IT company Centric acquired by group of Dutch entrpreneurs

A group of Dutch entrepreneurs is taking over Centric, the company wracked by controversy announced on Monday. The company did not reveal any financial details of the sale, which must still be approved by the Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM).

Investor Imker Capital Partners has a majority in the consortium of entrepreneurs that is buying the company. The group also consists of Adriaan Mol of payment processor Mollie, Ronald Bezuur of cloud company Uniserver, and Bram Bastiaansen of ACT Group.

Centric provides IT projects for the government, among other things. It is active in eight countries and employs over 3,1000 people. Its head office is in Gouda.

The company has faced many a controversy in recent years, partly due to founder Gerard Sanderink’s habit of making headlines.

For example, he became discredited several times in recent years due to legal proceedings against his ex, Brigitte van Egten, who he accused of fraud after becoming involved with his now wife Rian van Rijboek. After many a court case, also including a document Sanderink had one of his former lawyers draw up painting his ex as a fraudster, thief, and even a pimp, the court ordered Sanderink to pay Van Egten over 4.6 million euros in May last year, NOS and AD reported at the time.

Sanderink’s involvement with Van Rijboek, a self-proclaimed cybersecurity expert, is also a topic of controversy. She is known as a fake IT expert and is said to have a lot of influence on Sanderink. A very popular podcast has debunked many of her expertise claims, according to NU.nl.

Sanderink also quarreled with many employees, and Van Rijboek allegedly temporarily muscled him out of the company. In 2022, he briefly returned as CEO. But in that same year, he was dismissed as chairman of Centric, his shares were expropriated, and, in April, a court ordered him to pay 91 million euros to the company, NOS reports.

After Sanderink’s forced departure, plans were made to sell the company, and Sanderink wanted to be involved in those plans. Early this year, the Enterprise Chamter rejected his request. The sale is now almost complete.