By Pamela Barbaglia
LONDON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - U.S. buyout fund Hellman & Friedman has agreed to buy Italian software firm TeamSystem in a deal which values the business at about 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion), a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.
TeamSystem has been backed by London-based private equity house HgCapital since 2010, and prior to that was held by U.S. buyout fund Bain Capital, which retained a minority interest after selling a majority stake to HgCapital.
The so-called tertiary buyout values TeamSystem at a multiple of 16 times its expected earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of roughly 75 million euros in 2015, the source said.
It represents Hellman & Friedman's first acquisition in Italy after the U.S. private equity house lost out to a consortium of Bain and Advent in an auction to buy Italian banking services firm ICBPI in June.
Sky News first reported the deal had been agreed and could be announced by Tuesday at the latest.
Based in Pesaro, TeamSystem provides tax, payroll and accounting software to small and mid-sized Italian businesses.
In 2010 Bain Capital sold it to HgCapital for about 565 million euros.
A spokesman for TeamSystem declined to comment. HgCapital and Hellman & Friedman had no immediate comment.
($1 = 0.9251 euros) (Additional reporting by Massimo Gaia in Milan; Editing by Sinead Cruise and Mark Potter)