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DWS Fund to acquire Hansea, a leading Belgian public transport infrastructure operator, from Cube Infrastructure Fund and Gimv

GIMV

Cube Infrastructure Fund (Cube) and Gimv today announce the sale of Hansea to a fund managed by DWS (“DWS”), a global infrastructure manager. With the support of its investors, the company has focused on organic growth and an active buy & grow strategy since 2014.

In 2014, Cube and Gimv acquired Hansea (Antwerp, www.hansea.be). With a fleet of 811 buses and around 1,200 employees, Hansea is the largest private bus company in Flanders. The company is responsible for daily urban and regional connections on behalf of the public transport companies, De Lijn and TEC. Hansea is also active in school and personnel transport and bus charter services.

Thanks to the entry of Cube and Gimv, Hansea obtained the capital and the independence to successfully realize strong growth of its activity and to complete four acquisitions.

Today, Cube and Gimv announce that they will sell their stake in Hansea to DWS. Together with Hansea’s management team and employees, the new investor intends to continue to build on this growth trajectory, as a stable partner that provides an excellent service to its customers.

Luc Jullet, CEO of Hansea: “We are convinced to be able to continue our growth strategy started with Cube and Gimv with the support of our new shareholder in order to become the indispensable mobility provider in Belgium.”

Hamish Mackenzie, Global Head of Infrastructure at DWS said: “We are delighted to invest in one of the best companies operating in the public transportation sector in Europe. We have identified local and regional public transportation as an attractive sector for our funds given the strong macro fundamentals, supportive regulation and rising investment needs driven by the European green agenda. Hansea stood out as one of the most efficient companies operating in this sector, led by a solid and experienced management team and with significant potential to grow further as an independent operator with a strong connection to the local communities and public transport authorities of the Flanders and Wallonia regions. Cube and Gimv have done an excellent job in growing the company in the past years and we believe that with our track record as infrastructure investors in the Benelux region, along with our strong international brand we will be able to support and accelerate the ambitions of the management team going forward.”

Jérôme Jeauffroy, Managing Partner of Cube Infrastructure Managers, Cube adds: “We are delighted to see DWS as the new shareholder, who share the same vision for Hansea as an infrastructure platform to further expand and recognize the full growth potential of the Company. We believe that Hansea will continue to flourish in the coming years thanks to the support of DWS and the leadership of its CEO and management team.”

Ruben Monballieu, Principal in Gimv’s Sustainable Cities platform adds: “As a Sustainable Cities team we are proud that we have been able to support Hansea’s management in a successful growth trajectory over the past 5 years, and as such could contribute to a more environmentally friendly mobility in Belgium. ”

With the exit of Hansea, the last participation of the Gimv-XL fund has been sold. Launched in 2009, this fund could generate strong returns through a series of successful investments in large Flemish companies. No further financial details are provided on the transaction. This transaction has no material impact on the NAV of Gimv.

The transaction is subject to the customary closing conditions, including approval by the competition authorities.

DC Advisory acted as exclusive financial adviser to Cube and Gimv during the transaction. Linklaters acted as legal adviser to the sellers. Macquarie and Stibbe acted as advisers to the buyers.

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Providence Strategic Growth Invests in ThreatConnect

Providence

ThreatConnect Receives Investment from Providence Strategic Growth

New Funding Aimed at Accelerating ThreatConnect’s Go-to-Market Strategy and Product Development

ARLINGTON, Va.–June 3, 2019–ThreatConnect, Inc.®, provider of the industry’s only intelligence-driven security operations platform announced a new strategic growth investment led by Providence Strategic Growth (PSG), the growth equity affiliate of Providence Equity Partners. This growth investment is intended to help continue the ThreatConnect Platform’s path of innovation and further the company’s continued leadership in its market.

ThreatConnect originally launched its Platform in 2014, gained market leadership in the threat intelligence platform market, and has since grown to serve more than 1,600 organizations worldwide. In 2017 the company added advanced orchestration and automation capabilities to the Platform, expanding its value to a broader security operations market. In just the last year, the usage of these advanced orchestration and automation “Playbooks” in the Platform has increased more than 40%, now executing more than 23,000 Playbooks per month per customer on average.

In 2018, ThreatConnect was selected by Inc5000 as one of the fastest growing companies in the US, and by Washington Business Journal as one of the DC area’s 75 Fastest Growing Companies. The company’s growth, along with its value proposition to change how businesses manage their security, drove PSG’s interest in investing in the company.

ThreatConnect CEO Adam Vincent said, “PSG’s deep experience investing in technology companies that are reshaping the way business is done make them an ideal partner for ThreatConnect. PSG portfolio companies are helping other businesses run smarter, cheaper, and faster. And, since ThreatConnect is helping companies with smarter, faster decision making in security, this seemed like a very natural fit.”

The new funding is aimed at accelerating ThreatConnect’s go-to-market strategy, supporting further development of the Platform, and expanding its ability to build a successful community of customers and partners. The company plans to increase its staff by more than 50% over the next 12 months both domestically and abroad, which is expected to further accelerate product and revenue growth in the coming years.

PSG Managing Director Gopi Vaddi said, “Our vision for digital transformation of businesses through software aligns well with ThreatConnect’s vision for intelligence-driven security. Security software is one of the priority sectors for PSG, and we are excited to have found a high quality organization in ThreatConnect led by Adam Vincent and his team – a relationship we cultivated for several years. We look forward to working with Adam and the rest of the ThreatConnect leadership team to accelerate what is already a successful and fast growing organization.”

PSG is ThreatConnect’s sole institutional investor.

About ThreatConnect
ThreatConnect, Inc. provides a proactive and efficient approach to security by enabling enhanced detection, shortened response, and reduced risk. Designed by analysts but built for the entire team (security operations, threat intelligence, incident response and security leadership), ThreatConnect’s intelligence-driven security operations platform is the only solution available today with intelligence, automation, analytics, and workflows in a single platform. To learn more about our threat intelligence platform (TIP) or security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) solutions, visit www.ThreatConnect.com.

About Providence Strategic Growth Capital Partners LLC
Providence Strategic Growth (“PSG”) is an affiliate of Providence Equity Partners (“Providence”). Established in 2014, PSG focuses on growth equity investments in lower middle market software and technology-enabled service companies, primarily in North America. Providence is a premier global asset management firm that pioneered a sector-focused approach to private equity investing with the vision that a dedicated team of industry experts could build exceptional companies of enduring value. Since the firm’s inception in 1989, Providence has invested in more than 180 companies and is a leading equity investment firm focused on the media, communications, education and information industries. Providence is headquartered in Providence, RI, and also has offices in New York and London. For more information on PSG, please visit https://www.provequity.com/private-equity/psg, and for more information on Providence, please visit https://www.provequity.com.

Contacts

ThreatConnect
US
Hayley Kropog
Hayley.Kropog@teamlewis.com

UK
Claire Sach
claire.sach@teamlewis.com

Providence Strategic Growth
Kelsey Markovich / Hayley Cook
Prov-SVC@sardverb.com
212-687-8080

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Platinum Equity Completes Acquisition of Spanish Seafood Provider Iberconsa from Portobello Capital

Platinum

LOS ANGELES (June 3, 2019) – Platinum Equity today announced it has completed the acquisition of a majority stake in Grupo Ibérica de Congelados, S.A. (“Iberconsa”) from Portobello Capital and affiliates of the company’s founding families. Portobello Capital and members of the Iberconsa management team are co-investing alongside Platinum Equity. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Headquartered in Vigo, Spain, Iberconsa is a global provider of frozen seafood products, including hake, Argentine red shrimp and squid. The company is vertically integrated across the full value chain, including wild catch, processing, commercialization and distribution.

Iberconsa maintains an owned fleet of 45 vessels, five processing plants and four cold storage distribution facilities. Iberconsa’s fleet operates primarily in Argentina, Namibia and South Africa, and the company’s products are sold in more than 60 countries.

Iberconsa CEO Alberto Freire is continuing to lead the business following the transfer of ownership.

The acquisition of Iberconsa is the latest example of Platinum Equity’s increasing momentum in Europe. Last year Platinum Equity completed the $2.1 billion acquisition of Zug, Switzerland and Chesterbrook, PA-based blood glucose monitoring company LifeScan from Johnson & Johnson. The firm also acquired Wyndham’s European vacation rental business for $1.3 billion.

Platinum Equity sold Exterion Media to British media and entertainment group Global in November 2018, and sold Paris-based Worldwide Flight Services to Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. in October 2018 in a transaction valued at approximately €1.2 billion.

Lazard and Deloitte served as financial advisors to Platinum Equity on the acquisition of Iberconsa. Latham & Watkins served as Platinum Equity’s legal advisor on the transaction.

Nomura and Ernst & Young (“E&Y”) served as financial advisors to the sellers. E&Y also served as the sellers’ legal advisor on the transaction.

About Platinum Equity
Founded in 1995 by Tom Gores, Platinum Equity is a global investment firm with approximately $13 billion of assets under management and a portfolio of approximately 40 operating companies that serve customers around the world. The firm is currently investing from Platinum Equity Capital Partners IV, a $6.5 billion global buyout fund, and Platinum Equity Small Cap Fund, a $1.5 billion buyout fund focused on investment opportunities in the lower middle market. Platinum Equity specializes in mergers, acquisitions and operations – a trademarked strategy it calls M&A&O® – acquiring and operating companies in a broad range of business markets, including manufacturing, distribution, transportation and logistics, equipment rental, metals services, media and entertainment, technology, telecommunications and other industries. Over the past 23 years Platinum Equity has completed more than 250 acquisitions.

About Portobello Capital
Founded in 2010, Portobello Capital is a leading independent Mid-Market Private Equity manager based in Spain that invests in Southern Europe. It has €1.3 billion of assets under management, a team of 27 professionals and 15 companies in its portfolio (Angulas Aguinaga, Centauro and Supera, among others). Portobello Capital manages two primary funds: Fund III was closed at €375 million in August 2014 and it is fully invested, and Fund IV closed in February 2018 and is currently being invested. Portobello Capital is also managing a secondary vehicle with €300 million.

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Onex Completes Acquisition of Gluskin Sheff

Onex

Toronto, June 3, 2019 – Onex Corporation (“Onex”) (TSX: ONEX) and Gluskin Sheff + Associates Inc. (“Gluskin Sheff”) (TSX: GS) today announced they have completed their transaction, under which Onex acquired 100% of Gluskin Sheff for a total consideration of approximately C$445 million ($330 million). This transaction brings together two of Canada’s pre-eminent investment firms and provides investors with a comprehensive investment offering across both private and public markets. Gluskin Sheff will continue to be led by its existing leadership team and operate under its brand. Gluskin Sheff will be de-listed from the Toronto Stock Exchange tomorrow.

About Onex

Founded in 1984, Onex invests and manages capital on behalf of its shareholders, institutional investors and high-net worth clients from around the world. Onex’ platforms include: Onex Partners, private equity funds focused on larger opportunities in North America and Europe; ONCAP, private equity funds focused on middle market and smaller opportunities in North America; Onex Credit, which manages primarily non-investment grade debt through collateralized loan obligations, private debt and other credit strategies; and Gluskin Sheff’s actively managed public equity and public credit funds. In total Onex’ assets under management today are approximately $37 billion, of which approximately $6.6 billion is shareholder capital. With offices in Toronto, New York, New Jersey and London, Onex and its experienced management teams are collectively the largest investors across Onex’ platforms.

The Onex Partners and ONCAP operating companies have assets of $51 billion, generate annual revenues of $31 billion and employ approximately 172,000 people worldwide. Onex shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the stock symbol ONEX.

For more information on Onex, visit its website at www.onex.com. Onex’ security filings can also be accessed at www.sedar.com.

2 Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain, without limitation, statements concerning possible or assumed future operations, performance or results preceded by, followed by or that include words such as “believes”, “expects”, “potential”, “anticipates”, “estimates”, “intends”, “plans” and words of similar connotation, which would constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees. The reader should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information because they involve significant and diverse risks and uncertainties that may cause actual operations, performance or results to be materially different from those indicated in these forward-looking statements. Except as may be required by Canadian securities law, Onex is under no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained herein should material facts change due to new information, future events or other factors. These cautionary statements expressly qualify all forward-looking statements in this press release.

For further information: Onex Emilie Blouin Director, Investor Relations Tel: +1 416.362.7711 Gluskin Sheff David R. Morris Chief Financial Officer and Secretary Tel: +1 416.681.6036

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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

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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

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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/

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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

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Ardian supports the growth of leading french recruitment platform Uptoo

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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
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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

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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.

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