Crescent European Specialty Lending Leads Financing to Support ECI Partners’ Acquisition of Paragin
Crescent Capital Group LP, one of the leading alternative credit investment firms, announced today that its European Specialty Lending strategy led the financing to support the acquisition of Paragin, a leading provider of exam and assessment software, by U.K.-headquartered mid-market private equity firm ECI Partners from Main Capital Partners. Based in the Netherlands, Paragin delivers an integrated suite of software solutions that support high-stakes exam and assessment workflows across the entire learner lifecycle. The company serves a broad range of end-markets, including vocational and higher education institutions, exam institutions, and commercial education providers.
Paragin has grown into a market leader in the Benelux region’s digital exams and assessment software sector through a combination of organic growth and strategic acquisitions including Sowiso, Coachview, and Xebic. In partnership with ECI, the company plans to continue executing its international growth strategy. Today, Paragin employs approximately 120 professionals and serves more than 1,250 end customers across over 20 countries in Europe and beyond.
Paragin has established itself as a leading provider of essential assessment software, with a strong market position and clear opportunities for continued international expansion,” said Christine Vanden Beukel, Managing Director and head of Crescent’s European Specialty Lending strategy. “We are pleased to partner once again with ECI Partners, with whom we have worked on a number of previous transactions, demonstrating the strength and depth of our sponsor relationships. We look forward to supporting Paragin’s next phase of growth and to provide flexible capital tailored to the company’s strategic objectives.
About Crescent Capital Group LP
Crescent is a global credit investment manager with approximately $50 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2025. For over 30 years, the firm has focused on non-investment grade credit through strategies that invest in marketable and privately originated debt securities including senior bank loans, high yield bonds, as well as private senior, unitranche and junior debt securities. Crescent is headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, London and Frankfurt with over 250 employees globally. Crescent is a part of SLC Management, the institutional alternatives and traditional asset management business of Sun Life.
About Paragin
Paragin Group is a leading provider of high-stakes exam and assessment software, supporting organisations that rely on secure, reliable, and scalable digital assessment processes. Its cloud-based solutions underpin mission-critical workflows across the full assessment lifecycle, from test design and delivery to evaluation, certification, and reporting. Paragin’s product suite is used for formative and summative assessments, online admission and placement testing, and professional and vocational examinations.
In addition, the platform supports adjacent learning and credentialing workflows, including e-portfolio solutions, internship and work-based learning management, and course management for both educational and commercial organisations. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Paragin serves more than 750 organisations directly and a further 500 indirectly through partners, including vocational education providers, universities, exam institutions, publishers, corporates, and public and semi-public organisations.
About Main Capital Partners
Main Capital Partners is a software investor managing private equity funds active in the Benelux, DACH, the Nordics, France and the United States with approximately €7 billion in assets under management. Main has over 20 years of experience in strengthening software companies and works closely with the management teams in its portfolio as a strategic partner to achieve profitable growth and larger outstanding software groups.
Main has approximately 95 employees operating out of its offices in The Hague, Düsseldorf, Stockholm, Antwerp, Paris and an affiliated office in Boston. Main maintains an active portfolio of over 50 software companies. The underlying portfolio employs over 15,000 employees. Through its Main Social Institute, Main supports students with grants and scholarships to study IT and Computer Science at Technical Universities and Universities of Applied Sciences.
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