Category Archives: News

Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust Completes $5.8 Billion Acquisition of Preferred Apartment Communities, Inc.

ATLANTA & NEW YORK, June 23, 2022 – Blackstone (NYSE: BX) and Preferred Apartments Communities, Inc. (NYSE: APTS) (“PAC” or the “Company”) today announced that Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, Inc. (“BREIT”) has completed its previously announced acquisition of PAC for $25.00 per share of common stock, without interest, in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $5.8 billion. The holders of each series of PAC’s preferred stock will receive the $1,000 per share liquidation preference for each share of preferred stock plus accrued but unpaid dividends thereon, without interest. As a result of the transaction, PAC’s common stock will no longer be listed on any public market.

Joel T. Murphy, PAC’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, “Today’s closing of BREIT’s acquisition of PAC marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for PAC. This outcome, with over 99% of voting stockholders supporting the acquisition, reinforces the merits of this transaction and the value of the hard work our team has done leading up to and throughout this process. I would like to thank the Blackstone team for being so collaborative as we worked together to achieve this result.  We look forward to the next phase for PAC.”

Jacob Werner, Co-Head of Americas Acquisitions for Blackstone Real Estate, said, “We are pleased to complete this acquisition on behalf of our BREIT investors and welcome the talented PAC team to Blackstone. Inclusive of this transaction, approximately half of BREIT’s portfolio comprises residential properties largely located in the West and South regions of the U.S., which are seeing robust demand and stable occupancy. PAC’s portfolio of high-quality multifamily in key SunBelt markets and grocery anchored retail centers is a complementary addition to BREIT’s portfolio of stabilized, income-generating assets, and we look forward to being long-term owners of these properties.”

Jones Lang LaSalle Limited, BofA Securities, Lazard Frères & Co. LLC and Wells Fargo Securities LLC served as BREIT’s financial advisors, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP acted as BREIT’s legal counsel.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC served as PAC’s lead financial advisor. KeyBanc Capital Markets, Inc. and JonesTrading Institutional Services, LLC. also served as financial advisors to PAC. King & Spalding LLP and Vinson & Elkins LLP served as the Company’s legal counsel.

The transaction was announced on February 16, 2022.

About Preferred Apartment Communities, Inc.
Preferred Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE: APTS) is a real estate investment trust engaged primarily in the ownership and operation of Class A multifamily properties, with select investments in grocery-anchored shopping centers. Preferred Apartment Communities’ investment objective is to generate attractive, stable returns for stockholders by investing in income-producing properties and acquiring or originating real estate loans. As of March 31, 2022, the Company owned or was invested in 113 properties in 13 states, predominantly in the Southeast region of the United States. Learn more at www.pacapts.com.

About Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, Inc.  
Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, Inc. (“BREIT”) is a perpetual-life, institutional quality real estate investment platform that brings private real estate to income focused investors. BREIT invests primarily in stabilized, income-generating U.S. commercial real estate across key property types and to a lesser extent in real estate debt investments. BREIT is externally managed by a subsidiary of Blackstone (NYSE: BX), a global leader in real estate investing. Blackstone’s real estate business was founded in 1991 and has approximately $298 billion in investor capital under management. Further information is available at www.breit.com.

Contacts

Preferred Apartment Communities, Inc. Contacts

Investors

Preferred Apartment Communities, Inc.
John A. Isakson, Chief Financial Officer
770-818-4109
jisakson@pacapts.com

Paul Cullen, Executive Vice President-Investor Relations
(770) 818-4144
PCullen@pacapts.com

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Florida Food Products (Ardian & MidOcean) acquires Javo

Ardian

Solidifies FFP’s position as one of the world’s largest independent providers of natural food ingredients.
Javo represents the third acquisition completed since Ardian and MidOcean partnership formed less than a year ago.
Addition of Javo further diversifies portfolio of natural ingredients, enhances growth profile, and introduces exciting new products to FFP’s beverage division.

Florida Food Products (“FFP” or the “Company”), one of the world’s largest independent providers of natural ingredients, announced today that it has reached an agreement to acquire Javo Beverage Company (“Javo”) subject to customary closing conditions. Javo is a leading natural extractor of clean label coffee, tea, and botanicals with a focus on beverage applications. Javo is widely recognized for its unique extraction capabilities that facilitate the delivery of exceptional cold brew coffee solutions to industry leading consumer brands, manufacturers, and restaurants.

FFP is a leading innovator, formulator, and producer of naturally sourced clean label ingredients. The Company’s products provide nutrition, improve texture and flavor, extend shelf life, and ultimately provide consumers with clean label and natural products. FFP is one of the largest independent providers of clean label ingredients, and the Company’s portfolio focuses exclusively on natural solutions. Today, FFP’s portfolio of natural ingredients has applications across every segment of the food and beverage industry, along with a rapidly growing presence in the health and wellness category.

In 2021, Ardian, a world-leading private investment house, acquired a majority stake in FFP from MidOcean Partners (“MidOcean”) and established a new partnership to accelerate FFP’s long-term growth objectives. Under this partnership, FFP has completed the acquisition of Comax, T-Bev, and now Javo. With the support of the Ardian and MidOcean teams, FFP has scaled dramatically and has more than doubled over the last year, with revenue approaching $300 million.

The addition of Javo further diversifies FFP’s portfolio, adding a number of exciting new natural ingredients, while significantly enhancing its growth profile. FFP plans to utilize its expanded capabilities to offer innovative solutions that provide consumers great tasting, clean label products with the health attributes and transparency they desire. As part of FFP’s growth plans, the Company continues to expand its talented executive team, accelerate its investment in innovation, and enhance its capabilities and services with new facilities, equipment, and locations.

”We’re ecstatic for Javo to join the FFP platform. Javo’s best-in-class products are supported by a talented team and unique manufacturing capabilities that will drive a series of innovative new product launches. As part of the FFP family, we’re confident that Javo can offer our customers compelling new solutions that build on our deep portfolio of clean label ingredients.” Jim Holdrieth, CEO of FFP

”Our investment in Javo is a testament to the differentiated capabilities and resources that Ardian has brought to the FFP platform. As we move forward, the FFP team will be able to leverage further our extensive experience in the ingredient sector to efficiently evaluate new opportunities and be the buyer of choice for natural ingredient businesses.” Thibault Basquin, Deputy Head of the Ardian Buyout team

”Javo is an impressive organization, which will play a critical role in our continued expansion in the beverage category. Javo’s innovative products complement FFP’s portfolio of natural ingredients and will position the Company for accelerated growth. We intend to continue our strategy of building the world’s largest independent provider of clean label ingredients by expanding our portfolio of best-in-class products, acquiring additional clean label ingredient businesses, and investing in our talented team, advanced facilities, and innovative pipeline.” Christopher Sand, Managing Director in the Ardian Buyout team

”The addition of Javo to the FFP platform is a continuation of the exceptional growth that we have seen since our initial investment in 2018, and further solidifies our position in natural beverage ingredients and solutions. Building upon the solid foundation we have established over the last four years, FFP is poised to dramatically increase its scale as it launches exciting new systems and expands into a series of high-growth adjacencies. We’re thrilled to continue our partnership with Jim Holdrieth, the FFP management team, and Ardian as we progress in this exciting new phase for FFP.” Steven Loeffler, Principal at MidOcean Partners

The transaction is anticipated to close in the third quarter of 2022. Houlihan Lokey acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Javo. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

ABOUT ARDIAN

Ardian is a world leading private investment house, managing or advising $130bn of assets on behalf of more than 1,300 clients globally. Our broad expertise, spanning Private Equity, Real Assets and Credit, enables us to offer a wide range of investment opportunities and respond flexibly to our clients’ differing needs. Through Ardian Customized Solutions, we create bespoke portfolios that allow institutional clients to specify the precise mix of assets they require and to gain access to funds managed by leading third-party sponsors. We also provide a specialist service for private clients through Ardian Private Wealth Solutions. Ardian is majority-owned by its employees and places great emphasis on developing its people and fostering a collaborative culture based on collective intelligence. Our 900+ employees, spread across 15 offices in Europe, the Americas and Asia, are strongly committed to the principles of Responsible Investment and are determined to make finance a force for good in society. Our goal is to deliver excellent investment performance combined with high ethical standards and social responsibility.
At Ardian we invest all of ourselves in building companies that last.

www.ardian.com

ABOUT MIDOCEAN PARTNERS

MidOcean Partners is a premier New York-based alternative asset manager specializing in middle-market private equity and alternative credit investments. Since its inception in 2003, MidOcean Private Equity has targeted investments in high-quality middle-market companies in the consumer and business services sectors. MidOcean Credit Partners was launched in 2009 and currently manages a series of alternative credit strategies, collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), and customized separately managed accounts.

www.midoceanpartners.com

ABOUT FLORIDA FOOD PRODUCT

Founded in 1954, Florida Food Products is the world’s largest, independent provider of natural ingredients. FFP formulates and produces innovative clean label fruit, vegetable, and botanical based ingredients serving the food, beverage, and health end markets. The Company’s products offer compelling alternatives to chemically derived ingredients and can enhance such things as taste, texture, shelf life, moisture, and color. The Company operates facilitates across the country and partners with some of the most respected consumer brands, manufacturers, and food service providers. For additional information, please visit Florida Food Products’ website.

www.floridafood.com

Media Contacts

ARDIAN

NEIBART GROUP Rachelle Gaynor

rgaynor@neibartgroup.com +1 631 278 2046

MIDOCEAN PARTNERS

MEDIA RELATIONS: GASTHALTER & CO. Amanda Shpiner / Grace Cartwright

midocean@gasthalter.com +1 212 257 4170

INVESTOR RELATIONS Allison Donohue

investorrelations@midoceanpartners.com

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Ardian-backed AD Education acquires Oktogone Group, a leading player in online education and training

Ardian

AD Education, a leading European higher education platform, announces the acquisition of the Oktogone Group (“Oktogone”), one of the market-leaders in digital education and training, previously owned by its founder, Regis Micheli. This transaction further consolidates AD Education’s leading position in the dynamic sector of higher education in Creative Arts. It also marks an important step for the Group by diversifying into online learning and accelerates its digital capabilities.

Founded in 2002 by Regis Micheli, Oktogone has developed a wide range of online training programs in areas such as Digital, Communications & Marketing and Management. This training is delivered through two platforms: ISCOD, an online school of higher education offering 100% work-study programs, and Visiplus, an online training platform for professionals.

Leveraging on a fast-growing market and recognized brands, AD Education will support Oktogone’s growth momentum and accelerate the launch of new programs. Oktagone will benefit in particular from AD Education’s large portfolio of face-to-face training programs.

With the recent acquisitions such as IMAAT (2021), Asfored (2022) and the European activities of SAE (in progress), Oktogone Group will strengthen AD Education’s position as a leader in higher education in the Creative Arts in full. Its range of services now includes all teaching media (in person, fully digital and hybrid) and is aimed at all audiences.

The deal will also allow AD Education to accelerate the digitalization of its existing courses at a time when students increasingly prioritize online teaching and learning.

”We are thrilled to welcome Oktogone within AD Education. We share common values and the same entrepreneurial DNA. Our complementary offerings and expertise will position the Group as a leader the fast-growing higher education market. We look forward to working with Oktogone and accelerating the group’s digitalization, in France and internationally, notably thanks to their high-quality team and platform.” Kevin Guenegan, Chairman of the AD Education Group

”We are very pleased to join the AD Education Group, which marks the beginning of a new chapter in Oktogone’s development. The mix of in-person and virtual learning, as well as the strong complementary with AD Education’s brand and programs, unlocks exciting opportunities for accelerating our growth in the years to come. This merger is a unique opportunity to create a leader in face-to-face and online education for the creative industries, both in France and in other countries where AD Education is present.” Regis Micheli, Founder of Oktogone

”We are proud to support AD Education and its management team in this new acquisition and to accelerate the group’s development plan, particularly in the digital space. AD Education now offers a diverse and complete range of programs that meet the needs of all learners, whether students or professionals. With Oktogone, the AD Education Group further strengthens its French and European leadership in the private higher education sector.” Emmanuel Miquel, Managing Director in the Ardian Buyout team

PARTIES TO THE TRANSACTION

  • AD Education

    • Kevin Guenegan, Martin Coriat, Benoit Weckx

  • Oktogone

    • Regis Micheli

  • Ardian

    • Emmanuel Miquel, Nicolas Trani, Jean-Baptiste Hunaut, Anouk Daoudal

  • Seller’s advisors

    • Financial advisors: Financière de Courcelles (Martine Depas, Ambroise Boissonnet)
    • Legal corporate advisors: Cygler Avocats (Steve Cygler), Allrights Avocats (Patrice Planes)
    • Financial due diligence: D’Ornano (Claudia Foley, Marc-Olivier Longpré)

  • Buyer’s advisors

    • Financial advisors: Eurvad (Charles Guigan)
    • Legal corporate advisors: Willkie Farr & Gallagher (Eduardo Fernandez, Gil Kiener, Sarah Bibas)
    • Legal Financial advisors: Latham & Watkins (Xavier Farde, Carla-Sophie Imperadeiro)
    • Legal structuring advisors: Latham & Watkins (Olivia Rauch-Ravisé, Clémence Morel)
    • Commercial due diligence: BCG (Benjamin Entraygues, Guillaume Darrieus, Julien Vialade)
    • Financial due diligence: KPMG (Guilhem Maguin, Stephane Kuster)
    • Legal due diligence: KPMG Avocats (Benoit Roucher, Julie Brubach)
    • Tax due diligence: KPMG Avocats (Sophie Fournier-Dedoyard, Gauthier Moulins)
    • Social/labor due diligence: KPMG Avocats (Olivier Masi, Christine Piault)

ABOUT AD EDUCATION

Founded in 2009, AD Education is a leading European higher education platform, pure player in the field of Creative Arts and teaching to more than 22,000 students in 15 schools on 66 campuses in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Greece. AD Education covers 4 main sub-segments: Design & Graphical Arts, Media & Digital, Audiovisual and Culture & Luxury. Following the acquisition, will expand its presence in online education and will achieve revenues of more than 220 million euros.

ad-education.com

ABOUT OKTOGONE

Oktogone Group is one of the leading players in training and employment in the digital age. The group combines a range of expertise to support employees, students and job seekers in managing their careers. Oktogone also assists companies in developing the skills of their employees through continuous training, internal mobility and recruitment.

oktogone.com

ABOUT ARDIAN

Ardian is a world leading private investment house, managing or advising $130bn of assets on behalf of more than 1,300 clients globally. Our broad expertise, spanning Private Equity, Real Assets and Credit, enables us to offer a wide range of investment opportunities and respond flexibly to our clients’ differing needs. Through Ardian Customized Solutions we create bespoke portfolios that allow institutional clients to specify the precise mix of assets they require and to gain access to funds managed by leading third-party sponsors. We also provide a specialist service for private clients through Ardian Private Wealth Solutions. Ardian is majority-owned by its employees and places great emphasis on developing its people and fostering a collaborative culture based on collective intelligence. Our 900+ employees, spread across 15 offices in Europe, the Americas and Asia, are strongly committed to the principles of Responsible Investment and are determined to make finance a force for good in society. Our goal is to deliver excellent investment performance combined with high ethical standards and social responsibility.
At Ardian we invest all of ourselves in building companies that last.

ardian.com

Media Contact

AD EDUCATION

Nadia Bahharalves

nadia.bahharalves@ad-education.com  

ARDIAN

HEADLAND

ardian@headlandconsultancy.com

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3i enters into exclusive negotiations for the sale of Havea Group to BC Partners

3I

3i Group plc (“3i”) today announces that it, and its co-investor Cathay Capital, have entered into exclusive negotiations for the sale of its investment in Havea Group (“Havea”) to funds advised by BC Partners, alongside Havea’s management team. Proceeds to 3i will be at a c.50% uplift to its 31 March 2022 valuation.

Havea is a leading European natural healthcare player featuring a unique consumer/patient-centric approach centered on 5 strategic brands: Aragan, Biolane, Densmore, Dermovitamina and Vitavea. The Group and its brands help consumers prevent and treat common health issues with premium natural healthcare products. Powered by innovation and with a focus on sustainability – both at the core of Havea’s DNA – the company enables consumers to improve their quality of life.

3i invested in Havea in 2017 and supported its transformation to become a leader in its sector and double in size reaching €212 million sales in 2021. During this period, Havea delivered double-digit organic growth and completed 5 acquisitions in 5 years, significantly reinforcing its presence in Italy (largest European food supplements market) and Belgium. In addition, the company simplified its brand portfolio by moving to a consumer/patient-centric approach and implemented a complete multichannel strategy with for example the launch of D2C subscription services.

Nicolas Brodetsky, CEO, Havea, said: “Our partnership with 3i has been very successful. With their active support, Havea has grown substantially and established its leadership position in natural healthcare. We have laid all the right foundations to become the reference player, with a continued focus on improving our consumers’ quality of life with natural products. Partnering with BC Partners, which has extensive experience in fostering portfolio companies’ potential, would be a great opportunity. We share a common vision of the winning strategy to accelerate our development on a larger scale and become the undisputed European leader.”

Rémi Carnimolla, Partner & Managing Director, 3i, added: “The thesis supporting our investment in Havea was to back the global megatrend towards more natural and sustainable healthcare products. Havea benefits from this thanks to its strong innovation culture and willingness to constantly improve and understand the consumer journey. Havea’s tremendous development was made possible by Nicolas and his team. We are proud to have partnered with them; their agility and fantastic entrepreneurial culture will lead them to even greater successes.”

Completion of the transaction remains subject to the information and consultation of the employees’ representative bodies of Havea and to customary regulatory and antitrust approvals. The transaction would be expected to close by Q4 2022.

-Ends-

Download this press release   

 

For further information, contact:

3i Group plc

 

Silvia Santoro

Investor enquiries

 

Kathryn van der Kroft

Media enquiries

  

 

Tel: +44 20 7975 3258

Email: silvia.santoro@3i.com

 

Tel: +44 20 7975 3021

Email: kathryn.vanderkroft@3i.com

 

About 3i Group

3i is a leading international investment manager focused on mid-market private equity and infrastructure. Its core investment markets are northern Europe and North America. For further information, please visit: www.3i.com

About Havea Group

Created in 1975 and headquartered in France (Boufféré / Paris), Havea is a leading European natural healthcare player dedicated to quality of life enhancement by empowering consumers to take care of their health using natural and organic products. Through its 5 strategic brands (Aragan, Biolane, Densmore, Dermovitamina and Vitavea), Havea designs, manufactures and distributes a wide range of products from functional and natural food supplements, to natural baby premium healthcare products. In 2021, Havea employed 800 staff and generated € 212m sales.

About BC Partners

BC Partners is a leading international investment firm with over €20 billion of assets under management in private equity, private credit and real estate. Established in 1986, BC Partners is a pioneer in European private equity, where it has maintained a leading position for over three decades, and has also successfully invested in North America for over a decade. Today, BC Partners executives operate as an integrated team through the firm’s offices in North America and Europe. Since inception, BC Partners Private Equity has completed 113 private equity investments in companies with a total enterprise value of €145 billion and is currently investing its tenth private equity fund. For more information, please visit www.bcpartners.com.

Regulatory information

This transaction involved a recommendation of 3i Investments plc, advised by 3i France

Categories: News

Adelis acquires IT company netIP

Adelis Equity
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The Danish IT company netIP A/S (”netIP”) partners with Adelis Equity Partners (“Adelis”) to support the company’s next growth phase.

netIP, which is a leading and independent one-stop-shop IT provider, has a special focus on IT outsourcing, IT infrastructure, IT security, SharePoint and IT consulting services for Danish businesses. In the past five years, the number of employees has doubled to the current 165 employees based in seven departments in Thisted, Holstebro, Herning, Aalborg, Aarhus, Viborg and Herlev.

“In the past year, netIP has completed a successful turnaround after an unusual financial year of 2020/2021, where Covid-19 made it difficult to make things work together, which i.a. resulted in layoffs of 18 employees. Due to structural changes and the employees’ huge work effort, the management of netIP expects to be able to present an adjusted operating profit of approximately DKK 36 million in the financial year 2021/2022, which ends on 30 June 2022. This  is a significant improvement compared to the previous year”, says Martin Welna at Adelis Equity.

CEO and main shareholder, Martin Kjølhede, has been part of the company since 2000, and in connection with the divestment he wishes to resign from the management to concentrate on the strategic development of the company. Therefore, he continues as a board member and leaves the management to the three current directors, comprising CCO Brian Vesterbæk, CFO Birgitte Lukassen and COO Joakim Halvorsen.

“I am extremely proud on behalf of netIP of what we have created and accomplished together. The time is right to bring a responsible private equity fund such as Adelis on board, which can help build on the company’s strengths by adding competence and experience. Personally, it has been important for me to sell to an investor who wants to preserve and support the existing culture and values. netIP is first and foremost about people, because they are the ones who create the culture, the company and the results”, explains CEO Martin Kjølhede.

Adelis also joins the Board of Directors to support the strategy of growth and expansion of the IT business through strong customer relationships and high employee satisfaction.

“We see great potential in the way in which netIP meets customers at eye level and creates an attractive workplace with motivated and loyal employees. We look forward to building on the company’s strengths and culture. Therefore, neither employees nor customers will experience changes associated with the sale, but they can however expect netIP to become an even stronger organization, ”says Martin Welna at Adelis.

The agreement must now be approved by the relevant authorities before the deal can be considered final.

The transaction price for netIP is approx. DKK 375 million.

For further information:

Martin Welna, Adelis Equity Partners, martin.welna@adelisequity.com, +45 21 99 67 57

Martin Kjølhede, netIP, mkj@netIP.dk, +45 82 19 44 01

About netIP

NetIP is an independent one-stop-shop IT provider of consulting, advisory, security and outsourcing services as well as solutions within infrastructure and SharePoint for Danish businesses. The company consists of 165 people in local branches in Thisted, Holstebro, Herning, Aalborg, Aarhus, Viborg and Herlev. Read more at netip.dk.

About Adelis Equity Partners

Adelis is a growth partner for well-positioned, Nordic companies. Adelis partners with management and/or owners to build businesses in growth segments and with strong market positions. Since raising its first fund in 2013, Adelis has been one of the most active investors in the Nordic middle-market, making 33 platform investments and more than 150 add-on acquisitions. Adelis today manages approximately €2 billion in capital. For more information, please visit www.adelisequity.com

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AURELIUS Equity Opportunities SE & Co. KGaA starts Share Buyback Program 2022 for an amount of up to EUR 30 million

Aurelius Capital

The Share Buyback Programme 2022 is set to buy back 1.000.000 shares, with a volume of up to EUR 30 million. This move follows a completed share buyback programme from November 2021 to May 2022 and the withdrawal of 1.000.000 shares, announced in June 2022. The Share Buyback programme 2022 is to be conducted in the time from July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023.

“We continuously review various steps we can take to optimise shareholder value. The new share buyback programme seizes our momentum. It follows our latest capital markets measures and is backed by our operational performance. The 2022 Annual General Meeting, held on June 21, provided us with the approval for this additional measure, that we will conduct within the interest of our shareholders. Looking ahead into the financial year 2022, we are confident to navigate a successful course. However, we remain particularly cautious in view of the challenging markets”, states Matthias Täubl, CEO of AURELIUS Equity Opportunities.

AURELIUS will announce further details separately prior to the commencement of the Share Buyback Program 2022.

Categories: News

Ampersand Capital Partners Invests in Sterling Medical Devices

Ampersand

Moonachie, NJ – June 23, 2022 – Ampersand Capital Partners, a private equity firm specializing in growth equity investments in the life sciences and healthcare sectors, announced today an investment in Sterling Medical Devices, a leading provider of design, development and regulatory services to the medical device industry.

“My team and I are humbled to join the Ampersand family. The Ampersand team’s extensive experience and network in the medical device industry positions Sterling to continue its strong growth trajectory and build on the world-class services we provide to our customers” said Dan Sterling, President and CEO of Sterling.

Trevor Wahlbrink, Partner at Ampersand commented, “We are thrilled to be partnering with Dan and the entire Sterling team. With over two decades of experience bringing the most complex medical devices to market, the Sterling team has built a strong, solutions-oriented reputation with the medical device industry’s leading innovators. We look forward to building upon the Company’s strong momentum by continuing to add capabilities to its already robust offering.”

Having successfully completed over 1,500 projects for hundreds of unique customers, Sterling has extensive commercialization experience across the entire medical device development process. Capabilities include the development of entire systems, including the incorporation of software, electronics, and mechanical components. These services are provided by US-based personnel in an ISO-13485 environment, and all supported by the Company’s Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance capabilities.

 

About Sterling Medical Devices

Located in Moonachie, New Jersey, Sterling Medical Devices is a provider of custom electromechanical and software solutions for the medical device industry. For more than 21 years, the Company’s extensive and diverse experience in product development has helped healthcare companies bring their medical device software and hardware, electromechanical equipment, and mobile medical device apps to market. Sterling addresses the entire development process including systems, software, electronics, mechanical, quality, compliance, and regulatory affairs. For more information visit https://sterlingmedicaldevices.com/.

About Ampersand Capital Partners

Founded in 1988, Ampersand is a middle market private equity firm with more than $2 billion of assets under management dedicated to growth-oriented investments in the healthcare sector. With offices in Boston and Amsterdam, Ampersand leverages its unique blend of private equity and operating experience to build value and drive superior long-term performance alongside its portfolio company management teams. Ampersand has helped build numerous market-leading companies across each of the firm’s core healthcare sectors.  Additional information about Ampersand is available at ampersandcapital.com.

Media contacts:

Ampersand Capital Partners
media@ampersandcapital.com

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Oakley agrees sale of Facile.it

Oakley

Oakley Capital (“Oakley”) is pleased to announce that Oakley Capital Fund III (“Fund III”) has reached an agreement to sell its stake in Facile.it (“Facile”), Italy’s largest online price comparison platform, to Silver Lake.

Facile

Fund III invested in Facile in 2018, alongside EQT Private Equity.

During the course of the investment the business has continued to pioneer the Online Price Comparison market in Italy, developing innovative products that save its users hundreds of millions of euros every year.

Over time, Facile has expanded its diversified product offering and unique omnichannel distribution proposition that underpin its long-term growth trajectory, allowing it to benefit from the continued market digitalisation and e-commerce penetration.

Unique monthly users

4m+

via an end-to-end seamless experience

Stores

39

and 3k+ agents

Growth

20%+

EBITDA

Today, Facile reaches a base of over four million unique monthly users via an end-to-end seamless experience across its website, 39 stores, and over three thousand agents, and has grown its EBITDA by more than 20% on average over the last four years.

On behalf of the Facile management team and all employees, I would like to thank our investors EQT and Oakley Capital for the successful, collaborative, and highly productive partnership over the past four years on our journey towards capitalising further on our position as a landmark destination for Italy’s household spending. Thanks to the support of our investors, we are in an even better position today for the next phase of our growth with our new partner Silver Lake.

Tobias Stuber

CEO — Facile

Quote Peter Dubens

Our successful investment in Facile built on our deep expertise investing in digital marketplaces including price comparison websites. We would like to thank Tobias and his team for their hard work in growing the business over the last four years, delivering vertical diversification and significant customer growth.

Peter Dubens

Managing Partner & Co-Founder — Oakley Capital

Categories: News

Bain Capital and Nextalia SGR to acquire Deltatre, a leading sports and entertainment technology provider

BainCapital

LONDON, June 23, 2022 – Bain Capital and Nextalia SGR today announced that they have agreed to acquire Deltatre, one of the world’s leading sports and entertainment technology providers, from Bruin Capital. Deltatre offers over-the-top (OTT) streaming solutions enabling direct-to-consumer content distribution via the internet as well as data, graphics and live broadcast solutions. Deltatre’s clients include some of the largest sports organizations in the world, including UEFA, NFL, MLB and MLS.

With a presence in 14 countries, Deltatre operates globally and enables rights owners, media companies, broadcasters, telcos, content creators, distributors and other brands to create and deliver compelling solutions at scale to consumers and fans.

Deltatre has grown into a market leader in over-the-top streaming, website and app development, graphics, data, officiating systems, broadcast production, user experience, and product design, revolutionizing how media is consumed globally. It helps sports rights owners and rights holders to better engage with fans and ultimately increase monetization opportunities.

Owing to its differentiated offering, 20% of internet users globally have engaged with a digital product from Deltatre and its OTT solutions have approximately 25 million end users per day. Driven by strong performance across its core solutions and by continuous expansion of its product portfolio, Deltatre has experienced significant organic growth, enabling it to outperform the market. It is expected to generate $180M of revenue in 2022.

Andrea Marini CEO of Deltatre, who will continue to lead the business with the existing management team and remain a significant shareholder in the company, said: “It’s never been a more exciting time for the media and sport industries. Rapid technological innovation in how content is produced, distributed, and consumed has opened new opportunities for rights owners to monetize and reach their fans globally, and Deltatre sits at the heart of this shift. I am excited to welcome Bain Capital and Nextalia SGR as our new partners as we enter this exciting chapter in our company history.

“From the start it has been clear that they share many of the same core values that are held by the wider Deltatre community and that have contributed to our long-standing reputation as the premier technology provider for many of the world’s most recognizable brands. We believe that their guidance and support will accelerate our mission of transforming the way the world engages with content on their favorite platforms. Finally, I’m extremely grateful for the support of George Pyne and the team at Bruin Capital. They have been a terrific partner over the last six years, and we have achieved great things together.”

Luca Bassi, a Managing Director at Bain Capital said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Andrea and the team of Deltatre. They have built a world leading sports and entertainment technology provider and the strides they have taken to date is very much testament to the quality of their team and the initiatives they have deployed. We look forward to working with them on the next phase of Deltatre’s growth journey. Bain Capital has the expertise to help deliver value around revenue model, delivery, talent and M&A.”

Francesco Canzonieri, Nextalia SGR CEO, commented: “We are proud to support an Italian excellence such as Deltatre, a company founded and rooted in Turin capable of affirming its leadership at a global level. The investment in Deltatre and in its management team represents a clear example of how Nextalia can leverage on its competences and network and help the company in further developing its business in Italy as well as globally.”

Bain Capital and Nextalia SGR received financial advice from HSBC and Nomura, and legal advice from Weil Gotshal & Manges and Legance and Gatti Pavesi Bianchi Ludovici.

About Deltatre

Deltatre is the global leader in fan-first video experiences. Its market-leading product and services portfolio has helped redefine the way the world consumes sport, media, and entertainment by offering specialist innovations in over-the-top streaming, websites and apps, graphics, data, officiating systems, user experience, and product design. It has a growing employee community of over 1,000 members, who are distributed in key cities around the world.

About Bain Capital

Bain Capital is one of the world’s leading private investment firms that creates lasting impact for our investors, teams, businesses, and the communities in which we live. It has approximately $160 billion of assets under management, offices on four continents and more than 1,350 employees. Since our founding in 1984, we’ve applied our insight and experience to organically expand into several asset classes including private equity, credit, public equity, venture capital and real estate, leveraging the firm’s shared platform to capture opportunities in strategic areas of focus. Read more at baincapital.com.

About Nextalia SGR

Nextalia SGR is an asset management company promoted by Francesco Canzonieri together with leading Italian institutional investors (Intesa Sanpaolo, UnipolSai Assicurazioni, Coldiretti, Confindustria and Micheli Associati), set up with the aim of investing in Italian excellence to accelerate the path of sustainable growth. Nextalia is positioned as the reference platform in Italy dedicated to investments in private markets, leveraging its network and the skills of a team of highly qualified professionals. Nextalia has set up “Nextalia Private Equity”, a closed-end mutual investment fund under Italian law, reserved for professional investors, focused on Italian SMEs.

The transaction is subject to regulatory and other customary approvals.

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Global fintech SumUp raises €590 million and celebrates 10 years of supporting small merchants

BainCapital

LONDON, June 22, 2022- SumUp (www.sumup.co.uk), the financial partner for over 4 million small businesses worldwide, has raised a €590 million funding round that gives the company an enterprise value of €8 billion following a decade of rapid growth and global expansion. The round was led by Bain Capital Tech Opportunities, with participation from funds managed by BlackRock, btov Partners, Centerbridge, Crestline, Fin Capital, and Sentinel Dome Partners, among others. This latest round is a combination of debt and equity and brings SumUp’s total capital raised to €1.5 billion.

SumUp was founded in 2012 to help small merchants start, run and grow their business through a fair, easy, and reliable payment solution. Today, its financial services Super App provides merchants with a free business account and card, an online store, and an invoicing solution, as well as in-person and remote payments seamlessly integrated with SumUp’s proprietary card terminals and point-of-sale registers. More than 4 million businesses ‒ from taxi drivers and coffee shop owners to large sports stadiums ‒ trust SumUp to deliver when it matters.

SumUp’s team of over 3,000 people supports merchants in 35 countries worldwide, with Peru (launched in June 2022) being the company’s most recent new market. In recent years, SumUp has also expanded into point-of-sale solutions, and with the acquisitions of Goodtill, Tiller, and Fivestars, the company is rapidly expanding its footprint within the restaurant and retail sectors.

Marc-Alexander Christ, SumUp co-founder and CFO, said of the round: “SumUp has received consistent support from the global investment community in our mission to help small merchants succeed. We stand by our merchants whatever the circumstance ‒ whether that be COVID or macroeconomic uncertainty. Our ability to organically grow 60+% through the challenges of recent years shows that we are there for merchants when they need support most. I am very proud of the team for completing a successful financing round in the current market with marquee investors – it’s indicative of our strength, execution, and potential. The funds we’ve raised will enable us to continue to build out our product ecosystem, expand into new markets, pursue value-adding acquisitions, and continue leveling the playing field for small merchants at a global scale.”

Darren Abrahamson, a Managing Director at Bain Capital Tech Opportunities, added: “SumUp has continually evolved to empower a growing and diverse field of small businesses with payment solutions and tools to efficiently connect with their everyday consumers. SumUp’s leadership team have led the company to sustained and accelerated growth through expansion to more than 30 countries where they have had a direct and positive impact on the small business ecosystem. We’re proud to contribute our deep fintech and payments experience to aid SumUp’s remarkable ability to push the boundaries and lead an incredibly competitive industry.”

Bain Capital has deep global investment experience across the payments and e-commerce sectors, having invested in and added value to a wide-range of companies at all stages of their growth cycle.

Goldman Sachs International acted as exclusive placement agent for SumUp. Weil, Gotshal & Manges acted as legal adviser to SumUp on the financing.

About SumUp
SumUp is a leading global financial technology company driven by the purpose of leveling the playing field for small businesses. Founded in 2012, SumUp is the financial partner for more than 4 million small merchants in over 35 markets worldwide, helping them start, run and grow their business. Through its Super App, SumUp provides merchants with a free business account and card, an online store, and an invoicing solution – as well as in-person and remote payments seamlessly integrated with SumUp’s card terminals and point-of-sale registers. SumUp is committed to leveraging its success to make the world a better place and has pledged to donate 1% of its revenue to support  environmental, educational and entrepreneurial causes. For more information, please visit sumup.co.uk.

About Bain Capital Tech Opportunities
Bain Capital Tech Opportunities (https://www.baincapitaltechopportunities.com/) aims to help growing technology companies reach their full potential. We focus on companies in large, growing end markets with innovative or disruptive technology where we believe we can support transformational growth. Our dedicated, tenured team has deep experience supporting growing technology businesses—bringing together differentiated backgrounds in private and public equity investing as well as technology operating roles. We invest behind fundamental long-term tailwinds as technology penetrates across industries,     creating a large and growing number of investment opportunities. Bain Capital Tech Opportunities focuses on five priority sub-verticals: Application Software, Infrastructure & Security, Fintech & Payments, Healthcare IT and Internet & Digital Media.

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