Archives

3i-backed bioprocessing consumables platform acquires Sani-Tech West, Inc., significantly expanding the combined group’s global footprint and market-leading product portfolio

3I

3i-backed bioprocessing consumables platform acquires Sani-Tech West, Inc., significantly expanding the combined group’s global footprint and market-leading product portfolio

3i Group plc (“3i Group”) announces that its single use bioprocessing platform has acquired Sani-Tech West, Inc. (Sani-Tech West and subsidiaries SaniSure® and SureTech), a leading US-based manufacturer, distributor and integrator of single-use bioprocessing systems and components. Sani-tech West’s founder-owners, including majority owner Richard Shor, will remain with and continue to serve as key leaders of the combined business.

Founded in 1991 and headquartered in California, SaniSure® designs, develops, and manufactures single-use solutions for the bioprocessing industry including customized bottle assemblies, aseptic transfer systems, caps, flasks, tubes and clamps. The business has c. 170 employees and operates two facilities in Southern California. Its bottle assemblies provide a means of transfer, storage and sampling for vaccines and biological drugs. The company has longstanding customer relationships including with leading pharma and biotech customers. In addition to its own manufactured products, and unique IP, Sani-Tech West also distributes a variety of other related single-use products to its customers.

SaniSure® has experienced strong growth over the last several years, supporting key customers in the fast-growing biologics market, and in particular customers working on the development and commercialisation of monoclonal antibody, vaccine, and cell and gene therapy modalities with single-use technologies.

With this transaction, the combined platform will have robust manufacturing and cleanroom assembly operations in both North America and Europe, and will offer enhanced supply chain assurance to its customers as a result of its increasingly vertically integrated product portfolio, including PharmaTainerTM bottles and carboys, Cap2v8® solutions, aSURE® fittings, Bio-EaseTM clamps and a wide range of silicone and thermoplastic tubing solutions including Cellgyn® TPE tubing.  These products are offered independently and integrated into custom tube, bottle and bag assemblies that are used by customers in a variety of upstream and downstream applications.  The company will also have unique portfolio of products designed to serve cell & gene therapy applications, such as Mixed4Sure™ stirring solutions, cell perfusion products and other innovative products in development.

Richard Relyea, Partner, 3i commented: “We are excited to partner with Richard and his team, who have built a US market leader in single-use solutions for the biopharma industry.  This represents a transformational combination for both companies, delivering immediate scale and global reach and enhancing our combined product offerings, capabilities and ability to serve our customers.”

Richard Shor, Founder and CEO, Sani-Tech West added: “The combination of Sani-Tech West and the Cellon, Silicone Altimex and TBL segments that make up 3i’s bioprocessing platform has been a goal of mine for years. The companies’ product offerings are highly complementary and together we will continue to bring more novel, innovative solutions to our customers, as well as offering greater supply chain assurance and faster lead times. I look forward to continuing this journey of expanding our combined international footprint and executing our global growth strategy.”

Importantly, the combination of the two businesses will enhance the ability to serve COVID-19 related vaccine and therapeutics production, for both new and existing customers, with global assembly production capabilities and a robust suite of leading products and components. With three key technology platforms – PharmaTainer bottles and caps, elastomeric and silicone tubing, and novel fittings products – the business offers customers end-to-end customised fluid management solutions, from planning and design through scaled production. The business looks forward to continuing to serve its customers in high criticality bioprocessing applications.

-Ends-

 

Download the press release  

 

For further information, contact: 

3i Group plc

Silvia Santoro

Investor enquiries

 Tel: +44 20 7975 3258

Email: silvia.santoro@3i.com
Kathryn van der Kroft

Media enquiries

 Tel: +44 7721 886 304

Email: kathryn.vanderkroft@3i.com

 

About 3i Group

3i is an investment company with two complementary businesses, Private Equity and Infrastructure, specialising in core investment markets in Northern Europe and North America.

3i’s Private Equity team provides investment solutions for growing companies, backing entrepreneurs and management teams of mid-market companies with an EV typically between €100m – €500m. We back international growth plans, providing access to our network and expertise to accelerate the growth of companies across the consumer, industrial, healthcare and business and technology services industries.

For further information, please visit: www.3i.com

 

About Sani-Tech West

Founded in 1991, Sani-Tech West, through its business units SaniSure® and SureTech, is a leading manufacturer, marketer and distributor of products and components used in the manufacture of pharmaceutical and biotech drugs. Based in Camarillo, CA, the Company operates out of two facilities: a 28,000 sq. foot manufacturing plant with 2,200 sq. foot ISO Class 7 validated clean room, which also houses the Company’s offices, and a 43,000 sq. foot facility with a 5,500 sq. foot ISO Class 7 validated clean room and 2,500 sq. foot controlled environment for fabrication.

 

Regulatory information

This transaction involved a recommendation of 3i Corporation, a US wholly owned subsidiary of 3i Group.

Bottle Assembly 2.png

Categories: News

Tags:

IK Investments Partners has reached an agreement to sell Aposan to Santé Cie group

Ardian

Lyon / Cologne / Hamburg / Paris / Frankfurt, 27nd July 2020 – Santé Cie Group, a leading company in the French home medical assistance (HMA) market – offering medico-technical equipment, consumables and services to patients at home – announces the acquisition of a majority stake in APOSAN, a leading German pharmaceutical homecare provider and ophthalmic compounder. The stake will be acquired from the IK Small Cap I Fund, which is advised by IK Investment Partners. The acquisition is welcomed by Ardian, Group HLD, UI Gestion and Santé Cie’s management team who welcome APOSAN’s management team as a future minority shareholder in the Group. Santé Cie is majority-owned by Ardian.

Founded in 1991, APOSAN is a leading specialised homecare provider in the field of outpatient parenteral antibiotic therapy, one of the fastest growing segments in the German home care market, as well as parenteral & enteral nutrition and ophthalmic injectables, covering the full homecare value chain from pharmaceutical compounding to care delivery. APOSAN is headquartered in Cologne, Germany, and serves over 15,000 patients per year.

In recent years, APOSAN has continued its successful growth strategy by rolling out its offering and new treatment areas to a growing patient base whilst investing significantly into its production capacity expansion, sales force and homecare specialists and increasing awareness of the advantages for patients, medical employees and healthcare systems of outpatient care in its core market segments.

Santé Cie’s internationalisation strategy is founded on a very attractive, well-managed and highly recognised platform in Germany. Santé Cie and APOSAN will build on their existing expertise and complementary offers to expand outpatient therapy indications and services. The Group will continue to innovate to improve the efficiency of care pathways in the face of new challenges posed by connected healthcare and telehealth.

Larbi Hamidi, Chairman of Santé Cie, said: “APOSAN boasts an entrepreneurial management team, highly-skilled employees and it represents a perfect addition to Santé Cie’s business. Its prime focus on perfusion and nutrition segments pairs exceptionally well with ours and we are impressed with the way APOSAN’s management has been able to build such a strong platform through autonomous growth. We at Santé Cie are very much delighted at the prospect of working together with APOSAN’s management and its employees, and supporting them in the next stage of their development through accelerating the company’s growth strategy.”

Rainer Schmitz, CEO of APOSAN, commented: “APOSAN has achieved strong growth over the past years and has made substantial investments in the Company. We would like to take this opportunity to thank IK Investment Partners for all their support, which enabled APOSAN to grow and expand its market position and offering. We now look forward to working with Santé Cie to further build on this success.”

Anders Petersson, Managing Partner at IK Investment Partners, said: “APOSAN has truly become the undisputed leader in the German pharmaceutical homecare market since we first partnered with the

Company in 2016. It has been a pleasure working with APOSAN and its dedicated management team and we wish them all the best on their continued journey.”

Nicolas Darnaud, Managing Director within the Ardian Buyout team in Paris, said: “We are extremely proud to support Santé Cie in its first acquisition, which marks the beginning of the company’s international growth journey. APOSAN has an excellent track record and its performance stood out during the Covid-19 pandemic. We believe that the complementary nature of Santé Cie’s and APOSAN’s offers will enable the development of new and efficient solutions in the European homecare market.”

Alexander Friedrich, Managing Director within the Ardian Buyout team in Frankfurt, added: “This acquisition in one of our core sectors highlights Ardian’s multi-local approach and our strategy to support the development of companies into undisputed leaders in their respective markets, widening their offering and geographic reach with transformational add-on acquisitions.”

The joint company will serve more than 180,000 patients annually, with revenues of €300m+ and 1,850+ employees throughout France and Germany.

The transaction remains subject to antitrust approval.

ABOUT APOSAN

Founded 1991 in Cologne/Germany, APOSAN is a leading niche pharmaceutical homecare provider. It covers the homecare value chain from individualised pharmaceuticals production through its own cleanroom facilities, enabling the provision of custom infusions and nutrition bags, to educating patients via its German wide network of nurses who train and support patients at home. Moreover, APOSAN produces patient-individual ready-to-use AMD (age-related macular degeneration) injectables used in ophthalmic surgeries.

Visit the website

ABOUT SANTÉ CIE GROUP

Created in 2016, Santé Cie is the third largest home healthcare provider in France, through its two operating networks Elivie and Asdia. With the trust of healthcare professionals, the company supports over 160,000 home care patients, both children and adults, across France every day. It covers a wide range of therapeutic segments including perfusion, nutrition, insulin therapy, the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, respiratory assistance and wound treatment and healing. By means of a medical prescription, the Elivie and Asdia teams set up all equipment required at home for the care of patients with chronic or acute illnesses. By ensuring the home care pathway, training and patient support and monitoring, the teams provide solutions to simplify and secure patient care at home, in constant contact with prescribers and in coordination with their entourage and all participants in the care chain (pharmacists, nurses, physiotherapists, etc.). Santé Cie has over 1,700 employees across 80 agencies throughout France, through its Elivie and Asdia networks.

Visit the website

ABOUT IK INVESTMENT PARTNERS

IK Investment Partners (“IK”) is a Pan-European private equity firm focused on investments in the Nordics, DACH region, France, Benelux, and the UK. Since 1989, IK has raised nearly €13 billion of capital and invested in over 130 European companies.
Across its strategies, IK funds support companies with strong underlying potential, partnering with management teams and investors to create robust, well-positioned businesses with excellent long-term prospects.

Visit the website

ABOUT ARDIAN

Ardian is a world-leading private investment house with assets of US$100bn managed or advised in Europe, the Americas and Asia. The company is majority-owned by its employees. It keeps

entrepreneurship at its heart and focuses on delivering excellent investment performance to its global investor base.
Through its commitment to shared outcomes for all stakeholders, Ardian’s activities fuel individual, corporate and economic growth around the world.
Holding close its core values of excellence, loyalty and entrepreneurship, Ardian maintains a truly global network, with more than 670 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 1.000 clients through five pillars of investment expertise: Fund of Funds, Direct Funds, Infrastructure, Real Estate and Private Debt.

LIST OF PARTIES INVOLVED

  • Sellside

    • IK Investment Partners: Anders Petersson, Ingmar Bär
    • M&A advisor: Alantra (Wolfram Schmerl, Christopher Jobst)
    • Legal and tax advisor: Renzenbrink & Partner (Ulf Renzenbrink, Marc Kotyrba)
    • Commercial advisor: Alvarez & Marsal (Georg Hochleitner)
    • Financial advisor: Ebner Stolz (Claus Bähre)

  • Buyside

    • Ardian: Yann Bak, Nicolas Darnaud, Alexander Friedrich, Nicolas Kassab, Matthias Straessle, Maxime Debost
    • Santé Cie: Larbi Hamidi, Alexandre Binetruy, Rémi Masson Regnault
    • Legal advisor: Weil, Gotshal & Manges (Barbara Jagersberger, Benjamin Rapp)
    • Commercial advisor: LEK (Stefan Schrettle)
    • Financial, tax and IT advisor: Eight Advisory (Murat Deniz, Jan Ole Burchert, Marc Bernstein)
    • Regulatory advisor: Clifford Chance (Peter Dieners)
    • Insurance advisor: Euro Transaction Solutions (Jürgen Reinschmidt)

PRESS CONTACTS

IK Investment Partners

Charles Barker Corporate Communications GmbH TOBIAS EBERLE

Tobias.Eberle@charlesbarker.de +49 69 79 40 90 24

ARDIAN / Headland

VIKTOR TSVETANOV

VTsvetanov@headlandconsultancy.co.uk +44 207 3435 7469

Categories: News

Tags:

CVC Credit Partners closes Apidos XXXIII CLO Fund

CVC Credit Partners has closed CLOs in both the U.S. and Europe in the last month

CVC Credit Partners (“CVC Credit”) is pleased to announce that it has closed Apidos XXXIII, a Collateralized Loan Obligation (“CLO”) fund totalling $400 million. This is the second CLO fund CVC Credit has closed in the last month, following the closing of Cordatus XVII in June. Together these funds total $720 million (€630 million) of new issuance and increase CVC Credit Partners global CLO asset under management to approximately $15.8 billion.

Adipos XXXIII, was arranged by Goldman Sachs and is CVC Credit’s second new-issue to close in the U.S. in 2020. As with previous Apidos CLOs, the fund is primarily comprised of broadly syndicated First Lien Senior Secured Loans.

Cordatus XVII is a €290 million European focused CLO arranged by Natixis. This was CVC Credit’s first European CLO closed in 2020, having completed three in 2019. European CLO assets under management now stand at c.$6.3 billion.

Gretchen Bergstresser, Global Head of Performing Credit at CVC Credit Partners, said: “Pricing and closing two CLOs in such quick succession is a great result, and all the more impressive in the context of the challenging economic conditions of the past few months. Both U.S. and European raisings have been a real team effort with our New York and London based teams working simultaneously across both CLOs.

Categories: News

Tags:

Ardian portfolio company Dedalus acquires DXC Technology’s healthcare software solutions division

Ardian

Dedalus strengthens its leading position in the healthcare IT sector at European and global level by operating in 40 countries worldwide

  • The deal is based on a strong complementarity in the sharing of the same methodologies and technologies for products development
  • The acquisition will enable Dedalus to accelerate the digital transformation of the healthcare ecosystem through its scaled R&D capabilities
  • Dedalus will employ over 5,500 people, with circa 2,000 solely in R&D, generating over 700 million euros in turnover
  • More than 3 billion clinical documents are produced globally each year by professionals using Dedalus solutions
  • Florence, 21 July 2020 – Dedalus Group, a leading international healthcare software provider, announces that it has reached a binding agreement for the acquisition of the Healthcare Software Solutions division of US-based DXC Technology Company (NYSE: DXC). DXC Technology is one of the world’s largest IT services companies. Dedalus Group is 75% owned by Ardian.

The acquisition firmly establishes Dedalus as a leading global player in the hospital and diagnostic software solutions sector. It now has a presence in over 40 countries, holding leading positions in major European countries, including Germany, Italy, the UK, France and Spain.

With this acquisition, the business will generate future total turnover of around 700 million euros, creating the world’s largest R&D platform for this sector.

DXC Technology’s healthcare software division provides clinical healthcare software solutions for national and regional authorities, hospitals, diagnostic laboratories, general practitioners and outpatients. The business already holds a leading position across the UK/Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Spain, and also a significant position across Northern Europe, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and North America. It covers all aspects of clinical decision-making processes, improving the ability for collaboration of all healthcare stakeholders in the care of patients.

The deal capitalises on significant synergies between the two companies that will allow Dedalus to expand its existing business in major European markets, expand into new markets, and establish a long time skilled management team led by Dedalus CEO Andrea Fiumicelli and Giorgio Moretti, Chairman of the Company.

Andrea Fiumicelli, CEO of Dedalus Group, commented: ”This acquisition allows us to make significant strides in becoming a true global player.  I am pleased to see the two companies sharing a common goal of catalysing the digital transformation of the global healthcare ecosystem. The healthcare industry is currently evolving significantly, and we look to tap into these changes and support the sector with our expertise and systems.”

Giorgio Moretti, Chairman of Dedalus Group, added: “The integration of DXC’s healthcare software solutions activities into Dedalus Group will accelerate our support and impact on more than 3 million healthcare professionals who operate thanks to our technologies”.

Yann Chareton, Managing Director Ardian Buyout, added: “Since our investment in 2016, we have supported Dedalus’ growth and development and are pleased to see the heights it has reached. Following the prior acquisition of the healthcare IT business of Agfa Group, this deal further enables Dedalus to make a decisive step in its consolidation strategy. We are extremely pleased to see such a significant goal achieved”.

Dedalus was assisted by UBS as financial advisor, CC as legal advisor, BCG for Strategic Due Diligence, KPMG for Accounting and fiscal Due Diligence and Techeconomy for Technical Due Diligence.

 

ABOUT DEDALUS

Founded in Florence in 1982 by the current Chairman Giorgio Moretti, Dedalus Group is the leading healthcare and diagnostic software provider in Europe and one of the largest in the world. The shareholding structure ensures stability and great financial capacity through the presence of Ardian, the largest private investment company in Europe and 4th in the world.
Starting in 2016, Dedalus has decided to accelerate its expansion strategy by targeting a growing demand for innovative and comprehensive ICT and Clinical transformation solutions. With the acquisition of Agfa Healthcare IT, Dedalus consolidates its leadership as pan-European player in healthcare software industry, with a leading position in Hospital IT (HCIS) and Diagnostic (DIS) in Germany, Italy and France, with a strong footprint in Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Belgium, China, Brazil and several locations in the Latin America, Middle East and Africa, reaching over 30 different countries. Today Dedalus employs over 3,500 highly skilled resources; it has the largest R&D software team in the sector in Europe with more than 1,100 people. Thanks to its undisputed cutting-edge portfolio of leading the new generation solutions, Dedalus covers the whole spectrum of needs for healthcare operators, supporting over 5000 hospitals and 5000 laboratories around the world.

Visit the website

ABOUT DXC TECHNOLOGY

DXC Technology Company (NYSE: DXC) helps global companies run their mission critical systems and operations while modernizing IT, optimizing data architectures, and ensuring security and scalability across public, private and hybrid clouds. With decades of driving innovation, the world’s largest companies trust DXC to deploy our enterprise technology stack to deliver new levels of performance, competitiveness and customer experiences. Learn more about the DXC story and our focus on people, customers and operational execution by visiting their website.

visit the website

ABOUT ARDIAN

Ardian is a world-leading private investment house with assets of US$100bn managed or advised in Europe, the Americas and Asia. The company is majority-owned by its employees. It keeps entrepreneurship at its heart and focuses on delivering excellent investment performance to its global investor base.
Through its commitment to shared outcomes for all stakeholders, Ardian’s activities fuel individual, corporate and economic growth around the world.
Holding close its core values of excellence, loyalty and entrepreneurship, Ardian maintains a truly global network, with more than 670 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 1.000 clients through five pillars of investment expertise: Fund of Funds, Direct Funds, Infrastructure, Real Estate and Private Debt.

Press contacts

DEDALUS / Image Building

CRISTINA FOSSATI, LUISELLA MURTAS, ANNA PIRTALI

ardian@imagebuilding.it +39 02 8901 1300

ARDIAN / Headland

GREGOR RIEMANN

griemann@headlandconsultancy.com +44 (0)20 3435 7483

Categories: News

Tags:

DIF Capital Partners acquires a stake in French digital infrastructure company IELO

DIF

DIF Capital Partners (“DIF”), through its DIF Core Infrastructure Fund II (“DIF CIF II”), is pleased to announce that it will invest in the French independent fiber optic operator IELO with the aim of contributing to its network roll-out in the coming years. DIF will enable IELO to build a nationwide footprint and become a leading fiber optic infrastructure operator in France, while remaining fully independent and a pure infrastructure player.

Resulting from the merger between IELO and LIAZO in 2016, the IELO group is positioned as a key player in the telecommunications sector in France. IELO’s fiber network is the highest quality urban optical network equipped with the latest technologies. It currently represents nearly 2,000 km of fiber, covering 30 metropolitan areas and connects more than 1,000 companies. Due to the significantly growing digitalisation requirements of companies the market is rapidly expanding. DIF’s capital injections will further accelerate the strong development of the fiber network of IELO in France.

As a long-term shareholder, DIF and IELO founders plan to invest together €90 million over the next few years to triple the size of IELO’s network by deploying more than 4,500 km of fiber (increasing it to 6,500 km total) in 95 French cities and economic zones. This acquisition perfectly fits CIF II’s strategy to invest in high-quality telecom infrastructure businesses.

Arthur Fernandez IELO co-founder and CEO said: “IELO is now at a turning point in its development and the long-term support provided by DIF represents a tremendous accelerator to achieve our ambitions of scaling up the strategy we have been successfully implementing in recent years. We intend to consolidate our position as a key independent wholesale operator in the fiber optics business with the aim of expanding our French client base to further gain market share.”

Thomas Vieillescazes, partner and head of DIF France added: “DIF has been investing heavily in the telecommunications sector in Europe and North America for several years, particularly in projects related to data centers and fiber optics. This investment is therefore in line with our strategy of investing in the high-potential digital infrastructure market, especially in the growing B2B business. We believe IELO, being a dedicated wholesale infrastructure provider, and the only one with a nationwide development strategy, is a perfect fit for DIF CIF II: it’s a pure infrastructure play with a greenfield component, for which DIF will bring to bear its longstanding experience in the French market. We have particular trust in IELO’s managers and their teams and are delighted to support the group in its development to become a key player in a growing market.”

About IELO

The IELO group markets enterprise access products through offers exclusively for telecom operators (the so-called “wholesale only” market). Operating its own optical cable network, IELO has an extensive coverage area covering some thirty of France’s largest conurbations, i.e. 161 municipalities in 23 departments. Since 2014, IELO has been implementing a strong strategy of rolling out its own network through an investment plan and a sustained pace of deployment, in order to extend its position in France. To find out more: www.ielo.com

About DIF Capital Partners

DIF Capital Partners is a leading global independent infrastructure fund manager, with €7.5 billion of assets under management across nine closed-end infrastructure funds and several co-investment vehicles. DIF Capital Partners invests in greenfield and operational infrastructure assets located primarily in Europe, the Americas and Australasia through two complementary strategies:

  • DIF CIF funds target equity investments in small to mid-sized infrastructure assets in the telecom, energy and transportation sectors.
  • DIF Infrastructure funds target equity investments in public-private partnerships (PPP/PFI/P3), concessions, utilities and renewable energy projects with long-term contracted or regulated income streams.

DIF has a team of over 140 professionals, based in nine offices located in Amsterdam (Schiphol), Frankfurt, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Paris, Santiago, Sydney and Toronto. Please visit www.dif.eu for further information.

Contact: Thomas Vieillescazes, Partner; t.vieillescazes@dif.eu and Thijs Verburg, IR & BD; t.verburg@dif.eu.

Categories: News

Tags:

Universal-Investment acquires B2B online investment platform CAPinside

No Comments

Montagu

  • CAPinside offers a digital, artificial intelligence-based B2B portfolio for networking intermediaries such as IFAs with asset managers and fund initiators
  • The takeover is an important building block for Universal-Investment for offering fund initiators a wider range of distribution options for all customer groups and asset classes

Montagu portfolio company The Universal-Investment Group (“Universal-Investment”) has acquired CAPinside GmbH. CAPinside was formed in October 2018 and employs around 40 staff at its head office in Hamburg.

CAPinside is key to the success of Universal-Investment’s digitalisation and innovation plans and we are delighted to be jointly setting new standards for our customers.

Michael Reinhard, CEO, Universal-Investment

CAPinside is a B2B online investment platform for the investment market, focussing on fund marketing and sales initiation. It brings together intermediaries, in particular IFAs, with asset managers and fund initiators through algorithms generated using artificial intelligence, via high quality content and investment analyses as well as data-driven bespoke matching.

With around 90,000 users per month and almost 20,000 members, CAPinside is the fastest growing professional online investment platform in the German-speaking region and market leader in Germany. CAPinside is further diversifying its spectrum with future-orientated investment managers offering Blockchain-based investments.

Fund initiators benefit from the advancement to a comprehensive sales platform

“With CAPinside, Universal-Investment is further diversifying its distribution portfolio for fund initiators and managers. Over the coming months, we will also be investing heavily to offer our fund initiators distribution and cooperation possibilities; in this way, promising fund concepts will be able reach a wide range of investor groups,” says Katja Müller, Chief Customer Officer at Universal-Investment.

The acquisition is a key digital building block in creating a comprehensive, analogue and technological “single stop distribution platform” across all channels for every target group. It follows Universal-Investment’s takeover of labs, the IT data specialist and vendor of front office solutions for asset managers, in early 2019, which continues the company’s goal of becoming the leading European fund service platform and management company for all asset classes by 2023.

Michael Reinhard, CEO of Universal-Investment, explains: “Being able to reach investors online with digital formats and offerings, and with pinpoint accuracy, is becoming increasingly important in the fund industry. Asset managers and fund initiators are shifting unambiguously to distribution channels based on online platform offerings – with irrefutable benefits: precise segmentation of target groups and needs, measurability, 24/7 accessibility and lower costs. CAPinside is key to the success of our digitalisation and innovation plans and we are delighted to be jointly setting new standards for our customers.“

Philipp Schröder, founder and CEO of CAPinside says: “CAPinside is an example of how, even during the COVID-19 pandemic, intelligent, digital business models can grow significantly in less than two years, thereby generating added value for clients, users and fintech investors. Universal-Investment’s takeover allows us to make further investments to drive our expansive growth and benefit from the international fund service platform’s experience. CAPinside will continue to be an open platform for all asset managers.“

Besides the founders Philipp Schröder and Achim Denkel, a third managing director, Micha Grüber, will also remain at the helm and CAPinside will continue to operate as an independent brand. Dr. Jürgen Sehnert, Head of Strategy and Product Governance at Universal-Investment, will be appointed as an additional managing director to support the joint growth plans.

Montagu invested in Universal-Investment in 2017 and continues to support the company’s ambitious growth plans. In the past year, Universal-Investment has increased its assets under administration by €90bn to over €500bn.

Categories: News

Tags:

CVC’s Strategic Opportunities platform acquires majority stake in Genetic

CVC’s Strategic Opportunities platform acquires majority stake in Genetic

17 Jul 2020

CVC funds will be investing in partnership with the family of the founder

CVC Strategic Opportunities II today signed an agreement to acquire a majority stake in the Genetic Group (“Genetic”), a leading pharma CDMO business which focuses on the development and supply of products into the respiratory, ophthalmic and oncology therapeutic areas. CVC funds will be investing in partnership with the family of the founder of Genetic, Rocco Pavese, who will remain as CEO of the business and will lead the R&D initiatives.

Headquartered in Fisciano, Italy, Genetic is an integrated pharmaceutical company focused on the research, development, manufacturing, licensing and promotion of pharmaceutical specialties and medical devices. Its primarily expertise is in the development of respiratory and ophthalmology products which are delivered via unit-dose Blow-Fill-Seal technology, pressurised Metered Dose Inhalers, nasal sprays, and eye drop/collyrium technologies. Genetic’s products are commercialised by a network of blue chip pharma partners internationally as well as by its own distribution arm (Max Farma) in Italy, often under well-recognised local brand names. The company has sales in Italy and more than 20 countries globally, with over 50 marketed products.

Rocco Pavese, CEO and Founder of Genetic, and Francesca Pavese, Head of Business Development, said: “We are excited and proud to be partnering with CVC and look forward to working with them on a new chapter of organic and inorganic growth for our business, which will project the Genetic group into a new international dimension of technological innovation and value creation for the benefit of patients around the globe, safeguarding and developing, at the same time, employment in our country. We believe that CVC’s international network, experience and track record in Italy and in Healthcare, as well as the alignment of the Strategic Opportunities fund as a partner to families like ours, will help us deliver on these growth aspirations.”

Michael Lavrysen, Senior Managing Director of CVC Strategic Opportunities added: “The Strategic Opportunities platform invests in high-quality businesses with longer growth horizons, and the investment in Genetic fits perfectly within this strategy, especially with the partnership with the Pavese family. We look forward to supporting collaboration between Genetic and our existing portfolio company DFE Pharma, and leveraging CVC’s broader global network.”

Giorgio De Palma, Senior Managing Director of CVC Italy said: “We believe that Genetic has an excellent position in the respiratory and ophthalmology pharmaceutical markets and has strong growth opportunities in Italy and abroad. We look forward to working with the Pavese family to achieve our common vision of the future.”

The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals.

Genetic was advised by UBS, EY, LED Taxand and NCTM whilst CVC Strategic Opportunities was advised by Rothschild & Co, EY Parthenon, EY, BCG, Gattai Minoli Agostinelli & Partners and Facchini Rossi Michelutti.

Categories: News

Tags:

EQT VII to sell global enterprise software provider IFS to successor funds and TA Associates

eqt

  • EQT VII to sell IFS, the leading global enterprise software provider that enables businesses to digitalize their core operations, to successor funds and TA Associates for a transaction value in excess of EUR 3 billion
  • During EQT VII’s ownership, IFS has grown into the global leader within Field Service Management software by focused investments into the product and the organization as well as targeted add-on acquisitions
  • Under EQT VII’s tenure, IFS’ revenues have doubled to SEK 7.3 billion, EBITDA has quadrupled, and the employee base has increased by 50 percent

The EQT VII fund (“EQT VII”) today announced that it has agreed to sell IFS AB (“IFS” or “the Company”) to the successor funds EQT VIII and EQT IX, and global growth private equity firm, TA Associates, which becomes a minority partner at a transaction value in excess of EUR 3 billion.

Founded in 1983, IFS is the leading provider of Field Service Management (FSM) software and is recognized for its vertically-aligned Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) software solutions. IFS is a key enabler for digitalizing core operations while contributing to more efficient use of resources and assets across its customers’ value chain. The Company serves more than 10,000 customers globally, reaching more than one million users.

Together with the management team and the board of directors, EQT VII has supported IFS on an accelerated growth journey, resulting in a doubling of revenues to SEK 7.3 billion, a quadrupling of EBITDA and a 50 percent increase of the employee base over the holding period. With EQT VII’s support, IFS has also made multiple add-on acquisitions (including WorkWave and Astea) which, combined with the organic growth and investment in the Company’s product offering, has strengthened IFS’ leading position within FSM.

Robert Maclean, Partner at EQT Partners, said: “When EQT VII acquired IFS in 2015, it was a well-performing business supported by strong macro trends with significant opportunities to further accelerate growth. Today, IFS is trailblazing the enterprise software space and we have been incredibly impressed by IFS’ ability to consistently outperform their fast-growing market.”

Per Franzén, Partner at EQT Partners and Co-Head of Private Equity, added: “We are impressed by how well IFS has developed over the past few years. Today, IFS is a true leader in its verticals, and IFS’ solutions are globally recognized for helping businesses stay ahead of the curve when it comes to digitalization. IFS is another great example of EQT future proofing businesses and the management team, led by CEO Darren Roos, has done an excellent job strengthening IFS’ position across its core verticals transforming the organization into a global enterprise software company.”

Darren Roos, CEO of IFS, said: “The IFS and EQT VII partnership has been excellent. EQT’s expertise within software and digitalization has played a critical role in supporting IFS on our growth journey. We look forward to continuing our development journey together with EQT and TA Associates.”

Over the years, IFS has made significant investments into its development hubs in Sri Lanka where it is now the country’s second largest technology employer. In 2019, IFS also established the IFS Foundation with the aim of supporting local communities and breaking the poverty cycle in Sri Lanka.

IFS’ sister-company Acumatica will not be sold as part of the transaction and will remain an EQT VII investment.

Goldman Sachs and Jefferies acted as financial advisors to EQT VII, and Arma Partners acted as financial advisor to TA Associates.

Contact
Robert Maclean, Partner at EQT Partners and Investment Advisor to EQT VII, +44 7384 25 9995
EQT Press Office, press@eqtpartners.com, +46 8 506 55 334

About EQT
EQT is a differentiated global investment organization with more than EUR 62 billion in raised capital and around EUR 40 billion in assets under management across 19 active funds. EQT funds have portfolio companies in Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America with total sales of more than EUR 27 billion and approximately 159,000 employees. EQT works with portfolio companies to achieve sustainable growth, operational excellence and market leadership.

More info: www.eqtgroup.com
Follow EQT on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram

About IFS
IFS develops and delivers enterprise software for customers around the world who manufacture and distribute goods, build and maintain assets, and manage service-focused operations. The industry expertise of IFS’ people and solutions, has made IFS a recognized leader and the most recommended supplier in IFS’ core verticals. The IFS team of 4,000 employees and a growing ecosystem of partners support more than 10,000 customers around the world challenge the status quo and realize their competitive advantage.

More info: www.ifs.com

About TA Associates
TA Associates is a leading global growth private equity firm. Focused on targeted sectors within five industries – technology, healthcare, financial services, consumer and business services – TA invests in profitable, growing companies with opportunities for sustained growth, and has invested in more than 500 companies around the world. Investing as either a majority or minority investor, TA employs a long-term approach, utilizing its strategic resources to help management teams build lasting value in high quality growth companies. TA has raised $33.5 billion in capital since its founding in 1968 and is committing to new investments at the pace of over $2 billion per year. The firm’s more than 85 investment professionals are based in Boston, Menlo Park, London, Mumbai and Hong Kong.

More info: www.ta.com

Categories: News

Tags:

Pricefx raises $65 million for global expansion and product innovation in Series C financing round led by the Apax Digital Fund

Apax Digital

14 July 2020

Increasing adoption of pricing software has fueled Pricefx’s growth as companies look for ways to increase revenue and profit during the global economic slowdown and beyond

CHICAGO, MUNICH and PRAGUE – July 14, 2020: Pricefx, the global leader in cloud-native pricing software, today announced it has received $65 million in Series C funding, bringing the company’s total raised to date to $130 million. The round was led by funds advised by Apax Digital, the growth equity team of Apax Partners, with participation from existing investor Digital+ Partners. Pricefx will use the new funding to expand and solidify its global market leadership position as the only true SaaS platform in the pricing industry, accelerate product innovation, extend its partner ecosystem, and evaluate strategic acquisitions.

SaaS solutions have faced increased demand since pandemic measures forced companies to rapidly and radically address digital transformation initiatives. Pricing software, in particular, has seen a tremendous surge in interest owing to the strong return on investment, even in downturns. As a result, Pricefx has signed more than a dozen new customer deals since March of this year.

“Pricing is being recognized as a critical competency for global enterprises and Pricefx is leading the way for a SaaS-based approach,” said Marcin Cichon, CEO and co-founder of Pricefx. “This investment from Apax confirms Pricefx’s resilience, ability to grow its customer base, and innovate – even during challenging times. This investment will further power our global commercial strategy and aggressive product innovation, by attracting critical talent, expanding our growing ecosystem of partners, and enabling further potential strategic acquisitions – all in pursuit of our mission to bring pricing solutions to as many companies as we can, as simply and effectively as possible.”

Pricefx provides a suite of cloud-based pricing software tools – from Price Optimization, Management (PO&M) to Configure-Price-Quote (CPQ) – for B2B and B2C enterprises of all sizes. Additionally, the company launched the first “6 weeks to live” activation accelerator with Lightning, delivering industry-leading time-to-value. The company has supported its clients through the COVID-19 crisis with initiatives such as providing access to its Sales Insights solution free of charge. In May, Pricefx acquired French market leader Brennus Analytics, which brought industry-leading AI capabilities in pricing optimization and Pricefx’s Optimized Dynamic Pricing solution was recently named an SAP endorsed app.

“Pricing is one of the most important value creation levers for businesses, and we share Pricefx’s passion for making pricing software easier, faster and more accessible,” said Mark Beith, Partner of Apax Digital. “Companies are abandoning inefficient manual processes, disparate spreadsheets, and sub-optimal prices, and embracing Pricefx’s next-gen software, which dynamically manages, optimizes and updates prices across all channels.”

“We are thrilled to join Marcin and the whole Pricefx family on their mission to democratize pricing software and deliver best-in-class time to value and exceptional return on investment to their customers,” said Daniel O’Keefe, Managing Partner of Apax Digital.

Concurrent with this investment, Beith and O’Keefe will join Pricefx’s supervisory board.

“We are excited and proud to continue supporting the Pricefx team on their global growth journey. Pricefx demonstrates a relentless drive towards product innovation and customer success and we believe that they are well on-track to build the undisputed global category leader in pricing software,” said Axel Krieger, Founding Partner at Digital+ Partners.

Pricefx was recently named a finalist in Ventana’s 13th Annual Digital Innovation Awards. These awards identify the top technologies that have the most striking impact in their respective markets, recognizing pioneering vendors that contribute advancements in technology, drive change and increase value for organizations worldwide. The company has several disruptive innovations coming this year, including a self-service version of its analytics software, industry-specific Accelerator packages, enhanced CPQ functionality, and an AI-enhanced upgraded version of its PriceOptimizer product.

About Apax Digital

The Apax Digital Fund specializes in growth equity and buyout investments in high-growth enterprise software, consumer internet, and technology-enabled services companies worldwide. The Apax Digital team leverages Apax Partners’ deep tech investing expertise, global platform, and specialized operating experts, to enable technology companies and their management teams to accelerate the achievement of their full potential. For further information, please visit: www.apax.com/digital.

Over its more than 40-year history, Apax Partners has raised and advised funds with aggregate commitments of c.$50 billion. These funds provide long-term equity financing to build and strengthen world-class companies. For more information see: www.apax.com.

About Digital+ Partners

Digital+ Partners is a leading technology growth equity investor focused on European and US technology companies with €350 million assets under management. Digital+ aims to support ambitious entrepreneurs build global technology leaders, providing them with strategic advice and long-term financial support to help them define and execute their growth plans. The fund focuses exclusively on B2B technology investments and leverages a deep corporate network to help portfolio companies access new markets and build new partnerships. For more information please visit: www.dplus.partners.

About Pricefx

Established in 2011 in Germany, Pricefx is the global leader in SaaS pricing software, offering a comprehensive suite of solutions that are fast to implement, flexible to configure and customize, and friendly to learn and use. Pricefx delivers a complete price optimization and management platform based on native cloud architecture, providing industry leading time to value and total cost of ownership advantages to customers. Its innovative solution works for both B2B and B2C enterprises of any size, in any industry, in any part of the world. Pricefx’s business model is entirely based on the satisfaction and loyalty of its customers. Pricefx delivers Passion for Pricing. For more information, please visit www.pricefx.com.

###

Media Contacts

For Pricefx

Cathy Summers, Summers PR | +1 (415) 483-0480 |cathy@summers-pr.com

For Apax Digital / Apax Partners

Global Media: Matthew Goodman / James Madsen, Greenbrook | +44 20 7952 2000 | apax@greenbrookpr.com

USA Media: Todd Fogarty, Kekst CNC | +1 212‐521 4854 | todd.fogarty@kekstcnc.com

Notes to Editors:

London-headquartered Apax Partners (www.apax.com) and Paris-headquartered Apax Partners (www.apax.fr) had a shared history but are separate, independent private equity firms.

Categories: News

Tags:

CVC Credit Partners refinances Ardena’s credit facilities

CVC Credit Partners refinances Ardena’s credit facilities

13 Jul 2020

CVC Credit Partners teams up with GHO Capital to support Ardena’s international growth strategy

CVC Credit Partners is pleased to announce that it has provided financing to Ardena, a specialist pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO). The funding is in the form of a first lien loan to refinance existing debt as well as an acquisition facility to support the business’ ongoing expansion of its international footprint. MDW Capital served as the debt advisor for the transaction.

Founded in 2013, Ardena is a multi-service CDMO, assisting small-to-mid sized biopharma with services spanning the full development life cycle. The business offers a comprehensive ‘Make, Analyse, File’ model from drug substance and drug product manufacturing and bioanalytical services to regulatory dossier development. With a strong reputation for quality and a flexible service delivery model, Ardena’s differentiated high science approach caters to a diversified base of over 300 customers throughout Europe, the US, Japan and Korea. Headquartered in Ghent, Belgium, it also operates sites in the Netherlands, Sweden and Latvia.

Harry Christiaens, CEO of Ardena, commented: “We are pleased to have completed the refinancing of our credit facility and to have finalised access to a committed acquisition facility. We are now well positioned to continue our strong organic growth profile and drive the next stage of international expansion to better serve our global customer base.”

The partners at GHO Capital added: “Operating within a highly fragmented market, Ardena is the market leading platform from which to build a fully integrated early stage CDMO, serving Biopharma clients globally. CVC Credit Partners are engaged with our vision for the future of the business and their experience of the healthcare sector as well as supporting numerous international growth strategies will be highly beneficial to realising Ardena’s full potential.”

Neale Broadhead, Head of European Private Debt in CVC Credit Partners’ European Private Debt business, said: “Ardena is a quality business which is well positioned to benefit from positive underlying growth trends in its markets. It has a respected and highly qualified team, and an experienced partner in GHO Capital. We are pleased to be able to support Ardena and GHO and look forward to working closely with them both in the years ahead.”

Categories: News

Tags: