Axcel teams up with family behind world-leading producer of accessories for pick-up trucks

Axcel

Axcel is partnering with the owners of Danish company Mountain Top Industries, one of the world’s leading producers of pick-up accessories. The company has grown rapidly in recent years and has brought Axcel on board to support its continued expansion and entry into new markets. Mountain Top is currently owned by Marie-Louise and Lars Bjerg, who will remain both shareholders and board members.

Mountain Top Industries has been producing accessories for pick-up trucks since 1978 and has evolved in close association with its customers, which include leading pick-up producers such as Ford, Nissan, Renault, VW, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota.

Almost 170 employees work in design, development and production at Mountain Top’s facilities in Frederikssund, Denmark. The company’s main market is currently Europe, where it is the market leader, but there is also potential for global expansion:

“After several years of rapid growth, the next step in our journey is to expand both sales and production in a number of new markets, which we believe can best be achieved in partnership with Axcel,” says CEO Marie-Louise Bjerg. “We moved into Australia in 2014, but we also see considerable potential in markets such as the US, which is more than 20 times the size of the European market. We look forward to taking Mountain Top to the next level together with Axcel with all its experience of international expansion.”

Mountain Top’s move into the global market has led to a doubling of sales outside Europe in the past four years to 20% of total turnover.

“We’ve come a long way under family ownership since the business was founded in 1951, so it was a big decision to sell,” says Lars Bjerg. “But after lengthy deliberation and dialogue, we feel sure that Axcel can help take Mountain Top Industries forward.”

The pick-up truck market in Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America has a long track record of stable growth, so Axcel sees good opportunities for continued expansion:

“Through a focus on product development, quality and service, Marie-Louise and Lars Bjerg have built a business with a wide range of good products and high customer satisfaction,” says Christoffer Müller, the officer responsible for the investment at Axcel. “In addition, Mountain Top has achieved a high degree of efficiency in all processes, so our future focus will be on generating growth in both established and new markets, including the US, where 3 million pick-up trucks are sold every year.”

Mountain Top is the second investment for Axcel’s fifth fund, Axcel V. The transaction is subject to approval from the competition authorities.

 

About Mountain Top Industries

Mountain Top has been producing accessories for pick-up trucks since 1978 and has around 170 employees working on design, development and production in Frederikssund, Denmark. In 2014, the company also opened a sales office in Australia. Mountain Top supplies accessories to carmakers such as Ford, Nissan, Renault, VW, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota for factory fitting, but also to the aftermarket. The company has won Danish business paper Børsen’s Gazelle Award for fast-growing companies eight times, most recently in 2017, and is the current holder of PwC Denmark’s Owner-Manager of the Year Award.

About Axcel

Founded in 1994 by a group of Denmark’s largest financial and industrial institutions, Axcel is a Nordic private equity firm focusing on mid-market companies and has a broad base of both Danish and international investors. Axcel has raised five funds with total committed capital of around EUR 1.9 billion to date. These funds have made 48 platform investments, with more than 90 major add-on investments and 37 exits. Axcel currently owns 11 companies with combined annual revenue of around EUR 1.2 billion and some 6,000 employees.

 

Further Information: 

Axcel:

Director, Christoffer Müller

Tel: +45 29385366

E-mail: cm@axcel.com

 

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Cinven to acquire a majority stake in Planasa

Cinven

Investment in leading global berry supplier to capitalise on growth in health and wellness segment
International private equity firm, Cinven, today announces that it has signed an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Planasa (‘the Group’), a leading global operator in the agri-food sector, for a consideration of approximately €450 million. Planasa specialises in plant research, nursery and fresh produce.  Alexandre Darbonne, CEO and current owner of the company, will continue to hold a significant shareholding.
Headquartered in Valtierra, Spain, Planasa is one of the leading plant variety and nursery operators within the berry fruit category worldwide. The Group provides seeds, plants and R&D services to farmers, and fresh produce to retailers across the world. Planasa has benefitted from strong growth in its end-markets, underpinned by broader consumer health and wellness trends and a rise in global berry consumption. With 2,080 employees worldwide, Planasa supplies customers globally from its 12 production sites across Europe, the Americas and Asia.
Cinven’s Consumer and Iberia teams identified Planasa as an attractive investment opportunity, given:
  • Berries represent an attractive growth category globally, driven by underlying health and wellness trends in consumer diets, together with an increase in demand for convenience;
  • Planasa is a market-leading player with a strong reputation for developing value-added products through investment in R&D. Planasa has a proven track record of developing high quality breeds, such as the Adelita Raspberry, and strong technical capabilities which provide support services to farmers and retailers;
  • Attractive growth prospects, with international expansion opportunities in geographies such as Mexico and China, together with an attractive pipeline of new product categories;
  • Fragmented market with potential for consolidation through buy and build, with the Group having successfully acquired and integrated three acquisitions in the past five years;
  • Strong management team, led by owner and CEO, Alexandre Darbonne, with potential to further strengthen the team following five generations of family ownership; and
  • Strong track record of financial performance, with double-digit annualised revenue and profit growth over the past five years.
Jorge Quemada, Partner at Cinven, commented:
“Having mapped the Iberian market closely, we proactively identified Planasa together with our Consumer team, given its focus on the health and wellness sector. Our Iberian team was able to build a good relationship with Planasa’s owner and CEO to execute this primary investment.  We are fully aligned with the highly capable and experienced team at Planasa on our vision for the Group and focused on creating a strong platform for further international growth.”
Maxim Crewe, Partner at Cinven, added:
“Planasa is well positioned to benefit from the strong growth in global berry consumption, underpinned by consumer trends in health and wellness, as well as snacking and convenience. Planasa is a leading player in the industry with strong R&D capabilities, global operations and excellent revenue and EBITDA growth.  It is a value-added partner to both farmers and customers, delivering products with higher agronomic performance through improved yields and resistance to diseases, as well as improved taste.”  
CEO of Planasa, Alexandre Darbonne, said:
“Planasa grows proprietary varieties of species, particularly berries, from its own production sites located across EMEA, Asia and the Americas; we have a world class R&D function, as well as facilities for growing, packaging and distributing our products.
 
“We are delighted that Cinven is partnering with us to further internationalise and professionalise our operations, as well as enabling us to expand into new areas of business through continued investment in R&D.  The combination of its experienced team and Consumer expertise makes them an excellent partner for the business. Planasa is set to benefit from significant growth in the coming years, both organically as well as through further add-on acquisitions, and we look forward to working with Cinven and benefiting from their expertise in these areas.”
Completion of the acquisition of Planasa is subject to customary regulatory approvals.

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Ardian signs deal to acquire majority stake in the Babeau-Seguin group

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Ardian

Paris – October 30, 2017 – Ardian, the independent private investment company, today announces the signing of a deal with NiXEN, the management and the other historical shareholders, to acquire a majority stake in the Babeau-Seguin Group, the third builder of single-family detached houses in France.

NiXEN acquired a majority stake in the group in December 2011 alongside its founder and President Bruno Babeau, as well as its management team and its financial co-investors, including Pechel Industries and the other historical investors.

During the last years, NiXEN has supported the growth strategy implemented by Bruno Babeau and his teams. Since 2010, the Babeau-Seguin Group’s turnover has almost doubled and is expected to reach more than €180m in 2017. With ten renowned brands, including the Maisons Babeau-Seguin brand, the Group offers a range of over 200 homes.

Bruno Babeau, President of the Babeau-Seguin Group, said: “The Babeau-Seguin Group has benefitted from the knowledge and know-how of NiXEN in terms of strategy. We now rely on Ardian’s investment to allow us to continue our strategy of geographic development, through internal and external growth, with a single goal: using our size to provide our clients with unbeatable value for money.”

Alexis Lavaillote, Managing Director at Ardian Expansion, added: “We are well versed in the sector having invested in another regional player several years ago. We are pleased to be working with the Babeau-Seguin Group and would like to thank Bruno Babeau and his team for their trust. The market for the construction of single-family houses is very fragmented and we will continue to support the external growth strategy of the management team, among other things.”

“With Bruno Babeau we have successfully led an active strategy of organic growth, with the opening of more than 15 new agencies and investment in five construction build-ups, which has allowed us to create better links across the territory as well as accelerate the group’s digital progress ”, said Pierre Rispoli, CEO of NiXEN Partners.

This investment would be the sixth made by the Ardian Expansion IV fund, which raised €1 billion in 2016. The fund targets investments in high-growth businesses, the value of which can reach 225 million euros, in France, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Spain. Ardian’s investment is awaiting approval from antitrust authorities.

ABOUT ARDIAN

Ardian, founded in 1996 and led by Dominique Senequier, is an independent private investment company with assets of US$65bn managed or advised in Europe, North America and Asia. The company, which is majority-owned by its employees, keeps entrepreneurship at its heart and delivers investment performance to its global investors while fuelling growth in economies across the world. Ardian’s investment process embodies three values: excellence, loyalty and entrepreneurship. Ardian maintains a truly global network, with more than 470 employees working through twelve offices in Paris, London, Frankfurt, Milan, Madrid, Zurich, New York, San Francisco, Beijing, Singapore, Jersey, Luxembourg.

The company offers its 610 investors a diversified choice of funds covering the full range of asset classes, including Ardian Funds of Funds (primary, early secondary and secondary), Ardian Private Debt, Ardian Buyout (including Ardian Mid Cap Buyout Europe & North America, Ardian Expansion, Ardian Growth and Ardian Co-Investment), Ardian Infrastructure, Ardian Real Estate and Ardian Mandates.

ABOUT NiXEN

An independent management company, NiXEN accompanies French SME and mid-market companies in their strategic and equity growth as part of majority buyout operations. NiXEN invests more than €10M per transaction in companies with revenues over €40M and intervening in its three sectors of expertise: health, services and specialized retail. As a responsible and committed investor, NiXEN establish strong and authentic partnerships with these companies, bringing them an experienced team with a development focus, notably on build-ups and in the international arena, pursuing a shared goal to create value. Main portfolio companies: Buffalo Grill, Babeau-Seguin, Carré Blanc, La Grande Récré, Vulcain, weave.

Main former portfolio companies: Labco, Vedici, Asteelflash, Ceva, Newrest, CTM Style.

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

NiXEN: Pierre Rispoli, Johann le Duigou, Steven Barrois
Pechel Industries: Bertrand Hainguerlot
Seller advisor:
Mergers and acquisitions advisor: Lincoln International (Dominique Lecendreux, Arnaud Dudognon, Serge Palleau, Julien Chevrier, Margaux Lamothe)
Financial advisor: EY (Paul Gerber, Stéphane Vignals, Guillaume Lestang)
Strategic advisor: LEK (David Danon-Boileau, Frédéric Dessertine, Servane Perrot)
Tax, legal and social advisor: STC Partners (Bertrand Araud, Delphine Bariani, Etienne Pujol)
Legal advisor: De Pardieu Brocas Maffei (Guillaume Touttée, Frédéric Tual)

Ardian: Alexis Lavaillote, Caroline Pihan, Sacha Azuelos
Buyer advisor:
Mergers and acquisitions advisor: Invest Securities (Bertrand Le Galcher Baron, Rémi Pollet)
Financial advisor: Accuracy (Arnaud Lambert, Luojia Zhang, Jean Schott)
Strategic advisor: Advancy (Patrick Pudduy, Stepan Wildt, Charlotte Morizot)
Legal advisor: Weil, Gotshal & Manges (Frédéric Cazals, Maxime Fradet)
Financial advisor: WGM (Cassandre Porges)
Tax advisor: WGM (Edouard de Lamy)
Competition law advisor: WGM (Romain Ferla)
Digital advisor: Niji (Romain Delavenne, Céline Feron)
Insurance: Marsh (Jean-Marie Dargaignaratz, Ersida Ago)
Management Advisor:
Financing: SECC Group (Denis Gouaille)
Legal: Cabinet Ratheaux (Gaétan de la Bourdonnaye)

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Shoreline secures investment from Blue Bear Capital, Alliance Venture, and Investinor

Alliance Venture
Shoreline AS, a data analytics and simulation software company focused on the energy industry, has secured growth equity funding from a group of international venture capital funds, including US-based Blue Bear Capital LLC and leading Nordic investors Alliance Venture AS and Investinor AS.
Shoreline AS, a data analytics and simulation software company focused on the energy industry, has secured growth equity funding from a group of international venture capital funds, including US-based Blue Bear Capital LLC and leading Nordic investors Alliance Venture AS and Investinor AS. Shoreline has already achieved a strong position in the offshore wind market, providing software-as-a-service (“SaaS”) to many of the largest offshore wind developers, operators, and supply chain partners. The company will use this new investment capital to further develop its simulation software and machine learning capabilities, and also expand into additional energy markets such as onshore wind and hydro, where Shoreline has demonstrated initial traction.

Shoreline’s solutions are based on internally developed simulation and optimization algorithms that streamline how operators, project developers, equipment manufacturers and service providers work to develop and construct new projects and manage existing assets.

“After almost two years of operations and with several major international players as customers, it was natural to take the company to the next level and speed up development,” says Ole-Erik Vestøl Endrerud, CEO of Shoreline AS. “We aim to serve a growing market demand and continue to improve the capacity and functionality of our software as we move into new markets. In the early summer, work began to assess different capitalization options and it became clear that we wanted experienced international investors in the shareholder base to help support this growth.”

With Blue Bear Capital, Alliance Venture and Investinor as shareholders, Shoreline has established a strong financial and strategic platform for further development of the product platform and markets.

Ernst T. Sack of Blue Bear Capital Partners states: “Shoreline combines a differentiated software solution with a strong commercial management team, in some of the fastest growing markets in the energy industry. And the company has proven they can execute. We are excited to partner with Shoreline to help their customers build better projects, faster, with lower risk and higher uptime.”

Managing partner in Alliance Venture, Jan-Erik Hareid adds: “We are really impressed with the team, as well as the growth and progress in Shoreline over the last two years. We are excited about the future potential based on the unique position Shoreline has taken in the rapidly growing offshore wind market.”

“Shoreline is a very exciting company with unique technology and a strong team. Investinor’s mandate implies that we always partner with other investors and thus act as a spearhead for private capital aiming to invest in the venture market. We look forward to working with Blue Bear Capital and Alliance Venture and we are confident that the new shareholders will be important contributors to further development,” says Jan Morten Ertsaas.

For more information:
Ole-Erik Vestøl Endrerud, CEO, Shoreline AS
Phone: +47 47378157
Email: endrerud@shoreline.no

About Shoreline AS:
Shoreline AS is a B2B enterprise SaaS software company, which today sells its products MAINTSYS™, SIMSTALL™ and Planner as subscription service to energy industries. The products can be used to plan, optimize and analyze the development, construction and operation of energy production facilities. These products are based on internally developed and proprietary simulation and optimization algorithms. Shoreline AS is currently established or represented in Stavanger, Esbjerg, Hamburg, Seoul and Palo Alto.

About Blue Bear Capital LLC:
Blue Bear Capital LLC is a venture capital fund investing in digital technologies for the global energy industry. The firm backs companies taking proven technology concepts like machine learning, industrial IoT, and cyber security, and applying them in large energy markets including oil and gas, wind, solar, and energy storage. Blue Bear has offices in California, Texas, and the UK.

About Alliance Venture AS:
Alliance Venture is a Norwegian venture capital firm with offices in Oslo and Silicon Valley, investing in early stage technology companies, with a focus on SaaS. (Total capital under management is 850 MNOK (about € 100 million).)

About Investinor AS:
Investinor is an evergreen venture capital fund wholly owned by the Norwegian government. Investinor manages NOK 4.2 billion (MEUR 470), and has approximately 45 portfolio companies. One of Investinor’s ambitions is to be the preferred gateway to Norway for leading international investors.

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DH Private Equity Partners announces sale of TMF Group to CVC

DH Private Equity Partners, the European private equity firm, has today announced that its fund, DH V, and other shareholders have agreed to sell their entire stake in TMF Group, a leading provider of high value business services to organisations globally, to funds advised by CVC Capital Partners for €1.75bn.  The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2018 subject to regulatory approvals.

TMF Group was formed by the June 2011 merger of TMF and Equity Trust.  DH Private Equity Partners acquired TMF in October 2008 and subsequently completed the transformational acquisition of Equity Trust in January 2011.  The merger delivered significant cost synergies and generated cross selling opportunities to support organic growth.

Historically, the majority of TMF’s revenues were generated in Europe, where the company had a long-established, strongly competitive position.  During DH Private Equity Partners’ ownership, through a combination of new greenfield sites and 32 acquisitions, TMF Group has built out its presence in other parts of the world and, as a result, now offers a unique global platform.  By the end of 2016, revenue and EBITDA had grown by 148% and 131% respectively since DH Private Equity Partners acquired the business in 2008.

The sale of DH V’s stake in TMF Group represents the seventh successful exit from the fund, with one further asset remaining before the fund portfolio is fully realised.

Commenting on the transaction Dick Hanson, the Senior Partner of DH Private Equity Partners and Chairman of TMF Group, said: “We are very proud to have supported TMF as it has developed into a truly global integrated services platform supporting multinational and local organisations.  In our time of ownership, we have worked closely with the company, supporting its acquisition strategy and helping to grow its revenues, profits, international footprint and employee base.  We have had a very strong partnership with the management team, led by Frederik van Tuyll, and wish the company well under new owners.”

Frederik van Tuyll, CEO of TMF Group, added: “We have enjoyed an outstanding relationship with DH Private Equity Partners which, since acquiring us, has made a significant contribution to our growth. We have a unique global platform, exceptional talent, and a diverse client base that gives us every confidence that the coming years will be as successful as those previously.”

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Valedo invests in the security installation and service market, through the establishment of Prosero Security

Valedo

Valedo Partners III AB (“Valedo”) has invested in a number of Nordic companies in the market for installation and service of locks, alarms and surveillance solutions. The ambition with the merger of a number of regionally complementary companies with similar service offerings and a shared vision, is to consolidate, professionalise and develop the industry.

The transaction was initiated by a number of entrepreneurs in the industry which, together with Valedo, created Prosero Security. The group is present in a number of locations in Sweden and Norway and generates annual sales of more than SEK 450 million.

Alongside Valedo, all previous owners, key employees and board members have invested in the Company.

The terms and conditions of the transactions are not disclosed.

For further information on Prosero Security, please contact:
Stefan Sandström, CEO
+46 706 75 57 58
stefan.sandstrom@prosero.com

About Valedo:

Valedo is an independent Swedish investment group that invests in high-quality small and mid-cap companies in the Nordic region. Valedo focuses on companies with clear growth and development potential where Valedo can actively contribute to and accelerate the companies’ development. Being an active owner and contributor of both capital and industrial experience, Valedo helps to ensure that its companies can achieve their full potential. Valedo has completed 23 platform investments and more than 100 add-on acquisitions. Valedo’s businesses have a combined revenue of SEK ~4 500 million with ~3 300 employees in more than 20 countries. Valedo’s exited businesses have on average grown by ~250% during Valedo’s ownership.

www.valedopartners.com

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Project A invests in 3i portfolio company Lampenwelt

Project A

Berlin-based operational VC Project A teams up with private equity group 3i and invests in Europe’s leading online retailer of lighting fixtures

Berlin, 26 October 2017 – Berlin-based operational VC Project A today announces its agreement with London-based private equity group 3i to invest in Lampenwelt, Europe’s leading online retailer for lighting fixtures.

“With a very strong founder-led management team, significant profitable growth, and ample opportunities to further scale, Lampenwelt has the key ingredients we look for in private equity co-investment opportunities”, says Ben Fischer, Partner at Project A. “Our operational capabilities in scaling and improving digital businesses will help the company to reach its full potential and further strengthen its leading position in Europe.”

With the investment, Project A will contribute its operational capabilities and teams in areas such as digital marketing, business intelligence, product management, and IT.

“Project A’s operational capabilities make it a perfect fit for us, and we look forward to working closely with their team of experts to make our ambitious vision for Lampenwelt a reality,” says Thomas Rebmann, founder and CEO of Lampenwelt.

Lampenwelt started by selling lighting fixtures on eBay and quickly grew to become the European market leader. Today, the company has 300 employees and is present in all core European markets.

For Project A, Lampenwelt is the third private equity co-investment. In March 2016, the operational VC announced their investment in Kfzteile24, Germany’s market leader for car parts and accessories, joining global private equity group EQT. In November 2016, Project A announced the second private equity co-investment. Together with Bregal Unternehmerkapital, Project A invested in Onlineprinters, one of Europe’s leading online printing companies.

About Lampenwelt

Headquartered in Schlitz, Germany, Lampenwelt is Europe’s leading online-specialist for lamps and lights, with over 1.5 million customers. Founded in 2004, Lampenwelt employs around 300 staff and offers some 50,000 products to suit all styles and purposes. The goal of the e-Commerce pioneer is to offer every client their dream lighting solution. As well as quality own-brand products, Lampenwelt offers a wide range of lamps and lighting from top brands such as FLOS, Serienlighting, Luceplan, Tecnolumen or Swarovski. Online shops in 14 European countries form the basis of Lampenwelt’s success, underlined by over 100,000 positive customer evaluations on independent evaluation portals. Lampenwelt’s German store is available at www.lampenwelt.de.

About 3i Group

3i is an investment company with two complementary businesses, Private Equity and Infrastructure, specialising in core investment markets in Northern Europe and North America. 3i’s Private Equity team provides investment solutions for growing companies, backing entrepreneurs and management teams of mid-market companies with an EV typically between €100m – €500m. We back international growth plans, providing access to our network and expertise to accelerate the growth of companies across the consumer, industrials and business and technology services industries. For further information, please visit: www.3i.com.

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Norvestor divests Life Europe AB

Norvestor

Norvestor IV, L.P. (“Norvestor”) has signed an agreement to divest Life Europe AB (“Life” or “the Company”),a leading specialist retailer of health and wellness products in Sweden, Norway and Finland, to Fairford Group.

Norvestor invested in Life in 2005. During Norvestor’s ownership, the company has become the clear market leader as a specialist health and wellness retailer in the Nordic region and one of the largest specialist retailers within its’ space in the world. Life currently has over 380 stores including own stores and franchise stores. The Company has above 600 employees and revenues of around SEK 1.2 billion in Sweden, Norway and Finland.

“For the Norvestor team, it has been an interesting journey building Life to the clear market leader in the Nordics together with all the competent people in the Company. We are happy to see Fairford coming on board to support further development for Life and expand their strong market position”, says Lars Grinde, Managing Partner in Norvestor.

“With Norvestor as the main shareholder, Life has over the last years built not only the biggest health and wellness retail chain in the Nordic region but also the two biggest health and wellness product distributers. With this distribution power we look forward to meeting new opportunities together with Fairford”, says Erik Frydenberg, CEO in Life. Norvestor was advised by Advokatfirman Lindahl.

The transaction is expected to close in Q4 2017, subject to customary closing conditions, including approval from competition authorities. The parties have agreed not to disclose the terms of the transaction.

For further information:

Lars Grinde, Managing Partner in Norvestor Equity AS

Telephone: +47402 11 444

Email: lars.grinde@norvestor.com

Erik Frydenberg, CEO in Life

Telephone: +47 922 29 955

Email: erik.fryd enberg@lifeeurope.com

 

Life Europe AB is the leading specialist retail of health and wellness products in Sweden, Norway and Finland.

Read more at www.lifebutiken.se

Norvestor Equity AS is a leading private equity company focusing on lower mid -market buyouts in the Nordic region. The team has worked together since 1991 making it one of the most experienced private equity teams in Norway, having executed 66 investments with 260 follow – on M&A transactions, in addition to executing 43 exits including 14 IPOs.

Norvestor focuses on investment opportunities in growth companies, making platform investments principally in Norway and Sweden, with potential to achieve a leading Nordic or international position either through organic growth, through acquisitions or by expanding into new countries. Funds advised by Norvestor are currently invested in the following portfolio companies; Johnson Metall, Sentech (formerly Advantec Sensing), Apsis, Aptilo, Cegal, Marine Aluminium, Crayon, Robust, iSurvey, Future Production, Nomor, PG Flow Solutions, Roadworks, Permascand, 4Service, HydraWell, Eneas, Presserv, Nordic Camping & Resort, READ Cased Hole, IT Gården, NetNordic and Wexus.

Read more at www.norvestor.com

 

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Ardian Private Debt arranges unitranche financing supporting the acquisition of EMVIA Living by Chequers Capital

Ardian

Ardian Private Debt, a divison of Ardian, the independent private investment company, announced today that it has provided a Unitranche financing supporting Chequers Capital (“Chequers”), in their acquisition of EMVIA Living, a leading operator of care homes in Germany. The financing also includes an additional committed debt facility to further support the company’s expansion plans.

EMVIA Living, established through a carve-out of the operating business comprising 46 stationary care homes from MK-Kliniken AG, is an independent private company based in Hamburg and Berlin. EMVIA Living has a capacity of around 5,500 beds to service people in need of care and has around 3,200 employees. With c. €200 million in revenues, the company is one of the leading players in its sector in Germany. The company is managed by Markus Speckenbach as CEO.

Mark Brenke, Managing Director & Co-Head Ardian Private Debt, said: “We are delighted to be supporting the management team and Chequers who have a strong track record of investing in Germany’s care home sector. EMVIA Living has a long and well-established market presence as one of the leading private nursing home operators in Germany, leveraging its broad and diversified network of individual homes as well as its deep regional market knowledge. EMVIA is well-positioned for continued growth and Ardian Private Debt is very pleased to be the company’s financing partner”.

ABOUT ARDIAN

Ardian, founded in 1996 and led by Dominique Senequier, is an independent private investment company with assets of US$65bn managed or advised in Europe, North America and Asia. The company, which is majority-owned by its employees, keeps entrepreneurship at its heart and delivers investment performance to its global investors while fuelling growth in economies across the world. Ardian’s investment process embodies three values: excellence, loyalty and entrepreneurship.

Ardian maintains a truly global network, with more than 470 employees working through twelve offices in Paris, London, Frankfurt, Milan, Madrid, Zurich, New York, San Francisco, Beijing, Singapore, Jersey, Luxembourg. The company offers its 610 investors a diversified choice of funds covering the full range of asset classes, including Ardian Funds of Funds (primary, early secondary and secondary), Ardian Private Debt, Ardian Buyout (including Ardian Mid Cap Buyout Europe & North America, Ardian Expansion, Ardian Growth and Ardian Co-Investment), Ardian Infrastructure, Ardian Real Estate and Ardian Mandates.

ABOUT CHEQUERS CAPITAL

Chequers Capital is one of the leading European private equity houses, focusing on leading companies across all business sectors and has completed a large number of investments in the healthcare sector in several European countries. Chequers‘ previous investment in the stationary care industry was the acquisition of Silver Care. Under the ownership of Chequers the number of operated care homes of Silver Care more than doubled within four years, and was recognised as the quality leader among the large operators in the sector three years in the row based on the public quality rating system of MDK.

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NPM invests in Ultimaker

NPM Capital

Global leader in desktop 3D printing raises growth capital for international expansion

In October 2017, Ultimaker, the global leader in desktop 3D printing announced that private equity firm NPM Capital has acquired a share in the company. This will allow Ultimaker to accelerate product development and invest in additional sales, marketing and R&D resources, which will help Ultimaker to expand on their global market position.

Ultimaker has experienced explosive growth since it was founded in 2011. With offices in The Netherlands and the USA, the company has built a worldwide distribution network selling its products in over 100 countries. The company is market leader in the high-end segment of industry grade desktop 3D printers. Key customers come from a large variety of markets in areas like product design, engineering, research, manufacturing and education. Ultimaker has proven to be very attractive in these areas because of its accessibility, ease of use, high quality results and extensive material support.

Ultimaker CEO Jos Burger explains: “I look forward to working with NPM Capital. They have a great and solid reputation as a committed longer term investor and a flexible investment horizon focused on long term value creation. The company is not driven by the need to make a rapid exit, which enables us to continue our growth at a pace that our markets require. With the additional funding and support from NPM Capital we now have the ability to accelerate innovation and further empower professionals worldwide with the tools and knowledge required for them to stay ahead in a rapidly changing business environment.”

For NPM Capital, Ultimaker is an exciting investment in a very attractive market, led by an impressive management team. Bart Coopmans, managing director of NPM Capital says: “Ultimaker fits in our strategy of investing in technology based growth platforms. We are impressed by Ultimaker’s leading market position and clear growth strategy. We believe Ultimaker has a sustainable competitive advantage stemming from its integrated platform of hardware, software, materials and support network. Together with a strong community, an ambitious team of professionals and a highly-committed leadership, Ultimaker is very well positioned for further growth. We really look forward to working closely together with the Ultimaker team on their fascinating journey.”

Ultimaker’s three founders Martijn Elserman, Erik de Bruijn and Siert Wijnia will remain as shareholders alongside NPM Capital who will become a majority shareholder.

About Ultimaker

Ultimaker has been in operation since 2011, and over the years has grown to become a market leader; creating powerful, professional and accessible desktop 3D printers. With offices in the Netherlands, New York, and Boston, and production facilities in both Europe and the US, Ultimaker’s team of over 300 employees continually strives to offer the highest-quality 3D printers, software, and materials on the market.

Read the full profile of Ultimaker

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