ARDIAN arranges a senior financing for IK INVESTMENT PARTNERS as it buys into NETCO

Ardian

Paris, 27 March 2019 – Ardian, a world leading private investment house, announces that it has arranged a senior financing for IK Investment Partners’ acquisition of a stake in NetCo Group putting the latter alongside the founding family, Perriez, and Andera Partners. The financing will also help the planned expansion of the Group through future acquisitions in France and abroad.
Founded in France in 1902, NetCo is the European specialist in the general maintenance and servicing of conveyor systems across a range of production sectors – particularly minerals, agro-food and environmental.
Thanks to a robust full maintenance model, the Company has become a strategic partner for its clients when it comes to conveyor system maintenance. Based in Bordeaux, NetCo has a network of 55 branches and over 500 employees, mainly in France, Belgium and Luxembourg.
The Group is headed up by Samuel and James Perriez, and has been supported by Andera Partners (via WINCH Capital 3) since 2016. NetCo has increasingly outsourced its European maintenance business and has begun to expand internationally. Since 2000, the Company has made over thirty acquisitions – half of these in the last three years – which has doubled the size of NetCo in just two years.

Guillaume Chinardet, Head of Ardian Private Debt France, said: “We were impressed by the expansion of NetCo Group, which significantly increased its share of the market by opening and acquiring branches while simultaneously offering standardized, highly technical services. We are delighted to be part of the next stage in the company’s development through this senior financing.”
Jean-David Ponsin, Director at Ardian Private Debt, added: ”We are happy to be able to support NetCo’s growth in a consolidating market and we are convinced that our financing solution will give the Company the capacity and flexibility it needs for its future development.”
Pierre Gallix and Arnaud Bosc, partners at IK, added: “Ardian’s ability to offer a solution to the Group’s requirements was key to this partnership. Ardian has been extremely responsive and creative and has set up financing that is perfectly suited to the way NetCo intends to move forward.”
Samuel Perriez and James Perriez, as NetCo’s President and CEO commented: ”NetCo has an ambitious development strategy that demands a solid yet flexible financing solution. We are certain that Ardian will prove to be a valuable long-term partner, with the ability to support the Group as it expands.”
François-Xavier Mauron and Antoine Le Bourgeois, partners at Andera Partners, concluded: ”We are delighted to be able to continue to support NetCo’s growth alongside IK Investment Partners, Samuel and James Perriez and Ardian, paving the way for new international ambitions.”

ABOUT NETCO GROUP

Founded in 1902, NetCo is the European specialist in the global maintenance and servicing of conveyor systems in all production sectors. With a network of 55 locations, NetCo is known for its reactivity, efficiency and tailor-made, high-tech services. The company employs a total of 500 employees in France, Belgium and Luxembourg.
www.groupe-netco.com

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 585 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: Fund of Funds, Direct Funds, Infrastructure, Real Estate and Private Debt.

ABOUT IK INVESTMENT PARTNERS

IK Investment Partners (“IK”) is a Pan-European private equity firm focused on investments in the Nordics, DACH region, France, and Benelux. Since 1989, IK has raised close to €9.5 billion of capital and invested in over 125 European companies. IK funds support companies with strong underlying potential, partnering with management teams and investors to create robust, well-positioned businesses with excellent long-term prospects.

ABOUT ANDERA PARTNERS

Founded in 2001 within the Edmond de Rothschild Group, and wholly owned by its teams since March 2018, Andera Partners is a reference in unlisted investment in France and abroad. It manages €2.3 billion in life sciences (BioDiscovery), development and capital transmission (WINCH Capital in Mid-Cap and Cabestan Capital in Small-Cap), and mezzanine sponsorless debt (ActoMezz).

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

Ardian Private Debt: Guillaume Chinardet, Jean-David Ponsin, Gabrielle Philip
IK Investment Partners: Pierre Gallix, Arnaud Bosc, Morgane Bouhenic, Caroline Le Hen, Adrien Normand
Andera Partners: Francois-Xavier Mauron, Antoine Le Bourgeois, Arthur Milliard
Legal and financial advisors (Ardian): Willkie Farr & Gallagher – Paul Lombard, Ralph Unger, Louis Renucci
Legal and financial advisors (IK Investment Partners): Volt Associés – Alexandre Tron, François Jubin, Morgane Le Gallic

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The Carlyle Group and TA Associates Buy Weiman Products

Carlyle

Specialty Cleaning Products Company to Continue Organic and M&A Growth

New York, NY – Global investment firm The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) and global growth private equity firm TA Associates today announced that they completed an acquisition of WU Holdco, Inc. (“Weiman Products”, “Weiman”, or the “Company”), a Gurnee, IL-based manufacturer and distributor of specialty cleaning products for multi-billion dollar consumer and commercial end markets, from Cortec Group, a New York-based private equity firm. Terms of the transaction were not released.

Weiman’s consumer division includes products sold under several brand names, including Weiman, Goo Gone, Magic, Stone Care International, Wright’s and Gonzo Natural Magic. Weiman’s commercial division includes leading brands serving select specialty end markets, including Urnex, Five Star and Micro-Scientific.

Weiman CEO Chris Bauder said, “We are pleased to partner with Carlyle and TA Associates in this next phase of growth for the Weiman family of cleaning and care products. Their experience helping brands grow globally complements our commitment to quality, innovation and customer service. We are grateful to Cortec for their support and wish them continued success.”

Carlyle Managing Director David Basto said, “Weiman is well positioned for continued growth both organically and through M&A. We will harness Carlyle’s deep industry expertise and global network to support the Company in this next phase of innovation and strategic acquisition.”

TA Associates Managing Director William Christ said, “Weiman’s array of cleaning and care products are well known throughout the U.S. and globally. We look forward to working with Chris Bauder and his management team in the years to come to create value for the Company’s current and future customers.”

Cortec Managing Partner David Schnadig said, “We are deeply appreciative of the hard work Chris and his team have devoted to building Weiman’s consumer and commercial divisions so significantly over the past five plus years and know the Company will continue to thrive under Carlyle and TA Associates’ ownership.”

Equity for the investment will come from Carlyle Equity Opportunity Fund II, TA Associates funds and company management.

Robert W. Baird & Co. and Duff & Phelps Securities, LLC served as financial advisors to Weiman Products. Sawaya Partners, LLC acted as financial advisor to The Carlyle Group and TA Associates on this transaction.

Jones Day served as legal advisor to Weiman Products. Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal advisor to The Carlyle Group. Goodwin Procter LLP served as legal advisor to TA Associates.

* * * * *

About Weiman Products

Weiman Products is a specialty cleaning products company offering high-quality and innovative products which are specially formulated to care for specialty surfaces and clean-up life’s toughest messes. Weiman’s consumer division includes products (together, the “Weiman Products”) under seven well recognized brands – Weiman, Goo Gone, Magic, Stone Care International, Wright’s, Gonzo Natural Magic, and Urnex.

Weiman’s commercial division includes leading specialty cleaning brands for coffee makers, brewing equipment and healthcare markets under the Urnex, Five Star and Micro-scientific brands.

About The Carlyle Group

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) is a global investment firm with deep industry expertise that deploys private capital across four business segments: Corporate Private Equity, Real Assets, Global Credit and Investment Solutions. With $216 billion of assets under management, Carlyle’s purpose is to invest wisely and create value on behalf of our investors, portfolio companies and the communities in which we live and invest. Carlyle employs 1,650 people in 31 offices across six continents. www.carlyle.com.

About TA Associates

TA Associates is one of the largest and most experienced global growth private equity firms. Focused on five target industries – technology, healthcare, financial services, consumer and business services – TA invests in profitable, growing companies with opportunities for sustained growth, and has invested in more than 500 companies around the world. Investing as either a majority or minority investor, TA employs a long-term approach, utilizing its strategic resources to help management teams build lasting value in growth companies. TA has raised $24 billion in capital since its founding in 1968 and is committing to new investments at the pace of $2 billion per year. The firm’s more than 85 investment professionals are based in Boston, Menlo Park, London, Mumbai and Hong Kong. More information about TA Associates can be found at www.ta.com.

Contacts:

Weiman Products
+1-847-263-3500
questions@weiman.com

The Carlyle Group

Elizabeth Gill
+1-202-729-5385
elizabeth.gill@carlyle.com

TA Associates

Marcia O’Carroll
+1-617-574-6796
mocarroll@ta.com

Zachary Tramonti
+1-617-391-0707
zachary.tramonti@backbaycommunications.com

Categories: News

Klingel acquires MedTech companies Bächler Feintech and Gehring Cut with the support of IK Investment Partners

ik-investment-partners

Klingel medical metal group (“Klingel”), owned by the IK VIII Fund, announce that it has completed the acquisitions of Bächler Feintech AG (“Bächler”) and Gehring Cut AG (“Gehring”). Both companies are leading manufacturers of high-precision surgical instruments for the global MedTech market.

Bächler was founded in 1964 and employs 140 people at the production site in Hölstein, Switzerland, where state-of-the-art machinery and industry-leading quality management are established.

Gehring was founded in 1948 and employs 75 people at the production site in Matzingen, Switzerland, where similar to Bächler, a state-of-the-art machine park and industry-leading quality management are established.

Through these acquisitions, Klingel strengthens its position as the leading pan-European MedTech CMO for complex components and instruments. The extended platform enables the combined group to provide its broad global customer base with a more flexible service to meet their customers’ high quality requirements and to serve their ever-increasing demands.

“With Bächler and Gehring we have found the perfect complements to our MedTech platform. Through the acquisitions, we are gaining additional blue-chip customers, manufacturing capabilities and valuable expertise for our group, enabling us to create real value-add for our customers. In addition, we have found strong partners in the management teams of Bächler and Gehring and look forward to our next phase of growth as a larger pan-European group”, said Ralf Petrawitz, CEO of Klingel.

For further questions, please contact:

KLINGEL medical metal
Ralf Petrawitz, CEO
Phone: +49 7231 6519 0

IK Investment Partners
Anders Petersson, Partner
Phone: +49 40 369 8850

Mikaela Murekian, Director Communications & ESG
Phone: +44 77 87 573 566
mikaela.murekian@ikinvest.com

About KLINGEL medical metal
For more than 30 years, KLINGEL medical metal GmbH has been one of the leading European precision technology companies with a strategic focus on medical technology industries. Employing over 300 people, KLINGEL medical metal GmbH specialises in the precision processing of materials with low machinability, such as titanium and high-grade stainless steel. KLINGEL offers unrivalled technical quality and aesthetic perfection. For more information, visit www.klingel-med.de

About IK Investment Partners
IK Investment Partners (“IK”) is a Pan-European private equity firm focused on investments in the Nordics, DACH region, France, and Benelux. Since 1989, IK has raised more than €10 billion of capital and invested in over 125 European companies. IK funds support companies with strong underlying potential, partnering with management teams and investors to create robust, well-positioned businesses with excellent long-term prospects. For more information, visit www.ikinvest.com

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HQ Equita Acquires Leading Value-Added Software Distributor EBERTLANG

HQ Capital

Bad Homburg, March 25, 2019 – HQ Equita, the direct investment company of HQ Capital, is acquiring a majority interest in the leading value-added software distributor EBERTLANG from Beyond Capital Partners and the company’s founders. Based in Wetzlar, Germany, EBERTLANG is one of the leading value-added distributor of infrastructure software for small and mid-sized companies in German-speaking Europe. The company provides software solutions for email archiving, back-up, IT-security, automation and continuity, and offers comprehensive training, consulting and service support for partners and software vendors.

 

 

“EBERTLANG is the ideal partner for small and mid-sized companies to maintain their IT-infrastructure for the future and fulfilling ever-increasing regulatory requirements, such as legally compliant archiving of emails. EBERTLANG is optimally positioned and set up for megatrends including digitization, IT-security, cloud services and regulatory compliance. We are delighted to enter the next phase of EBERTLANG’s development, working together with the strong team that founders Steffen Ebert and Volker Lang have built,” explained Florian Wiemken, partner with HQ Equita.

 

“EBERTLANG is a success story and has enormous potential. We are pleased to have actively guided the company and its management in an important phase of growth. With HQ Equita the company will have a financially strong, stable and reliable partner for future growth,” says Christoph D. Kauter, Managing Partner of Beyond Capital Partners.

 

EBERTLANG is the central interface between small- and medium-size companies and leading software vendors. The company offers these vendors access to the highly fragmented German-speaking market, with more than 17,000 IT-system houses, and provides both software distribution as well as product and channel management, marketing, training and technical support. EBERTLANG guides system houses in executing managed services and SaaS concepts for their end customers. EBERTLANG uses its industry-leading business intelligence database and personalized customer care throughout the process.

 

“With the support of HQ Equita, we plan to drive our already-strong growth even higher. In addition to expanding our solutions portfolio in the software area, we plan to significantly strengthen our service offerings – which IT professionals in the German-speaking countries already value – in order to offer even better support to system houses in all matters relating to sophisticated infrastructure,” explained Steffen Ebert, founder and Co-CEO of EBERTLANG. “Besides expanding our offerings, with help from HQ Equita we will also advance our upcoming national and international expansion – also through acquisitions,” added Volker Lang, second founder and Co-CEO. Discussions with potential acquisition targets have already been started.

 

HQ Equita will hold the majority interest in EBERTLANG through a newly established holding company, in which the management will also hold an interest. The purchase price was not disclosed.

 

HQ Equita was supported in the transaction by goetzpartners (M&A, commercial due diligence, debt advisory), Alvarez & Marsal (financial due diligence) and Watson Farley & Williams (law and taxes). Beyond Capital Partners was supported in the transaction by Lincoln International (M&A), Latham & Watkins (law) and EY (financials). The management of EBERTLANG was advised by CMS (law).

 

About EBERTLANG
EBERTLANG is the leading value-added distributor of infrastructure software for small and mid-sized companies in German-speaking Europe. Founded in 1995 and based in Wetzlar, Germany, the company’s approximately 60 employees provide leading software solutions and services in the areas of email archiving, back-up, IT-security, automation and IT-failover to a network of around 17,000 partners.

 

About Beyond Capital Partners
Beyond Capital Partners is a holding company focused on acquiring majority interests in profitable mid-sized enterprises in German-speaking Europe (Germany, Austria, Switzerland). With its portfolio companies LDBS Lichtdienst, Larsen Indoor Light Concept, Heitronic, sysob IT and BigCityBeats, Beyond Capital Partners currently holds interests in five businesses in the areas of lighting services, IT security and lifestyle & entertainment.

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EURAZEO partners with CIC and BNP PARIBAS to create a fund dedicated to accelerating the China growth of French and European Companies

Eurazeo

Paris, March 25, 2019 – Eurazeo has announced that it has been selected by CIC (China Investment
Corporation) and BNP Paribas to manage a €1 billion to €1.5 billion fund dedicated to French and
European companies seeking to expand rapidly in China.
The three partners – CIC, BNP Paribas and Eurazeo – will invest significantly in the fund alongside
investment partners.

Eurazeo will be responsible for managing the fund, as well as choosing and managing the investments.
Eurazeo’s selection recognizes the high quality of its investment teams and its strong presence in China,
where it has been located since 2013 and currently has a team of eight professionals.
Virginie Morgon, CEO of Eurazeo, said: “I’m extremely proud that Eurazeo has been selected for this
strategic partnership. Eurazeo’s investment teams are looking forward to contributing their expertise
together with CIC and BNP to help French and European companies to capitalize on opportunities in the
Chinese market.”
***
About Eurazeo
o Eurazeo is a leading global investment company, with a diversified portfolio of €17 billion in assets under management, including
nearly €11 billion from third parties, invested in over 300 companies. With its considerable private equity, venture capital, real estate, private debt and fund of funds expertise, Eurazeo accompanies companies of all sizes, supporting their development through the commitment of its 235 professionals and by offering deep sector expertise, a gateway to global markets, and a responsible and stable foothold for transformational growth. Its solid institutional and family shareholder base, robust financial structure free of structural debt, and flexible investment horizon enable Eurazeo to support its companies over the long term.
Eurazeo has offices in Paris, New York, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Shanghai, London, Luxembourg, Frankfurt and Madrid.

o Eurazeo is listed on Euronext Paris.
o ISIN: FR0000121121 – Bloomberg: RF FP – Reuters: EURA.PA

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The Carlyle Group Completes Tender Offer for Orion Breweries Shares

Carlyle

Acquisition expected to close on March 29, 2019

Tokyo, Japan – Global investment firm The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) today announced that it completed its tender offer[1] to acquire shares in Orion Breweries Ltd., Japan’s fifth largest beer brewery, on March 22, 2019. This is a joint acquisition with Nomura Capital Partners Co., Ltd., and is expected to close on March 29, 2019. Carlyle’s equity for this investment will come from Carlyle Japan Partners III, L.P., an investment fund advised by Carlyle Japan L.L.C.

Following the transaction, Carlyle will own a 49% stake in Orion Breweries while Nomura will own a 51% stake in the company.

Headquartered in Urasoe, Okinawa Prefecture, Orion Breweries has produced and distributed alcoholic beverages and soft drinks since 1957. Its main products are “Orion” branded beer and beer taste products produced in its own factory in Nago, Okinawa. It has long been the largest beer brand in Okinawa. In 1975, the firm entered into the Okinawa hotel market with the opening of the Hotel Royal Orion in Naha, and later, Hotel Orion Motobu Resort and Spa in 2014.

Takaomi Tomioka, Managing Director of the Carlyle Japan buyout advisory team, said, “Orion Breweries has expanded its business over the past 60 years on the back of high brand value and support from the Okinawa community, making it Okinawa’s top beer brand. Carlyle will support the firm’s management teams and employees to realize further growth and entrench the pride that the people of Okinawa have in Orion Breweries. Carlyle is fully committed to sharing its knowledge and experience to strengthen Orion’s management capabilities, drawing upon our global network for support while collaborating with Nomura, a prominent Japanese financial company, to fully leverage our combined strengths.”

* * * * *

About The Carlyle Group

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) is a global investment firm with deep industry expertise that deploys private capital across four business segments: Corporate Private Equity, Real Assets, Global Credit and Investment Solutions. With $216 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2018, Carlyle’s purpose is to invest wisely and create value on behalf of our investors, portfolio companies and the communities in which we live and invest. The Carlyle Group employs more than 1,650 people in 31 offices across six continents.

The Carlyle Group is the only global investment firm that has dedicated Japan buyout funds denominated in Japanese yen. Carlyle’s Japan buyout funds, which have made 24 investments in Japan, have a track record of supporting Japanese companies’ business expansion overseas, enhancing their operational efficiency and strengthening their management infrastructure. In September 2015, Carlyle announced that it raised ¥119.5 billion (approximately $1.0 billion) for its third Japanese buyout fund, Carlyle Japan Partners III.

 

About Orion Breweries

Company name: Orion Breweries, Ltd.

Established: 1957

Representative Director: Kiyoshi Yonamine (CEO)

Headquarters: 1985-1 Gusukuma, Urasoe, Okinawa, Japan

Main Businesses: Manufacturing and sales of beer and beer taste products. Sales of soft drinks, Operations of hotels

 

Media Contact:

The Carlyle Group

Tammy Li

Phone: +852 2878 5236

Email: tammy.li@carlyle.com

 

Public relations agency: Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide (Japan) K.K.

Contact persons: Yusuke Yamanaka, Abi Sekimitsu

Tel:03-5791-8725/5793-2388

E-mail:CarlylePress.Tokyo@ogilvy.com

 

[1] For details of the tender offer, please refer to the attached [“Notice of Results of Tender Offer for Shares in Orion Breweries, Ltd. (Unlisted)”] issued by Ocean Holdings Co., Ltd. Ocean Holdings Co. Ltd., which is jointly managed and operated by The Carlyle Group and Nomura Capital Partners Co., Ltd., has been established solely to acquire shares of common stock in Orion Breweries.

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HappySignals, Leader in Service Experience Measurement, secures €1M Growth Funding

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Tesi

HappySignals’ pioneering service experience measurement has helped customers identify areas where employees are losing time while their IT Service Management (ITSM) issues are dealt with. The company has now extended its offering to measure satisfaction and lost work time for all IT services, whether offered internally or by service providers. HappySignals is a latest portfolio company of Vendep Capital. Tesi, in turn, has invested in to Vendep Capital Fund.

Following this funding round Helsinki-based HappySignals plans to invest further in the development of its service measurement offering and in expanding its international presence.

HappySignals is already working with 10 of Finland’s 20 biggest enterprises as well as with major global companies including Wilhelmsen, Reckitt Benkiser, Virgin Trains, Fujitsu and Capgemini.

“Before starting HappySignals I often found myself talking to IT end-users about what they thought about IT and support services,” says HappySignals CEO Sami Kallio. “It was clear that Service Desks and Service Management had been too focused on internal IT efficiency and were prone to forget the end-user experience.”

“So, we set out to help companies find out which aspects of IT were causing unhappiness and lost productivity, and why,” Kallio says. “Every day HappySignals helps more and more organisations save work time for service end-user and money for their employers. At the same it identifies and prioritises areas in which IT can improve its customers’ service experiences. An additional key benefit is that our measurement data helps IT demonstrate, in a concrete manner, the business value of internal services and benchmarks them against peers.”

The lead investor, Vendep Capital, is a Helsinki-based Venture Fund focused exclusively on Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies. The co-investment came from Hannu Vaajoensuu, an experienced executive in the international software industry, who made a follow-on investment.

Vendep was very impressed by HappySignals’ technology and by the relationship it has forged with its customers through delivering both insights and measurable value.

Sakari Pihlava, General Partner at Vendep Capital, says HappySignals ticked all its boxes. “We see enormous potential for both customers and HappySignals’ partners,” he says. “Service experience measurement when done right doesn’t just identify problems it also highlights new development opportunities for IT, and business opportunities for partners.”

For additional information:

Sami Kallio, CEO, HappySignals Oy, sami.kallio@happysignals.com, +358 50 566 3852
Sakari Pihlava, General Partner, Vendep Capital, sakari@vendep.com, +358 40 771 3941

HappySignals shifts businesses’ internal services focus towards employee experience by measuring and analysing employee happiness and productivity. Finding the right balance between service costs, lost worktime and employee experience and in the end healthier bottom line. Headquartered in Helsinki HappySignals has pioneered new approaches to surveying service experience that generate high quality data and response rates far higher than the norm. www.happysignals.com

Vendep Capital Vendep Capital invests primarily in Finnish early-stage B2B software companies. Vendep Capital has 40 million euros under management. The funds were raised from Finnish private and institutional investors such as Tesi (Finnish Industry Investment) and The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra. www.vendep.com

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A strong 2018 for Action: 23% sales growth and 230 stores added in 7 European countries

3I

Highlights 2018
(unaudited, amounts in € millions)
2018 2017 2018 vs
2017
Net sales 4,216 3,418 +23.3%
LfL sales growth1 3.2% 5.3%
Operating EBITDA2 450 387 +16.3%
Number of stores 1,325 1,095 +230
Number of employees3 46,000 41,000 +5,000

1 Calculated on stores open for more than 12 months 
2 Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortization and non-recurring items
3 Number of employees as of 31 December, rounded in thousands

Sander van der Laan, CEO, commenting on the 2018 results:
2018 was another successful year for Action showing strong growth driven by 3.2% like-for-like sales growth and the addition of 230 stores. Our continued success underlines the strength of the Action customer proposition of a broad, surprising and ever-changing product range at the lowest price. During 2018, we have accelerated our pipeline of five new distribution centres (DCs) and invested in our organisational and supply chain infrastructure to support the strong growth of our customer proposition, store network and expansion into new countries. Action remains focused on its international growth strategy with the ambition to become a €10 billion sales company over the medium term.”

Adrian Bellamy, Chairman of the Board of Directors:

“The fundamentals of Action’s proposition and business model remain compelling. Action performed very well last year particularly considering the significant challenges facing many of the retail concepts across our markets, and I would like to express the appreciation of the Board to all our employees.  Action will continue to invest in growth and a more resilient supply chain to support this growth.”

Strong financial results

Action performed very well with strong sales growth across all countries. Consolidated net sales totalled €4,216 million, up 23.3% compared to 2017. Healthy like-for-like growth in all our markets resulted in an overall like-for-like sales growth of 3.2%. Operating EBITDA increased by 16.3% to €450 million from €387 million in 2017.

These results were achieved despite a very challenging year for the broader European retail industry – amongst others caused by exceptional weather in the winter, summer and fall of 2018 which affected customer footfall across the entire retail industry in Europe.

Sales were also impacted by a number of specific issues:

  • Operational challenges in our two French DCs which led to availability of stock issues in many stores during the second and third quarters of 2018.
  • The “Gilets Jaunes” protests in the second half of the year and railway strikes (20 days in the first half) which led to reduced sales growth at key times in France.
  • Weather-related delays to the delivery of our two most recent DCs in France and Germany; these DCs are now operational but their delayed opening resulted in a supply chain capacity shortage in the second half of the year which in turn led to a delay in opening 20 stores from quarter 4 2018 to quarter 1 2019 in France.

The supply chain situation is now stabilised and has resulted in a strong performance in France and elsewhere in the final months of 2018. Like-for-like sales growth increased in quarter 4 2018 to a healthy 4.4% overall (above the rate seen in the previous three quarters) with higher and stable stock availability seen across the French network of stores. Strong like-for-like sales growth continued during the first eleven weeks of 2019.

Our gross margin was impacted by stock clearance in two of our categories: Decoration and Garden & Outdoor. The stock level in these categories is now well-balanced.

Our operating expenditures were impacted by:

  • an incremental increase in transportation costs due to the delay in the opening of two new DCs.
  • start-up costs for new DCs.
  • a decrease in productivity of our stores due to the operational challenges in the supply chain.
  • the current labour market confronting us with higher hourly rates.
  • a significant step-up in IT and incremental investments to strengthen the capabilities in our commercial, planning and supply chain teams for future growth.

Following our recapitalisation in March 2018, Action de-geared from 5.5x EBITDA to 4.4x EBITDA during the remainder of the year, as a result of strong cash generation and continued profit growth.

International expansion

The Action customer proposition – a broad, surprising and ever-changing product range at the lowest price – continues to be extremely well received in all the markets in which we operate.

Last year, Action added 230 stores and renewed 48 stores. The majority of the new stores were opened in France and Germany. In Poland, the success of our six store pilot, started in 2017 led to the opening of an additional 19 stores in 2018. In 2019, Action will continue with its store roll-out programme in France and Germany and will accelerate its store growth rate in Poland.

Action accelerated its store renewal programme in the Netherlands and Belgium: 48 stores were refurbished, enlarged or relocated in 2018 compared to 27 the year before.

Continuing investment in the Action organisation and supply chain infrastructure

Action continues to invest for future growth with a substantial focus on the organisation and the supply chain infrastructure. Action is accelerating the roll-out of its DC network: Action currently has seven operational DCs including Belleville (F) and Peine (D), which started operations in early 2019. A further three DCs will open before the end of 2020 and will lead to a doubling of the number of DCs over a three year period. This investment will facilitate further store roll-out in existing and new countries.

The DC expansion is being accompanied by the roll-out of new IT systems to support end-to-end supply chain planning and a significant people investment in parallel areas of supply chain infrastructure

Number of stores on December 31,
by geography
2018   2017 2018 vs
2017
The Netherlands 378 367 +11
Belgium & Luxembourg 172 153 +19
Germany 288 216 +72
France 424 335 +89
Austria 38 18 +20
Poland 25 6 +19
Total 1,325 1,095 +230

Action Social Responsibility

Our Action Social Responsibility strategy consists of four building blocks: product, people, environment and citizenship. During 2018 we implemented several initiatives, for example:

  • Product: we finalised our policies for the sourcing of timber and cotton and for the use of chemicals and packaging materials and started the implementation with our suppliers. We increased our number of products with a sustainable quality label such as FSC, UTZ or Oeko-Tex. In addition, we started the phasing out of single use plastic products.
  • People: we created 5,000 jobs and now employ 129 different nationalities. In 2018, we had over 24,000 participants in our training programmes.
  • Environment: we recycle all cardboard and plastic transport packaging. All our new stores and distribution centres will be equipped with energy-saving lights. The new DC in Belleville is BREEAM certified and is equipped with a solar power plant on its roof.
  • Citizenship: as part of our partnership with SOS Children’s villages, we supported over 1,100 children in Asia. This number will be increased to over 1,300 for 2019.

 

Our annual brochure UPDATE 2018, with an extensive overview of Action in 2018, is now available to download at www.action.com/update2018

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About Action
Action is the fastest-growing international non-food discounter with 1,352 stores in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Austria and Poland. Action employs 46,000 people. In 2018 total sales were EUR €4.2 billion. Around one third of the more than 6,000 products Action offers is part of our standard range. The rest of the range is dynamic and changes frequently. Action introduces more than 150 new items every week.  Our product range consists of 14 categories: decoration, DIY, toys & entertainment, stationery & hobby, multimedia, household, garden & outdoor, laundry & cleaning, food & drink, personal care, pets, sports, clothing and linen. Action offers private labels and well-known brands. Action is able to charge extremely low prices due to its large scale and efficient purchasing, optimal distribution and the cost-conscious culture across the organisation. Action makes no concessions on the quality, safety or production conditions of our products. Our Action Ethical Sourcing Policy ensures a responsible social and environmental approach to manufacturing.

For further information (not for publication):

Action

Action: Yvette Moll
Tel +31 (0)228 31 17 64
Mail press@action.nl
www.action.com

 

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Beyond Capital Partners disposes portfolio company EBERTLANG Distribution GmbH to HQ Equita

Beyond Capital

March 2019, Frankfurt am Main – Beyond Capital Partners GmbH (“Beyond Capital”) advised Beyond Capital Partners Fund I on the disposal of its portfolio company EBERTLANG Distribution GmbH (“EBERTLANG”) together with the founders to HQ Equita, the direct investment company of HQ Capital. The parties agreed confidentiality about the purchase price.

EBERTLANG is the central interface between small- and medium-size companies and leading software vendors. The company offers these vendors access to the highly fragmented German-speaking market, with more than 17,000 IT-system houses, and provides both software distribution as well as product and channel management, marketing, training and technical support. EBERTLANG guides system houses in executing managed services and SaaS concepts for their end customers. EBERTLANG uses its industry-leading business intelligence database and personalized customer care throughout the process.

Since the acquisition of EBERTLANG in May 2017, Beyond Capital developed the company together with its founders towards a new growth path and as a result, achieved significant increase of sales and revenue of the firm. From this level, EBERTLANG together with its new shareholder HQ Equita, will use the opportunity to further follow the organic growth path as well as the expansion through add-on acquisitions.

“EBERTLANG is a success story and has furthermore enormous potential. We are pleased to have actively accompanied the company and its founders during this important phase of growth. With HQ Equita, the company will have a financially strong, stable and reliable partner for its future growth. Since the founders remain as shareholding managing directors in the company, a high level of continuity is guaranteed,” says Christoph D. Kauter, Managing Partner and founder of Beyond Capital Partners.

“EBERTLANG is the ideal partner for small- and mid-sized companies to maintain their IT-infrastructure for the future and fulfilling ever-increasing regulatory requirements, such as legally compliant archiving of emails. EBERTLANG is optimally positioned and set up for megatrends including digitization, IT-security, cloud services and regulatory compliance. We are delighted to enter the next phase of EBERTLANG’s development, working together with the strong team that founders Steffen Ebert and Volker Lang have built,” explained Florian Wiemken, Partner at HQ Equita.

“With the support of HQ Equita, we plan to drive our already-strong growth even higher. In addition to expanding our solutions portfolio in the software area, we plan to significantly strengthen our service offerings – which IT professionals in the German-speaking countries already value – in order to offer even better support to system houses in all matters relating to sophisticated infrastructure,” explained Steffen Ebert, founder and Co-CEO of EBERTLANG. “Besides expanding our offerings, with help from HQ Equita we will also advance our upcoming national and international expansion – also through acquisitions,” added Volker Lang, second founder and Co-CEO. Discussions with potential acquisition targets have already been started.

Beyond Capital Partners was supported in the transaction by Lincoln International (M&A), Latham & Watkins (law) and EY (financials). The management of EBERTLANG was advised by CMS (law).HQ Equita was supported in the transaction by goetzpartners (M&A, commercial due diligence, debt advisory), Alvarez & Marsal (financial due diligence) and Watson Farley & Williams (law and taxes).

About HQ Capital
HQ Capital is a global alternative asset manager that has been investing in private equity and U.S. real estate on behalf of institutions and family offices since 1989. With approximately $12 billion in assets under management and more than 145 employees across 10 offices worldwide, HQ Capital has the platform and experience needed to effectively allocate capital in private markets. HQ Equita is HQ Capital’s private equity direct investment arm. HQ Equita has developed into an established and trusted partner for middle-market companies, with approximately $1 billion of capital invested in over 30 small- and medium-sized enterprises in the German-speaking DACH region since 1992.
www.hqequita.com

About EBERTLANG
EBERTLANG is the leading value-added distributor of infrastructure software for small and mid-sized companies in German-speaking Europe. Founded in 1995 and based in Wetzlar, Germany, the company’s approximately 60 employees provide leading software solutions and services in the areas of email archiving, back-up, IT-security, automation and IT-failover to a network of around 17,000 partners.
www.ebertlang.com

About Beyond Capital Partners
Beyond Capital Partners is a holding company focused on acquiring majority interests in profitable mid-sized enterprises in German-speaking Europe (Germany, Austria, Switzerland). With its portfolio companies LDBS Lichtdienst, Larsen Indoor Light Concept, Heitronic, sysob IT and BigCityBeats, Beyond Capital Partners currently holds interests in five businesses in the areas of lighting services, IT security and lifestyle & entertainment.
www.beyondcapital-partners.com

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GP Bullhound advises Dudnyk on its sale to Fishawack

Gp Bullhound

GP Bullhound acted as exclusive financial advisor to Dudnyk, a Philadelphia-based healthcare marketing communications agency, on its sale to the Fishawack Group of Companies, one of the world’s leading independent healthcare communication specialists, based in Manchester, UK.

Independently owned for the past 25 years, Dudnyk is an award-winning, full-service agency that specializes in creating insight-driven, authentic brand experiences that unite specialty physicians and their patients.

Dudnyk President, Christopher Tobias, commented: “By joining forces with Fishawack, Dudnyk will be able to offer clients an even stronger service offering, including expertise in additional verticals like scientific communications and medical education. We are also excited to further expand our global capabilities, both commercially and medically, for our clients who operate on a scale outside of the US.”

Oliver Schweitzer, Executive Director at GP Bullhound, commented: “Dudnyk combines strategic, scientific and highly creative capabilities to bring to market life-changing brands and serve clients in the biotech, pharmaceutical, and medical device industries. We are delighted to have advised Dudnyk and to have helped them find the ideal partner for the next phase of growth.”

The transaction is further testament to GP Bullhound’s expertise in advising category leaders in the Digital and Marketing Services sectors, with more than 20 transactions completed in the last 24 months including the sales of Oliver to You & Mr Jones, Filter to Merkle, Kepler Group to KYU, and Solita to Apax Digital, among many others.

Inquiries
For inquiries please contact: Oliver Schweitzer, Executive Director, at oliver.schweitzer@gpbullhound.com

About GP Bullhound
GP Bullhound is a leading technology advisory and investment firm, providing transaction advice and capital to the world’s best entrepreneurs and founders. Founded in 1999, the firm today has offices in London, San Francisco, Stockholm, Berlin, Manchester, Paris, Hong Kong, Madrid and New York. For more information, please visit www.gpbullhound.com.

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