Monthly Archives: June 2019

Fero Group joins AVS Verkehrssicherung

Triton

Kürten (Germany) / Willebroek (Belgium), 3 June 2019 – AVS Verkehrssicherung (“AVS”), a Triton Fund IV company, has signed an agreement to acquire a majority share in Fero Group (“Fero”), a leading player in Belgium in temporary traffic management services, from the founding Haerens family.  Fero Group consists of Fero Signalisatie and its affiliates Admibo, Signaroute, Signco and Safetybloc. The transaction is subject to approval of the antitrust authorities. Terms and conditions were not disclosed.

Fero was founded in 2001. The family-owned group provides services in the areas of temporary traffic management, road marking, traffic signs, traffic management systems and maintenance of public planters & baskets. Its customer base primarily comprises construction, utility and telecom companies as well as the Belgian government. Fero has more than 300 employees across seven locations in Flanders and one in Wallonia.

Triton has a strong expertise in the road safety services and further invested in companies in this area across Europe, such as Ramudden in the Nordics and Chevron TM in the UK, and now, with Fero, in Belgium.

“This transaction was strongly backed by Triton and underlines our commitment to invest into the future growth and profitable development of Fero. It is another important step to grow our international footprint in work zone safety services,” says Nadia Meier-Kirner, Investment Advisory Professional at Triton.

Luc Hendriks, Senior Industry Expert at Triton adds: “We are looking forward to support the management team and employees as a responsible owner with our comprehensive sector expertise and experience.”

“This transaction marks another significant step in our international expansion. Fero has built a strong reputation among its customers for its quick and highly professional services. This makes it a great partner and an ideal fit for our European strategy,” says Dirk Schönauer, COO International of AVS.

“We are looking forward to the partnership with AVS. Our companies share the same mindset and together we can offer even better services, tailored to the demand of our customers in Belgium,” add Freek & Friso Haerens, Co-CEOs of the Fero Group.

The existing shareholders of Fero will remain shareholders in the group and directors of Fero.

About AVS Verkehrssicherung

AVS Verkehrssicherung is a leading specialist provider of traffic safety services and work-zone management in Germany. The Company, headquartered in Kuerten, offers all essential services throughout highway traffic-safety projects. These services range from initial planning and obtaining permits to complete construction site setup and security. AVS has a nationwide presence with 17 locations across Germany as well as branches in Latvia and Denmark and employs around 650 people.

For further information: http://www.avs-verkehrssicherung.de

About Fero
Fero Group was established in 2001 and grew into a household name in the temporary traffic management world. The family business is a full-service provider for its customers, from tendering, planning, placing, maintenance to completion and settlement. Fero provides services to various customers in the government and construction outsourcing sector.

As a leading player in temporary traffic management, Fero has built up a strong reputation for always helping customers quickly and professionally.

For further information: https://www.feronv.be/; https://www.signco.be/; http://www.admibo.be/; http://www.signaroute.be/nl

About Triton

Since its establishment in 1997, Triton has sponsored nine funds, focusing on businesses in the industrial, business services, consumer and health sectors.

The Triton funds invest in and support the positive development of medium-sized businesses headquartered in Europe. Triton seeks to contribute to the building of better businesses for the longer term. Triton and its executives wish to be agents of positive change towards sustainable operational improvements and growth. The 38 companies currently in Triton’s portfolio have combined sales of around €14.9 billion and around 72,000 employees.

For further information: www.triton-partners.com

Press Contacts

Triton
Anja Schlenstedt
Phone: +49 69 9210 2190
AVS Verkehrssicherung
Dirk Schönauer
Phone: +49 (0) 214 313834 – 11
Email: dirk.schoenauer@avs-verkehrssicherung.de

Categories: News

Tags:

Triton and ADIA complete acquisition of IFCO

Triton

Frankfurt (Germany), 3 June 2019 – Funds advised by Triton (“Triton”) and Luxinva, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (“ADIA”), have successfully completed the acquisition of 100% of IFCO from Australian Securities Exchange-listed Brambles Limited. Triton and ADIA have an equal share in the investing partnership.

IFCO is the leading global provider of reusable packaging solutions for fresh foods, serving customers in more than 50 countries. IFCO operates a pool of over 290 million Reusable Plastic Containers (RPCs) globally, which are used for over 1.3 billion shipments of fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, bread, and other items from suppliers to grocery retailers every year.

About ADIA

Established in 1976, ADIA is a globally-diversified investment institution that prudently invests funds on behalf of the Government of Abu Dhabi through a strategy focused on long-term value creation. ADIA has invested in private equity since 1989 and has built a significant internal team of specialists with experience across asset products, geographies and sectors. Through its extensive relationships across the industry, the Private Equities Department invests in private equity and credit products globally, often alongside external partners, and through externally managed primary and secondary funds. Its philosophy is to build long-term, collaborative relationships with its partners and company management teams to maximize value and support the implementation of agreed strategies

About Triton

Since its establishment in 1997, Triton has sponsored nine funds, focusing on businesses in the industrial, business services, consumer and health sectors.

The Triton funds invest in and support the positive development of medium-sized businesses headquartered in Europe. Triton seeks to contribute to the building of better businesses for the longer term. Triton and its executives wish to be agents of positive change towards sustainable operational improvements and growth. The 38 companies currently in Triton’s portfolio have combined sales of around €14.9 billion and around 72,000 employees.

For further information: www.triton-partners.com

Press Contacts

Triton
Marcus Brans
Phone: +49 69 921 02204

Categories: News

Tags:

WorkSpan to Accelerate Joint Customers’ Revenue with Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Ecosystem Cloud

Mayfield

WorkSpan Raises $27 Million in Series B Round Funding

News provided by

WorkSpan

Jun 03, 2019, 11:07 ET

FOSTER CITY, Calif., June 3, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — WorkSpan, the first ever Ecosystem Cloud platform, today announced a collaboration with Microsoft enabling Microsoft Dynamics 365 customers to take advantage of the growing ecosystem of partners engaged in build-with, market-with, and sell-with motions to accelerate innovation and bring more valuable joint solutions to their customers through these go-to-market partnerships.

WorkSpan has completely reimagined how companies go to market together. For the first time, with the WorkSpan Ecosystem Cloud, alliance and ecosystem leaders are finally able to build-with, market-with & sell-with their ecosystem partners in a single, secure, cloud-based network to grow business & abundance together.

WorkSpan was named a Cool Vendor in Gartner’s May 2019 Cool Vendors in Channel and Sales Enablement report, which states: “New indirect sales platforms enable technology and service providers (TSPs) to more effectively manage a more complex and distributed channel ecosystem, providing smoother coordination, fluid communication and timely sales intelligence.” Gartner also includes WorkSpan as a Representative Vendor in the May 2019 Market Guide for Partner Relationship Management Applications report saying: “Partner ecosystem platforms are networks for organizations and their sales partners that support today’s needs for multi-partner business processes to drive revenue across all stakeholders. Gartner anticipates that disrupting the current business models through building sales partner ecosystems will be a game changer.”

In addition to longtime customers like SAP, SUSE, and Lenovo, in the last year, WorkSpan has added a number of industry leaders and ecosystem hubs including Microsoft, Google, Accenture, VMware, Red Hat, Nutanix, and others. Forward-looking enterprises organize their modern partner programs around ecosystems to facilitate the dynamic and ever-evolving customer needs.

“WorkSpan has been excited to embark on this integration with Microsoft Dynamics 365,” said Mayank Bawa, CEO and Co-Founder, WorkSpan, “Companies recognize that their ecosystems need to be actively managed for growth. Now, we look forward to bringing ecosystem management inside Microsoft Dynamics 365, enabling customers to manage and grow with their ecosystem partners in their respective markets.”

“Ecosystem Cloud is an emerging capability that helps partners work together across company boundaries to drive greater revenue in true partner-to-partner motions,” said Gavriella Schuster, Corporate Vice President & One Commercial Partner Channel Chief. “WorkSpan has built an Ecosystem Cloud where now Dynamics 365 for Sales customers can leverage this capability to work collaboratively with their partners in bringing new solutions to market for their joint customers.”

The integration between WorkSpan and Dynamics 365 enables an unprecedented level of collaboration and closer alignment of sales motions between Dynamics 365 customers’ internal sales teams and partner teams.  Sales teams have greater trust in their partner teams which leads to better sales velocity and increased revenues from partnerships.  Only with WorkSpan Ecosystem Cloud, can enterprises orchestrate multi-partner and partner-to-partner sales motions, and deliver end-to-end offerings to enable the best customer experiences. This new integration gives Dynamics 365 customers:

  • Opportunities in Dynamics 365 that are seamlessly synced to WorkSpan.  New partner opportunities (and opportunity products) and updates to these joint opportunities in Dynamics 365 are automatically synced to WorkSpan. In WorkSpan, enterprises can securely share critical opportunity data with partners and ensure that the right partner activities are triggered by sales stage.
  • Real-time view of the partner engagement and contribution, from within Dynamics 365.  Sales teams in Dynamics 365 will be able to see a view of the progress of the joint opportunity in WorkSpan. They can also see the partner activities and contribution on the deal, for instance – customer meetings, development of collateral and PoC, and engage directly with the partner teams to accelerate the deal.

WorkSpan also announces the company has raised $27 Million in a Series B funding.  This funding round was led by Redline Capital in London with participation by Mayfield, who led the Series A round as well as new investor M12 Ventures (previously known as Microsoft Ventures).

“WorkSpan has created a solution that is category-defining in an industry that has been ripe for disruption,” said Nicolas Giuli, Partner at Redline Capital, “The WorkSpan Ecosystem Cloud platform has been attracting major brands in the high tech space to grow their ecosystem participation on the WorkSpan network.”

“We are thrilled to expand on our original investment in WorkSpan,” said Navin Chaddha, Managing Director, Mayfield Fund, “It’s been exciting to see WorkSpan transforming the industry, growing from our days as an early investor.  We have complete confidence in the team WorkSpan has assembled to continue to deliver on these major opportunities in the market.”

“WorkSpan makes it easier to build, market and sell together, changing the dynamic in building active and engaged ecosystems of partners,” said Leo de Luna, Managing Director at M12. “With this investment, M12 is excited to continue the company’s ongoing commitment to help the hundreds of thousands of partners in the Microsoft partner ecosystem grow business.”

Gartner Disclaimer
Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About WorkSpan
WorkSpan has completely reimagined how companies go to market together. For the first time, with the WorkSpan Ecosystem Cloud, alliance and ecosystem leaders are finally able to build-with, market-with & sell-with their ecosystem partners in a single, secure, cloud-based network to grow business & abundance together.  WorkSpan makes it easy to work across partner types and partner tiers to grow ecosystem value by driving joint revenue, entering new markets, accelerating time-to-market, innovating on new solutions to meet shared customer needs and developing trust across company boundaries. WorkSpan is a privately held company backed by Mayfield and is growing its network of global enterprise customers including SAP, Cisco, Microsoft, Accenture, VMware, NetApp, Nutanix, NTT Data, Lenovo, and others.

SOURCE WorkSpan

Related Links

https://www.workspan.com/

Categories: News

Tags:

riton to acquire Corendon through Sunweb

Triton

Stockholm (Sweden) / Amsterdam (Netherlands) 03 June 2019 –Triton is to acquire the tour operating activities of Corendon Holiday Group (Corendon) through Sunweb Group (Sunweb), a Triton Fund V portfolio company. Final agreement is still subject to regulatory approvals and to employee consultation procedures. Terms of the transaction are not disclosed.

Corendon is a leading tour operator group in the Netherlands and Belgium. Founded in 2000, it creates fully integrated holiday experiences for more than 750,000 customers with a EUR 515m turnover. When completed, the acquisition will merge Sunweb and Corendon into a joint company under Triton´s support taking advantage of enhanced scale, financial strength, innovation culture, a larger client base and airline capacity.

– The value chain in travel is changing, and Corendon has proven that its position and business model is resilient and winning in this complex environment. The entrepreneurial DNA and the shared mission of both Sunweb and Corendon to deliver the best possible holiday experience for customers will make sure that we will keep on expanding our position in the European travel market. As owners we strive to maintain and preserve the cultures of both Corendon and Sunweb to provide a great place to work. The combination will also provide a strong platform to continue investing in innovation, sustainable travel and digitalization to deliver a superior customer experience and exceed the expectations of the future traveler,” said Per Agebäck, Investment Advisory Professional, Sector Leader for Consumer and advisor to the Triton Funds.

The agreement between Sunweb and Corendon consists of the Corendon tour operating activities in Holland and Belgium, the back-office operations in Turkey and Corendon Dutch Airlines. It also includes Corendon´s brands Karin’s Choice, Maris Life, Stip, and GOfun. The Turkish and European airline and the hotels of Corendon Hotels & Resorts are not part of the transaction.

While leveraging the operational synergies by merging under one company and ownership, Sunweb and Corendon will keep their current brands and organizational structures

– The merger of Sunweb and Corendon is a natural and logical step. For the last years, both Sunweb and Corendon have managed to stay ahead as competitors in an ever-changing travel industry. A key driver for the continued growth and development has not only been the strong product offering but also the digitalisation of both brands. We will continue our ambitious growth agenda, focusing on selecting best-in-breed technology and processes and making significant investments in innovations in order to maintain our competitive advantage in an increasingly digital-first world, said Gert de Caluwe, CEO of Sunweb Group.

About Sunweb Group

Sunweb Group is one of the leading travel groups in Europe. It is the driving force behind numerous brands operating within eight international markets: The Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, United Kingdom, Germany and France. Sunweb is the flagship brand of the group.

Sunweb is a pure online player for package holidays towards sun and winter sport destinations. Sunweb Group employs approximately 500 individuals and sends more than 400 representatives on to various holiday destinations to support its customers.

The Sunweb Group has a pan-European identity: headquarters in Netherlands and Switzerland, software and web development in Girona and various sales offices around Europe. The combination of a centralized organization, unique self-contracted hotel and flight inventory and a strong online business model has resulted in one million happy clients for Sunweb Group last year. Sunweb Group was acquired by Triton Fund V in February 2019.

About Triton

Since its establishment in 1997, Triton has sponsored nine funds, focusing on businesses in the industrial, business services, consumer and health sectors.

The Triton funds invest in and support the positive development of medium-sized businesses headquartered in Europe. Triton seeks to contribute to the building of better businesses for the longer term. Triton and its executives wish to be agents of positive change towards sustainable operational improvements and growth.

The 38 companies currently in Triton’s portfolio have combined sales of around €14.9billion and around 72,000 employees.

Press Contacts

Triton
Fredrik Hazén
Phone: +46 70 948 38 10

Categories: News

Tags:

Ardian supports the growth of leading french recruitment platform Uptoo

No Comments

Ardian

Paris, 31 May 2019- Ardian, a world-leading private investment house, announced today that it has taken a minority stake in Uptoo, the leading sales representative recruitment platform in France. Ardian’s investment will help support and accelerate Uptoo’s growth, particularly through external growth opportunities.

In 10 years, Uptoo has established itself as a leading player in the recruitment of sales representatives and sales managers in France. Since 2015, the growth of the company has strongly accelerated and its turnover has tripled.

The diversified service offering of Uptoo, powered by an integrated and collaborative digital platform, provides evaluation, recruitment and training for the best talent in the B2B sector.

Uptoo has more than 3,500 clients across sectors, including companies listed on the CAC 40, SMEs and start-ups. The company also owns “Uptoo Jobs”, the premier French job search website for sales representatives, where more than 300,000 CVs have been uploaded.

It currently has more than 100 employees across four sites in France: in Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux and Nantes. The company has experienced strong growth since its creation, and in 2018 alone, 65,000 new sales representatives registered on the “Uptoo Jobs” platform.

Didier Perraudin, founder and CEO of Uptoo, said: “Our goal is to become the preferred recruitment partner in the French sales representative market. Our mission is to take the hassle out of recruitment by simplifying, securing and accelerating the process for businesses, recruiters and candidates through digital solutions. Recruitment is a traditional business sector and it is yet to reap the full benefits of digital transformation. By working in the fascinating sales representative sector, our aim is to be a ‘scale-up’ in this market.”

Frédéric Quéru, Director of the Ardian Growth team, added: “Beyond the high quality and ambition of Uptoo’s management team, we were struck by the company’s innovative nature, its unique business expertise and digital approach to B2B sales recruitment. We’ve also been impressed by the strong growth experienced by the company over the last couple of years and by the management’s ambition pursuing this path. We are excited to support Uptoo’s development by bringing our own digital expertise and identifying external growth opportunities.”

ABOUT UPTOO

Uptoo is the top recruiting platform for sales representatives and sales managers across the entire territory, and in all sectors. Uptoo works with a dynamic combination of consultants and digital tools to help companies secure and accelerate their recruiting processes.
Good sales representatives are rare, and a sales disposition cannot be seen on a CV. Uptoo has implemented modern evaluation tools that reveal sales talent. The UptooJobs platform helps analyse the sales disposition of a candidate in real time, to be combined with the data from his/her CV, through a series of online tests and innovative tools.
On a tight market with fierce competition for talent, Uptoo has rolled out a significant set of resources to make the difference on the traditional recruiting market where firms lack candidates, resources, expertise, and digital tools on the sales representative segment.

Key figures:
More than 2,500 recruiting assignments/year
More than 100 employees in Paris, Lyon, Nantes, and Bordeaux
More than 350,000 candidate members of Uptoo Jobs
More than 3,500 clients

www.uptoo.fr

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 600 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 880 clients through five pillars of investment expertise: Funds of Funds, Direct Funds, Infrastructure, Real Estate and Private Debt.

Ardian on Twitter @Ardian

www.ardian.com

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

Uptoo Legal Advisor: Armand Avocats (Georges Civalleri, Anne Rossi)

Ardian: Frédéric Quéru, Florian Dupont
Ardian Legal Advisor: Hogan Lovells (Stéphane Huten, Ali Chegra, Agathe Faict)
Ardian Tax Advisor: Mamou & Boccara (Laurent Mamou)
Ardian Legal, Social, and Tax Auditor: Hogan Lovells (Stéphane Huten, Ali Chegra, Agathe Faict)
Financial Auditor: Crowe HAF (Olivier Grivillers, Thomas Corbineau, Julien Latrubesse)

CONTACTS PRESSE

ARDIAN
Image 7
SIMON ZAKS
Tel : 01 53 70 74 63
szaks@image7.fr
ANNE-CHARLOTTE CREAC’H
Tel : 01 53 70 94 21
accreach@image7.fr
Uptoo
Alexia Reclus
Tel : 06 50 88 62 36
areclus@uptoo.fr

Categories: News

Tags:

Francisco Partners completes acquisition of EG

Franciso Partners

Francisco Partners is acquiring one of Scandinavia’s leading suppliers of industry-specific software to the private and public sectors with more than 9,500 customers for DKK 3.7 billion. The transaction was definitively approved by the competition authorities on 23 May 2019.

EG’s management is looking forward to continuing its growth in cooperation with Francisco Partners, a leading global investment firm focused on technology and software companies. “The new owners give us the inspiration and capital necessary to accelerate our development. We have built a leading software company from the successful execution of our strategy and the impressive efforts of our employees and will continue on this path under our new ownership,” says EG’s CEO Mikkel Bardram. Petri Oksanen, Partner at Francisco Partners, said: “Our ambition is to help EG achieve operational excellence and solidify its position as one of the leading software companies in the Nordics. Francisco Partners will contribute our experience and resources to help EG grow through both organic opportunities and acquisitions within vertical software markets.” “EG has already established a strong foundation and footprint in a number of verticals in the Nordics” added Quentin Lathuille, Vice President at Francisco Partners. “We look forward to working with the EG team to build on their past accomplishments and take the company to the next level in its development.”

About EG A/S EG is a Scandinavian software company with more than 1,000 employees working from 15 skill centres in Scandinavia and Poland. We develop, deliver and service our own software for more than 9,500 private and public clients. Find out more at https://eg.dk/.

About Francisco Partners Francisco Partners is a leading global private equity firm that specializes in investments in technology and technology-enabled businesses. Since its launch over 19 years ago, Francisco Partners has raised over $14 billion in committed capital and invested in more than 200 technology companies, making it one of the most active and longstanding investors in the technology industry. The firm invests in opportunities where its deep sectoral knowledge and operational expertise can help companies realize their full potential. For more information on Francisco Partners, please visit: www.franciscopartners.com.

Categories: News

Tags:

Golden Gate Capital invests in Ensemble Health Partners

Golden Gate Capital

MASON, Ohio and SAN FRANCISCO, May 29, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Ensemble Health Partners (“Ensemble” or “the Company”), an industry-leading national revenue cycle management provider, announced today that Bon Secours Mercy Health will sell 51 percent of the equity in Ensemble to Golden Gate Capital, a leading private equity investment firm. Bon Secours Mercy Health will continue as a commercial partner to Ensemble, as well as remain a minority owner in the Company and continue to serve on the Company’s board.

Founded in 2014, Ensemble partners with hospitals across the United States to create real and lasting value through revenue cycle outsourcing and other services aimed at improving healthcare operations. The Ensemble leadership team is differentiated by its extensive experience as hospital and physician practice operators, as well as its hands-on, client-first mindset. Addressing the shift to value-based care and the changing regulatory landscape, Ensemble’s proven collaborative partnership approach uses operational and process best practices, analytics and technology to craft comprehensive solutions for its clients.

With the exponential growth Ensemble has achieved, Golden Gate Capital’s investment will ensure continued delivery of exceptional results for current and future partners through enhancements in technology, services and people. The transaction facilitates the next phase of growth for Ensemble, which has grown to 3,600 employees serving customers in 30 states, and more than 60 full outsource partner hospitals. Ensemble’s current management team and best-in-class associates, along with its culture of transparency and mission to improve the quality and affordability of healthcare, will remain central to the Company’s and Golden Gate Capital’s long-term growth strategy. Following the close of the transaction, Ensemble is expected to be conservatively leveraged to ensure continued stability.

“Healthcare and the relationship between providers and payors are becoming increasingly complex, and the demand for our services is expanding significantly,” said Judson Ivy, founder and CEO of Ensemble. “This partnership will support our continued growth and allow us to invest in new technologies, positioning Ensemble as a leading innovator in our field and allowing us to continue to deliver outstanding results and best-in-class services. This is not a sale of the Company, but the addition of a new value enhancing investment partner that is fully committed to our philosophy and mission. We are confident Golden Gate Capital is the right partner as we embark on this exciting next chapter and look forward to what we can achieve together.”

Ensemble credits its associates for its exceptional growth and believes in putting its associates first, last, and always. “We believe that people are the most important part of our success,” continued Ivy. “When you take care of your people, they pay it forward by continuing to deliver outstanding results and best-in-class service.”

Rishi Chandna, Managing Director at Golden Gate Capital, said, “Ensemble has established itself as the clear leader in revenue cycle management and is highly respected for its approach, as it partners with clients, identifies the root cause of issues within the revenue cycle and provides customized, innovative solutions for its clients’ future success. The Company is also differentiated by its commitment to empower both its people and its clients to realize their full potential and create a better, more sustainable healthcare system. Ensemble is incredibly well positioned to continue its outstanding growth, and we have the utmost confidence in Judson and the world-class Ensemble team. We look forward to working with Bon Secours Mercy Health to collectively support Ensemble’s growth in the years ahead.”

This transformational and unique transaction helps Bon Secours Mercy Health continue to fulfill its Mission. The sale of Ensemble shares will deliver cash at closing and provide ongoing cash distributions to Bon Secours Mercy Health. These proceeds will ensure the ministry can continue to make significant investments in the communities it serves, providing better access to high quality healthcare for all.

“As the health care category continues to experience dramatic shifts, it is more essential than ever to work efficiently and effectively with healthcare partners to help ensure a positive patient experience through every point in the care process. Since its inception, Ensemble has worked with a myriad of clients to bring excellence to their daily operations,” said Bon Secours Mercy Health President and CEO John M. Starcher, Jr. “This strategic infusion of additional capital will help Ensemble continue to expertly serve clients, while helping ensure Bon Secours Mercy Health can continue to improve the health and well-being of the communities we’re privileged to serve for generations to come.”

This deal is subject to standard regulatory approvals.

Guggenheim Securities served as exclusive strategic and financial advisor to Bon Secours Mercy Health and Ensemble throughout the process of securing the investment.

About Ensemble Health Partners: Now more than ever, a healthy revenue cycle is essential to survival, requiring innovative approaches and impeccable coordination. At Ensemble, we’ve assembled a team of talented and passionate operators who know our field firsthand. We partner with our clients, rolling up our sleeves to build real relationships, dig deep into the details and find solutions that deliver results that last. Ensemble specializes in full revenue cycle outsource solutions, denials and underpayments, analytics and workflow optimization, Epic optimization and management services designed to identify immediate wins and create sustainable solutions that ensure long-term results. For more information, visit www.EnsembleHP.com.

About Golden Gate Capital: Golden Gate Capital is a San Francisco-based private equity investment firm with over $15 billion of capital under management. The principals of Golden Gate Capital have a long and successful history of investing across a wide range of industries and transaction types, including going-privates, corporate divestitures, and recapitalizations, as well as debt and public equity investments. Notable investments sponsored by Golden Gate Capital include Infor, Neustar, Vector Solutions and 2020 Technologies. For more information, visit www.goldengatecap.com.

About Bon Secours Mercy Health: For nearly 200 years, the historical founders of Bon Secours Mercy Health have been providing care to those in need. Today, the ministry is one of the top 20 health systems in the United States and part of the top performing quartile of Catholic health systems for lowest cost per case for patient care. This quality care is provided by more than 57,000 employees serving communities throughout Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, New York, Ohio, South Carolina and Virginia. The healthcare ministry provided care for patients more than 10.3 million times in 2017 through its network of more than 1,000 care sites, including more than 40 hospitals, more than 50 home health agencies, hospice agencies, and skilled nursing and assisted living facilities. Consistent with its commitment to serve each patient with dignity, Bon Secours Mercy Health provides nearly $2 million per day in community benefit. The Mission of Bon Secours Mercy Health is to extend the compassionate ministry of Jesus by improving the health and well-being of its communities and bring good help to those in need, especially people who are poor, dying and underserved. For more information, visit www.bsmhealth.org.

Contacts

For Ensemble Health Partners:
Kendall Herold
Public Relations Manager
(859) 620-1222
Kendall.Herold@EnsembleHP.com

For Golden Gate Capital:
David Isaacs / Hayley Fahey
Sard Verbinnen & Co
(415) 618-8750 / (310) 201-2040

For Bon Secours Mercy Health:
Maureen Richmond
Vice President, Integrated Communications
(513) 222-3451
mnrichmond@mercy.com

Categories: News

Tags:

Champion Iron announces refinancing to optimize capital structure and transaction to acquire 100% of Bloom Lake

Cdpq

Champion Iron Limited (TSX: CIA) (ASX: CIA) (“Champion” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that its subsidiary Québec Iron Ore Inc. (“QIO”), operator of the Bloom Lake Mining Complex, has concluded an agreement in principal with la Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (“CDPQ”) for a preferred share offering of C$185 million plus a commitment for a fully underwritten US$200 million credit facility with The Bank of Nova Scotia (“Scotiabank”) and Societe Generale (“SocGen”). The proceeds of such financings will be used to fund strategic initiatives and to refinance QIO’s current outstanding credit facilities, thereby significantly reducing their carrying costs. In addition, Champion is pleased to report that its subsidiary QIO has concluded an agreement with the government of Québec, through its agent Ressources Québec Inc. (“RQ”), to acquire RQ’s 36.8% equity interest in QIO for a total cash consideration of C$211 million (the “Transaction”). The Transaction would increase Champion’s stake in QIO to 100%.

Commenting on the Transaction and capital restructuring, David Cataford, CEO of Champion, said, “Modifying the capital structure of Champion will provide substantial cost savings to our company. We are thrilled to see CDPQ continue to support our growth initiatives and count on new financial partners like Scotiabank and Societe Generale. Their confidence in our company is extremely motivating. Increasing our ownership of Bloom Lake to 100% is a prudent use of our capital, given the proven production and cash flow generation this project has delivered. Champion is very fortunate to be operating in a jurisdiction which has provided us with timely support. We thank the government of Québec for believing in the project when capital was scarce, and we are proud to be able to deliver them excellent returns for their initial investment. Finally, we are pleased to continue our partnership with the government of Québec through its mandatary, Ressources Québec, as a key shareholder of our publicly listed entity, Champion Iron.”

Transaction Highlights

The Transaction is expected to be immediately accretive on key operating and financial metrics, including earnings, EBITDA and operating cash flow per share. The Transaction utilizes Champion’s balance sheet strength while maintaining low financial leverage. The Transaction is expected to allow the increase of allocated production to Champion by approximately 2.75 Mtpa of high-grade iron ore. The closing of the Transaction is anticipated to occur in the summer of 2019 and is subject to customary conditions as well as to the procurement by QIO of the necessary financing as described herein. The Transaction will be funded from proceeds of newly refinanced facilities in addition to cash on hand.

Capital Restructuring Highlights

  • Significantly reduces cost of debt – At current effective rates, the new debt facility weighted average cost of debt ranges between 6.88% and 7.67% depending on the Company’s EBITDA compared to a weighted average cost of debt between 12.37% and 14.75% for the current credit facilities put in place to finance the Bloom Lake restart in October 2017.
  • Fully underwritten by sophisticated global financiers – Scotiabank and SocGen have partnered as Joint Lead Arrangers, Joint Bookrunners and Co-Underwriters.
  • Maintains CDPQ as strategic partner – CDPQ’s total commitment to our Company increases by approximately C$57 million, from US$100 million of long-term debt to C$185 million as preferred shares.
  • Improves balance sheet flexibility – Compared to QIO’s current long-term debt facilities, this loan facility bears less covenants, further enabling the Company to contemplate organic growth opportunities and greater flexibility.

QIO has entered into an agreement in principal for the issuance of perpetual preferred shares with CDPQ for total proceeds of C$185 million (the “Investment”). Proceeds from the Investment will be used to fund current and future strategic initiatives and repay CDPQ’s existing subordinated credit facility held by QIO of C$128 million (US$100 million). The dividend rate associated with the preferred shares will be based on the gross realized iron price and will fluctuate from 9.25% when the gross realized iron price for Bloom Lake 66.2% iron ore is greater than US$85/t to 13.25% should the gross realized iron ore price decrease below US$65/t. CDPQ’s investment is subject to customary conditions as well as the repayment of the current CDPQ subordinated credit facility granted to QIO, receipt of all required regulatory approval and the issuance of 15 million warrants of Champion to CDPQ with an exercise price of C$2.45 and a 7-year term.

In addition, QIO has signed a commitment letter with Scotiabank and SocGen for a fully underwritten US$200 million credit facility (the “Loan Facility”). Upon completion and execution of the final loan documentation, the Loan Facility will be available by way of a US$180 million senior secured fully amortizing non-revolving credit facility (the “Term Facility”) in addition to a US$20 million senior secured revolving credit facility (the “Revolving Facility”). The Loan Facility will bear interest between LIBOR plus 2.85% if the net debt to EBITDA ratio is lower or equal to 1.00x to LIBOR plus 3.75% if the net debt to EBITDA ratio is greater than 2.50x. The Term Facility will mature five years from the closing date while the Revolving Facility will mature three years from the closing date. The Loan Facility funds will be used to repay outstanding long-term debt instruments in the aggregate amount of US$103 million previously made available by Glencore International AG and Sprott Private Resource Lending (Collector) LP and to fund current and future strategic initiatives. The Term Facility shall be repaid in equal quarterly installments of principal and accrued interest starting on the second full year following the closing date and is not subject to prepayment penalties. The Loan Facility includes standard and customary finance terms and conditions including with respect to fees, representations, warranties, covenants and conditions precedent prior to closing. Closing of the Loan Facility, which is not subject to further technical due diligence, is anticipated to occur in the summer of 2019.

ABOUT CHAMPION IRON LIMITED

Champion is a producing iron development and exploration company, focused on developing its significant iron resources in the south end of the Labrador Trough in the province of Québec. Following the acquisition of its flagship asset, the Bloom Lake iron ore property, the Company implemented upgrades to the mine and processing infrastructure and has partnered in projects associated with improving access to global iron markets, including rail and port infrastructure initiatives with government and other key industry and community stakeholders. Champion’s management team includes professionals with mine development and operations expertise, who also have vast experience from geotechnical work to green field development, brown field management including logistics development and financing of all stages in the mining industry.

– 30 –

For more information

Categories: News

Tags: