Investment AB Latour has, through its fully owned subsidiary Latour-Gruppen AB, signed an agreement to divest its shares in Neuffer Fenster + Türen GmbH (“Neuffer”) to IFN-Holding AG (“IFN”), based in Traun, Austria. The completion of the transaction is expected to take place during the month of January 2022, subject to customary closing conditions.
Neuffer is a company active in the distribution, development and installation of windows and doors through online sales and Latour acquired 66 per cent of the shares in Neuffer in 2015 in order to gain additional competence and knowledge within the e-commerce area. This initiative has now been completed and following a strategic review Latour has come to the conclusion to divest its ownership in Neuffer in order for Neuffer to continue its development with IFN as the new majority owner.
As an effect of the divestment the net debt (excl. IFRS 16) of the Latour Group is expected to decrease compared to the net debt level at the end of September 2021, to around SEK 8.3 billion, all else equal.
Göteborg, December 9, 2021
INVESTMENT AB LATOUR (PUBL)
Johan Hjertonsson, CEO
For further information, please contact:
Martin Knobloch, CEO Hultafors Group AB, +46 722 148 946
Jens Eriksson, CFO Hultafors Group AB, +46 702 114 601
Investment AB Latour is a mixed investment company consisting primarily of a wholly-owned industrial operations and an investment portfolio of listing holdings in which Latour is the principal owner or one of the principal owners. The investment portfolio consists of ten substantial holdings with a market value of about SEK 94 billion. The wholly-owned industrial operations has an annual turnover of SEK 17 billion.
Kinnevik AB (publ) (“Kinnevik”) today announced that it has invested in Pleo’s USD 200m primary funding round. Kinnevik’s investment amounted to USD 25m in a blend of primary and secondary shares. The funds raised will be used to extend Pleo’s product offering beyond expense management towards a holistic suite of financial tools to clients. The funding round values Pleo at USD 4.5bn pre-money, around 180 percent higher than the valuation reflected in Kinnevik’s most recent Interim Report, and corresponds to a return on Kinnevik’s aggregate investment exceeding 10x over a three-year time span, before taking today’s announced investment into account.
Pleo today works with more than 20,000 businesses and processes their employees’ aggregate annualised spend of over USD 1bn with strong customer satisfaction scores. This combined with the wealth of data Pleo has access to compounds with the lack of innovation from incumbents and means that Pleo’s addressable market can extend well beyond expense management into the offering of a holistic suite of financial tools to their clients.
Andreas Bernström, Senior Investment Director at Kinnevik, commented: “Over the last decade, technology has simplified many aspects of everyday behaviour in a transformative way. Pleo, similar to Slack and Zoom in their respective fields, is transforming the user experience in corporate spend management. The company’s success is a combination of relentless focus on product innovation and execution across marketing, automated onboarding, and go-to-market. Perhaps most importantly, the founders have a true commitment and focus on their own staff and company culture. We believe Pleo is in a unique position to become a category winner, and all of us at Kinnevik greatly look forward to continue supporting the company going forward.”
Jeppe Rindom, CEO and Co-Founder of Pleo, commented: “Andreas and Kinnevik clearly saw the potential of what we were building early on, and it is great to have had their continued support through each of our last four funding rounds. Kinnevik is a firm with a long-term view and without investment constraints, which as a fast-growing company is a great combination of strengths to have supporting your development.”
The USD 200m financing round, co-led by Alkeon and Coatue, ascribes Pleo a valuation of USD 4.5bn pre-money. This is around 180 percent higher than the valuation of Pleo reflected in the SEK 2.0bn fair value of Kinnevik’s investment in its Interim Report for the third quarter of 2021. The reassessed fair value of Kinnevik’s investment in Pleo will be finalized and reported in Kinnevik’s Interim Report for the fourth quarter, to be published on 3 February 2022, considering a number of factors in addition to the funding round.
London, December 9, 2021 – Bain Capital Credit, LP, (“Bain Capital Credit”), announces it has agreed a funding line of up to EUR 183 million to Linus Digital Finance AG (LINUS), the publicly listed real estate fintech business, as part of a broader strategic partnership. A German senior bank is also participating in the credit line.
The proceeds will be used to further accelerate LINUS’ financing operations in the UK and Germany, focusing on the mid-market real estate segment. There are significant deployment opportunities for LINUS and its investors as European construction activity continues to grow at a rate of about 7% per annum – according to Eurostat – from a total annual volume of approximately EUR 800 billion last year.
“LINUS’ business model and in-depth market knowledge of its team, coupled with sound underwriting demonstrated by the historical portfolio performance, are compelling. We are pleased to partner with LINUS to support their growth trajectory as part of our broader European real estate investment portfolio”, says Fabio Longo, Managing Director at Bain Capital Credit.
Beyond the funding line, Bain Capital Credit and LINUS also plan to work on strategic initiatives, such as expanding the investment footprint to other European markets, following the successful launch of LINUS’ digital platform in the UK this year.
“This exciting partnership with Bain Capital Credit is further proof of the value institutional investors see in our business model and deals. It is another important milestone for us in becoming the leading real estate fintech business in Europe,” says David Neuhoff, the founder and CEO of LINUS.
About Bain Capital Credit:
Bain Capital Credit is a leading global credit specialist with approximately USD 52 billion in assets under management. Bain Capital Credit invests across the full spectrum of strategies, including leveraged loans, high-yield bonds, distressed debt and special situations, private lending, structured products, non-performing loans, and majority and minority equity stakes. Founded in 1998 as a private, employee-owned firm, Bain Capital Credit’s experienced team of over 150 investment professionals seeks to identify attractive equity and credit investment opportunities across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. In addition to credit, Bain Capital invests across asset classes including private equity, public equity, real estate and venture capital, and leverages the firm’s shared platform to capture opportunities in strategic areas of focus.
About LINUS:
Linus Digital Finance AG finances real estate projects with debt and mezzanine capital through a private debt fund which it manages, making it possible for institutional but also semi-professional and professional investors to participate in these investments through a digital platform. The term of the loans is usually between six and 48 months.
A subsidiary of Linus Digital Finance AG is registered with the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) as a financial investment management company (Kapitalverwaltungsgesellschaft – KVG). Together with its co-investors, LINUS’ funds invested more than EUR 832 million in more than 50 real estate projects since its inception in 2016 (as of September 2021).
Linus Digital Finance AG is listed on the regulated market (General Standard) of Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Linus Capital Ltd. is the British subsidiary of Linus Digital Finance AG and an appointed representative of Infinity Asset Management LLP, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
The asset management firm has announced the first closing of its Andera Smart Infra 1 fund, an impact infrastructure fund dedicated to the energy transition
Andera Partners, a leading private equity player focusing on high-growth SMEs and mid-caps in France and internationally, has completed an initial €84 million fundraising for its Andera Smart Infra 1 fund. This success reflects investors’ strong appetite for the green infrastructure sector and validates the investment thesis of the Andera Infra team, which joined Andera Partners in February 2021.
The team is already working on finalising the fund’s first transactions, alongside its ongoing fundraising. Subscribers to the Andera Smart Infra 1 fund – including Banque des Territoires, l’Auxiliaire, CARCDSF and UMR – showed strong support for the strategy implemented by Andera Partners, demonstrating the confidence that the investors have in the team and its responsible, eco-friendly investment approach.
Guy Auger and Prune des Roches, partners at Andera Partners and co-managers of the Andera Infra team, commented: “We are very proud to welcome these leading partners to our Smart Infra fund. By supporting firms that develop infrastructure to drive the energy transition, the fund will contribute to the rollout of hundreds of green infrastructure projects, making a significant positive environmental and regional impact. Our portfolio companies will build the world of tomorrow, and our investors will be proud to have contributed to it.”
Cédric Desmedt, Deputy Director of the Banque des Territoires’ Energy and Ecological Transition Department: “Investing in Andera Smart Infra 1 is one of the actions taken by Banque des Territoires under the Climate Plan that it is implementing together with Bpifrance. By investing in this fund, we are supporting project developers who are taking positive steps towards more sustainable regions. By being part of the ecosystem surrounding these companies, we will, if need be, be able to help finance their assets.”
The success of this fundraising, achieved through a successful collaboration between Andera and Hexagone Finance, is a mark of recognition for the performance of Andera Infra’s specialist experienced team, led by its two partners, Prune Des Roches and Guy Auger. Through its Andera Smart Infra 1 fund, Andera Infra focuses exclusively on infrastructure in the energy transition sectors, in particular the production and storage of renewable energies, mobility solutions and green data centres. Its value-add strategy aims to use an active and dynamic management approach to enhance its financial performance.
The ANDERA INFRA TEAM
With 30 years’ combined experience in green infrastructure sectors, Prune des Roches and Guy Auger (formerly of Zaist Capital Partners) have been working together for over 10 years, focusing exclusively on
eco-friendly transactions. The team has been building its expertise since the market first developed.
Prune des Roches has 15 years’ experience in the infrastructure market: first on the investment banking side (RBC London) focusing on large infrastructure projects, then in renewable energy project development (Canopy), then as head of external growth for a technical consulting firm specialising in renewable energies (Greensolver), and most recently on the investment fund side (Demeter Infrastructure).
Guy Auger has 30 years’ experience managing high growth companies, including 15 years in the infrastructure sector: first as Deputy General Manager of Eolfi, France’s first asset management firm
focusing on wind power, then, after Véolia acquired a controlling interest, as head of the wind and solar development activities in Europe. Subsequently, as founder and CEO of Greensolver – a technical services company specialising in renewable energies – he personally supported infrastructure funds in more than a dozen countries through more than 60 transactions representing more than €5 billion in investments. He is a member of the board of “La Plateforme Verte”, a think tank focusing on financing the energy transition.
We are excited to announce that Kevel has raised $10M in Series B funding!
The round was led by Fulcrum Equity Partners, with participation from Commerce Ventures, JARS Labs, AperiamVentures, and existing Series A angels. This financial support will be used to grow our team, secure more partnerships, develop the product, and expand further into retail media.
James Avery, Founder and CEO of Kevel, shared:
“We are delighted to be partnered with investors who have recognized our growth over the past year. More businesses than ever want to build custom ad platforms like Facebook’s and Amazon’s, and our tools make it easy for them to do so.”
This funding comes at a pinnacle in digital advertising when user privacy is at the forefront of discussion. Kevel enables businesses to build walled garden ad solutions that rival those of the monopolies (Facebook, Google, etc.) in a privacy-focused way. Our API platform is a cookie-less, JavaScript-free solution that gives monetization control back to the publishers.
The lead investor, Fulcrum Equity Partners, is a growth equity firm based in Atlanta, Georgia, with a focus on healthcare IT, B2B SaaS, and tech-enabled services. They led Kevel’s Series A round of funding in 2020.
In a statement, Philip Lewis, Partner at Fulcrum Equity Partners, said:
“We’ve seen Kevel’s significant growth over the past year and are tremendously impressed with the team and culture they have created. We look forward to continuing this partnership to cement Kevel’s position as the leading ad serving API provider. Kevel has built a great product that will have a significant impact on the digital advertising industry as a whole.”
The funding comes alongside multiple industry awards in 2021, including MarTech Breakthrough’s Best Display Ad Platform and Digiday’s Best Ad Monetization Platform.
A Canadian startup aims to give the decades-old, hand-performed ELISA test a 21st century upgrade by transforming the humble immunoassay into a high-throughput protein profiling platform.
Formerly known as nplex biosciences, Nomic said it has worked with a small number of partners across the pharmaceutical and biotech industries since its debut in 2018. Now, it’s looking to expand, powered by a recent addition of $17 million in venture capital funding.
Launched by bioengineers from McGill University in Montreal, Nomic’s nELISA test relies on DNA nanotechnology, spectral multiplexing and automation to help quantify multiple proteins simultaneously in a more cost-efficient manner. The process is aimed at expanding the scope and scale of biopharma’s drug and biomarker discovery efforts, among other applications.
Today’s series A round was led by Lux Capital with additional backing from SR One and Casdin Capital. Previous investors have included Y Combinator, Real Ventures and 2048 Ventures.
“It’s evident that the next leap in understanding and treating disease will come from building atop the emerging omic-stack,” Lux Capital Partner Zavain Dar said in a statement, adding that the missing piece has been the ability to analyze the human proteome as easily as the genome.
Using a traditional ELISA—short for enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay—can be a time-consuming process that involves building sandwiched layers of specially tagged antibodies and the samples to be tested, with a change in color indicating the presence of a specific protein antigen.
Nomic’s miniaturized version of this gold-standard test runs several of these screenings in parallel—by shrinking down all of an ELISA’s components onto micron-sized beads—while aiming to maintain the accuracy of the manual method.
The company’s system was previously tapped for research programs at GlaxoSmithKline and the Montreal Neurological Institute, including profiling the levels of 150 cytokines among 15,000 cell-derived samples to generated more than 2.2 million protein data points and running thousands of assays to examine the effects of 1,200 different drugs on human brain cells derived from patients with Parkinson’s disease, according to McGill.
More recently, Nomic said it would provide its nELISA platform to the JUMP Cell Painting Consortium, a group coordinated by the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard that includes biopharma companies and nonprofit partners aiming to build a large, cell-imaging database to support drug discovery efforts.
The database, which is scheduled to be publicly available in November 2022, will characterize more than 1 billion cells and their responses to over 140,000 small molecules and genetic perturbations to provide a systematic map of the activity and toxicity of compounds and their effects on disease.
“Importantly, the complementary information provided by the two platforms, Cell Painting and nELISA, will enable JUMP-CP scientists to explore more of the biology underlying their compound and genetic screens,” Nomic co-founder and CEO Milad Dagher said in a statement.
Sydney, December 10, 2021 – Blackstone (NYSE:BX) today announced that Blackstone’s Core+ Real Estate strategy in Asia signed a binding agreement to acquire GIC’s 49% stake in the Dexus Australia Logistics Trust, an existing joint venture with Dexus that owns a portfolio of high-quality logistics assets in Australia. The portfolio of 77 premium-grade logistics assets is concentrated in Australia’s gateway cities, Sydney and Melbourne, with high exposure to densely populated areas and major transportation hubs. The transaction marks the sixth investment in Asia this year under Blackstone Real Estate’s Core+ strategy and the largest investment in Asia under this strategy to date.
Frank Cohen, Global Head of Core+ Real Estate, Blackstone, said: “We are pleased to both acquire a portfolio of best-in-class logistics assets in Australia and partner with Dexus. The transaction significantly increases our Asian Core+ Real Estate exposure to the logistics space and is consistent with our strategy of overweighting high conviction sectors and locations.”
Other investments in Asia this year under the Core+ strategy include the Eclipse (formerly The Sandcrawler), a Grade-A office building in Singapore anchored by tenants in fast-growing sectors of technology and media, and a portfolio of 38 modern residential assets concentrated in Japan’s major cities, Tokyo and Osaka.
Chris Tynan, Head of Real Estate Australia, Blackstone, said: “We continue to bring our global scale and expertise in investing in logistics to the Australian market. Over the last five years, we’ve been active in the premium-grade logistics sector in Australia. While online sales continue to soar, Australia’s e-commerce penetration rate continues to be low relative to that of other major logistics hubs around the world. We believe there’s tremendous opportunity for growth, supported by Australia’s strong e-commerce demand.”
Key transactions for Blackstone in Australia this year include the sale of Milestone, an Australian logistics portfolio, in the largest ever private real estate transaction in the country at the time; acquisition of Fort Knox Self-Storage, a portfolio of self-storage assets in Melbourne; and a majority stake in Grosvenor Place, an iconic office tower in Sydney’s central business district.
JLL facilitated the transaction, and Clayton Utz served as legal advisor to Blackstone.
About Blackstone Real Estate
Blackstone is a global leader in real estate investing. Blackstone’s real estate business was founded in 1991 and has US$230 billion of investor capital under management. Blackstone is the largest owner of commercial real estate globally, owning and operating assets across every major geography and sector, including logistics, multifamily and single family housing, office, hospitality and retail. Our opportunistic funds seek to acquire undermanaged, well-located assets across the world. Blackstone’s Core+ strategy comprises open-ended funds that invest in substantially stabilized real estate assets globally and Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, Inc. (BREIT), a non-listed REIT that invests in U.S. income-generating assets. Blackstone Real Estate also operates one of the leading global real estate debt businesses, providing comprehensive financing solutions across the capital structure and risk spectrum, including management of Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE: BXMT).
New York, December 9, 2021 – Blackstone (NYSE:BX) today announced that David Ben-Ur and Atish Nigam have joined the firm in senior leadership roles in the Blackstone Alternative Asset Management (“BAAM”) business. David will be the Chief Investment Officer of BAAM’s hedge fund solutions business (“BPS”) and Atish will serve as the Chief Investment Officer of BAAM’s special situations investing business (“BSOF”).
In conjunction with Mr. Ben-Ur’s hire, Blackstone also announced BAAM agreed on preliminary terms to manage the assets of CAM Capital, Bruce Kovner’s family office.
Jon Gray, Blackstone President & COO, said: “These announcements demonstrate the tremendous momentum we have in BAAM. David and Atish are exceptional investors with great track records of managing money and delivering strong, risk-adjusted returns through market cycles. It is also an incredible honor to have the opportunity to manage the assets of CAM Capital, as Bruce is a pioneer in the hedge fund industry.”
Joe Dowling, Blackstone Global Head of BAAM, said: “David and Atish will be key leaders in BAAM and are excellent additions to the team. Their experience and networks will help us make better investments and support more managers across asset classes and investing styles. This is very positive news for Blackstone and our investors.”
David Ben-Ur, Chief Investment Officer of the BPS platform, said: “With the firm’s unique scale and expertise, I look forward to working with the team to continue to drive BAAM’s leadership in the hedge fund solutions market. BPS is the core business within BAAM and exemplifies how hedge fund managers can deliver attractive returns and the important role these strategies play in a balanced investment portfolio.”
Atish Nigam, Chief Investment Officer of BSOF, said: “I am excited to join the team and help drive new investment ideas to deliver strong absolute returns for BSOF and its investors. I look forward to working with and learning from Joe and the many other talented members of the BAAM team.”
BPS was launched in 1990 and today is the largest discretionary allocator to hedge funds in the world managing approximately $60 billion of assets (out of BAAM’s $81 billion total). BPS includes both a commingled fund business and a customized solutions business.
The BSOF platform was launched in 2011 and has over $13 billion of assets, including customized, commingled and co-investment solutions.
Mr. Ben-Ur joins from CAM Capital, where he served as Chief Investment Officer, and managed assets exclusively for entities related to Mr. Bruce Kovner and its senior employees. He also served as Chief Investment Officer of The Kovner Foundation, which manages the personal philanthropy of the Kovner family. Prior to joining CAM Capital, he was a Partner and Co-Chief Investment Officer at Corbin Capital Partners. He has previously worked at Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Fidelity Management & Research Company. Mr. Ben-Ur received an MPP in International Trade and Finance from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and BA from Tufts University where he graduated magna cum laude.
Mr. Nigam joins from Appaloosa Management, an investment firm run by Mr. David Tepper, where he was a senior analyst and investor for nearly a decade. At Appaloosa, he focused on combining a top-down world-view with bottom-up, independent, fundamental analysis to identify long-term investment theses across asset classes and capital structures. Mr. Nigam has previous experience at SAC Capital, FTV Capital and McKinsey & Company. He received an MBA from Harvard University, undergraduate and masters degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and is a CFA Charterholder.
Mr. Ben-Ur and Mr. Nigam will start at the firm at the beginning of 2022.
About Blackstone Blackstone is the world’s largest alternative asset manager. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our $731 billion in assets under management include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow Blackstone on Twitter @Blackstone.
Media Contact Paula Chirhart
+1-347-463-5453
paula.chirhart@blackstone.com
Arbor Investments (“Arbor”), a specialized private equity firm that focuses exclusively on investing in food, beverage and related industries announced today their investment in, and partnership with ultra-premium freeze-dried and frozen raw pet food manufacturer Carnivore Meat Company (“Carnivore” or the “Company”). The transaction marks the fourth platform investment for Arbor Fund V. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Founded in Green Bay, Wisconsin by entrepreneur and CEO Lanny Viegut in 2012, Carnivore is among the largest pure-play freeze-dried raw pet food producers in North America, manufacturing unique freeze-dried and frozen raw pet food, snacks and treats. A pioneer in raw pet food, Carnivore’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities and proprietary freeze-drying process are strongly positioned to meet rapidly growing demand, fueled by discerning pet parents worldwide who are seeking nutritious and delicious alternatives to traditional pet foods.
Carnivore’s all-meat freeze-dried products are safe, convenient, and shelf-stable, making them ideal for traveling, training, snacking and everyday feeding. These highly differentiated products are marketed under the Company’s family of brands including flagship brand Vital Essentials®, Vital Cat®, VE RAW BAR™ and the most recently launched Nature’s Advantage® line. The Company’s branded products are distributed to over 7,200 retailers in the U.S. and Canada, online including via Chewy and Amazon, and in 14 international markets. In addition, Carnivore is a trusted partner to a number of co-manufacturing and private label customers.
“Carnivore has been blessed with incredible growth and we see acceleration at an even faster rate in the future,” said Viegut. “When we saw this opportunity to partner with a team who completely match us in culture, values and beliefs…and who share the same commitment to manufacturing premium quality food products, we just had to say, “YES”! This partnership will help us stay ahead of the ever-increasing demand for our 100% raw protein products. Carnivore and Arbor are a perfect fit and the timing couldn’t be better. With our combined experience and expertise, along with Arbor’s resources, we will continue scaling quickly to stay ahead of the incredible demand curve for our ultra-premium quality raw pet foods and treats.”
Under Viegut’s leadership, Carnivore was recently named to Inc. 5000’s list of America’s fastest growing private companies for a third consecutive year. Viegut and senior leadership of the Company will continue in their operating roles leading the business.
“The Carnivore team have developed distinctive products with a fanatical customer base,” stated Arbor Partner Chris Tuffin. “The freeze-dry sector is seeing meteoric growth as pet parents learn about the unrivaled benefits of a raw diet. We look forward to bringing our resources and capital to help increase capacity and support the step-change acceleration in the Company’s growth.”
“Lanny and his team have built something truly incredible, not only in terms of product, but in terms of a unique culture,” said Arbor President Carl Allegretti. “The Carnivore team’s customer-centric approach and ‘find ways to say yes’ attitude across the organization is a clear driver of their tremendous success, and a seamless fit with Arbor’s hands-on approach. We couldn’t be more excited about our new partnership.”
Winston & Strawn LLP served as Arbor’s legal counsel in connection with the transaction. Houlihan Lokey served as Exclusive Financial Advisor and Godfrey & Kahn served as legal counsel to Carnivore.
Advent Tech II exceeds $3 billion target and reaches $4 billion hard cap in six months
New fund is double the size of its predecessor, Advent Tech, which has invested in 20 companies since its launch in 20191
Dedicated tech team will leverage Advent’s global reach, cross-sector network and ecosystem of company-building resources to help businesses scale
PALO ALTO, NEW YORK, BOSTON and LONDON, December 9, 2021 – Advent International, one of the largest and most experienced global private equity investors, today announced that it has completed fundraising for Advent Global Technology II (“Advent Tech II”), its second dedicated technology fund. Advent Tech II exceeded its target of $3 billion by 33% and reached its hard cap of $4 billion after six months in the market.
The new fund is double the size of its predecessor, Advent Tech, which has invested in 20 software, data and cybersecurity companies since its launch in 2019.1 Following the same strategy as the prior fund, Advent Tech II will back innovative companies led by visionary management teams, focusing on high-growth acceleration and complex transformation opportunities. It will invest mainly in North America and Europe and selectively in other global markets where Advent has an established presence. A dedicated team of 27 tech specialists based in Palo Alto, New York, Boston and London will deploy the new fund.
“We launched Advent Tech two years ago to bring the power of Advent to tech investing,” said Bryan Taylor, Managing Partner and head of Advent’s technology team. “The strong support from existing and new investors in our second fund is a validation of our strategy and approach. With our global reach, deep cross-sector network and vast ecosystem of company-building resources, we believe we’re ideally positioned to help businesses innovate and grow at scale.”
“Core to our strategy are two underlying beliefs,” said David Mussafer, Managing Partner and Co-Chair of Advent’s Executive Committee. “First, that tech is a horizontal, impacting virtually every industry and business. Second, that tech is one ecosystem, where success means understanding both disruptors and incumbents. These beliefs help us partner with the most promising innovators of today with the goal of building them into the market leaders of tomorrow.”
Deep cross-sector network
“Our 30-year history of investing in multiple industries gives us the knowledge and relationships to help tech companies disrupt their markets,” said James Brocklebank, Managing Partner and Co-Chair of Advent’s Executive Committee. “At the same time, our tech team provides us with greater visibility on disruption in all of our sectors and improves our ability to apply technology-driven value creation plans in our portfolio companies worldwide.”
One team, flexible capital
In addition to investing the new fund, the tech team makes technology investments for Advent’s $17.5 billion Global Private Equity IX (“GPE IX”) fund. “This gives us the flexibility to invest across a broad spectrum of deal sizes and types,” said Lauren Young, a Managing Director on Advent’s tech team. “With the tech fund alone, we can make smaller investments—from $50 million of equity—in early disruptors. Together with GPE IX, we can deploy $2 billion or more in established, market-leading incumbents.”
“The tech ecosystem thrives from a constant cross-pollination of ideas, talent and customers,” said Eric Wei, a Managing Director on Advent’s tech team. “Having one team with extensive experience across the growth continuum enables us to identify and support ambitious tech companies, whether they’re seeking a minority growth round or a billion-dollar investment to fuel accelerated growth or major transformation.”
Strong investment momentum
Building on Advent Tech’s momentum, Advent has already closed or signed four investments for Advent Tech II.2 It co-led an investor group that agreed to acquire McAfee Corp. (Nasdaq: MCFE), a global leader in online protection, for over $14 billion in the largest-ever take-private of a software company.3 It also invested in Iodine Software, a leading healthcare AI company, and Tekion, developer of a cloud-native SaaS platform for the automotive retail industry. The fund’s fourth investment has not yet been announced.
Diverse investor base
Advent Tech II received commitments from a diverse group of institutional investors around the world. These include public pension funds, endowments, foundations, family offices, sovereign wealth funds, funds of funds, insurance companies and corporate pension funds. More than 90% of the committed capital came from Advent’s existing investor base, with the remaining commitments provided by a select number of new investors.
In addition to Advent Tech II and GPE IX, Advent is investing its seventh Latin American private equity fund, LAPEF VII, capitalized at $2 billion.
This press release is not an offer or solicitation of an offer, or an invitation or inducement, to invest in any Advent International fund. No person may invest in any Advent International fund except in accordance with and subject to the terms of the applicable fund documentation and applicable law.
About Advent International
Founded in 1984, Advent International is one of the largest and most experienced global private equity investors. The firm has invested in over 380 companies in 42 countries, and as of June 30, 2021, had $81 billion in assets under management. With 15 offices in 12 countries, Advent has established a globally integrated team of over 250 investment professionals across North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia. The firm focuses on investments in five core sectors, including business and financial services; healthcare; industrial; retail, consumer and leisure; and technology. After more than 35 years dedicated to international investing, Advent remains committed to partnering with management teams to deliver sustained revenue and earnings growth for its portfolio companies.
1 Includes two pending transactions. Advent cannot ensure any pending transactions will be completed. 2 Includes two pending transactions. Advent cannot ensure any pending transactions will be completed. 3 Dealogic
