Category Archives: News

Certara Announces the Completion of Arsenal Capital Partners’ Investment and the Appointment of David Spaight to the Board of Directors

Arsenal Capital Partners

Arsenal closed the previously announced $449M stock purchase from funds controlled by EQT Private Equity

Princeton, N.J.- Certara, Inc. (Nasdaq: CERT) today announced that Arsenal Capital Partners (“Arsenal”), a private equity firm specializing in investing in and building transformational healthcare companies, closed its previously announced $449 million new investment in Certara. David Spaight, an Operating Partner at Arsenal, has been appointed to Certara’s Board of Directors, effective immediately. Stephen McLean, a Senior Partner at Arsenal, will continue to serve on Certara’s Board of Directors.

As previously announced, in a separate agreement with the company, Arsenal has agreed to a two-year lock-up prohibiting any sale of the newly purchased shares without company authorization, reflecting Arsenal’s commitment to being a long-term shareholder. Arsenal previously held a majority stake in the company through 2017 and has held a minority stake since Certara’s initial public offering in 2020.

“We are pleased with Arsenal’s continued support and confidence in Certara and welcome David Spaight to the Board of Directors,” said William F. Feehery, Chief Executive Officer of Certara. “David’s deep industry experience and expertise will be valuable to Certara as we continue to grow our impact on the global biopharmaceutical industry.”

Prior to joining Arsenal in 2016, Mr. Spaight served as the Chairman and CEO of WIL Research Laboratories, a leading pre-clinical CRO acquired by Charles River Laboratories, and, before that, as President of MDS Pharma Services, a global CRO serving all phases of pharmaceutical research and development. Mr. Spaight has also held senior leadership positions in Fisher Scientific and PerkinElmer.

“I am pleased to join Certara’s Board of Directors and bring my industry experience to a company that is transforming traditional drug discovery and development with biosimulation,” said Mr. Spaight. “I look forward to working with the Certara leadership team and Board of Directors to advance the company’s next phase of growth.”

In connection with the sale of the remaining Certara shares held by
funds controlled by EQT Private Equity, Eric Liu and Ethan Waxman have stepped down from the Board of Directors, effective immediately.

About Certara

Certara accelerates medicines using proprietary biosimulation software, technology, and services to transform traditional drug discovery and development. Its clients include more than 2,000 biopharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, and regulatory agencies across 62 countries.

Investor Relations Contact:
David Deuchler
Gilmartin Group
ir@certara.com

Media Contact:
Daniel Yunger
Kekst CNC
daniel.yunger@kekstcnc.com

Jackie Schofield
Prosek Partners
Pro-Arsenal@prosek.com

Categories: News People

Tags:

Regional Rail expands its network in the Midwest via the acquisition of several short-line freight railroads

3I
3i-backed Regional Rail, a leading owner and operator of short-line freight railroads across North America, has agreed to acquire Agracel Rail Holdings’ three railroads, the Effingham Railroad Company, South Point & Ohio Railroad, and Illinois Western Railroad Company, which are located in the Midwest region of the United States. The portfolio serves an attractive set of industrial customers across a variety of end-markets, including chemicals, aggregates, and lumber.In October, Regional Rail also commenced freight rail operations at the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor via its new Burns Harbor Railroad LLC subsidiary, which represented its first operation in the Midwest.

Al Sauer, President and CEO, Regional Rail, commented:

“We are excited to partner with the existing teams at the Effingham Railroad Company, South Point & Ohio Railroad, and Illinois Western Railroad Company to grow our operations in the Midwest, and look forward to building on the companies’ track records of providing a high quality service to their customers.”

Rob Collins, Managing Partner and Head of North American Infrastructure, 3i, commented:

“This is another great example of Regional Rail’s philosophy of partnering with strong local operators to help grow their business over the long term. We believe that these assets have incredible potential and look forward to continuing to support Regional Rail.”

Dean Bingham, CEO, Agracel, commented:

“We are proud of the work that has gone into establishing and building these railroads over many years and believe that Regional Rail is the right partner to support the local management teams well into the future.”

Charlie Barenfanger, President, the Effingham Railroad Company and Illinois Western Railroad Company, commented:

“We look forward to the continuity of excellent service to our existing customers at the Effingham and Illinois Western Railroads, while expanding opportunities under the leadership of Regional Rail.”

Since partnering in July 2019, 3i and Regional Rail will have more than tripled the number of railroads under Regional Rail’s control, growing to thirteen freight railroad operations located across North America. The company provides freight transportation, car storage, and transloading services across the United States and western Canada. In addition to freight services, Regional Rail provides railroad crossing signal design, construction, inspection, and maintenance services to a diverse base of short-line and industrial customers in 20 U.S. states via the company’s Diamondback Signal subsidiary.

-Ends-

Download this press release    

 

For further information, please contact:

3i Group plc

 

Silvia Santoro

Investor enquiries

 

Kathryn van der Kroft

Media enquiries

  

 

Tel: +44 20 7975 3258

Email: silvia.santoro@3i.com

 

Tel: +44 20 7975 3021

Email: kathryn.vanderkroft@3i.com

 

About 3i Group

3i is a leading international investment manager focused on mid-market infrastructure and private equity, with core investment markets in North America and Europe. For further information, please visit: www.3i.com.

 

About Regional Rail LLC

Regional Rail LLC is a freight transportation holding company headquartered in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. The company provides freight rail transportation, car storage, and transloading services across the U.S. and western Canada, in addition to railroad crossing signal design, construction, inspection, and maintenance services via the company’s Diamondback Signal subsidiary. For further information, please visit: www.regional-rail.com.

Categories: News

Tags:

Blume Ventures closes its Fourth Fund at upwards of $250 million to back visionary tech founders

Blume ventures

Blume Ventures, India’s leading homegrown venture fund has announced the close of its Fund IV at over $250million bringing the firm’s AUM to over $600 million. Blume focuses on early-stage, innovative technology-led startups. Blume backs entrepreneurs either building to solve large impactful Indian problems or taking the best of Indian innovation to global markets. The diverse mandate extends from edtech, fintech, health, commerce and consumer internet in the former to robotics and AI to SaaS and enterprise software in the latter category.  These themes have been consistent through Blume’s 12 years of existence.

Blume has received emphatic support from all its previous supporters. Blume’s Fund IV investors include some of India’s finest family offices, global family offices, sovereign wealth funds (India and overseas), and emerging market Fund of Funds. The oversubscription on the $200 million target and the support from both existing and new investors is a testament to the track record that continues to grow stronger.

Blume Fund IV will be managed by its 15+ member investment team led by Sajith Pai, Arpit Agarwal, Ashish Fafadia, Sanjay Nath and Karthik Reddy. Investing in 30-35 companies across different technology verticals, Blume will discover and nurture another generation of industry-defining companies built in this cycle.

 Blume was established in 2010 by Karthik Reddy and Sanjay Nath.  Blume is now over 35 professionals strong (outside of Constellation Blu and Metamorph, our two sister concerns), the leadership team has grown to 10, and they collectively grow and mentor a roster of young emerging stars on the team.

Sanjay Nath added, “We are grateful to our anchor supporters and new believers who have emphatically backed Blume IV. Whether building domestically or for global markets, the best founders and LPs would like to work with a Fund that can be considered world-class, which has spurred us to keep institutionalizing and bolstering our platform, team and capabilities. Thanks to an increasing reality of IPO and M&A exits, there is a resurgence of 2x founders and operators, as well as higher quality first-time founders. We’re excited for Blume to become the preferred seed partner of choice for both categories.”

Some key milestones:

  • Launched as a “Superangel” fund in 2011, Blume raised $20 million in Fund I and invested in over 60 startups, pioneering the idea of home-grown micro VCs, with domestic investor participation playing an important role in each of its funds. The first fund vintage has many winners that are incredibly stable after a decade of persistence. These include Purplle, Grey Orange, Turtlemint, Carbon Clean, Exotel, Cashify, Zopper, Webengage, and IDfy.

  • Blume raised successor Funds in 2015-16 and 2018-19, growing to a $60 million Fund II and a $102 million Fund III, maturing into a fund with increased reserves to deploy into the best breakout companies. The Blume stars born from the 2015 to 2020 era are Unacademy, Slice, Spinny, dunzo, Classplus, Servify, Lambdatest, Koo, Locus, Healthifyme, smallcase, Euler, Jai Kisan and Pixxel, amongst others.

The strength of the platform makes Blume an ideal partner in the founders’ journey, bringing value far beyond the capital in the bank. Some of these platform value additions are powered by Capital and Market Networks teams, the depth of reserves between its own funds and its diverse set of vibrant LPs, and the platform partners in Constellation (finance and legal) and MetaMorph (talent).

Blume is also a market leader in emerging market segments where technology shapes new business models or disrupts older ones. It has dozens of category creators or category winners in its portfolio across its three fund portfolios: Grey Orange and Carbon Clean in deep tech; Slice, Turtlemint and Smallcase in Fintech; Exotel and Lambdatest in Software; Unacademy and Classplus in Edtech; Purplle and dunzo in commerce; Healthifyme, BeatO and Tricog in Healthtech; Euler, Yulu and BatterySmart in EV Mobility.

Blume manages Continuity funds in addition to the above funds. These include secondary funds (Fund I winners), opportunity funds (Fund I and II winners) and SPVs.

Shivkumar Ganesan, CEO and co-founder of Exotel, endorses this full stack and deeper approach from Blume in their journey. “Blume has been a great partner for us. They were the first ones to bet on us and continued to do so through thick and thin! Without their support, I cannot imagine Exotel to have become the company it is today.”

Manish Taneja, CEO and co-founder of Purplle, exemplifies what is now a classic Blume relationship. “My relationship with Blume Ventures dates back to 2010-11, when Karthik and Sanjay were raising their first fund. Blume invested in Purplle in 2013 and has been a strong partner for us ever since. Ashish (our Board Member from Blume), has been on our Board since 2013 and has played a key role in guiding us, helping us with Board dynamics and also introducing us to key future investors. Blume is truly a founder’s first VC and Blume’s partners are best in class. I wish Blume a lot of success and I also wish more firms get access to Blume’s capital.”

Categories: News

Tags:

3d investors becomes majority shareholder of in-lite, Dutch market leader in outdoor lighting

3D Investors

Along with founder and CEO Jürgen van Dijk and the in-lite management team, 3d investors is going to help in-lite to grow further internationally in the coming years by taking a majority shareholding in the business. The management team will remain operationally active and financially connected to the company. Thanks to this investment, in-lite can take the next big steps in realising its international growth ambitions and strengthening its market position in the US and Canada. With this shareholding, 3d investors is further strengthening its position in the Dutch market.

in-lite, based in Gorinchem, designs, produces and sells cutting-edge, low-voltage outdoor lighting. It focuses primarily on mid-range and high-end gardens, for which the lighting can be bought and installed through garden professionals. in-lite lighting is used in a number of luxury projects including Kontiki Beach Resort Curaçao and Hotel & Spa du Castellet, various acclaimed restaurants in the Netherlands and abroad, and the most exclusive private gardens. The company is the Dutch market leader in its segment, exports to Belgium, Germany and Scandinavia, and has built up strong market positioning in the United States and Canada. Outdoor lighting is a growth market, with a growth rate forecast of 5 to 10% per year.

Rapid growth thanks to focus and continuous development and innovation

in-lite was established in 1999 and has grown rapidly in a short space of time, thanks to its continuous investment in the design and development of new products. What is unique about in-lite’s products is that they work on a low voltage. This makes them modular, safe for people and animals, and easy for any garden professional to install.

Jürgen van Dijk, founder and CEO of in-lite: “With this investment from 3d investors, we can strengthen our capital and further grow in-lite internationally. Our ambition is to become the number-one brand in outdoor lighting in Western Europe and North America. At in-lite, we believe that every garden should be beautifully lit, as that is what really creates the magic. Thanks to the expertise of 3d investors, we will get on board experienced “business builders” and entrepreneurs. They will help us build on our current foundations and accelerate our growth. I am also delighted that, in conjunction with my team and 3d investors, I can keep building our wonderful company over the coming years.”

De Tijd: “The Netherlands: takeover country of choice for Belgian businesses”

In recent years there has been a clear upwards trend in Belgian businesses investing in and taking over Dutch firms. The Netherlands is the takeover country of choice for Belgian businesses according to a recent headline in Belgian newspaper De Tijd. This is the third Dutch business that 3d investors has invested in, thereby confirming its ambitions in the Dutch market.

Hans Swinnen, Partner at 3d investors: “After Care Cosmetics and DSIT, in-lite is the third Dutch company that we are currently investing in. This investment complements our participation in Jati & Kebon, a leading outdoor furniture manufacturer. Through these two companies, we cover a great deal of the outdoor lighting and furniture market. The customer-orientation, focus and entrepreneurship of Jürgen van Dijk and his team played an important role in our decision, and perfectly match with the entrepreneurial, family-business values of 3d investors. The partnership with in-lite seamlessly aligns with our passion to grow strong businesses to the next level internationally.”

Categories: News

Tags:

Balance Point Announces Follow-On Investment in Shift Paradigm

Balance Point Capital
Westport, CT, December 6, 2022 – Balance Point Capital Advisors, LLC (“Balance Point”), in conjunction with its affiliated fund Balance Point Capital Partners II, L.P, is pleased to announce a follow-on investment in Shift Paradigm (the “Company”). Balance Point invested debt capital in support of Shift Paradigm’s acquisition of Ergo, a world-class email marketing company based in New York City. Growth Catalyst Partners (“GCP”), a middle market private equity firm and majority owner of Shift Paradigm, led the transaction. The combination deepens the Company’s email and customer journey capabilities, supporting Shift Paradigm’s mission of accelerating value creation through digital transformations that shift how companies grow and engage with customers.
“The Ergo transaction meaningfully expands our talented team and expertise in channel, campaign and customer engagement, AI and digital transformation,” said Liz Ross, CEO of Shift Paradigm. “Our growing platform is able to provide enhanced best-in-class services to our clients while continuing our promise to deliver innovative and transformative digital strategies with exceptional execution. Balance Point’s support and shared vision was instrumental to completing this transaction and driving our continued growth trajectory.”
Ergo, founded in 2004 and based in New York, NY, is a leading provider of innovative tools to help businesses connect with their customers. Ergo makes advanced personalization at scale simple, right inside its customer’s ESPs. Marketers can now leverage a myriad of data to auto-generate millions of individual HTML-based dynamic content email modules for a truly personalized 1:1 CX.
Justin Kaplan, Partner at Balance Point said, “We are pleased to continue our partnership with the Shift Paradigm and GCP teams, and we’re excited to welcome the Ergo team to the platform. The combination of these two businesses adds to the momentum that Liz and her team have built in the business. We are very enthusiastic about the outlook for Shift Paradigm heading into 2023.”
About Shift Paradigm
Shift Paradigm unleashes the power of insights, enabled by data fluidity and creative go-to-market strategies to accelerate revenue and drive market growth. With 200+ employees in North America, Shift Paradigm is aligning sales and marketing in organizations around the world, digitally transforming customer experiences in the B2B and B2C spaces. For more information, please visit https://www.shiftparadigm.com.
About Balance Point
Balance Point is an alternative investment manager focused on the lower middle market. With approximately $1.7 billion in assets under management, Balance Point invests debt and equity capital in select lower middle market companies across a variety of investment vehicles. Balance Point takes a long-term, partnership approach to investing and is committed to building lasting relationships with its partners, management teams and intermediaries. Balance Point is a registered investment adviser. Further information is available at www.balancepointcapital.com.

Categories: News

Tags:

Nordstjernan to forge new partnership with OBOS in the construction company NCC

Nordstjernan

The Norwegian company OBOS, a leading property developer in Norway that is also growing rapidly in the Swedish market, is to acquire 6.5 percent of the capital and 23.1 percent of the votes in NCC from Nordstjernan. OBOS possesses broad and in-depth industry know-how of the entire value chain, both as a residential developer and as the principal owner of the listed construction companies Veidekke and AF-Gruppen.

 

“We are very pleased about the opportunity to acquire this shareholding in NCC, which is one of the leading construction companies in the Nordic region, and we are looking forward to assuming an active role in developing the company together with Nordstjernan, the company’s Board of Directors and management,” says Daniel Kjørberg Siraj, CEO of OBOS.

 

“We look forward to having OBOS as a partner that is an expert in the sector. As an active owner, Nordstjernan has positive experiences of working in various forms of partnership. This year alone, we have, for example, invested in the diagnostics company Aidian and entered a partnership with the Norwegian holding company Ferd. The transaction with OBOS is similar to this model. NCC’s Board of Directors and management do a great job, and we believe in the company. As a continued active owner of NCC, we see that considerable long-term value creation remains,” says Peter Hofvenstam, CEO of Nordstjernan.

 

The transaction consists of 5 million Class A shares and 2 million Class B shares, with a purchase consideration amounting to SEK 772.5 million, corresponding to a volume-weighted price per share of about SEK 110. Following the transaction, Nordstjernan’s ownership amounts to about 5.0 million Class A shares and 4.7 million Class B shares, corresponding to 8.9 percent of capital and 24.3 percent of votes.

 

“For the last number of years, Nordstjernan has been undergoing a strategic transformation. This year alone, we have invested SEK 3 billion in new companies such as engcon, Norva24 and Aidian. From investing almost exclusively in a single sector – construction – we now have active investments in five sectors,” concludes Peter Hofvenstam.

 

Peter Hofvenstam

President and CEO

Nordstjernan AB

 

Questions will be answered by:

 

Stefan Stern, Head of Communications, Nordstjernan

Telephone: +46 70 636 74 17

E-mail: stefan.stern@nordstjernan.se

 

 

Nordstjernan is a family-controlled investment company whose business concept is to be an active owner that creates long-term value growth. More information about Nordstjernan can be found on www.nordstjernan.se.

 

At the start of Nordstjernan’s modern history in 1999, the only company in which it owned a stake was NCC. Since then, the portfolio has been diversified through returns, value creation and investments based on the sole company owned at that time.

 

Since 2020, Nordstjernan has developed a new sector-based strategy with long-term active investments in high-quality companies in sectors with sustainable competitive advantages and strong structural market trends. Less than one-fifth of Nordstjernan’s net asset value is currently comprised of holdings in the Construction & Real estate sector. Instead, the Health sector accounts for about one-third of the portfolio and the Industry & Trade sector accounts for more than two-fifths. The majority of the net asset value is currently derived from privately owned companies. The business consists of both listed and unlisted portfolio companies as well as corporate credits. More mature companies have also been supplemented with investments in smaller growth companies.

Categories: News

Tags:

BGF invests £5 million in Northern Irish façade specialists, Clarke Group

BGF

BGF has invested £5 million in Clarke Group, a building façade specialist based in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, to support its growth across the UK and Ireland.

Founded in 1996 by Michael Clarke, the family-owned business specialises in innovative design-led façade projects, providing an end-to-end service to blue-chip construction industry clients such as Berkeley, Morgan Sindall, and Balfour Beatty.

With a strong market reputation for producing high quality, sustainable products and cutting-edge designs for high-rise commercial and residential buildings, Clarke has recently experienced growth averaging 25% each year since 2018 and delivered revenue in 2022 of close to £30 million.

In June 2022, the business also opened a new high-spec head office and state of the art offsite manufacturing facility in Ballymena to support team expansion as it aims to become an industry leader in the coming years.

The investment from BGF will support a strong order book as Clarke continues to scale across the UK and Ireland.

BGF’s Talent Network has also introduced Adrian Ringrose, an experienced leader within the construction industry, to the business as Non-Executive Chair.

With increased regulation regarding the fire safety of high-rise buildings post-Grenfell, the demand for safe and sustainable façades and cladding has increased. Our market leading designs and sector-experienced team mean we’re fast becoming the partner of choice for top tier construction firms across the UK.

Eugene Clarke, managing director of Clarke

“It was important for us to find an investment partner that could provide not only capital, but also expertise at Board level to support the company as it scales. The access to BGF’s network has been invaluable and we’re also delighted to welcome Adrian to the team.”

BGF has now invested c.£65 million into Northern Irish businesses, making it one of the most significant investors in the region.

Chris Nixon, investor at BGF, added: “The UK façade market dynamics are extremely strong and double-digit sector growth will be underpinned in the long term by fire safety and ESG-related demand. When you combine this with Clarke’s track record of quality and excellence, its impressive customer base, and a focussed and experienced management team, we believe the business is perfectly primed to take further market share in the coming years. We’re delighted to be supporting the business at such a pivotal point in their growth journey.”

Categories: News

Tags:

Aurora Capital Partners Backed Grace Hill Acquires Edge2Learn and Ellis Partners in Management Solutions

Aurora Capital

GREENVILLE, S.C., Dec. 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Grace Hill, an innovator of talent and customer management solutions for commercial and multi-family real estate, announced today that it has acquired Edge2Learn, an e-learning company providing training and policy management solutions in the multifamily industry, and Ellis Partners in Management Solutions (“Ellis”), a provider of mystery shopping and resident and employee survey solutions.  Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Edge2Learn and Ellis provide e-learning as well as policy, survey, mystery shopping and data-driven insights to help property owners and operators retain top talent and improve property operating and financial performance.  The companies have established a deep stable of industry leading content with over 600 online training courses that serve multi-family rental communities, including conventional, affordable, student and senior markets.  Together, the combined company will provide a next-generation employee and property intelligence platform that maximizes an employee’s potential and a company’s bottom line.

“Edge2Learn and Ellis share our commitment to developing best-in-class training, mystery shopping and management solutions to help leading real estate operators and owners increase property performance, reduce operating risk and grow and develop employees,” said Kendall Pretzer, CEO of Grace Hill.  “By bringing our resources together, we will create a clear leader in the industry, enabling us to further deliver on our mission to improve employee performance and development while delivering important insights to owners and operators.  I look forward to working with Joanna, Francis and the rest of the Edge2Learn and Ellis teams to continue advancing the innovative tools we offer the multi-family and commercial real estate industries.”

“Grace Hill, Edge2Learn and Ellis have established well-deserved reputations as leaders in real estate training and customer feedback,” said Joanna Ellis, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Edge2Learn and Ellis.  “We are excited to partner with the Grace Hill and Aurora teams to create a one-of-a-kind company that understands and continues to prioritize the needs of our combined customer base.”

“This combination will allow us to leverage the best of both companies,” added Francis Chow, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Edge2Learn and Ellis.  “Together, we will combine the best talent and integrated solutions to provide exceptional service to our customers with an expanded product portfolio, all while investing in new and innovative solutions to continue to address our customers’ most critical operating challenges.”

“We identified Grace Hill as a unique market leader with significant growth potential, and this is exactly the type of transformative transaction we look to execute early in our hold period,” said Rob Fraser, Partner at Aurora.  “The combination of these leading businesses and management teams will enhance long-standing customer relationships through a larger suite of scalable management and training solutions and deeper customer service capabilities, and we will invest aggressively to continue to be the innovation leader in the market.”

Since partnering with Aurora in May 2021, Grace Hill has enhanced its management team with the appointment of Kendall Pretzer as CEO in May 2021 and the addition of Charles Loop as Chief Financial Officer, Todd Harkness as Chief Revenue Officer, Rob Beauchamp as Chief Product Officer and Traci Johnson as Chief Marketing Officer.

Massumi + Consoli LLP and Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP served as legal advisors to Grace Hill.

About Grace Hill
Grace Hill provides technology-enabled performance solutions that help owners and operators of real estate properties increase property performance, reduce operating risk and grow top talent. Its industry-leading solutions covering policy, training, assessment, survey, and data-driven insights are bolstered by years of real estate experience, in-depth service-level expertise and outstanding customer support. Today, more than 500,000 real estate professionals from more than 1,700 companies rely on talent performance solutions from Grace Hill. Visit us at gracehill.com or on LinkedIn.

About Edge2Learn
Edge2Learn is an e-learning company whose focus is the Property Management Industry and specializes in property management training and policy management solutions. With almost 40 years of industry experience and a commitment to increase multifamily performance, Edge2Learn is passionate about delivering education, assessment, and policies that maximizes benefits for both companies and employees. Edge2Learn program engages learners and prepares them to deliver a superior customer experience. Also, in turn, it improves operating performance and reduces corporate liability risks and overall employee turnover.

About Ellis
Established in 1984 to evaluate customer service and performance of onsite leasing professionals through comprehensive mystery shopping reports, Ellis has become the nation’s leading apartment mystery shopping company.  The growing demand to further understand and improve lead conversion encouraged the company to expand into resident retention services in 2011, introducing multiple touchpoint resident survey programs that allow clients to understand their customer’s journey through customer feedback.  In conjunction with its survey platform, Ellis offers employee surveys that provide insight into the level of engagement with and loyalty to your organization and help you better understand your employees’ personal goals for career growth.

About Aurora Capital Partners
Aurora Capital Partners is a leading private equity firm focused principally on control investments in middle-market companies with leading market positions, stable industry dynamics, attractive business model characteristics and actionable opportunities for growth in partnership with management. Aurora provides unique resources to its portfolio companies through its Strategy & Operations Program and its team of experienced operating advisors. Aurora’s investors include leading public and corporate pension funds, endowments and foundations active in private equity investing. For more information about Aurora Capital Partners, visit: www.auroracap.com.

Media Contacts
Grace Hill
LinnellTaylor Marketing
Darcey Leach
(303) 682-5005
darcey@linnelltaylor.com

Aurora Capital Partners
ASC Advisors
Taylor Ingraham / Harriet Hartman
203-992-1230
tingraham@ascadvisors.com / hhartman@ascadvisors.com

SOURCE Aurora Capital Partners

Categories: News

Tags:

Arcus agrees to acquire SDC SpaceNet DataCenter

Arcus

London, United Kingdom 6 December 2022 – Arcus Infrastructure Partners LLP (“Arcus”) announces that Arcus European Infrastructure Fund 3 SCSp (“AEIF3” or the “Fund”) has agreed to acquire SDC SpaceNet DataCenter GmbH & Co, KG (“SDC”), one of Europe’s most modern data centres, from SpaceNet AG.

SDC, located in Kirchheim, Munich, owns a modern, high specification data centre which has been built to an extremely resilient design, and is certified to the EN50600 VK4 standard, the highest availability standard.

Arcus is focused on ensuring that its investments have a positive ESG impact. The acquisition of SDC fits well into its long-term sustainable investment strategy thanks to SDC’s market leading energy efficiency characteristics and 100% of its energy being renewably sourced.

SpaceNet AG is a full-service internet provider which has been supplying the German market for around 30 years. SpaceNet will continue to be a long-term customer of SDC, which will house the IT servers and equipment of SpaceNet’s business customers.

Arcus is pursuing a regional edge co-location platform strategy focused on serving tier two German cities and selected adjacent European countries on an opportunistic basis. Arcus identified SDC as a target investment for AEIF3 via a detailed market screening and outreach process and entered into bilateral discussions with SpaceNet AG which culminated in the acquisition agreement being announced today.

John Shea, Arcus Partner, who led the transaction, said: “We have evaluated numerous data centre businesses across Germany and Europe over the past few years. SDC stood out as a very suitable first acquisition for our data centre aggregation strategy due to its great location, high-specification design, market leading energy efficiency characteristics, high quality anchor customers, and development potential. We look forward to our partnership with the SpaceNet team going forward as we work on delivering the next phase of growth for this business and our broader platform strategy.”

Michael Emmer, COO of SpaceNet AG, said: “Arcus is a partner we very much see eye to eye with, which was important to us in the sale context as well as with a view to our future long-term partnership. The development of SDC fulfilled our ambition to create a data centre with the highest availability, physical security and the most energy-efficient characteristics possible. On this basis we have the fullest confidence in SDC to house both our servers and those of our valued customers.”

 

Commenting on the acquisition, Ian Harding, Managing Partner at Arcus said: “We are really pleased to announce our agreement to acquire SDC by our third fund, AEIF3. Data centres are essential infrastructure to support the growth in demand for data processing services and business continuity solutions and we are delighted to be making our first acquisition in this space. We look forward to working with SDC and expanding into this sector further.”

 

“Our decision to sell SDC to Arcus was the logical consequence of continuing to focus strategically on our core competencies as an internet provider. Basically, nothing changes for our customers,” says Sebastian von Bomhard, Managing Director of SDC and member of the SpaceNet Board of Directors. “The on-site team will remain the same. A smooth continuation of data centre services for all SpaceNet customers is ensured by a long-term lease agreement.”

 

The transaction is expected to complete in Q1 2023.

 

Arcus was advised by Noerr (Legal), Arup (Technical adviser) BDO (Financial and tax adviser), and AON (Insurance).

 

SpaceNet was advised by Poellath (Legal).

About Arcus

Arcus Infrastructure Partners LLP is an independent fund manager focused solely on long-term investments in European infrastructure. Arcus invests on behalf of institutional investors through discretionary funds and special co-investment vehicles and, through its subsidiaries, currently manages investments with an aggregate enterprise value in excess of EUR 19bn (as of 30 September 2022). Arcus targets mid-market, value-add infrastructure investments, with a particular focus on businesses in the digital, transport, logistics & industrials, and energy sectors.

www.arcusip.com

About SpaceNet AG

With its more than 120 employees, SpaceNet supports IT managers and managing directors in building up a strong corporate IT operation, keeping it running and developing digital opportunities. In doing so, it offers managed IT services, support and management for non-standard applications, 24×7 services, personal consulting and secure cloud services.

SpaceNet operates its cloud and IT services in three redundant high-security data centres in Munich. SpaceNet is certified according to the ISO 27001 security standard and works according to ITIL. The Munich-based company has placed great emphasis on training for 20 years and was awarded the 2019 Training Company Certificate by the Chamber of Industry and Commerce.

SpaceNet serves around 1,200 customers such as Antenne Bayern and the Munich Transport and Tariff Association (MVV). The SpaceNet family of companies includes SDC and brück IT GmbH, a systems house specializing in services and software for lawyers. The Munich-based company is one of the Internet pioneers in the industry and was founded in 1993 by current CEO Sebastian von Bomhard, who now runs it together with Michael Emmer.https://www.space.net/

Arcus Media Contacts:

Debbie JohnstonE: debbie@sprengthomson.com

T: +44 7532 183811

 Callum SprengE: callum@sprengthomson.com

T: +44 7803 970103

Categories: News

Tags:

KKR to acquire Clinisupplies to accelerate growth and help build a leading international chronic care medical devices platform

KKR

KKR to support organic and inorganic growth to enhance Clinisupplies’ leadership position in collecting devices and expand its broader chronic care portfolio

Claus Bjerre, KKR Senior Advisor and former Chief Executive Officer of Atos Medical AB, to serve as Chairman of Clinisupplies’ Board of Directors

LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)– KKR, a leading global investment firm, announced today that KKR has agreed to acquire Clinisupplies, a market leader in continence care products in the UK, from Healthium. Clinisupplies’ management team will continue to hold a minority position. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Clinisupplies is a UK-based manufacturer and distributor of continence care products, including urinary collecting devices and catheters. Clinisupplies’ products are supplied to hospitals and pharmacies, while also available for delivery to patients directly through its home delivery services – “Clinidirect.” Clinisupplies is headquartered in Watford, London, and employs over 400 employees.

Claus Bjerre, KKR Senior Advisor and former Chief Executive Officer of Atos Medical AB and former President, North America, of Coloplast, will serve as Chairman of Clinisupplies’ Board of Directors, where he will draw on his extensive sector experience and help guide the group on its future growth. In addition to leveraging KKR’s broader advisor and expert network, industry veteran Douglas Le Fort, who brings over 20 years of senior executive leadership experience, including as an Executive Committee Member at ConvaTec Group, will also join the Board of Directors.

Paul Cook, CEO of Clinisupplies, commented: “We are thrilled to form this strategic partnership with KKR, and to be welcoming Claus and Douglas to our Board. This transaction presents a pivotal growth opportunity for the business, and to be able to leverage their collective skills and expertise will be invaluable as we position the business for the future. With KKR’s global network and market knowledge, and with this strong suite of industry advisors, we will be able to expand into new products and geographies, helping to support more and more people and bringing us one step closer to our goal of becoming an international leader in the chronic care market.”

Claus Bjerre, KKR Senior Advisor, commented: “Clinisupplies has an industry leading track record as a fully integrated provider of continence care solutions to clinics and patients across the UK. Its business model covers the entire value chain, from R&D and manufacturing to direct-to-patient sales and distribution, allowing the group to continuously understand and address the evolving needs of patients, clinicians, and caregivers alike. I look forward to collaborating with Clinisupplies’ outstanding management team in pursuing its ambitious growth plans.”

Kugan Sathiyanandarajah, Managing Director and Head of Europe for KKR Health Care Strategic Growth, said: “Clinisupplies is a proven market leader in collecting devices in the UK with a differentiated business model. This investment is another example of our Health Care Strategic Growth platform strategy in collaboration with proven operators in a thematic area we have been following for some time. We are delighted to be bringing together an exceptional management team led by Paul with a highly experienced advisory suite led by Claus.”

KKR is investing in Clinisupplies through KKR Health Care Strategic Growth Fund II, a $4.0 billion fund focused on investing in high-growth health care companies. KKR has a long track record of supporting health care companies globally, having invested approximately $17 billion in the sector since 2004.

KKR was advised by Houlihan Lokey (financial advisor), Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP (legal counsel), PWC (financial & tax) and BCG (commercial).

— ends —

About KKR

KKR is a leading global investment firm that offers alternative asset management as well as capital markets and insurance solutions. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people, and supporting growth in its portfolio companies and communities. KKR sponsors investment funds that invest in private equity, credit and real assets and has strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKR’s insurance subsidiaries offer retirement, life and reinsurance products under the management of Global Atlantic Financial Group. References to KKR’s investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds and insurance subsidiaries. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE: KKR), please visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.

About Clinisupplies

Clinisupplies is a leading UK-based manufacturer and supplier of medical appliances specialising in continence products for managing acute and chronic conditions. The company also offers a portfolio of bandages and garments for the treatment of wounds and chronic skin conditions. Employing over 400 people in the UK, China and India, Clinisupplies supplies its products to the NHS and delivers direct to patients’ homes through Clinidirect, its dispensing appliance contractor.

Clinisupplies is focused on developing products which are simple and discreet to use. Its product development team works with clinicians and patients to develop a strong product pipeline to be manufactured at its CE, ISO, US FDA approved facilities.

Please visit www.clinisupplies.co.uk for further information.

Media
FGS Global
Alastair Elwen / Sophia Johnston
Telephone: +44 20 7251 3801
Email: KKR-Lon@FGSGlobal.com

Source: KKR

<< Back to Press Releases

Categories: News

Tags: