Swedish private equity house EQT Partners AB agreed Monday, August 13, to take over UC4 Software GmbH, an Austrian information technology process automation software provider, from Carlyle Group. The deal has an enterprise value of €220 million ($271.3 million).

UC4 founder Franz Beranek is also selling his stake in the company, which helps customers automate their IT systems and manage their transition to cloud computing.

Further financial terms were not disclosed and Carlyle declined to discuss its returns on the deal. However, a source close to the situation did describe the investment in UC4 as "a home run" for Carlyle Europe Technology Partners I, LP, the Carlyle fund that first acquired the business in 2006. The return was well in excess of the industry average for such investments, the source said, putting the average at around 3 times money.

The deal represents a relatively rare instance of a European software company being sold to a European buyer, after a closely fought race between European and U.S. contenders. Similar companies have previously been snapped up by financially powerful U.S. buyers. Although the management team and the marketing side of the business is largely based in the U.S., UC4's research and development remains in Europe.

The transaction also demonstrates the rapid move of European business software producers into the sights of mainstream financial investors. In the past, companies such as UC4 were more likely to be bought by specialist venture or technology funds, such as CETP. But EQT VI is a generalist private equity fund with a more industrial focus. There had been strong interest in the race from both private equity and trade buyers.

EQT, which is buying the company through its EQT VI fund, said UC4 management, led by CEO Jason Liu, will reinvest in the company. EQT's Germany-based partner Per Franzén said his firm planned to install a new supervisory board of EQT industrial advisers. The debt has not yet been syndicated, although it is understood that European lenders have shown interest in providing finance on the deal.

Following the initial acquisition of UC4, Carlyle helped finance its merger with Bellevue, Washington-based AppWorx Corp. in 2007, later backing the smaller acquisitions of its Viennese business-modeling technology peer Senactive IT-Dienstleistungs GmbH in 2009 and, in 2011, of Ventum Solutions, the enterprise release management software arm of German IT consultancy Ventum Consulting GmbH.

"Carlyle [...] supported our growth and development into a truly global company with a loyal customer base of more than 2,000 blue-chip businesses," Liu said in a statement.

Wolfsgraben and Bellevue, Wash.-based UC4 generated revenues of about €62 million in the year to April 2012, with an Ebitda margin of about 25%. EQT said Monday it plans to drive further expansion into the rapidly growing cloud automation market,

Carlyle's Michael Wand was advised by Paul Guely, Varun Sunderraman and Jan Helle of Arma Partners LLP and law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP. EQT Partners was advised by Lazard.