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Gladstone Investment Corporation acquires EDUCATORS RESOURCE

Gladstone

MCLEAN, Va., Dec. 06, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Gladstone Investment Corporation (NASDAQ: GAIN) (“Gladstone Investment”) announced today that on November 30, 2018, it acquired Educators Resource, Inc. (“Educators Resource” or the “Company”) in partnership with members of the Company’s executive management team.  Gladstone Investment provided equity and senior secured debt to complete the transaction.

Educators Resource is a leading wholesale distributor of school supplies and K-12 supplemental teaching materials to market leading e-retailers and brick-and-mortar stores nationwide. The Company offers the broadest array of products in the market, with over 25,000 SKUs sourced from over 300 suppliers, ensuring that reseller customers are able to deliver upon an “endless aisle” experience without the burden of onerous inventory and fulfillment costs. Additional information can be found at www.educatorsresource.com.

“Educators Resource is a leader in e-commerce fulfillment, providing a value-added, turnkey solution to resellers of supplemental teaching materials. We are excited to partner with the talented team at Educators Resource and look forward to helping the Company as it enters its next phase of growth,” said Peter Roushdy, Managing Director of Gladstone Investment.

Gladstone Investment is a publicly traded business development company that seeks to make secured debt and equity investments in lower middle market businesses in the United States in connection with acquisitions, changes in control and recapitalizations. Additional information on the transaction can be found at www.gladstoneinvestment.com.

For Investor Relations inquiries related to any of the monthly dividend paying Gladstone funds, please visit www.gladstone.com.

Forward-looking Statements:
The statements in this press release regarding the longer-term prospects of Gladstone Investment and Educators Resource and its management team, and the ability of Gladstone Investment and Educators Resource to grow and expand are “forward-looking statements.” These forward-looking statements inherently involve certain risks and uncertainties in predicting future results and conditions. Although these statements are based on Gladstone Investment’s current plans that are believed to be reasonable as of the date of this press release, a number of factors could cause actual results and conditions to differ materially from these forward-looking statements, including those factors described from time to time in Gladstone Investment’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Gladstone Investment undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forward looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

SOURCE:  Gladstone Investment Corporation

For further information: Gladstone Investment Corporation, 703-287-5893

Gladstone Investment Corporation logo

Source: Gladstone Investment Corporation

Categories: News

Vagaro Raises $63 Million in Growth Equity Led by FTV Capital

FTV Capital

Online booking, payments and business management platform for salons, spas and fitness businesses expands technology offering to meet digital demand

Dublin, CA — Vagaro, a leading cloud-based business management platform for the salon, spa and fitness industry, today announced the company has raised a $63 million growth equity round, its first institutional capital, led by FTV Capital. The company will continue to invest in cloud-based, industry-specific technology to help businesses of any size optimize operations, reduce complexity and seamlessly process payments. In addition, Vagaro will expand its sales and marketing team and geographic footprint. Vagaro will benefit from FTV’s Global Partner Network®, which includes executives from the world’s leading financial services and payments companies, and the firm’s experience in scaling high growth companies that operate in specialty industry verticals. As part of the transaction, FTV Capital partner Robert Anderson and FTV Capital managing partner Richard Garman will join the Vagaro board of directors.

Vagaro’s platform successfully meets the needs of a digital-first, productivity-focused millennial generation by providing salon, spa and fitness business owners with a powerful and comprehensive suite of back-office and consumer-facing business management software solutions, including appointment booking, calendaring, client management, marketing, reporting, payroll, inventory management and payment acceptance.

Most recently, Vagaro added a form builder to collect registrations, waivers and surveys to its highly customizable platform, leaving the company uniquely positioned to aggressively compete in the fitness management software segment. The company also added a competitively priced multi-transaction EMV reader to its point-of-sales solutions, making EMV payment processing even faster and more convenient for U.S. business owners.

In addition to automating and streamlining business processes, Vagaro connects businesses to consumers who are searching for spa, salon and fitness services via Vagaro.com, an online marketplace, and via the easy-to-use Vagaro booking app.

“I feel privileged to have led Vagaro’s talented team for the past 10 years. Our company has completely transformed — moving from delivering industry-changing salon software technology to offering a full suite of industry-specific business management solutions coupled with a powerful online marketplace,” said Vagaro founder and CEO Fred Helou. “Vagaro’s partnership with FTV Capital opens up exciting new possibilities for us, including the expansion to additional international markets, and will usher in a new chapter in the company’s growth story. Thanks to our compelling price point and newer technology, we are perfectly positioned to compete against slow-moving, more traditional industry players.”

“We are energized by our new partnership with FTV Capital, a firm that has helped many high growth companies, like Vagaro, build on their success to best meet customer needs,” said Kerry Melchior, Vagaro’s chief of operations. “Our near-term plans include expanding the range of payment solutions and digital functionality for our clients, while continuing to deliver the highest quality, easiest to use solutions with superior customer service.”

“Vagaro’s innovative and integrated product suite makes it easy for businesses to run all aspects of their operation from attracting and retaining customers to managing day-to-day activities to accepting payments,” said FTV partner Robert Anderson. “The Vagaro team is well-positioned to continue to capitalize on secular growth trends across the more than $9 billion global health and wellness market, and we are excited to provide the capital and strategic support for this next phase of growth.”

ABOUT VAGARO

Vagaro, Inc. develops all-in-one business management platforms and powerful online marketplaces for the salon, spa and fitness industries. Businesses in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia use Vagaro’s cloud-based software to manage all aspects of their operations and to market their services to local customers. Consumers choose Vagaro to search for and book services in their community at their convenience. Vagaro is easy-to-use and works on any device. Learn more by visiting Vagaro.com and https://sales.vagaro.com.

ABOUT FTV CAPITAL

FTV Capital is a growth equity investment firm that has raised over $2.7 billion to invest in high-growth companies offering a range of innovative solutions in three sectors: enterprise technology & services, financial services, and payments & transaction processing. FTV’s experienced team leverages its domain expertise and proven track record in each of these sectors to help motivated management teams accelerate growth. FTV also provides companies with access to its Global Partner Network®, a group of the world’s leading enterprises and executives who have helped FTV portfolio companies for two decades. Founded in 1998, FTV Capital has invested in 106 portfolio companies, including CardConnect, CashStar, EBANX, Enfusion Systems, Clearent, NeonOne, VPay and WorldFirst. FTV has offices in San Francisco and New York. For more information, visit www.ftvcapital.com.

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GP Bullhound appoints Floris Backer van Ommeren as Executive Director

Gp Bullhound

GP Bullhound today announced that Floris Backer has joined its advisory team as Executive Director. Based in London and Amsterdam, Floris will oversee the firm’s activities in Benelux.

Previously, Floris was Head of Tech Media & Telecom at ABN AMRO in the Netherlands. Prior to that, he worked at Deutsche Bank and Lehman Brothers in London, New York and Amsterdam.

Manish Madhvani, Managing Partner of GP Bullhound, said: “We are excited that Floris will be joining our fast-growing franchise at a time of healthy deal-activity in the technology sector. He brings a wealth of experience and a strong network, helping us increase our reach in Benelux.”

GP Bullhound has been active in the region for many years, both as an advisor and an investor, working with companies including Zoover and Greetz which was recently sold to Photobox Group.

Floris Backer said: “GP Bullhound is a leading global technology specialist, and I am excited to help grow the business further. Reflected in the rise of companies like Adyen, Takeaway.com and Elastic; we see a strong ecosystem of tech companies and investors in Benelux and we look forward to working with them closely.”

Floris has built up an extensive investment banking experience, executing and originating numerous transactions. He was involved in many deals in Europe and the US for companies including Adyen, Takeaway.com, Independer.nl, Plaxis, Telegraaf Media Group, Wolters Kluwer, SLM Solutions, Deutsche Telekom and Nielsen.

A native speaker in Dutch, and passionate about technology, competitive cycling and sailing, Floris holds a master degree in Engineering from Delft University of Technology.

Enquiries
For any enquiry, please contact floris.backer@gpbullhound.com or manish.madhvani@gpbullhound.com

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

 

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Leading talent marketing solutions provider, partners with Google to improve candidate engagement and conversion

Symphony Talent, a leading talent marketing solutions provider, today announced its partnership with Google Cloud Talent Solution to provide its clients with enhanced search capabilities to attract, hire and engage high-quality talent faster.

Google Cloud Talent Solution provides a combination of search APIs that leverages machine learning and Google’s learnings in search to produce better search performance and conversion by delivering high-quality results to job seekers far beyond the limitations of typical keyword-based methods. This integration provides candidates with the same superior search experience they have come to expect from Google. The seamless integration of Google Cloud Talent Solution with the career site job content of Symphony Talent’s clients will help return enhanced search results for candidates that account for the role level, jargon, abbreviations and acronyms, and misspellings. In addition, the job search capability leverages machine learning, so the results will continue to improve over time.

“Our partnership with Google Cloud Talent Solution delivers a significant opportunity for our clients to optimize their candidate and recruiter experiences,” said Roopesh Nair, president and CEO, Symphony Talent. “The synchronicity of Google’s industry-leading search capabilities with our data-driven, experience-focused solutions will empower global brands to redefine how they connect with quality talent.”

Symphony Talent has collaborated with Google to deliver enhanced search capabilities and advance the candidate experiences for its portfolio of global clients, such as UCLA Health and Hilton Grand Vacations.

According to Nair, the benefits of Symphony Talent’s seamless integration with Google Cloud Talent Solution include:

0_medium_SymphonyTalent-logo-DblStkd-RGB1.png
  • More accurate results and a shorter funnel for candidates
  • Enhanced candidate and recruiter experiences
  • Higher apply rates and decreased drop-off
  • Increased candidate conversion
  • Better fit candidates

Symphony Talent is an alpha partner for future Google Cloud Talent Solution enhancements, including the profile APIs. This partnership and shared vision between Symphony Talent and Google Cloud Talent Solution will also allow their teams to collaborate and further advance the experiences, job search function, candidate job recommendations and the recruiter profile search on Symphony Talent’s platform.

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FSN Capital V has signed an agreement to acquire Rameder Group

Fsn Capital

FSN Capital V has, together with management, acquired a majority stake in the Rameder Group, the European market leader in the distribution of towbars and related products. This partnership marks FSN Capital Funds’ first platform investment in Germany.

Founded in 1996, Rameder is today Europe’s leading distributor of towbars, bike carriers and roof racks. Based in the German town of Leutenberg and with offices in Ingolstadt (DE), Lille (FR) and Prague (CZ), the 200 employees at Rameder manage online shops in over ten countries (including kupplung.de in Germany), selling around 300,000 towbars each year throughout Europe. In addition, the Company operates 16 assembly points making them one of the largest professional towbar installation service providers in Germany. In recent years, Rameder has succeeded in making strategically important acquisitions both in Germany and abroad, with the acquisitions of Bertelshofer (DE) in 2012, France Attelage (FR) in 2017 and ELSA (CZ) in 2018. Combined with robust organic growth, these acquisitions have resulted in strong topline development. Today Rameder generates approximately €70m in revenue.

Focusing on organic and acquisition-driven growth
After two decades of successfully investing in Scandinavia, in early 2018 FSN Capital Partners, acting as investment adviser to the FSN Capital Funds, opened an office in Munich and hired a team of professionals to advise the FSN Capital Funds on investments in the DACH region. The team, led by partners Robin Mürer, Justin Kent and Patrice Jabet, focuses on growth-oriented, mid-sized companies that have a strong value proposition and a clear market-leading position, where the FSN Funds see a clear potential to support management teams to achieve their growth strategies by providing both capital and know-how. The FSN team will seek to support FSN Capital V and Rameder’s management to achieve its strategic goals to boost turnover further in the core markets of Germany and Austria, expand its assembly network, and foster greater international growth by way of acquisitions and strategic partnerships.

Expanding market leadership
“Rameder is an exceptionally well positioned company with a clear value proposition for its customers. We look forward to supporting the Rameder team to further solidify its leadership position in its core markets, while continuing to expand internationally in a sustainable and responsible manner” says Justin Kent, partner at FSN Capital Partners in Munich.

“We are delighted to have found the ideal partner in FSN for the next stage of our development and we look forward to working with the FSN team to continue Rameder’s success story. FSN Capital Funds’ outstanding track record partnering with growing companies and their managers, combined with its strong focus on values, was a key aspect of our decision to partner with FSN”, say Dirk Schöler and Stefan Bertelshofer, Co-CEOs of Rameder Group.

Six successful investments in 2018
2018 has been a highly successful year for the FSN Capital Funds. Thus far, FSN Capital Funds have acquired the Norwegian road safety and road infrastructure solutions provider Saferoad the Norwegian equipment supplier for the aquaculture and fishery sectors Mørenot and the Swedish retailer of limited-edition trainers Sneakersnstuff. In addition, FSN Capital Funds have assumed a controlling interest in a new IT outsourcing business group that was created by the joint acquisitions of Swedish companies OITP, Zetup and Dicom. Key add-on acquisitions have also been successfully completed for the portfolio companies Holmbergs, which acquired the Austrian company Fasching Safety Belts, and Fitness World, which acquired the Swiss fitness chain basefit.

The team at FSN Capital Partners responsible for advising on the transaction is composed of Justin Kent, Eskil Koffeld and Clemens Plainer. FSN Capital V was also advised by Hengeler Mueller (legal), Bain (commercial), Alvarez & Marsal (financial), PwC (tax & ESG), eccelerate (e-commerce), JLT (insurance), capitalmind (debt advisory) and mcf (M&A).

The transaction is still subject to regulatory approval with closing of the transaction scheduled for January. The details of the transaction will not be disclosed.

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Samsung SDI, Port of Tallinn, GEM and Alrosa recognised in the 15th annual East Capital Awards

East Capital

East Capital, a specialist asset manager in emerging and frontier markets, today announces the winners of the 2018 East Capital Awards:

 

  • Samsung SDI      Best Growth Award
  • Port of Tallinn    Best IPO Award
  • GEM                       Discovery of the Year Award
  • Alrosa                    Best Corporate Governance Award

 

This is the 15th year that the East Capital Awards honour remarkable companies in East Capital’s investment universe. Peter Elam Håkansson, Chairman and CIO of East Capital, said: “The Awards serve to highlight some of the most outstanding companies in our portfolios, and also to inspire others. Through our extensive in-depth research with frequent company meetings in emerging and frontier markets, we identify companies each year that have achieved impressive results and demonstrate great potential. I want to extend my sincere congratulations to this year’s award winners on their impressive achievements.”

The Best Growth Award is presented to Samsung SDI, a global leader in lithium battery technology. In 2018, the South Korean company saw a strong turnaround in earnings thanks to growth momentum in all its business segments. During the first nine months of 2018, revenue jumped 49% and net profit 19%. The small battery segment benefitted from market share gains among smartphone and power-tool producers. The large batteries are used for electric vehicles and are on track to become a profitable segment for the company in the second half of 2018 due to superior product quality. During next year, we expect a significant margin improvement in the large battery business.

The Best IPO Award is presented to Port of Tallinn, the fourth largest port operator in Northern Europe, with 10.6 million passengers in 2017. The Estonian company operates a portfolio of diversified high-quality infrastructure assets, including passenger and cruise ship harbours, cargo ports and a domestic ferry service. Their IPO on the Tallinn Stock Exchange was the first privatisation in the Baltic region in almost two decades. The deal was skillfully executed, and more than 3 times oversubscribed by a wide investor base. The company has continued to show strong results in the first half of the year, with an expected dividend yield of 6% for 2018, above the market and peer group benchmarks. East Capital participated in the IPO, acquiring 1.3% of the shares. The stock outperformed the market by 16% during the first three days of trading and is up by 22%* since the IPO. It is however still trading at a significant discount to European peers.
*As of 12-11-2018

The Discovery of the Year Award is presented to GEM, the largest used batteries and rare metals recycling company globally. It is also the world’s largest ultra-fine cobalt powder producer, with 20% market share, sourcing 35% of its cobalt from its own recycling. GEM moved downstream and entered the nickel-cobalt-manganese cathode and precursor material business in recent years, growing cathode and precursor capacity from 15,000 tons in 2015 to a target of 90,000 tons in 2020. We like GEM’s leading position in cobalt recycling and the strong synergy between the recycling and battery material businesses. While the recycling business provides cost advantages for GEM’s battery material business, its battery material business creates a new sales channel for its recycling business, allowing GEM to climb up the value chain by capturing a higher-margin segment.

The Best Corporate Governance Award is presented to Alrosa, the world’s largest producer of diamonds. The company is majority owned by the Russian State and by the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Typically, state-owned companies are not leaders in terms of corporate governance developments, but we consider Alrosa one of the best examples adhering to the highest standards of corporate governance in emerging markets. The improvement of corporate governance has been led by CEO Sergey Ivanov and CFO Alexey Phillipovskiy. Most notably, the dividend policy is expected to be radically changed to 100% of the free cash flow. And there have been a number of other achievements, including cost-cutting, disposal of non-core assets and working capital improvements.

 

 

—

 

Notes to editors

The East Capital Awards were established in 2004 to reward the progress of outstanding companies in East Capital’s portfolios.

The award for Best Growth is presented to a company that has demonstrated outstanding growth in the areas of sales, market share and profit margins in recent years. The Best IPO Award is presented to the company that has carried out the most successful floatation in the region. The Discovery of the Year is awarded to a company discovered by our investment team that is expected to demonstrate unique performance. The Best Corporate Governance Award is presented to a company that demonstrates exceptional standards in the area of corporate governance.

 

For further information about the winning companies, please visit:

Best Growth Award 2018: Samsung SDI
samsungsdi.com / linkedin.com/company/samsung-sdi/

Best IPO Award 2018: Port of Tallinn
portoftallinn.com / linkedin.com/company/port-of-tallinn/

Discovery of the Year Award 2018: GEM
gemchina.com

Best Corporate Governance Award 2018: Alrosa
eng.alrosa.ru / twitter.com/ALROSA_official

 

Contact information:

Ilze Johnston, Marketing Communications Manager, East Capital

+46 8 505 88 550 mediaenquiries@eastcapital.com  

 

Andrew Fleming/ Georgie Rudkin, MHP Communications, Europe

+44 203 128 8100  eastcapital@mhpc.com  

 

Ruby Lo / Judith Bence, MHP, Asia

+852 6255 8133 / +61 415 903 849 eastcapital@mhpc.com

 

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ARDIAN arranges a unitranche financing for the acquisitions of selection1818 and aprep by DLPK GROUP

Ardian

Paris, 5 December 2018 – Ardian, a world-leading private investment house, today announces the arrangement of a Unitranche facility to support DLPK Group’s acquisitions of Sélection 1818 and APREP, which both took place towards the end of November.
DLPK Group is a major French player in the design and distribution of financial products for finance professionals, through its three specialized subsidiaries: Nortia (life insurance), Nortia Invest (securities accounts) and Haas Gestion (asset management). The group is majority owned by its management team, with BlackFin Capital Partners a minority shareholder since February 2018.
With the acquisition of Sélection 1818 and APREP, DLPK Group strengthens its position in the life insurance and securities accounts segments and becomes the leading distribution platform for financial advisers in France, with total assets under management of around €13bn.
Guillaume Chinardet, Head of Ardian Private Debt in France and Managing Director, said: “We were impressed by DLPK Group’s positioning, focused on the development of innovative financial solutions with a strong emphasis placed on quality of service and customer satisfaction, as well as the ambitions of its management team, who are determined for DLPK Group to become a leader in its market.”
“We are pleased to be able to help DLPK Group expand in a consolidating market. We are convinced that Sélection 1818 and APREP will benefit in full from DLPK’s expertise after their integration, and our Unitranche financing is particularly well suited to support the group’s expansion in the years to come” added Jean-David Ponsin, Director at Ardian Private Debt.
Vincent Dubois, chairman of DLPK Group, commented: “We are delighted to be working alongside Ardian, which has proven its creative and agile nature in providing a tailor-made financing solution, meeting the group’s needs perfectly under the framework of these two transformative acquisitions.”
Daniel Cohen-Sabban, Managing Director at BlackFin Capital Partners, added: “We are pleased to continue supporting growth at DLPK Group alongside Ardian, a long-term partner for BlackFin.”

ABOUT ARDIAN

Ardian is a world-leading private investment house with assets of US$82bn 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 560 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 750 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

ABOUT DLPK

Majority-owned by its management team, the DLPK Group counts companies specializing in the design and distribution of innovative financial solutions for financial professionals. It houses NORTIA (life insurance) and NORTIA INVEST (securities accounts), two distribution platforms which are exclusively dedicated to supporting financial advisors, as well as HAAS GESTION, an asset management company. The Group also holds a stake in the investment company NEXO CAPITAL.
Following the successive acquisitions of Sélection 1818 and APREP Diffusion, the DLPK group manages €13 billion in assets under management as of December 1, 2018.
www.nortia.fr

ABOUT BLACKFIN CAPITAL PARTNERS

BlackFin Capital Partners is a sector-focused fund, specializing in Financial Services across Europe. BlackFin’s investment strategy focuses on asset-light businesses in the financial services & technology sector, across continental Europe. Businesses of interest to BlackFin include asset-management, institutional and retail brokerage, distribution of insurance and banking products, both digital and through traditional channels, payments, processing, debt management and collection, fund administration, business process outsourcing and financial technology.
BlackFin operates as an active and influential investor, supporting management teams to take their businesses to the next level.
BlackFin manages €800m through two financial services growth / buyout funds and one FinTech focused venture capital fund.
BlackFin Capital Partners is a fully independent firm, run by its four founding partners who have worked together as managers and entrepreneurs in the financial industry for decades. Altogether the team consists of 25 experienced professionals operating out of offices in Paris, Brussels and Frankfurt.
www.blackfincp.com

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

Ardian Private Debt: Guillaume Chinardet, Jean-David Ponsin, Melchior Huet
DLPK: Vincent Dubois, Antoine Limare
BlackFin Capital Partners: Bruno Rostain, Sabine Mathis, Daniel Cohen-Sabban, Alexandre Chanteur
Legal and Financial Advisors (Ardian): K&L Gates – Mounir Letayf, Adeline Roboam

PRESS CONTACTS

ARDIAN
HEADLAND
TOM JAMES
Tel: +44 020 3805 4840
ardian@headlandconsultancy.com
DLPK
AGENCE FARGO
MARIE MAUREL
Tel: 01 44 82 95 54
mmaurel@agencefargo.com

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V3 Group Limited Welcomes Investment from KKR

KKR

S$500M Landmark Investment by KKR in Leading Luxury Group in Asia

 

SINGAPORE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Dec. 4, 2018– V3 Group Limited (“V3” or the “Company”), a leading specialty retailer of luxury lifestyle and wellness products in Asia, today announced an investment by global investment firm KKR, which will invest up to S$500 million for a significant stake in V3, at an enterprise value of approximately S$1.7 billion.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181203006091/en/

Headquartered in Singapore, V3 owns and develops premium products and services through its leading luxury and wellness brands – OSIM, TWG Tea and ONI (GNC, LAC, Xndo) – promoting and inspiring a healthy lifestyle to a broad and affluent consumer demographic across Asia. The Company also owns Futuristic Store Fixtures, which supports some of the world’s leading retail brands. The Company has a history of impressive brand creation and development, a deep understanding of the consumer market and retailing, and a presence in over 100 cities in 26 countries around the world.

Commenting on the investment by KKR, Mr. Ron Sim, Founder, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of V3, said, “I am extremely pleased to welcome KKR as a significant shareholder in V3. I look forward to an exciting partnership together as well as drawing on KKR’s longstanding expertise and full support to accelerate the growth of the business. I am confident this investment will position the Company for our next phase of growth, starting with the immediate expansion of TWG Tea in Japan and the USA and of OSIM in China.”

KKR’s investment marks the beginning of a robust relationship with V3, and affirms the strong heritage and prospects of one of Asia’s most distinguished luxury groups. KKR is making this investment from its Asian Fund III.

Mr. Jaka Prasetya, Member of KKR, said, “V3 is a landmark investment for KKR in a leading luxury group in Asia, underscoring our strong belief in the continued growth of the region’s consumer sector. At KKR, we aim to provide support and capital to successful home-grown, regional companies like V3 in order to capture opportunities across Asia and beyond. We look forward to working alongside the whole V3 team to build on the Company’s success.”

The transaction was advised by Evercore, the exclusive financial adviser to V3.

About V3 Group Limited

Headquartered in Singapore, V3 Group Limited (“V3”) is a leading Asian luxury group that creates, develops, and owns brands in the lifestyle and wellness markets. V3 has three major business streams, Lifestyle, Wellness and Specialist Fixtures, and a presence in over 100 cities in 26 countries around the world.

Beginning with the global luxury product leader OSIM in 1980, V3 Group founder Ron Sim has built up a portfolio of leading luxury brands over the years, including TWG Tea, the finest luxury tea brand in the world, and ONI Global, Asia’s largest retailer of nutritional supplements. In ONI Global’s core markets Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan, V3 Group holds the exclusive franchise rights to the global wellness brand GNC. Through ONI Global, V3 also owns LAC, which offers customers wellness products that combine eastern herbal ingredients and modern western processing; and Xndo, a provider of formulated food-based health products. The Company also owns Futuristic Store Fixtures, which supports some of the world’s leading retail brands.

For more information about V3 Group, please visit www.v3group.com.

About KKR

KKR is a leading global investment firm that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate and credit, with strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns for its fund investors by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people, and driving growth and value creation with KKR portfolio companies. KKR invests its own capital alongside the capital it manages for fund investors and provides financing solutions and investment opportunities through its capital markets business. References to KKR’s investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR), please visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.

Source: V3 Group Limited

For media queries on KKR:
Cara Major
KKR
Cara.Major@kkr.com

For media queries on V3 Group:
Jeffrey Fang
Executive Director, Black Dot
jeffrey@blackdot.sg

 

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Lumeon secures $28M in funding to accelerate growth in the US market

GIlde Healthcare

Utrecht (The Netherlands), Boston (United States) – Lumeon, the digital health scale-up in Care Pathway Management (CPM), today announced the closure of a $28M investment. The financing allows Lumeon to expand its U.S. team and Boston headquarters, scale commercial operations and accelerate customer deployments in the region.

Along with LSP as lead investor, the finance was provided by MTIP and current investors Gilde, Amadeus Capital Partners, IPF Partners and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

 

About Lumeon
Lumeon enables healthcare organizations to orchestrate and automate systems and processes, bringing situational awareness to care operations to deliver high performance, team-centered healthcare. The industry-leading Lumeon Care Pathway Management (CPM) platform and suite of solutions empower health organizations to take control of their end-to-end care delivery model and maximize the use of resources. By iteratively designing and deploying efficient pathways, organizations reduce cost and minimize unwarranted variation, while flexibly adapting to emerging needs.

With headquarters in the USA and Europe, Lumeon serves some of the largest health enterprises across the globe, managing over six million patients on its platform. Find out more at www.lumeon.com.

About Gilde Healthcare
Gilde Healthcare is a specialized European healthcare investor managing €1 billion across two business lines: a venture & growth capital fund and a private equity fund. Gilde Healthcare’s venture & growth capital fund invests in medtech, digital health and therapeutics. The portfolio companies are based in Europe and North America. Gilde Healthcare’s private equity fund invests in profitable European lower mid-market healthcare services companies with a focus on the Benelux and DACH-region. The portfolio consists of healthcare providers, suppliers of medical products and other service providers in the healthcare market. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.gildehealthcare.com.

Gilde Healthcare

Gilde Healthcare is a specialized European healthcare investor managing two business lines: a lower mid-market buy-out fund and a venture & growth capital fund. It has over €800 million ($1 billion) under management and is actively looking to lead new investments in digital health, diagnostics, medical devices, therapeutics and healthcare services across Europe and the US.

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DataCenter Finland adds Adelis to ownership base – aim is to create the leading IT services company focusing on the SME segment in Finland

Adelis Equity

DataCenter Finland (DCF) has in recent years grown organically and through acquisitions into Finland’s leading independent cloud provider. Now DCF has decided to accelerate its growth. Supported by Adelis Equity Partners the goal is to become the leading Finnish IT services provider focusing on mid-sized companies.

DataCenter Finland has in recent years become the leading provider of cloud services to mid-sized companies. The company has invested significantly into its operations by building a strong IT infrastructure and cloud services focused organization and by building two modern datacenters. Organic growth has been accelerated by acquisitions and the company’s turnover is expected to exceed 20 million euros in 2018.

To enable its next growth phase, including larger acquisitions, DCF has partnered with Adelis. DCF’s aim is to create the leading IT services provider focused on mid-sized companies in Finland by investing heavily into its own organization and by pursuing further acquisitions.

”After building a strong foundation within IT infrastructure and private cloud services, we want to evolve into a holistic IT services provider. Our plan is to expand our offering especially within information security, holistic IT architecture and modern end-user solutions coupled with excellent service desk and onsite support services. Our strong customer relationships and our organization’s deep technical expertise creates a strong platform from which to introduce these new services. We are excited to get a strong partner to support us on this path. The Adelis team’s previous experience from the Danish and Swedish IT services markets brings very valuable know-how to us”, says Atte Kekkonen, CEO of DataCenter Finland.

”It is highly motivating for us at Adelis to join forces with DCF. We have previously supported IT Relation and AddPro in becoming the leading IT services providers focused on mid-sized companies in Denmark and Sweden. Now we have found a partner in Finland to support on a similar journey. DCF’s strong IT infrastructure capabilities create a good base for the planned broadening of the service offering. The biggest winner from this development will be the Finnish SME sector”, says Rasmus Molander from Adelis.

Adelis becomes the majority owner of DCF through the transaction. The company’s current owners, including management, will remain as significant owners. In addition, the founder and CEO of AddPro, Nicklas Persson, will invest into DCF and join its board of directors. The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals.

For further information:

DataCenter Finland: Atte Kekkonen, CEO, +358 40 505 5020

Adelis Equity Partners: Rasmus Molander, Partner, +46 730 823 74 33

Adelis Equity Partners: Joel Russ, Partner, +46 73 543 90 68

DataCenter Finland

DataCenter Finland is an IT infrastructure and cloud services provider focused on mid-sized companies. Local customer service is the foundation for all of its operations. The company has revenues of approximately EUR 21 million, operates two modern datacenters in the Helsinki capital region and employs c. 80 IT experts.www.datacenter.fi

Adelis Equity Partners

Adelis is an active partner in creating value at mid-sized Nordic companies. Adelis was founded with the goal of building the leading middle market private equity firm in the Nordics. Since raising its first fund in 2013, Adelis has been one of the most active investors in the Nordic middle-market, acquiring 18 companies and making more than 40 add-on acquisitions. Adelis now manages approximately €1 billion in capital. For more information please visitwww.adelisequity.com.

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