teams. This trust will be critical as everyone reimagines their business with AI. We are very excited to see them embark on this next stage of growth.”
Charles Lamanna, CVP, Business & Industry Copilot at Microsoft and HSO Executive Sponsor
