Heptagon Capital and CornerstoneCapital have backed the management buy-out (MBO) of SER Banking-Software Solutions, a German subsidiary of global software company SER Systems, kicking off a year of much-touted promise for the German private equity market.

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed, but Pieter van Halem, managing director at Frankfurt-based CornerstoneCapital, said that the two German venture capital firms now own a majority stake in the SER unit. He added that management invested a large sum, and the remainder was financed by an acquisition loan.