Bridgepoint buys majority stake in traffic software specialist from Porsche SE

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Private equity company Bridgepoint Group has agreed to buy a majority stake in traffic and transport software maker PTV Group from parent Porsche SE for an undisclosed sum.

Porsche SE, the largest shareholder in Volkswagen, said it would keep a 40% stake in the unit, whose software is being used by more than 2,500 cities and municipalities worldwide.

"It is Bridgepoint's fundamental goal to invest in successful, sustainable companies in growth markets," said Carsten Kratz, partner and head of Germany, Austria and Switzerland at Bridgepoint.

"With PTV, we are now gaining a leading global company for our portfolio that enables cities, municipalities and other organizations to meet the social, environmental and economic demands of our time."

Kratz also said PTV would be a platform to make further acquisitions in the field of smart mobility management and to grow inorganically.

In the last financial year PTV's operating profit stood at 5.3 million euros ($6.2 million) on sales of 108 million euros. It employs roughly 900 staff.

"With Bridgepoint and their buy-and-build expertise, we have now found the right partner to lead PTV together with the management team ... into a very successful future," Porsche SE board member Lutz Meschke said.

($1 = 0.8581 euros)

(Reporting by Christoph Steitz and Ilona Wissenbach; Editing by Jan Harvey)