Karnov Group AB

About

Karnov is a leading provider of information services and products in the areas of legal, tax and accounting and environmental, health and safety in Denmark and Sweden. Karnov’s vision and mission is to become an indispensable partner for all legal, tax and accounting professionals in Denmark and Sweden and enable its users to make better decisions – faster.

With an extremely high share of subscription-based online services, Karnov provides mission-critical information to more than 60,000 users across law and accounting firms, corporates and public sector entities, including courts, public authorities, municipalities and universities.

Karnov was founded in 1924 and employs more than 240 people at its offices in Copenhagen, Stockholm and Malmö.

Investment Thesis

Paros Capital acquired Karnov through Rothschild’s Five Arrows Principal Investment Programme in July 2015 in a proprietary off market deal. The investment thesis for Karnov was based on a combination of: (i) a resilient market characterised by mature and stable demand and driven by the indispensable nature and ‘must-have’ nature of data and products; (ii) strong market positions in attractive niche markets; (iii) high and sustainable barriers to entry; (iv) recurring prepaid revenue and high cash flow generation; (v) strong opportunities for future growth; and (vi) opportunities to add complementary products and services through creative add-ons. The successful IPO of Karnov (stock ticker: KAR.ST) on the Stockholm stock exchange on April 11, 2019, increased our stake. In view of our positive sector view we hold private equity minority positions in two peer companies:

• Legal OS, Berlin – Legal OS transforms your contract library and legal expertise into a digital knowledge base — making contract drafting easy and always high quality (legalos.io)
• Opus2International, London – As legal technology specialists with a vast experience of legal proceedings, Opus2 works closely with lawyers to create solutions that make them more effective every day (opus2.com). It’s about designing solutions that mirror and complement how lawyers work, whilst improving productivity and efficiency.