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Latour acquires Hakaser Oy

Latour logo

Investment AB Latour has, through its subsidiary DENSIQ AB, part of Latour Industries, signed an agreement to acquire Hakaser Oy, based in Oulu Finland. Closing will take place with immediate effect.

The acquisition is part of DENSIQ’s strategy to strengthen its position as a supplier of complete solutions within sealing technology as well as to increase the geographical reach in the Nordic countries.

Hakaser is specialized in maintenance and repair of industrial valves for the Finnish process related industries. Hakaser has eight employees and annual sales of approximately EUR 1,4 million.

Krister Seleskog, CEO of DENSIQ AB comments on the acquisition: “With Hakaser we will further strengthen our position as a complete supplier of services, products and engineering within sealing technologies. It will also increase our geographical reach and get us closer to the customer, especially in the northern parts of the region”

“DENSIQ and Hakaser complement each other very well in terms of both range of services and customer focus. With DENSIQ we can continue to expand both our offer as well as our geographical reach”, says Olli-Pekka Keränen current CEO and part owner.

Göteborg, December 19, 2017

INVESTMENT AB LATOUR (PUBL)

Jan Svensson, CEO

For further information, please contact:

Krister Seleskog, CEO DENSIQ AB, +46 720 10 21 40

Maria Elm Olsson, Chairman of the Board in DENSIQ AB, +46 705 08 72 82

DENSIQ AB, with headquarter in Göteborg, has annual sales of almost SEK 150 m and about 60 employees in subsidiaries located in three different countries. DENSIQ AB is part of Latour Industries, which is one of four wholly owned business areas within Investment AB Latour.

Latour Industries AB consists of a number of operating areas, each with its own business concept and business model. The ambition is to develop independent entities, which can eventually become new business areas within Latour.

Investment AB Latour is a mixed investment company consisting primarily of wholly-owned industrial operations and an investment portfolio of listed holdings in which Latour is the principal owner or one of the principal owners. The investment portfolio consists of ten substantial holdings with a market value of about SEK 47 billion. The wholly-owned industrial operations generated a turnover of approximately SEK 8 billion in 2016.

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ZytoService reaches an agreement to acquire Profusio

ik-investment-partners

ZytoService, a leading compounder of pharmaceuticals for patient-individualised infusions, has reached an agreement with GHD GesundHeits GmbH to acquire Profusio, the second largest compounder of cytostatics in Germany. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 2002, ZytoService is one of the largest industrially organised §13 AMG (“Arzneimittelgesetz”) certified compounders for patient-individualised infusions applied mainly in oncology treatment in Germany. The company is based in Hamburg, where it runs a state-of-the-art compounding facility.

Profusio, a subsidiary of GHD, is the second largest cytostatics compounder in Germany with state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Leipzig, Haan and Munich.

“Profusio’s facilities are very well-invested, and they share our high standards of quality, safety, and professional expertise. Together, we will work towards our vision to create an integrated healthcare provider in the German oncology market,” said Enno Scheel, Co-Founder of ZytoService.

“The acquisition of Profusio will strengthen ZytoService’s market position and national footprint, giving us even better opportunities to address the growing demands of the German healthcare market,” continued Thomas Boner, Co-Founder of ZytoService.

ZytoService is owned by the IK VIII Fund, which is advised by IK Investment Partners. Completion of the transaction is subject to customary legal and regulatory approvals.

For further questions:

ZytoService
Thomas Boner, Co-Founder and Co-CEO
Phone: +49 40 600 094 013

Enno Scheel, Co-Founder and Co-CEO
Phone: +49 40 600 094 01

About ZytoService
ZytoService was founded in Hamburg in 2002. ZytoService now employs more than 470 highly-qualified personnel who have undergone pharmaceutical training. All staff are specially trained in GMP-compliant production. With more than 40 licensed pharmacists, ZytoService has outstanding expertise in all areas of oncological pharmacy. For more information, visit www.zytoservice.de

 

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Almi Invest invests in Loxysoft

Almi Invest

Almi Invest invests five million crowns in Ostersund based Loxysoft, which develops and sells support systems for customer service and contact centers. In the issue of a total of ten million is also participating MIC Invest. The money will go to market expansion in the Nordic countries and in the United States.

Loxysoft provides contact-intensive organizations such as banks, telecom operators and insurance companies with support systems for customer service, sales and staffing.

Through one of his focus areas Contact Center Solution targets the company set out to Nordic customers who work with customer service and sales. Loxysoft have the current situation about 250 customers in Sweden and 60 in Norway. The scheduling tool Proscheduler Loxysoft has also entered the US market. A subsidiary has been started and the plan is to bring in far more customers than today about 35th

The solutions offered as Software as a Service (SaaS) and self-operating, but the trend is increasingly toward SaaS.

– Loxysoft has, with Almi Invest Dimensions, come very far, says Christopher Ohman, Investment Manager at Almi Invest. With proprietary products in a growing market, the potential for success great.

Loxysoft now takes in external capital to fund its expansion, mainly in the United States.

– We are very pleased to Almi Invest has chosen to invest in Loxysoft, says CEO Tobias Sjolander. With their capital and expertise behind us, we are ready for further expansion.

 

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Almi Invest sells software company Atollic to STMicroelectronics

Almi Invest

Almi Invest makes an exit and sells its holdings in Jönköping-based software company Atollic. Buyers are STMicroelectronics, one of the world’s largest semiconductor companies.

ST will acquire the entire Atollic 7 million dollars with a potential additional consideration of $ 1 million under certain circumstances.

Atollic develops TrueSTUDIO®, a software development tool for coding embedded in intelligent devices such as televisions, washing machines, camcorders and microwave ovens. There is a great need to create robust and error-free code, the products are difficult to update and can have serious malfunctions in the wrong code. To develop software for embedded systems therefore requires special development tools that address the very qualities that are characteristic of embedded systems.

Almi Invest has been a shareholder in Atollic since the end of 2014 with a stake of about 20 percent. Almi Invest’s share of the purchase price is equivalent to about 2.5 times invested capital.

– We are very pleased with our investment in Atollic said Erik Ydrén, Investment Manager at Almi Invest. The company’s product True Studio is at the forefront it will get very good development of STMicroelectronics.

Atollic is now part of the ST, but with continuing operations in Jönköping branded STMicroelectronics Software AB.

– We have worked closely Atollic for years and have seen the value TrueSudio deliver said Michel Buffa, Microcontroller Division General Manager at STMicroelectronics. True Studio will be giving our developers a strong competitive advantage.

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Graphite sells investment in Corbin & King to Minor Hotels

Graphite

Graphite Capital, the leading mid-market private equity specialist, has Today sold its investment in Corbin & King, the leading London-based restaurant group. The sale forms part of a wider transaction in which Minor Hotels, one of the largest hospitality and leisure groups in the Asia -Pacific region, took a majority interest in the group. Minor is best known as the operator of Anantara hotels. In 2012 Graphite provided development finance to fund the company’s expansion. At the time Corbin & King operated two restaurants: the Wolseley which had been open since 2003 and the recently opened Delaunay. Both have continued to grow strongly.

Subsequently Corbin & King opened four more restaurants: Colbert, Brasserie Zédel, Fischer’s and Bellanger. The expansion has been highly successful and the new restaurants have won numerous industry awards. Revenues of the restaurant group have more than trebled and are now more than £45 million.

In 2014, Corbin & King opened The Beaumont, a luxury hotel in Mayfair, to widespread critical acclaim. The Beaumont is regularly rated in the top five hotels in London by TripAdvisor and won the AA’s ‘Hotel of the Year in London’ award in 2016.

Revenues have grown steadily since the opening and the hotel now makes an important contribution to group profits. Employee numbers have increased by over 150per cent since Graphite invested and Corbin & King now employs nearly 900 staff. Graphite senior partner Andy Gray said:

“Chris Corbin and Jeremy King have built a reputation as London’s most successful restaurateurs over the past 35 years. We are pleased to have played an important part in the development of such an iconic business and are delighted that it has shown consistent growth during our investment period. The company is highly profitable and we believe it has found an excellent partner in Minor Hotels.”

Senior partner Andy Gray and partner Omar Kayat managed the transaction for Graphite.

 

Ends

 

 

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Matsmart raises 7.5 MEUR

Northzone

D-Ax and Norrsken Foundation invest in Matsmart, alongside previous investors.

The funding will be used to further expansion in the Nordics and Europe.

Swedish e-commerce company Matsmart sells surplus food that would otherwise be thrown away, due to changes in branding or packaging, seasonality or short expiration dates.

In 2016, Matsmart prevented 706 tonnes of food from going to waste. The company has seen explosive growth, with yearly revenues of €20 million. Matsmart launched in Sweden in 2014, and has since then expanded to Norway and Finland.

CEO Karl Andersson comments: “With this new funding, we will continue to focus on growth. There is still a lot of work to do to solve the issue of food waste, and we see strong interest from both consumers and suppliers. We will also be looking at new markets for further international expansion.”

The new investors add strategic value to Matsmart. D-Ax is the investment arm of the Swedish Axel Johnson Group, and Norrsken Foundation, set up by Klarna founder Niklas Adalberth, focuses on social tech entrepreneurship.

Karl adds: “D-Ax has significant experience in the food and retail sectors, and invest with a long-term view, which suits us perfectly. Norrsken focuses on companies that have a positive impact on humans or the environment, and align well with our vision: a world without food waste.”

Mia Brunell Livfors, CEO at Axel Johnson comments: ”For Axel Johnson, this is a strategic investment: it’s in the food space, it’s an e-commerce proposition, it’s a low cost retailer, and it has sustainability at its core. We look forward to working with Matsmart for the long-term.”

Tove Larsson, Investment Manager at Norrsken adds: “Food waste is an important environmental issue, and we think that Matsmart are tackling it in a smart way. They are addressing the immediate issue of saving food that is going to waste, and in the long term, they are also able to influence the root causes of the problem, by helping suppliers reduce waste, and changing consumer behaviour in relation to best-before dates.”

Matsmart, which was founded by Karl Andersson, Erik Södergren, and Ulf Skagerström, has previously attracted investors such as Northzone, GP Bullhound, Edastra, Inbox Capital, the Avito-founders Jonas Nordlander and Filip Engelbert and Johan Kleber, CEO of Adlibris.

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Partners Group to acquire office building in North Sydney for AUD 205 million

Partners Group

Partners Group, the global private markets investment manager, has agreed on behalf of its clients to acquire 73 Miller Street, an office building in North Sydney, Australia. The building is being acquired from Fosun International for a total transaction value of around AUD 205 million.

73 Miller Street is an 11-story office building with a total floor area of 14,672 square meters. Constructed in 1990, the building is located in a prime location within North Sydney’s commercial core, with excellent access to public transport and connections to the city’s Central Business District (“CBD”) via the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Following the acquisition, Partners Group will execute a value-added business plan involving the creation of an extra 13% of additional retail space and the refurbishment of the property to bring it to Grade-A standard.

Rahul Ghai, Managing Director, Private Real Estate Asia, Partners Group, comments: “The acquisition of 73 Miller Street is supported by favorable underlying market fundamentals. On the one hand, rents in Sydney’s CBD have risen more than 30% in the past year, driving some tenants to search for more affordable office locations in other commercial districts including North Sydney. On the other hand, there have been substantial infrastructure upgrades in the North Sydney area, which have increased its connectivity.”

The signing of the 73 Miller Street transaction follows Partners Group’s earlier acquisition of a strategic industrial infill site in Southport, Queensland, Australia. Partners Group plans to develop the site into a modern logistics estate with the capacity to accommodate up to 100,000 square meters of gross lettable area. The location of the site will enable occupiers to service the broader Southern Queensland and Northern Rivers regions, which are currently under-served in terms of logistics facilities.

Bastian Wolff, Managing Director, Head of Private Real Estate Asia, Partners Group, adds: “Both the 73 Miller Street and Southport acquisitions were sourced by our Asia real estate team on an exclusive basis through proprietary relationships, thus avoiding a highly competitive auction process. Both transactions also have a clear repositioning and active asset management strategy behind them that is supported by strong, local growth trends.”

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DN Capital Portfolio Company Finiata raises €18 million

DN Capital

 

DN Capital is proud to announce that FINIATA, the finance platform targeting SMEs, freelancers, and the self-employed, has raised €18 million of financing. The Company was founded by Sebastian Diemer, who previously co-founded credit scoring and loans company Kreditech.

 

The new round sees €10 million invested as a Series A by VC firms DN Capital, Point Nine, Fly Ventures, Redalpine, ENERN, and Kulczyk Investments, while an additional €8 million has been raised in the form of debt financing.

 

Read more here: https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/14/finiata-18m-funding/

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Affiliates of Apollo Natural Resource Partners II to Acquire Phoenix Services

Apollo

–Apollo to Support Continued Growth of Premier Steel Mill Services Company–

KENNETT SQUARE, Pa. & NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Dec. 15, 2017– Phoenix Services LLC (“Phoenix” or the “Company”), a premier provider of outsourced slag handling, metal reclamation, and other complementary services to leading steel mill customers around the world, today announced that Apollo Natural Resources Partners II, L.P. (“ANRP II”), a fund managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, LLC (NYSE: APO) (together with its consolidated subsidiaries, “Apollo”), has agreed to acquire the Company from its existing shareholders, including majority shareholder Olympus Partners. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Phoenix, founded in 2006, is a leading global provider of value-added industrial services to steel mills serving world class customers such as ArcelorMittal, Nucor Steel, and US Steel, among others. The Company has a global workforce of approximately 2,100 employees and operates in 34 locations on four continents.

“We are excited to work with Phoenix Services and its outstanding management team and employees. We have been extremely impressed with the Company’s customer focus, track record of operational excellence, and strong commitment to safety,” said Gareth Turner, Senior Partner at Apollo. “We look forward to leveraging Apollo’s global platform and expertise to support Phoenix’s continued growth and superior customer service.”

About Phoenix Services LLC

Phoenix Services provides responsive world-class service to steel producers around the globe. Core services include slag handling utilizing slag pot carriers or the traditional slag pit digging with front-end loaders; the recovery and sizing of scrap metal to its customer’s specification; and processing slag for use by its steel mill customer or marketing processed slag material for aggregate use.

About　Apollo Global Management, LLC

Apollo is a leading global alternative investment manager with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, St. Louis, Bethesda, Toronto, London, Frankfurt, Madrid, Luxembourg, Mumbai, Delhi, Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Apollo had assets under management of approximately $242 billion as of September　30, 2017 in private equity, credit, and real estate funds invested across a core group of nine industries where Apollo has considerable knowledge and resources. For more information about Apollo, please visit www.agm.com.

Source: Apollo Natural Resources Partners II, L.P.

For investor inquiries regarding Apollo:
Apollo Global Management, LLC
Gary M. Stein, 212-822-0467
Head of Corporate Communications
gstein@apollolp.com
or
Apollo Global Management, LLC
Noah Gunn, 212-822-0540
Investor Relations Manager
ngunn@apollolp.com
or
For media inquiries regarding Apollo:
Rubenstein Associates, Inc. for Apollo Global Management, LLC
Charles Zehren, 212-843-8590
czehren@rubenstein.com

 

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EQT Credit provides financing to support the acquisition of Studienkreis, a leading player in the German tutoring market

eqt

The EQT Mid-Market Credit fund (“EQT Credit”) today announces that it has provided a tailored financing solution to support IK Investment Partners’ investment in Studienkreis Holding GmbH (“Studienkreis” or the “Company”), a German private tutoring service provider.

Studienkreis was founded in 1974 and is headquartered in Bochum. It operates a network of over 1,000 learning centres and offers small group tutoring to 60,000 primary and secondary school students across Germany. It also offers online tutoring and has developed the Studienkreis app for homework support. The Company has a strong growth profile, driven by expansion both through acquisitions and opening of new centres. Studienkreis has opened 150 new locations since 2013, when previous owner Aurelius acquired the group, and today has 160 full time employees.

EQT Credit is providing a unitranche facility to back IK Investment Partners’ acquisition of Studienkreis. The drawn debt consists of a super senior package by Berenberg Bank and an Unitranche facility. The parties have agreed not to disclose the terms of the transaction.

Paul Johnson, Partner at EQT Partners’ Credit team, Investment Advisor to EQT Credit, commented: “EQT Credit has a strong history in providing financing to the education sector. We are looking forward to supporting Studienkreis to further facilitate growth and expansion of the Company”.

Contacts:
Paul Johnson, Partner at EQT Partners, Investment Advisor to EQT Mid-Market Credit, +44 207 430 55 54
EQT Press Office, +46 8 506 55 334, press@eqtpartners.com

About EQT
EQT is a leading alternative investments firm with approximately EUR 37 billion in raised capital across 25 funds. EQT funds have portfolio companies in Europe, Asia and the US with total sales of more than EUR 19 billion and approximately 110,000 employees. EQT works with portfolio companies to achieve sustainable growth, operational excellence and market leadership.

More information: www.eqtpartners.com

About the EQT Credit platform
The EQT Credit platform, which spans the full risk-reward spectrum investing with three strategies: senior debt, direct lending and credit opportunities, has invested over EUR 3.6 billion in more than 136 companies since inception in 2008.

More information:www.eqtpartners.com/Investment-Strategies/Credit

 

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