European Roll-Up Market Report

Overview of the September 2026 European Roll-Up Market

September saw 23 PE-backed acquisitions across Europe, a decrease of 12% compared to the same month last year.

Number of announced PE-backed acquisitions over the past 12 months*

Number of PE-backed Acquisitions

Roll-Up Market Insights

With 23 acquisitions, the number of PE-backed acquisitions increased by 92% compared to the previous month.

With 14 acquisitions, the UK presents the country with most PE-backed acquisitions.

In September, H.I.G. Capital and Koto were the most active acquirers with 2 investments each.

Software (9), FinTech (7) and Consulting (5) are the most mentioned acquired industries.

This month’s case study: HR Path – From a boutique to a global HR powerhouse

Founded in 2001 in Paris, France, HR Path is a human resource company that provides human capital management technology services.

Backed by Ardian HR Path has been pursuing an active buy-and-build strategy, announcing 29 acquisitions since 2020.

HR Path's Acquisitions

Its latest move came in September 2026, with the acquisition of tts digital HR experts (founded in Heidelberg, Germany). tts digital HR experts provides SAP SuccessFactors and SAP HCM consulting and application management.

HR Path is a Paris-based provider of HR consulting, HRIS implementation and HR outsourcing, backed by Ardian. It has pursued an aggressive buy-and-build strategy and has completed 57 acquisitions since its founding, 19 of them in the last two years. Today it is active in 34 countries with more than 2,900 employees, covering the full HR value chain from Advise to Implement to Outsource.

Buy and build: Strategy to build a global HR transformation platform

On September 9th 2026 HR Path, backed by Ardian, announced the acquisition of tts digital HR experts, an SAP SuccessFactors and SAP HCM specialist that has been part of the group since August 1st. It strengthens HR Path’s SAP capabilities and delivery capacity across the DACH region and adds Austria to its country footprint.

Case study:

In 2001, HR Path was founded in Paris as a one-stop HR platform covering the full HR value chain, from Advise to Implement to Outsource.
HR Path has grown through acquisitions under private equity ownership: Andera Partners from 2019, Ardian’s €500m investment in 2024 and a ~$1bn continuation fund in 2026. The group has made 57 acquisitions to date.
Between 2020 and 2026, HR Path built its DACH platform through Gaius HR (2020), Fischer Group International (2022), Talent at Work and smahrt consulting (2025), and tts digital HR experts (2026), a carve-out from the tts group.
These moves let HR Path combine its international network of 34 countries and more than 2,900 employees with deep local SAP SuccessFactors expertise. tts adds Austria to the footprint and brings extra delivery capacity across DACH and Romania.

PE investors view end-to-end HR transformation platforms like HR Path as attractive due to:

Growth opportunities in HR transformation, driven by the migration of on-premise HR systems to the cloud (e.g. the end of mainstream maintenance for SAP HCM on-premise), rising regulatory and payroll complexity, and adoption of AI in HR. The platform can expand from HRIS implementation into adjacent services (HR strategy consulting, application management, payroll outsourcing) and new markets (DACH, North America, Nordics, Australia).
Scale and diversification potential via a defined buy-and-build programme with 57 acquisitions to date. Add-ons are made across capabilities (SAP SuccessFactors, Workday, HR consulting) and geographies (Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Canada, Romania), lifting revenue to €360m with ~70% growth in two years. The target is €700m revenue and 40 countries within three years.
Expertise and integration moats from a vendor-spanning platform with deep certified know-how across leading HR software (SAP, Workday) and an international blue-chip customer base (including DAX companies), supporting HR for ~20 million employees worldwide. The full Advise–Implement–Outsource offering raises switching costs and makes HR Path a preferred end-to-end partner for global HR transformation projects.
Resilient recurring revenues from business-critical payroll and HR processes, multi-year application management contracts and long-lasting customer relationships. These recurring revenues structurally increase as companies move to cloud HR systems and outsource increasingly complex HR operations.

*All data from CrunchBase, as of October 2, 2026.

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