CVC Credit Partners appoints Nick Haaijman to its investor relations team

admin October 11, 2019

Haaijman joins as Head of Client Services, based in London

CVC Credit Partners is pleased to announce that Nick Haaijman has joined its investor relations team as a Managing Director and Head of Client Services. He is based in CVC’s London office and reports to Mike Anderson, CVC Credit Partners’ Head of Investor Relations.

Nick joined from Alcentra, where he spent more than 10 years in the Business Development team in London, latterly as Global Head of Product Management. He joined Alcentra in 2008 from J.P.Morgan, where he worked in the Structured Credit Product Management team. Nick holds a Master of Science Business Administration from Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam.

Mike Anderson, Head of Investor Relations at CVC Credit Partners, said: “I am very pleased to welcome Nick to our investor relations team. With the growth of the business over the past few years, we are working closer than ever with our investor base, to help them access global credit markets and at the same time, continually looking to enhance their investor experience across our various credit funds. Nick’s wealth of experience in product development and client services will be extremely valuable as we continue to build a best-in-class investor relations team.”

Nick Haaijman added: “I am delighted to be joining CVC Credit Partners, a leading alternative credit manager with an outstanding reputation and performance. This is an ambitious business and I very much look forward to working with Mike and his team to continue to deliver a first-rate investor experience and to drive us towards our full potential.”

Categories: People

Ardian acquires stake in Saal Digital

admin October 10, 2019

Frankfurt am Main / Siegen, October 10, 2019 – Ardian, a world-leading private investment house, is acquiring a stake in Saal Digital. Based in Siegen, Germany, the company is one of the leading manufacturers of high-end photo products in Europe. Together with Ardian, the company wants to expand its business activities and thus realize its significant growth potential. The previous shareholders Nordwind Capital and the Saal family will continue to hold a substantial stake in the company and have reinvested on a significant scale in the course of the transaction. Florian Stellwag and Robin Saal will continue to head business development as members of the management team together with Reinhard Saal and Tim Saal.

Saal Digital was founded in 1986 by Reinhard Saal and has expanded to become a leading online platform for high-end photo products in Europe. These include photo books with special lay-flat bindings, wall prints on aluminum Dibond or under acrylic glass, and photo prints. While a wide range of customizable templates is available for retail customers, Saal Digital has a particularly large clientele among professional photographers, media designers and graphic designers as well as photo enthusiasts. These users can design their creations in standard graphics programs and upload them to the software specifically developed by Saal Digital, where they can edit the images and choose from a variety of design options.

Florian Stellwag, member of the managing board of Saal Digital, said: “Our products allow people to record milestones in their lives such as weddings, births, birthdays and important celebrations and experiences. We have a passion for what we do that is marked by enthusiasm, professionalism and commitment. Our company sets itself apart not only through its high quality but also through its loyal and satisfied customers and employees. With our own production facilities, we focus on the continuous development of Saal Digital’s innovative photo products. At the same time, we utilize every possibility that digitization has to offer.”
Robin Saal, member of the managing board of Saal Digital, added: “Our customers include both professional photographers and photo enthusiasts who appreciate our tremendous variety of products and our high quality standards. In Ardian, we have gained a co-shareholder who shares the enthusiasm for our company and our view of the growth prospects.”

Marc Abadir, Managing Director in the Ardian Expansion team, said: “Saal Digital has a leading market position in the growing online market for high-end photo products. The company is characterized by strong customer loyalty and has significant growth potential in the German-speaking region, in Europe and beyond. We look forward to supporting the excellent management team in the further development of the company.”
The transaction remains subject to the authorization by the competition authorities.

ABOUT SAAL DIGITAL

Saal Digital is a leading online platform for high-end photo products in Europe and was founded in 1986 by Reinhard Saal in Siegen, Germany. With more than 160 employees, the company develops and makes products such as photo books with special lay-flat bindings and wall prints on aluminum Dibond or under acrylic glass and distributes them in 24 countries. Professional media designers, graphic designers and photographers as well as semi-professional photo enthusiasts receive a complete solution from one source. They can design their creations in standard graphics programs and upload them to the software specifically developed by Saal Digital, where they can edit the images and choose from a variety of printing options. Moreover, a variety of customizable templates are also available for retail customers.

www.saal-digital.de/

ABOUT ARDIAN

Ardian is a world-leading private investment house with assets of US$96bn 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 620 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 970 clients through five pillars of investment expertise: Fund of Funds, Direct Funds, Infrastructure, Real Estate and Private Debt.
Ardian on Twitter @Ardian

www.ardian.com

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

Ardian: Marc Abadir, Dirk Wittneben, Yannic Metzger, Nicolas Münzer, Marlon Sandvoss
Legal Corporate: White & Case (Dr. Stefan Koch, Tomislav Vrabec)
Legal Finance: Willkie, Farr & Gallagher (Jan Wilms)
Tax: Taxess (Gerald Thomas, Richard Schäfer)
Debt Advisory: Quarton International (Marco Schunder)
Commercial: EY Parthenon (Hendrik N. Walter)
Financial: EY (Ulrich Gold)
M&A Advisory: Goetzpartners (Milan Saric), Wunworks (Dr. Gernot Wunderle)

PRESS CONTACTS

CHARLES BARKER

ardian@charlesbarker.de

TOBIAS EBERLE

Tel: +49 69 79409024

PETER STEINER

Tel: +49 69 79409027

Categories: News

CapMan’s exit from Kämp Collection Hotels has been completed

admin October 10, 2019

CapMan Buyout press release
10 October 2019 at 10.15 am EEST

CapMan’s exit from Kämp Collection Hotels has been completed

The competition authority has approved Nordic Choice Hotels’ acquisition of Kämp Collection Hotels from funds managed by CapMan Buyout and other owners. The acquisition, announced in August, was finalised on 9 October. The new owner aims at significantly increasing the hotel supply in Helsinki.

CapMan Buyout X fund invested in Kämp Collection Hotels in 2014. The transaction is the fifth exit from the 2013 fund, which has developed well overall. CapMan Buyout is the largest mid-market private equity team in the Nordic region, with 11 investment professionals in Finland and Sweden and 30 years of industry experience. CapMan Buyout has made a total of more than 80 investments and more than 70 exits since 1989 and it is actively looking for suitable investments for its eleventh fund, which held a first close at €160 million in June 2019.

Additional information:
Tomi Alén, Investment Director, CapMan Buyout, tel. +358 50412 1947

About CapMan
CapMan Buyout is part of CapMan Group, a leading Nordic private asset expert with an active approach to value-creation in its portfolio companies and assets, with assets under management of more than €3 billion. CapMan has a broad presence in the unlisted market through our local and specialised teams. The investment strategies cover Private Equity, Real Estate and Infra. CapMan also has a growing service business that includes procurement services, fundraising advisory, and analysis, reporting and wealth management services. Altogether, CapMan employs 140 people in Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen, London, Moscow and Luxembourg. For more information, please visit www.capman.com

Categories: News

Tags: Consumer brands Real estate

Swarm64 raises fresh capital to accelerate growth from FPGA inventor Xilinx

admin October 8, 2019

Swarm64 and Xilinx teaming to meet growing demand for FPGA-accelerated database management solutions.

Berlin, October 8, 2019 – Swarm64 (swarm64.com), a leader in FPGA-accelerated database management solutions, today announced Xilinx, Inc. has invested in Swarm64 and will work together to deliver high-performance analytic databases that are easy to deploy and scale at a lower total cost of ownership (TCO) than existing solutions in the market.

“Swarm64 has demonstrated impressive analytic database price-performance gains on Alveo accelerator cards,” said Donna Yasay, vice president of marketing, Data Center Group at Xilinx. “We are excited to work with Swarm64 to address growing enterprise demand for database solutions that enable new analytic and digital business innovations.”

Swarm64 Data Accelerator for Analytics runs on servers equipped with Xilinx Alveo cards to deliver up to 50x faster analytic query and data insertion performance for PostgreSQL open source database users. PostgreSQL is one of the most widely used databases in the world and Swarm64 DA running on the Xilinx platform enables a powerful SQL solution for customers looking to replace their legacy data warehouse with a seamless integration of hardware accelerators and popular open source software.

“We are very happy to be working with Xilinx to bring new FPGA-accelerated database solutions to market,” said Thomas Richter, CEO of Swarm64. “Swarm64 FPGA-based software delivers a new database user experience, including better price-performance, easier scaling, and even the ability to reconfigure the FPGA hardware to enable advanced features like text processing.”

Swarm64 will use the investment to develop new solutions that leverage the reconfigurability of FPGA hardware to accelerate specific workloads on PostgreSQL such as time series, full-text search, geospatial and others.

About Swarm64

Swarm64 is the developer of hardware accelerator solutions for analytics based on PostgreSQL, one of the most widely used databases in the world. By leveraging FPGA hardware accelerators, Swarm64 provides the easiest way for businesses to scale performance for analytics systems. The company works in close partnership with both leading FPGA suppliers, Intel and Xilinx. Founded in 2013, Swarm64 has built a world-class team developing hardware accelerator images and database software extensions. It is backed by leading venture investors from the US, Norway, and Germany, and has offices in Berlin, Seattle, and Boston.

Categories: News

Tags: Information technology Venture Capital

Pantheon Announces Senior Strategic Appointments

admin October 8, 2019

Chief Technology Officer at Partner level

Global Head of Recruitment

In recognition of the accelerating complexity of operating a robust global private markets firm, Pantheon announces two significant and senior appointments. John Eggleston joins as Partner and Chief Technology Officer, while Richard Berke joins as Global Head of Recruitment, a new position. Both bring outstanding credentials and track records in their specialist fields.The appointments demonstrate the priority and vigilance that Pantheon places on attracting strong talent to lead and innovate important functions. Pantheon has recruited over 125 new permanent professionals across its global teams through 2018 and 2019 to date, evidence of the need for a seasoned recruitment specialist to oversee and implement a best-in-class resourcing infrastructure.John Eggleston, whose impressive technology career stretches back to 1996, joins from BGF plc, a £2.5 billion investment company where he was a member of the Executive & Investment Committees. John led the TMT investment group as well as being a non-exec Director on several Boards and providing strategic CTO support to many companies in the portfolio. Prior to BGF, John was co-founding Chief Information Officer at Callcredit, which grew from initial concept to acquisition by TransUnion for over $1bn. At Pantheon, John has oversight responsibility for core technology infrastructure, information security and systems development. Richard Berke brings nearly two decades of financial services recruitment experience with him, most recently from Insight Investment where Richard was Head of Resourcing. Earlier this year, Pantheon appointed Charlotte Tallon as Head of HR for the Americas. Charlotte joined from Barclays where she was HR Business Partner, and she is based in Pantheon’s New York office.“We are delighted to have such highly talented professionals join us in strategically important positions,” said Paul Ward, Managing Partner. “Our operating model continues to experience fast change – we carry a responsibility to be both alert and responsive to that challenge. Technology and people are two vital elements on which the security and success of the whole firm depends. Accordingly, Pantheon’s Board prioritizes and invests in ensuring Pantheon is resourced appropriately in terms of seniority, skill and experience.” John Eggleston reports to Robin Bailey, Chief Operating Officer. Richard Berke reports to Dianne Remanous, Global Head of HR. Both are based in Pantheon’s London office. Photographs and interviews are available on request.Ends.

PRESS RELEASE

Connect with us

Notes to Editors For further information,

please contact: Pantheon Amanda McCrystal, Global Head of Marketing and Communications Tel: +44 20 3356 1718 | C: +44 7557 233771 | Email: amanda.mccrystal@pantheon.com

About Pantheon

Pantheon Group* (“Pantheon”) is a leading global private equity, infrastructure, real assets and debt fund investor that invests on behalf of over 585 investors, including public and private pension plans, insurance companies, endowments and foundations. Founded in 1982, Pantheon has developed an established reputation in primary, co-investment and secondary private asset solutions across all stages and geographies. Our investment solutions include customized separate account programs, regional primary fund programs, secondaries, co-investment, infrastructure and real assets programs. Pantheon has four decades’ experience of investing in private markets. As at March 31st, 2019 Pantheon had $46.3 billion assets under management** and we currently have around 310 employees located across our offices in London, San Francisco, New York, Hong Kong, Seoul***, Bogotá***, Tokyo and Dublin. Our employees include 94 investment professionals. Pantheon is majority-owned by Affiliated Managers Group Inc. (“AMG”), alongside senior members of the Pantheon team. AMG is a NYSE-listed global asset management company with equity investments in leading boutique investment management firms. The ownership structure, with Pantheon management owning a meaningful share of the equity in the business, provides a framework for long-term succession and enables Pantheon management to continue to direct the firm’s day-to-day operations. * Pantheon Group refers to the subsidiaries and subsidiary undertakings of Pantheon Ventures Inc. and AMG Plymouth UK Holdings Limited and includes operating entities principally based in the US (San Francisco and New York), UK (London), Hong Kong, Guernsey and Dublin. Pantheon Ventures Inc. and Pantheon Ventures (US) LP are registered as investment advisors with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”); Pantheon Securities, LLC. is a broker dealer registered with the SEC and is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”).

Pantheon Ventures (UK) LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) in the United Kingdom. Pantheon Ventures (HK) LLP is regulated by the Securities and Futures Commission in Hong Kong. Pantheon Ventures (Guernsey) Ltd and a number of other Pantheon entities incorporated in Guernsey are regulated by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission. Pantheon Ventures (Asia) Limited is registered as a Type II Financial Instruments Business and Investment Advisory and Agency Business Operator with the Kanto Local Finance Bureau in Japan (KLFB). ** This figure includes assets subject to discretionary or non-discretionary management, advice or those limited to a reporting function. Data is unaudited. *** Please note that the Bogotá office is a representative office of Pantheon Ventures (US) LP (“PV US”), and that a Korean subsidiary of PV US has opened the office in Seoul.

Categories: People

Ardian acquires a majority stake in Staci, a European leader in specialty logistics

admin October 8, 2019

Paris, October 8, 2019 – Ardian, a world leading private investment house, announced today that it has acquired a majority stake in Staci, a European leader in specialty logistics, from Cobepa. The management team led by Thomas Mortier, as well as Société Générale’s investment teams, are reinvesting alongside Ardian.

Founded in 1989, Staci is an independent company that has grown to become one of the European leaders in innovative B2B and B2B2C logistics solutions for companies wishing to outsource all or part of their network or customer procurement operations. The company has a unique know-how in management of complex and scalable logistics flows, such as in dealing with a multitude of suppliers and delivery points, low unit volumes, non-standard formats, barcoded and non-barcoded products. In particular, the company has developed a strong expertise in the logistics of advertising and promotional media.

Staci has a leading position in its market niche, based on a model of pooling its warehouses and resources and its portfolio of services, which are all built around a proprietary IT system. Staci is present throughout Europe with a wide spectrum of clients ranging from multinational groups to local companies across several sectors, including food, health and cosmetics, telecoms and financial services. Staci has about 1,900 employees and generated more than 250 million euros in turnover in 2018.

Thomas Mortier, CEO of Staci, said: “Staci employees are delighted to open this new page in the company’s history with Ardian. The management team has reinvested very significantly in the business and we share the same values and vision with the Ardian team with regards to Staci’s development strategy in France and abroad. I would like to thank our employees, partners and shareholders for their commitment, support and professionalism, which every day contribute to the quality of the services we provide to our customers.“

Lise Fauconnier, Managing Director, and Alexandre Vannelle, Director at Ardian Buyout, said: “We are proud to invest in Staci to accelerate the next phase of its development and to support Thomas Mortier and his team. The high quality of the relationships established, and their strong growth reflect the company’s excellence. Alongside the management team, we will continue to develop Staci and consolidate its presence in key geographical areas through strategic acquisitions, in a market that is still very fragmented.“

Jean-Marie Laurent Josi, CEO, and Charles-Henri Chaliac, Member of the Executive Committee of Cobepa, said: “We are delighted to have been able to support Thomas Mortier and his team in the execution of a truly transformative strategic plan for the Staci Group, which has been able to both strengthen its position in its local market, while fulfilling its international ambitions and simultaneously strengthening links with its main customers. The Group’s unique know-how, coupled with its strong potential for organic and acquisitive growth, enables it to move smoothly into its new development phase with the support of Ardian.”

Staci is the fifth investment of Ardian’s Buyout team in 2019. With 49 employees in Paris, Frankfurt, Milan and London, the team invests in high-quality mid- and large-cap companies across Western Europe, applying transformation strategies that enable them to become world leaders in their niche markets.

ABOUT STACI

Since 1989, STACI has specialized in fulfilment and offers innovative B2B and B2C solutions to a wide range of industries: pharmaceutical & healthcare, automotive, telecom, retail, hotels & restaurants, tourism, food & beverage, bank & insurance.

With a unique expertise in multi-clients shared warehouses across Europe, STACI implements custom-made and cost effective logistic solutions for bar-coded products – cosmetics, broadband boxes, spare parts, high tech products… and non-bar-coded items – POS and merchandising material, marketing and communication print, goodies.

Thanks to the know-how, the processes and the experience that the company has developed around fulfilment, pick & pack, shared resources, transport optimization, IT systems and stock financing, STACI is able to offer unique and fully integrated supply chain management solutions.

Staci operates 25 warehouses in Benelux, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK with 1,300 employees and has achieved 154M€ sales in 2016. STACI is a CSR-driven business with sustainable growth as its core strategy for many years.

www.staci.com