KMD change of ownership finalized – NEC Corporation installs new Board of Directors

Following formal approval from the European competition authorities for NEC Corporation’s acquisition of KMD, the parties have now completed the change of ownership. NEC Corporation has acquired the Danish IT group from the global private equity firm Advent International and the Danish pension fund Sampension.

The acquisition of KMD is part of NEC’s growth strategy and expansion of the group’s global competencies within software development. The KMD transaction is the biggest company acquisition for NEC and one of the biggest Japanese acquisitions of a foreign software company in the past decade.

New KMD Chairman: We want to increase our contribution to society

As part of the acquisition, NEC Corporation has installed a new Board of Directors with NEC's Executive Vice President, Masakazu Yamashina, at the helm.

“At NEC, we’ve been looking forward to this day,” says Masakazu Yamashina. “The potential of the collaboration between NEC and KMD is considerable, and we want to build on KMD’s existing growth strategy to further develop the KMD business in both the public and private sectors, including the finance and energy sectors, which are also strong competency areas for NEC. I’m certain that NEC’s technology, development capacity and global resources are an excellent fit with KMD’s solid expertise in digitization of business-critical processes and tasks. From NEC’s side, we’re sure that we’re looking at an inspiring period that will ultimately result in even better products for the benefit of customers and a corresponding increase in our contribution to society.”

KMD’s management is also delighted that the new ownership has been finalized.

”KMD is starting a brand-new, third chapter in the company’s history,” says Eva Berneke, CEO, KMD. “From public ownership and private equity firm ownership to now being part of a global technology-leading company. It’s extremely exciting and challenging to be part of an international community that’s focused around technology development and its underpinning of society. We’re really looking forward to the upcoming discussions with the Board, and we’re certain that we have an exciting and stimulating period ahead of us.”

NEC is one of Japan’s biggest ICT companies, and last year it was one of the leading filers of patents in the world. Among other things, NEC is known for developing leading software within biometrics, security, artificial intelligence and data analysis. NEC is also focusing on the telecommunications, network technologies and other areas.

KMD’s new Board of Directors

• Masakazu Yamashina, Chairman
• Jens Due Olsen, Vice Chairman
• Tomoki Kubo
• Toshiyuki Otake
• Megumi Yamamoto
• Kim Skovgaard, employee-elected board member
• Thomas Bisballe, employee-elected board member
• Henrik Harder Olsen, employee-elected board member

About Masakazu Yamashina

Dr. Masakazu Yamashina is Executive Vice President of NEC Corporation. He has overall responsibility for NEC’s business within Safer Cities, a strategic growth area for NEC at a global level. Dr. Yamashina is also Global Safety Officer for NEC Corporation and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Northgate Public Services*. Dr. Yamashina is a qualified engineer, with a PhD from Tokyo Institute of Technology, and a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

* NEC acquired the British company Northgate Public Services in January 2018. The company develops software for the public sector and has products within healthcare, environment, policing and other sectors.

About NEC

NEC Corporation is a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies that benefit businesses and people around the world. The NEC Group globally provides “Solutions for Society” that promote the safety, security, efficiency and equality of society. Under the company’s corporate message of “Orchestrating a better world,” NEC aims to help solve a wide range of challenging issues and to create new social value for the changing world of tomorrow. For more information, visit NEC at www.nec.com.

About KMD

KMD, the largest Danish-based IT company, develops and delivers software and service solutions for local government, central government and the private sector in Denmark as well as chosen segments in Scandinavia. The KMD Group has subsidiaries in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Poland. KMD has more than 1,500 Danish and international customers, including more than 800 Danish and international companies. The KMD Group has an annual revenue of around DKK 5.6 billion and around 3,200 employees. Read more at www.kmd.dk.

Contact information

KMD, Christoffer Hellmann, VP Communications, mobile (+45) 25 29 17 84, che@kmd.dk