Monthly Archives: February 2019

Proposal by the Board of Directors concerning dividend in Ratos and publication of report for the fourth quarter and full-year 2018

Ratos

2019-02-07

At a Board meeting today, the Board of Directors of Ratos AB decided to propose that a dividend of SEK 0.50 (2.00) per share is paid for the 2018 financial year. Given that the Board’s proposal entails a lower dividend, Ratos has also decided to publish its report for the fourth quarter and full-year 2018 earlier than planned. The report will be published today.

The Board has decided to propose a dividend of SEK 0.50 (2.00) per share. The aim of this proposed dividend is to maintain Ratos’s favourable financial position in light of the Group’s results for 2018.

“The proposed dividend should be seen in the light of Ratos being able to stand strong for the future and Ratos’s financial performance in 2018. This will provide us with greater scope to take advantage of any opportunities that may arise” says Ratos’s Chairman of the Board Per-Olof Söderberg.

Since the Board’s proposal concerning dividend is based on Ratos’s financial development during 2018, the company therefore needs to publish this. Ratos therefore brings forward the publication of the report for the fourth quarter and full-year 2018 to date. The preannounced reporting date was February 15, 2019.

A teleconference will be held at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow, 8 February. To participate in the teleconference, call +46 8 505 583 59 (SE), +44 33 3300 9269 (UK) or +1 833 526 8380 (US) five minutes before the conference starts. This teleconference will be held instead of the teleconference on 15 February.

The full dividend proposal will be presented in the notice of the Annual General Meeting.

All infromation related to the year-end report can be found here.

For further information, please contact:
Jonas Wiström, CEO Ratos, +46 8 700 17 00
Helene Gustafsson, Head of IR and Press Ratos, +46 8 700 17 98

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Onex’ SMG Announces Merger with AEG Facilities – – Forming ASM Global, a Dynamic Company Spanning Five Continents –

Onex

Los Angeles, CA, West Conshohocken, PA, Toronto, ON, February 7, 2019 – AEG Facilities, the venue management subsidiary of AEG, and SMG, an Onex (TSX: ONEX) portfolio company, today announced they have signed a definitive agreement to merge. This combination will create a new, standalone global facility management and venue services company that will operate as ASM Global (“ASM”). Onex and AEG’s subsidiary will each own 50% of the company following the completion of the transaction. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
ASM will be headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, with key operations based in West Conshohocken, PA, a suburb of Philadelphia. Led by the most experienced team in the industry, the company will operate a diversified portfolio of arenas, stadiums, convention centers and performing arts centers, with more than 310 venues across five continents.
Wes Westley, Chief Executive Officer and President of SMG, said, “This merger is a major step for our industry. We are excited to bring together these complementary businesses to further elevate the standard of excellence in venue management. We plan to accelerate innovation by combining our expertise to deliver increased value and offer enhanced capabilities to municipalities and venue owners worldwide. At the same time, we expect that this transaction will offer employees at both our corporate headquarters and field operations tremendous new opportunities.”
Bob Newman, current President of AEG Facilities and formerly a Regional Vice President at SMG, said, “It is an honor and privilege to be a part of this exciting new company, which brings together the two organizations where I have worked for the bulk of my professional career. This transaction draws upon the depth of our combined talent and resources to create an organization that will deliver value and long-term success, as well as innovative services to our clients around the world.”

Following the completion of the transaction, Mr. Newman will be named President and CEO of ASM. Mr. Westley will join ASM’s Board of Directors, where he will actively support the merger integration.

Dan Beckerman, President and Chief Executive Officer of AEG, said, “AEG Facilities has flourished under Bob’s leadership since it was established a decade ago and this combination will position ASM for growth by joining the resources and talents of these two companies. ASM will offer an impressive array of capabilities that will accelerate the development and deployment of new services and bring diverse business, sports and entertainment experiences to municipalities, partners and fans around the world.”

Amir Motamedi, a Managing Director of Onex, added, “With Wes at the helm, SMG became a gold standard in venue management. We are grateful for his stewardship over the last 25 years and look forward to his continued involvement on the board. Looking forward, we are thrilled to be partnering with Bob Newman and the talented AEG team to create a larger, more diverse company to better serve ASM’s clients.”
AEG will retain ownership of its real estate holdings outside of this venture, including its entertainment districts and owned venues in Los Angeles, London, Hamburg and Berlin, as well as its extensive development, sports, music and sponsorship divisions. Onex is contributing its entire equity investment in SMG into the merger. The transaction is expected to be completed later this year subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

About Onex
Onex is one of the oldest and most successful private equity firms. Through its Onex Partners and ONCAP private equity funds, Onex acquires and builds high-quality businesses in partnership with talented management teams. At Onex Credit, Onex manages and invests in leveraged loans, collateralized loan obligations and other credit securities. Onex has more than $33 billion of assets under management, including $6.9 billion of Onex proprietary capital, in private equity and credit securities. With offices in Toronto, New York, New Jersey and London, Onex and the team are collectively the largest investors across Onex’ platforms.
Onex’ businesses have assets of $52 billion, generate annual revenues of $32 billion and employ approximately 218,000 people worldwide. Onex shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the stock symbol ONEX. For more information on Onex, visit its website at www.onex.com. Onex’ security filings can also be accessed at www.sedar.com.

About SMG
Founded in 1977, SMG provides management services to more than 240 public assembly facilities including convention and exhibition centers, arenas, stadiums, theatres, performing arts centers, equestrian facilities and a variety of other venues. With facilities across the globe, SMG manages more than 20 million square feet of exhibition space and over 1.6 million sports and entertainment seats. SMG provides venue management, sales, marketing, event booking and programming, construction and design consulting, and pre-opening services. SMG Europe manages entertainment venues and food and beverage operations at locations throughout Europe, including in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Poland. For more information visit www.smgworld.com or www.smg-europe.com.

About AEG Facilities
AEG Facilities is a subsidiary of AEG, a leading sports and live entertainment company. AEG Facilities operates some of the industry’s preeminent venues worldwide, across five continents, providing complete venue management, as well as specialized programs in operations, guest services, ticketing, booking, sales and marketing. AEG Facilities also provides its clients resources and access to other AEG-affiliated entities, including AEG Presents, one of the largest live music companies in the world, AEG Global Partnerships and AEG Real Estate, as well as such programs as AEG 1Earth and AEG Encore to support the success of its venues across the globe. For more information, please visit www.aegworldwide.com.

About AEG
Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, AEG is a leading sports and live entertainment company. With offices on five continents, AEG operates in the following business segments: AEG Facilities, which manages or consults with preeminent arenas, stadiums and convention centers around the world; AEG Presents, which is dedicated to all aspects of live contemporary music performances, including producing and promoting global and regional concert tours, music and special events and world-renowned festivals; AEG Real Estate, which develops world-class venues, as well as major sports and entertainment districts like STAPLES Center and L.A. LIVE; AEG Sports, which is the world’s largest operator of sports franchises and high-profile sporting events; and AEG Global Partnerships, which oversees worldwide sales and servicing of sponsorships including naming rights, premium seating and other strategic partnerships. Through its worldwide network of venues, portfolio of powerful sports and music brands and its integrated entertainment districts, AEG entertains more than 100 million guests annually. More information about AEG can be found at www.aegworldwide.com.

This news release may contain forward-looking statements that are based on current expectations and are subject to known and unknown uncertainties and risks, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated or implied by such forward-looking statements. The companies are under no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained herein should material facts change due to new information, future events or otherwise.

For further information:
Onex
Emilie Blouin
Director, Investor Relations
Tel: +1.416.362.7711
SMG
Steve Patterson
Res Publica Group
Tel: +1.312.504.7848
AEG and AEG Facilities
Michael Roth
VP, Communications
Tel: +1.213.472.7255

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STERN seeks cooperation with strategic lease partner

NPM Capital

Stern Groep N.V., the listed Dutch market leader in automotive retail, presented its new strategic plan ‘Fast Forward Reloaded’ for 2019 – 2022 to investors and analysts on 20 December 2018. An important part is the search for a strategic partner for the lease activities, subject to this delivering mutual benefits. Stern intends to sell its lease portfolio to a lease partner, that in exchange will make solid commitments regarding the long-term supply of services by Stern Group in relation to the purchase of cars, maintenance, repairs, car body repairs and rental of cars and alternative electric forms of transport.

Fast Forward Reloaded
Since its incorporation in 1993, Stern Group (an NPM Capital portfolio company) has been working on an integrated mobility proposition in which the various activities strengthen each other. Stern itself thus provides a proportion of the necessary revenue and added value per business unit and can therefore position itself more independently with respect to large parties in the automotive sector such as importers, insurers and lease companies.

For the success of this strategy, keeping the mobility services such as insurance and finance on the balance sheet is not necessary. For instance, there was the successful sale of Stern Finance B.V., the own intermediary for retail and commercial finance and insurance, to Bovemij in 2010. Stern has continued to sell finance and insurance products to consumers and businesses since that time.

Follow-up
After the trading update of 14 November 2018, in which Stern announced that it would be reviewing the strategic options for SternLease, positive exploratory talks have taken place. Important decisions will be taken in the coming months. ING Corporate Finance and Van Doorne have been engaged by Stern as financial and legal advisers respectively. Once the terms of the deal and following steps are clear, Stern Group will issue a press release without delay and convene an Extraordinary Meeting of Shareholders.

Read the full press release of Stern Groep

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OneStream Software to Receive Significant Investment from KKR

KKR

Michigan-based Global CPM Solution Provider is Accelerating Its Position as the One-Stop Solution for the Office of the CFO

ROCHESTER, Mich.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Feb. 7, 2019– OneStream Software LLC (“OneStream”), a leading provider of cloud or on-premise Corporate Performance Management (CPM) solutions for mid-sized to large enterprises, announced today that it has entered into an agreement to receive a significant investment from KKR, funded through a combination of KKR’s private equity and growth equity funds. The capital infusion is OneStream’s first from an external investor, after achieving nearly 500% growth over the last three years while maintaining strong profitability. The investment brings the company’s valuation to over $1.0 billion.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here:https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190207005186/en/

“Since founding this company in 2010, after having been a part of the CPM market for 20-plus years, we set out to create a platform to break down the siloes across different functions within the office of the CFO to not only modernize it, but to revolutionize organizations,” said OneStream CEO Tom Shea. “We have done this in a customer-centric way, in which every customer is a reference and has a platform to accelerate their digital finance transformation at their own pace. We are pleased to have an experienced investor like KKR back our platform and our vision for continued growth.”

OneStream’s platform is uniquely designed to address the complex requirements of corporate finance, local finance and diverse operational business units in a single application. Companies depend on OneStream to streamline multiple financial processes, including financial and operational planning, close and consolidation, compliance and regulatory reporting, and financial and business analytics. The software is architected to support large-scale cloud deployments and can easily extend to address new functional requirements and digital transformation without disruption.

OneStream’s business is expanding rapidly across new geographies, industries, and government agencies that are looking to modernize their finance functions and systems. The capital infusion will be used to accelerate investments in sales, marketing, product development and customer success to capitalize on OneStream’s strong momentum and increasing demand in new and existing markets, following record growth in 2018. Companies such as UPS®, Sagent Pharmaceuticals, Post Holdings, Inc., Fruit of the Loom, The Carlyle Group, Melrose PLC and many others depend on OneStream to streamline their multiple financial processes.

“Based on their more than two decades of experience developing software solutions for the office of the CFO, the OneStream team has taken a modern platform approach to addressing the complex financial structures facing large organizations today. As a result, OneStream’s platform is rapidly gaining mindshare as the high-quality and high-value alternative to maintaining cumbersome legacy applications,” said Dave Welsh, Member and Head of TMT Growth Equity at KKR. “We look forward to supporting the company with our proven capabilities to help our portfolio companies drive international expansion, scale operations, and enable access to a broader range of customers across industries and government.”

Upon closing of the transaction, General (Ret.) David H. Petraeus, Member, KKR, and Chairman of the KKR Global Institute; Dave Welsh, Member, KKR, and Head of TMT Growth Equity at KKR; and Jim Miele, Principal, KKR, will join OneStream’s board of directors.

Wells Fargo Securities served as exclusive financial adviser to OneStream on the transaction.

About OneStream Software
OneStream Software provides a modern Corporate Performance Management solution that unifies and simplifies financial consolidation, planning, reporting, analytics and financial data quality for sophisticated organizations. Deployed in the cloud or on-premise, OneStream XF is one of the first and only solutions that delivers corporate standards and controls, with the flexibility for business units to report and plan at additional levels of detail without impacting corporate standards – all through a single application.

The OneStream XF MarketPlace features downloadable solutions that allow customers to easily extend the value of their CPM platform to quickly meet the changing needs of finance and operations. OneStream was named to the 2018 Deloitte Fast 500 ranking in North America.

About KKR
KKR is a leading global investment firm that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate and credit, with strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns for its fund investors by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people, and driving growth and value creation with KKR portfolio companies. KKR invests its own capital alongside the capital it manages for fund investors and provides financing solutions and investment opportunities through its capital markets business. References to KKR’s investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR), please visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.

Source: KKR

For OneStream Software:
Chris McManus
(917) 324 0808
chrism@narratemarketing.com

For KKR:
Kristi Huller or Cara Major
(212) 750 8300
media@kkr.com

 

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Altor completes successful fundraising for Fund V

Altor

Altor has closed its fifth fund, Altor Fund V. The Fund held a single closing at its hard cap of EUR 2.5 billion after a brief fundraising period, where the Fund was substantially oversubscribed. Altor will continue investing in and developing mid‐market companies in the Nordic region but will also focus on opportunities in the German speaking‐region (DACH). The fund is domiciled in Stockholm, Sweden.

93% of the capital has been committed by existing investors, with only a select group of new investors being invited. The investor base consists mainly of university endowments from the US, charitable foundations, insurance companies and pension funds. Nordic and DACH investors represent 32% of total commitments, with remaining capital being committed by investors mainly from the US, elsewhere in Europe and Middle East.

Altor’s previous funds have generated strong total returns since inception in 2003, with overall gross IRR of 26%. Realized total returns have generated a gross IRR of 35% and a money multiple of 3.7x. Altor has consistently been ranked among the leading Private Equity firms globally based on long-term performance. Altor retains its longstanding ambition to create value and generate superior returns by building world‐class companies.

As with prior funds, the new fund will have a 15-year investment term. Investments will generally be made in private companies with revenues typically in the range of EUR 50 to 500 million. More than 50% of investments have been made in partnerships with founders or corporates. The new fund has, as with its predecessors, a flexible investment mandate, which allows for minority investments in publicly traded companies and distressed debt.

“The past year has been an exciting year for Altor, with several exciting new investments (including FH Gruppen, LRF Konsult, O’Learys, Trioplast, Gnist and KonfiDents), the recent partial realization of Orchid as well as our expansion into DACH through our new Zürich‐office” commented Harald Mix, Partner at Altor. “We have during the period also promoted three new partners and also made a number of senior and junior hires to deepen and strengthen the Altor team.”

Altor Fund V is managed by Altor Fund Manager – an authorized manager under the Alternative Investment Funds Act, regulated by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority.

“Demand for Altor Fund V has been extremely strong, with many existing investors increasing the size of their investment as well as significant interest from new investors,” said Laurence Zage, a Managing Director at Monument Group, the private fund placement agent supporting Altor in the fundraising process. “This is testament not only to Altor’s track record of value creation and ability to generate superior returns, but also their trustworthiness and transparency. We are proud to have assisted Altor with each of their previous fundraises in a relationship that dates back more than 15 years.”

For more information:
Harald Mix, Partner Altor: tel +46 8 678 91 00
Tor Krusell, Head of Communications Altor: tel. +46 70 543 8747

About Altor
Since inception, the family of Altor funds has raised some EUR 8.3 billion in total commitments. The funds have invested in excess of EUR 4.2 billion in roughly 60 companies. The investments have been made in medium sized, predominantly Nordic, companies with the aim to create value through growth initiatives and operational improvements. Among current and past investments are Byggmax, Carnegie Investment Bank, Dustin, Helly Hansen, Lindorff and SATS ELIXIA. For more information visit altor.com.

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Amethyst partners with Now Group

Cathay

Amethyst Group Limited (“Amethyst”) is delighted to announce a new partnership with Now Group UK Limited (“Now Group”) to provide its warehousing and distribution services.

Amethyst is a 3PL provider and offers full warehousing and distribution services to its clients from its bases in Warwickshire and Kent. Amethyst opened a new Super Hub at its Wellesbourne site in 2017 to provide high tech modern facilities to its client base. Amethyst services a number of well-known clients in toys & games, baby and fashion sectors. Amethyst, together with its sister company PNC Global Logistics, can also offer freight forwarding services Amethyst can manage your stock from factory to customer.

Now Group is a distributor of Outback BBQ’s, Bose, Denon and other high-end Audio equipment and personal breathalysers.

Allan Fosbrook, Amethyst Sales Director said, “Now Group have a great range of products and we are excited to be working with them to deliver a high quality responsive service”.

Hunter Abbott from Now Group said, “we are delighted to be working with Amethyst. We chose them because we required a company that knows how to deliver on time and in full as our brands required this to grow”.

Amethyst and PNC are part of the Cathay Investments group. For more information see www.amethystgroup.co.uk , www.pncgl.com , www.cathay-investments.com or contact Allan on 07730 982907, afosbrook@amethystgroup.co.uk.

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The Carlyle Group Names Stacey Dion Global Head of Government Affairs

Carlyle

Washington, DC – Global investment firm The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) announced today that Carlyle Managing Director Stacey Dion was promoted to Global Head of Government Affairs. Ms. Dion will lead Carlyle’s global government relations and public policy functions, collaborating with Carlyle senior executives and investment professionals to shape Carlyle’s global legislative and regulatory activities.

Carlyle Co-CEO Glenn Youngkin said, “We are excited for Stacey to move into this global leadership position. In her time at Carlyle she has played key roles on a range of government and regulatory matters for the firm and our global portfolio, including supporting Carlyle’s winning bid for the revitalization of JFK Airport.”

Ms. Dion said, “I am thrilled to be leading Carlyle’s global government affairs team. The rising importance of private capital in the global economy requires that Carlyle and our peers constructively engage with multiple stakeholders around the world. I look forward to working with my colleagues and many others in the policy community to create value for the firm and our global portfolio.”

Ms. Dion joined Carlyle in 2016 as a Managing Director, focusing on U.S. government regulatory and legislative matters. Prior to joining Carlyle, Ms. Dion served as Vice President of Corporate Public Policy for The Boeing Company. Before to moving to the corporate sector, Ms. Dion served as a Policy Advisor and Counsel in the Office of the Republican Leader, a Tax and Pension Policy Advisor in the Office of the Majority Leader and worked in the Employee Benefits Security Administration in the U.S. Department of Labor, as well as in private legal practice in Washington, DC.

Ms. Dion earned her B.A. from Merrimack College and J.D. from The Catholic University of America.

* * * * *

About The Carlyle Group
The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) is a global investment firm with $212 billion of assets under management. Carlyle strives to invest wisely and create value on behalf of its investors, many of whom are public pensions. Carlyle invests across four segments – Corporate Private Equity, Real Assets, Global Credit and Investment Solutions – in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, North America and South America. Carlyle has expertise in various industries, including: aerospace, defense & government services, consumer & retail, energy, financial services, healthcare, industrial, real estate, technology & business services, telecommunications & media and transportation. The Carlyle Group employs more than 1,625 people in 31 offices across six continents.

Web: www.carlyle.com
Videos: www.youtube.com/onecarlyle
Tweets: www.twitter.com/onecarlyle
Podcasts: www.carlyle.com/about-carlyle/market-commentary

Contact:

Elizabeth Gill
Phone: 202-729-5385
elizabeth.gill@carlyle.com

Categories: People

ARDIAN Private Debt provided a senior financing solution to support CARLYLE’S acquisition of SER GROUP

Ardian

Frankfurt, 4 February 2019. Ardian, a world-leading private investment house, as a sole lender, has provided a senior financing package to Carlyle Europe Technology Partners in support of the acquisition of SER Group in Germany. The financing underlines the ongoing expansion of Ardian Private Debt’s direct lending capabilities throughout Europe.

SER is a European Enterprise Content Management solutions (ECM) software company based in Bonn (Germany) and was founded in 1984. SER is committed to innovation, highly customizable and scalable solutions, and excellent client service. SER began as a provider of electronic archiving and has grown into a supplier of state-of-the-art ECM solutions to companies throughout Europe.

Mark Brenke, Managing Director & Co-Head Ardian Private Debt, said: “As a financing partner, we are delighted to be supporting the SER management team together with Carlyle who have a strong track record of investing in B2B technology businesses. SER is the leading independent ECM software provider in the German market, leveraging its proprietary technology platform to support digital collaboration as part of corporate processes”.

Lukas Stepanek, Director within the Ardian Private Debt Team in Germany, said: “We look forward to the longer term cooperation with Carlyle and the management team to help further deliver their innovation and internationalisation strategy”.

Dr. Thorsten Dippel, Managing Director at Carlyle Europe Technology Partners (CETP), said: “We appreciate the constructive support and close cooperation with Ardian Private Debt leading to the transaction and are pleased to have chosen a long term financing partner with the capacity to provide follow-on financing in support of our strategy“.

ABOUT SER GROUP

SER is the largest European ECM provider in terms of turnover, gross profit, operating result and number of employees measured by recent results. This makes SER one of the top 5 “software-only” ECM providers worldwide. ECM excellence by SER – means vision, inspiration, experience and expertise of a team of over 550 employees. More than 2,000 reference clients and 1 million users daily work with Enterprise Content Management from SER. For almost 35 years, SER has been supporting medium-sized companies, corporations, administrations and organizations across all industries with powerful ECM software and professional services from a single source. Leading international IT analysts confirm that Doxis4 is amongst the leading ECM applications in terms of both technology and applications globally. With its homogenous platform for ECM and BPM (Business Process Management), Doxis4 seamlessly combines content and processes, linking people with information, synchronizing business processes and linking knowledge-based collaboration between companies, their suppliers and customers.

ABOUT ARDIAN

Ardian is a world-leading private investment house with assets of US$90bn managed or advised in Europe, the Americas and Asia. The company is majority-owned by its employees. It keeps entrepreneurship at its heart and focuses on delivering excellent investment performance to its global investor base. Through its commitment to shared outcomes for all stakeholders, Ardian’s activities fuel individual, corporate and economic growth around the world. Holding close its core values of excellence, loyalty and entrepreneurship, Ardian maintains a truly global network, with more than 550 employees working from fifteen offices across Europe (Frankfurt, Jersey, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Zurich), the Americas (New York, San Francisco and Santiago) and Asia (Beijing, Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul). It manages funds on behalf of around 800 clients through five pillars of investment expertise: Funds of Funds, Direct Funds, Infrastructure, Real Estate and Private Debt.
www.ardian.com

ABOUT THE CARLYLE GROUP

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) is a global alternative asset manager with $212 billion of assets under management across 339 investment vehicles as of September 30, 2018. Carlyle’s purpose is to invest wisely and create value on behalf of its investors, many of whom are public pensions. Carlyle invests across four segments – Corporate Private Equity, Real Assets, Global Credit and Investment Solutions – in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, North America and South America. Carlyle has expertise in various industries, including: aerospace, defense & government services, consumer & retail, energy, financial services, healthcare, industrial, real estate, technology & business services, telecommunications & media and transportation. The Carlyle Group employs more than 1,625 people in 31 offices across six continents.

PRESS CONTACTS

ARDIAN
Headland
Viktor Tsvetanov
vtsvetanov@headlandconsultancy.co.uk
Tel: +44 020 3435 7469
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ACTIVA CAPITAL invests in EXPLORE, a leading player in the development of B2B business intelligence solutions

Activa Capital

Activa Capital takes a majority position in Explore, a leading player in the development of B2B business intelligence solutions, to support the company in its development projects.
With this primary transaction, Activa Capital becomes a shareholder of the company alongside its founding directors, Laurent Nicouleau and Philippe Raison.

The strategy of Explore and its subsidiaries is to broaden its unique data platform on its historical markets (real estate, construction, B2B services) and to win new markets through innovative distribution methods and value propositions: business intelligence, integration in management solutions (CRM, ERP…), on-demand usage via the cloud, data production and increasing value-add through Data Science.

Since its creation in 1997, the company has experienced sustained growth, reaching a turnover of more than €12m in 2018, a growth of nearly 20% compared to 2017.
Activa Capital and Explore are already making the first build-up with Gest’innov, a specialist in integrating and publishing cloud solutions based on Microsoft technologies. This integration into the Explore group will enable Gest’innov to accelerate new offerings for Explore’s historical markets (real estate, construction, B2B services), and also address new markets such as accounting firms.
With Explore, Activa Capital has now made the 8th investment in its latest fund, Activa Capital Fund III.
Laurent Nicouleau and Philippe Raison, founding directors of Explore, stated: « 20 years after the creation of the company, the arrival of Activa Capital enables us to pursue and accelerate our development, giving us the means to operate an ambitious and realistic consolidation strategy. The entrepreneurial spirit of Activa Capital and its team convinced us to choose them as a partner. »

Sébastien Berthier, CEO of Gest’innov added: « In particular, we are creating new offers, integrated on business verticals that we know well. As a Microsoft Gold Partner, we are capable of offering truly innovative solutions, benefiting from Explore’s unique database, as well as Artificial Intelligence and Azure Cloud technologies. »
Alexandre Masson and Christophe Parier, Partners at Activa Capital, completed: « We were very impressed by the complementarity of Laurent and Philippe, founders of Explore. They have a clear vision of their growth project, attractive for their clients, teams and partners, as can be seen from the recent partnership with Sébastien Berthier. Explore offers a unique value proposition to its customers. We are very proud to support them in their future developments. This investment is in line with Activa Capital’s strategy of investing alongside ambitious founders at a turning point in their growth, in order to help them to accelerate their development. »

Deal participants
Founders
▪ Explore: Laurent Nicouleau, Philippe Raison
M&A: Bryan Garnier (Thibaut de Smedt, Charlie Pujo, Diane Perrin-Pelletier)
Vendor Due Diligence: Eight Advisory (Bertrand Perrette, Jean-Baptiste Blanco)
Corporate Lawyer: Fidal (Jean-François Yerle)
▪ Gest’innov: Sébastien Berthier
Corporate Lawyer: Carcreff (Olivier Fedon)
Investors
Activa Capital: Alexandre Masson, Christophe Parier, David Quatrepoint, Elliot Thiéblin
Financial Due Diligence: EY Transaction Advisory Services (Stéphane Seguin, Gallien Gobinet)
Strategic Due Diligence: EY Parthenon (Etienne Costes, Vincent Czeszynski, Mafalda Carvalho)
Social and Legal Due Diligence: EY Avocats (Lionel Benant, Magali Levy)
M&A: Rothschild & Co (Virginie Lazès, Alexandre Boukhari)
Corporate Lawyer: Hogan Lovells (Stéphane Huten, Florian Brechon, Franciane Rondet, Sarah Naidji)
Financing Advisor: Hogan Lovells (Alexander Premont, Luc Bontoux, Diane Ferriol)
Senior financing
Senior debt: LCL (Christophe Demarche, Lucile Hellot), CIC Ouest (Guillaume Colosiez, Philippe
Florentin)
About Explore
Expert in Data Intelligence, created in 1997, Explore produces value-add to descriptive and behavioral
data on companies’ and territories’ news in order to provide unique commercial development, market
analysis and customer knowledge to its clients.
As of today, Explore has more than 1400 clients and more than 50 000 users in the real estate,
construction and business services sectors, for a turnover of more than €12m.
Learn more about Explore at explore.fr
About Gest’Innov
Founded in 2016, Gest’Innov is an integrator and publisher of cloud solutions from Microsoft, certified
Microsoft Gold Partner.
Learn more about Gest’Innov at solution-de-gestion.fr

About Activa Capital
Activa Capital is a leading French mid-market private equity firm. Activa Capital manages over €500m
of private equity funds on behalf of a wide range of institutional investors. Activa Capital partners with
ambitious mid-sized French companies, valued at €20m to €200m, seeking to accelerate their growth
and their international footprint.
Learn more about Activa Capital at activacapital.com

Press contacts
Alexandre Masson
Partner
+33 1 43 12 50 12
alexandre.masson@activacapital.com
Christophe Parier
Partner
+33 1 43 12 50 12
christophe.parier@activacapital.com
Christelle Piatto
Communication Manager
+33 1 43 12 50 12
christelle.piatto@activacapital.com

 

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Lima pushes industry boundaries – invests in digitization and in-hospital manufacturing

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Lima was founded in 1945 by the Lualdi family, an Italian family of entrepreneurs who pioneered the processing of metals, including titanium which eventually lead to the development of orthopaedic implants. Today, the company is a global leader in additive manufacturing of 3D printed orthopaedic implants, covering the entire spectrum of large joint and extremities reconstruction including custom-made implants for shoulders, elbows, hips and knees.

During EQT’s ownership period, the strategy has been focused on further penetrating existing markets, specifically the US as the world’s largest orthopaedic market, and to drive innovation by leveraging EQT’s deep sector expertise in healthcare and tech. Lima leads continuous advancements in new technologies beyond 3D printed implants, a technology the company pioneered more than 10 years ago.

Challenging established business models

In early January 2019, Lima announced a new collaboration with Hospital for Special Surgery (“HSS”), the US’ number one orthopaedic hospital, located in New York City. Founded in 1863, HSS is the world’s leading academic medical center focused on musculoskeletal health, and in 2017 provided care to some 135,000 patients performing more than 32,000 surgical procedures. HSS was attracted to Lima’s innovative advancements within orthopaedic 3D printing and the collaboration will provide Lima with an advantageous gateway to the US market.

Together with HSS, Lima will establish the first hospital-based additive manufacturing facility for personalized, 3D printed implants offering tailor-made solutions for patients with the most complex surgical cases. The concept of on-site manufacturing is challenging the industry’s established business model, which has remained unchanged for decades. The new facility, which will be operated by Lima on the hospital’s main campus, will leverage the combination of Lima’s proprietary 3D printing technology and HSS’ expertise in clinical care.

Luigi Ferrari, CEO at Lima, comments: “The partnership with HSS will foster and accelerate innovation in advanced orthopaedic joint care and it further leverages Lima’s strategy to grow its footprint in the US. Orthopaedic 3D printing is disrupting the industry as we know it and the ambition of the partnership with HSS is to develop new products and solutions improving the quality of life for patients in the US and across the world.”

Digitizing orthopaedic care

In the fall of 2018, Lima further strengthened its capabilities within digital orthopaedics through the milestone-based acquisition of TechMah Medical (“TechMah”), a medical device software company founded in 2014 by industry veteran Dr. Mohamed Mahfouz and focused on digital technologies dedicated to orthopaedic surgery. Headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, TechMah develops bio-wireless electronics, biomechanics, imaging and instruments that will be used with Lima’s implants and devices. TechMah’s expertise in reconstructive software is highly complementary to Lima’s innovative implant portfolio bringing the companies to the forefront of digital transformation by providing innovative digital solutions which will change the approach to orthopaedic surgery.

Dr. Mohamed Mahfouz, founder and CEO of TechMah, comments: “Lima is the most innovative and agile company in orthopaedics today and the ideal partner for us to develop our technology and advance the digitization of the industry.”

Michael Bauer, Partner and Head of EQT’s Healthcare team, concludes: “During the last 10 years, Lima’s products have helped more than 700,000 patients around the world. As global life expectancy continuous to rise, and with a growing proportion focusing on active lifestyles, the market for orthopaedic implants is expected to continue to grow at mid single-digit rate. The demand within Lima’s focus areas, extremities and highly complex cases, is expected to increase significantly more. The alliance with HSS will generate exciting growth opportunities in the US as Lima now starts on-site production of 3D printed implants in the world’s largest orthopaedics market. The geographical expansion, coupled with the digital capabilities from TechMah, constitute the next chapter in Lima’s growth journey as they future-proof their role in advancing orthopaedics.”

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