PE-Backed Technology Carve-Out: Separating a €4.4bn Global EV Business

Webasto, a global automotive supplier with €4.4bn turnover and over 15,700 employees, was divesting its electric vehicle (EV) charging business unit to a private equity acquirer. The divested entity required a complete technology separation from the parent business — a highly complex undertaking given deeply integrated SAP ECC6.0 systems, shared infrastructure across multiple countries, and interdependent application and data stacks built up over many years of shared operations. With no standalone IT capability and a compressed PE-driven timeline, the risk of operational disruption during separation was significant. A rigorous, structured approach to technology carve-out was essential to protect the business and satisfy the investment thesis.

Appointed as Technology Carve-Out Lead to own the end-to-end technology separation programme. The first phase delivered a comprehensive investment options paper for the PE acquirer (Transcom Capital Group), providing a structured analysis of the divested entity's application landscape, integration dependencies, data governance requirements, infrastructure profile, and IT service models. This document directly informed the acquisition decision and post-completion integration plan. Following approval, the engagement moved into programme execution — orchestrating collaboration across two outsourced IT providers and one segregated internal IT team to ensure continuity of operations for over 500 employees throughout the separation. A detailed evaluation of the incumbent SAP ECC6.0 environment was conducted, with structured transition options presented for SAP S/4HANA, Infor Cloud Suite, Microsoft Dynamics 365, NetSuite, and IFS — each assessed against the scale, operational complexity, and cost profile of the newly formed standalone entity. Technology readiness workstreams were established across all key functional domains to drive the business towards a clean, operationally independent state.