PAI enters into an agreement to purchase Atos Medical

PAI Partners (“PAI”) have entered into an agreement to acquire Atos Medical (the “Company”) from EQT VI. Atos Medical is a fast-growing medical device company holding an undisputed global leadership position within the laryngectomy market.

Atos Medical develops, manufactures and sells a range of products that help patients who have undergone total laryngectomy to restore their ability to speak and increase their quality of life. Operating under a proven chronic care business model, which provides high and robust revenue predictability, the Company has delivered strong profitable growth and an excellent financial track record over the last decades as it has developed the market for its products and established a global customer base.

Ragnar Hellenius, Partner and Head of the PAI Nordic team:
“We are very proud to become the new owners of Atos Medical, a company that gives their voice back to patients who have been through invasive life-changing surgery. We are backing an outstanding management team under the leadership of Mr Claus Bjerre, who possesses unparalleled experience and capabilities in the world of chronic care. We believe the journey and transformational strategy that EQT has started together with Mr Claus Bjerre and his team is well founded and one we will continue to support.”

Claus Bjerre, CEO Atos Medical:
“We are very excited to partner with PAI Partners to continue to grow our company. PAI shares Atos’ ambition to rapidly grow our business within our highly underpenetrated core market, by investing in R&D, further developing our direct-to-consumer sales model, and expanding our global sales presence. We believe that PAI, with its industrial approach, healthcare sector capabilities, and global network, is an ideal partner for Atos to fully realise our strategy and growth ambitions.”

This acquisition will be the 10th investment by PAI Europe VI and is a testimony of PAI’s proven operating model, combining local sourcing and execution capabilities with sector expertise. It is also a further example of PAI’s long-standing commitment to the Healthcare sector.
The transaction is expected to close during the summer of 2016.

About EQT

EQT is a leading global private equity group with approximately EUR 29 billion in raised capital. EQT has portfolio companies in Europe, Asia and the US with total sales of more than EUR 17 billion and 140,000 employees. EQT works with portfolio companies to achieve sustainable growth, operational excellence and market leadership.
For further information: www.eqt.se

About Atos Medical

Atos Medical is a medical device company with a global market and technology leading position in the segment for voice and pulmonary rehabilitation of patients who have undergone laryngectomy (surgical removal of the voice box). The Company is head-quartered in Malmö, Sweden and has c. 450 employees.
For further information: www.atosmedical.com

About PAI

PAI is a leading European private equity firm with offices in Paris, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, Munich, New York and Stockholm. PAI manages over €8 billion of dedicated buyout funds. Since 1994, PAI has completed 59 LBO transactions in 11 countries, representing c. €41 billion in transaction value.
PAI is characterised by its industrial approach to ownership combined with its sector based organisation. PAI provides portfolio companies with the financial and strategic support required to pursue their development and enhance strategic value creation.
For further information about PAI: www.paipartners.com

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EcoOnline AS acquires 100% of ChemiControl ApS

“We are extremely pleased to see our two companies join forces. This will contribute to the service and quality our customers expect in Denmark”, says Henrik Stig Andersen, founder and Chief Developer. “EcoOnline has the resources and competency to take the business forward”, says Per Mølgaard Thorsen, the co-founder and CFO.

“ChemiControl is a great company with a great product, a superb team, and many professional customers. We really look forward to working together and unlocking the synergies in the Nordic region”, says Øyvind Thorsen, CEO of EcoOnline AS.

EcoOnline AS acquires 100% of ChemiControl ApS with effect from May 25, 2016. ChemiControl ApS develops and offers software for Chemical Inventory Management in the Danish market with its head office in Aarhus, Denmark. EcoOnline AS develops and offers software for Chemical Documentation Management in the entire Nordic region with its head office in Tønsberg, Norway.

ChemiControl ApS is a market leader in Chemical Inventory Management software in Denmark. Visit chemicontrol.com.
EcoOnline AS is a market leader in Chemical Documentation Management software in the Nordics. EcoOnline is a company in the Viking Venture portfolio. Visit ecoonline.com.

Contact:
Viking Venture: Erik Hagen, Managing Partner, +47 920 22 430
EcoOnline A/S: Øyvind Thorsen, CEO, phone +47 33 01 68 08

More news about EcoOnline:
Viking Venture invests in EcoOnline AS

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Procuritas Capital Investors V LP invests in SEM AB

Procuritas

Procuritas Capital Investors V LP (“PCI V”) invests in SEM AB, a leading Sweden based developer and manufacturer of high precision products based on electromagnetic coil applications.

SEM was founded in 1915 and is one of the world’s leading producers of electronic ignition systems and control systems for combustion engines, including heavy- and medium-duty vehicle engines, natural gas engines and small engines. SEM’s products and systems provide greater engine power and lower fuel consumption while reducing harmful emissions. Intensive development work is being carried out by SEM in order to meet the stricter environmental requirements of the future. The company enjoys an excellent reputation as the market’s global quality leader for electronic ignition systems due to a high degree of specialist knowledge accumulated over 100 years of engineering experience, an extended range of customer services, and a proven track record of successful product innovations. SEM serves a blue chip customer base from two fully invested and state-of-the-art production facilities (one in Sweden, one in China). The company has experienced significant growth over the last number of years.

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New Communication and Sustainability Officer for Lindengruppen

Lindéngruppen has appointed Jenny Johansson as Chief Communication and Sustainability Officer – a new role that reflects the group’s ambition to integrate sustainability into all aspects of its businesses.

Jenny will be part of Lindéngruppen’s executive management team, reporting to CEO Erik Urnes. She took up her position on 4 May 2016.

 

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New Portfolio Company: Unacast AS

Investinor

Investinor invests in Norwegian tech startup Unacast AS.

Unacast offers the world’s largest network of beacon and proximity data, connecting the physical world to the digital for online retargeting and attribution.

“Like Google indexed the web, Unacast is indexing the physical world”, says Thomas Walle, co-founder and CEO of Unacast.

Unacast will use the newly raised funds to maintain its #1 position, as the maturing proximity industry grows to 400 million sensors in the next years

The number of beacons deployed world wide is forecasted to grow to 400 million beacons in 2020. Unacast already covers 1.4m (30%) of the world’s beacons— making Unacast the largest aggregator in the growing proximity ecosystem.

Unacast connects these data sets to global ad platforms through partnerships with marquee players such as Oracle, MediaMath, Opera, Lotame and Adform to enable digital ad retargeting based on accurate and deterministic physical behavior.

“We are impressed by how fast Unacast has established itself as the dominant integrator in the fast-growing proximity marketing space, connecting operators of physical beacon networks worldwide with the large global advertising platforms and exchanges. Unacast has more than 1.4 million (or 30%) of the world’s beacons in its network, and can offer advertisers a proximity marketing data set that is unprecedented both in scale and depth, says Investment Director Jon Øyvind Eriksen at Investinor”.

INDUSTRY KNOWLEDGE AND LIFTING POWER
Unacast has raised $5 million in a Series A financing round, with Open Ocean Capital, a leading European VC firm for software and data investments, leading the round. Investinor co-lead the round.

In addition to Open Ocean Capital and Investinor, investors in the Series A round include NYC adtech veterans Jonah Goodhart of Right Media (sold to Yahoo) and Michael Barrett, former CEO of Millennial Media, which he took public.

“The Unacast team has a tremendous vision for merchandizing proximity data and serving the data-driven ad industry,” says Michael Barrett, Unacast investor, and previous CEO of Millennial Media.

Thomas Walle continues: “Our goal is to connect all sensors in the world to one platform, and it was important for us to work with investors with industry knowledge and substantial lifting power. This new round enables us to radically accelerate our growth worldwide and scale Unacast’s platform to power the demand from the major global marketing platforms.”

ABOUT UNACAST
With 1.4 million beacons and over 50 partners, Unacast is the world’s largest network of beacon and proximity companies, connecting the physical world to the digital world. Through the Unacast PROX network, Unacast enables a scalable global solution for retailers and brands to use beacon and proximity data for online retargeting and attribution.

Thomas Walle and co-founder Kjartan Slette, were part of  the founding team behind TIDAL, the music streaming company sold to Jay Z.

Unacast is the the backend of proximity that aggregates and provides a unified platform for the proximity and advertising industry, solving the fragmentation problem to the benefit of both the supply and demand side. Unacast is the first company to enable a scalable way for retailers and brands to retarget customers online based on accurate behavior in the physical space.

Learn more at unacast.com

 

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Altor to acquire Tresu Group

Tresu Group (“Tresu”), a leading manufacturer of high performance flexographic (“flexo”) inline printing machines, is to be acquired by Altor Fund IV (“Altor”). The Nordic Private Equity fund acquires the company from the current majority-owner Erhvervsinvest II K/S. The sale and purchase agreement was signed on May 11, 2017.

Tresu Group is a highly specialized company as a leading supplier in the production and delivery of flexo inline printing machines primarily in the food sector of the packaging manufacturing industry (primarily for packaging printed on cardboard – including for juice and milk) and accessories for flexo, offset and digital printing machines dedicated to a number of leading manufacturers in the graphic industry. Tresu is also a supplier of specialized solutions for the graphic production of niche products such as lottery tickets and hygiene products. In addition, Tresu is exposed to the fast growing market for industrial digital printers with their flexo surface treatment solutions, typically purchased with the digital printer.

The company is headquartered in Bjert, Kolding, with additional production and sales facilities in the United States, and sales and service offices in Germany, Italy, China and Japan. Tresu employs around 250 dedicated employees who, with their innovative solutions, serve the company’s global customers.

“Tresu’s customers are among the largest and most demanding in the industry with an unwavering focus on productivity, efficiency and service. Employees are our most important resource, “says COO Søren Maarssø. “We constantly focus on employee development and involvement and are always looking for highly skilled labor and talents to ensure continued development in the future.”, says Søren Maarssø, COO, Tresu Group. “Altor has a long-term investment horizon, and their experience with industrial technology is of great value for our future expansion plans.”

Søren Maarssø continues: “With Tresu’s latest breakthrough among some of the world’s largest food packaging manufacturers and surface treatment in the fast-growing digital printer market, we now focus on accelerating our growth in and outside the United States.”

“We are pleased with the development that Tresu has undergone, and the focused and highly profitable business the company has developed into,” says Thomas Marstrand, Managing Partner at Erhvervsinvest. “Together with management and the employees, we have been able to apply Tresu’s strong technical skills to enter new geographies and segments within the company’s core business. ”

“During the last 5-7 years, Tresu has created the foundation for an internationalization of its core business in flexographic printing technology,” says Thomas Kvorning, Director at Altor. “We look forward to working closely with Tresu’s management to realize the ambitious growth plans that await ahead.”

The transaction is subject to customary regulatory requirements and approvals.

For more information, please contact:
Thomas Kvorning, Director at Altor +45 29 29 73 05
Thomas Marstrand, Managing Partner at Erhvervsinvest +45 21 65 93 26
Søren Maarssø, COO at Tresu Group +45 21 63 34 50

About Tresu Group
Tresu is a highly specialized company offering flexible, customized solutions of flexo printing machines and ancillary products for flexo, digital and offset printing to the graphic industry. Tresu has over 30 years of experience and expertise in the development and production of solutions for this industry and supplies directly to end-customers and OEMs.

About Altor
Since inception, the family of Altor funds has raised some EUR 5.8 billion in total commitments. The funds have invested in excess of EUR 3.6 billion in more than 40 companies. The investments have primarily been made in medium-sized companies with the aim to create value through growth initiatives and operational improvements. Among current and past investments are Norican, Haarslev, Sonion, Ferrosan, Aalborg Industries and Helly Hansen. For more information visit www.altor.com

About Erhvervsinvest

Erhvervsinvest was established in 2004 and has since then raised some EUR 450 million in total commitments and made 24 platform investments in small and medium sized Danish companies. Among current and past investments are Ellegaard, Damolin, Mejerigaarden, G&O Maritime Group and Gaming. For more information visit www.erhvervsinvest.dk

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Nordic Capital Fund VIII and Novo A/S announce the closing of the acquisition of ERT

Nordic Capital Logo

Following approval by the antitrust authorities in the US and Europe, Nordic Capital Fund VIII, (“Nordic Capital”), and Novo A/S today announce the closing of the acquisition of ERT from Genstar Capital for an enterprise value of USD 1.8 bn. Nordic Capital Fund VIII will control 70% of the institutional equity and Novo A/S will hold the remaining 30%.

With 1,300 employees world-wide and with its headquarters in Philadelphia USA, ERT is a global leading provider of advanced high-quality electronic data collection solutions for clinical development programs. Their systems are widely used by pharmaceutical and biotech companies innovating drug and device therapies to optimize clinical trial management, and to document safety and efficacy clinical outcomes data.

Since its inception in 1972, ERT has developed from a technology start-up to a company that today supports the conduct of more than 1,500 clinical trials annually. This is achieved through the compilation of a variety of clinical outcome data from more than 2.7 million patients, in strict accordance with the standards defined by the major regulatory agencies.

Jim Corrigan, President and Chief Executive Officer of ERT said, “The acquisition of ERT by Nordic Capital Fund VIII and Novo A/S provides a new substantial financial and operational backing that will enable us to grow and expand the company’s activities further. The new ownership will fast-forward our development plans and deepen our service offerings, to meet the evolving needs of our customers.”

Building on ERT’s leading technology stronghold and operational performance within clinical outcomes data capture, analysis and reporting, the company’s management and new owners are aiming to pursue further add-on investments to expand the operational platform of ERT in the years to come.

Jonas Agnblad, Partner, NC Advisory AB, advisor to the Nordic Capital Funds commented, “Nordic Capital identified ERT as a very attractive investment opportunity in the eClinical market.It has deep insights into the clinical development process, an attractive technical platform and an outstanding competitive position.Nordic Capital is pleased to partner with Novo A/S to acquire ERT, given their dedicated life-science investment focus. Together, we are planning to invest in the company’s service offerings and operational footprint in the years to come.”

Dr. Raj Shah, Partner, NC Advisory (UK) LLP, advisor to the Nordic Capital Funds said “We are impressed by the investments made in the technical platform as well as management’s overall development of ERT as a trusted healthcare service partner and the leading healthcare technology provider. Their leadership position in the attractive eCOA market, supported by similar strong positions in Cardiac Safety and Respiratory Solutions, provides a robust platform for future growth”.

Commenting on the investment in ERT, Michael Shalmi, Head of Large Investments in Novo A/S said, “We are pleased to partner with Nordic Capital Fund VIII for the joint ownership and development of ERT, given their extensive health care related buy-out experience and excellent life science investment track record. The many growth options available to ERT, organically as well as by acquisitions, represent exciting investment opportunities which we look forward to pursuing in our partnership with Nordic Capital Fund VIII and the management of ERT”.

 

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