Category Archives: News

Melijoe and Gimv join forces with The Babyshop Group to strengthen global leadership in high-end children’s fashion

GIMV

20/08/2020 – 10:55 | Portfolio

Melijoe, a leading multi-brand website for premium children’s fashion, announced today that it has joined forces with The Babyshop Group (BSG), a Swedish high-end children’s fashion group. The merger with BSG fits Melijoe’s ambition to further expand its vision and international presence to become the largest and most professional e-tailer for premium children’s fashion. Gimv and the Melijoe founder remain shareholders and join a group of recognized investors led by Verdane Capital.

Melijoe (Paris, www.melijoe.com ) was founded in 2007 when Parisienne Nathalie Genty, mother of five, launched a website offering some of the world’s most coveted children’s fashion brands.

Founded in 2007 by Nathalie Genty, mother of five with a passion for fashion and the internet, Melijoe (Paris, www.melijoe.com) has in just a few years become the privileged partner of major fashion houses. Today, the company offers more than 150 of the world’s most coveted children’s fashion brands on its website, with highly inspiring and aesthetic choices.

Gimv acquired a stake in Melijoe in November 2014, mainly to support the company in its international development towards market leadership in a global and at the same time fragmented fashion market in digital transformation.

To meet the desire of major brands to collaborate with a limited number of professional partners in a consolidating market, Gimv, as majority shareholder, has fully supported Melijoe’s strategy. A high-end positioning for an international customer base, a high-quality customer experience, an original product range and strategic partnerships with leading brands were key in this, more than a growth strategy based on volume. Thanks to this shared vision, the company was able to record sustainable international growth and is now ready for the next step, through the collaboration with BSG.

The complementarity between BSG and Melijoe is attractive: BSG’s well-developed back office (data management, acquisition marketing, retail logistics, etc.) can be deployed on a broader scale and enables the group to build further on an ambitious plan for the future.

“From my perspective, clothes are a reflection of children’s emerging personalities. When I created Melijoe, I dreamt of an online store where parents could be free to pick and play with fashion for their kids. Joining Babyshop Group will give me the opportunity to further expand my vision of what Melijoe and our new sister sites should be and represent globally.” comments Nathalie Genty, founder and CEO of Melijoe.

“Combining scale and deep sector expertise within an established but fragmented global niche market such as children’s fashion ensures the continued potential of the new Stockholm-London-Paris team. In the new group, operational capabilities and privileged relationships with consumers and A-brands should enable the very best customer experience in the business. “ add Guillaume Bardy, Partner and Gert Kerkstoel, Associate Partner at Gimv.

Through this transaction Melijoe founder Nathalie Genty and Gimv join a solid group of shareholders, with  Swedish Verdane Capital as main investor and benchmark investor for consumer internet companies in Northern Europe.

For more information, we refer to the press release of The Babyshop Group in attachment. No further financial details on this transaction are being published.

Categories: News

Tags:

Eurazeo Brands announces investment in Waterloo Sparkling Water

Eurazeo

Paris, 19 August 2020–Eurazeo, today announces a minority investmentin Waterloo Sparkling Water (“Waterloo”). The investment will provide Waterloo with additional operational resources, brand building expertise, and capital to grow its business by accelerating its product and marketing innovation. This marks Eurazeo Brands’,the division of Eurazeo focused on differentiated, high-growth North American and European consumer brands with global growth potential,second investment within food and beverage and sixth investment since inception.

Austin, Texas-based Waterloo was founded in 2017 and has quickly becomeone of the fastest-growing and largest independent sparkling water brands in the United States, with distribution in over 13,000 retail doors, including Whole Foods Market, Costco, Target, Kroger, Walmart, Publix, H-E-B/Central Market and others. Jason Shiver, CEO of Waterloo, who has driven the company’s rapid growth over the last three years, will continue to lead the company alongside COO Jeff Arnold. Eurazeo Brands joins a consortium of investors led by Flexis Capital, including Moore Strategic Ventures, JW Levin Management Partners, and Waterloo Capital. Waterloo’s managementteam is rolling over a significant stake as part of this transaction.

Jason Shiver, CEO, Waterloo, said: We’re very proud of the company we’ve built so far, the distinct consumer appeal of our products and the tremendous support of our retail distribution network. Choosing the best partners for Waterloo was critical to continuing our momentum and we’re confident that Eurazeo, Flexis Capital, and JW Levin will provide deep brand-building experience and industry relationships that will be key to accelerating our growth, while Moore Strategic Ventures’ financial acumen will add firepower to our capabilities. We also want to thank the CAVU Ventures team for their support to date.

Jill Granoff, CEO, Eurazeo Brands, said: Sparkling Water is a large and resilient category, with sales of $4 billion in the U.S. alone and growing double digits annually. Waterloo has experienced phenomenal growth and strong consumer loyalty since launching in 2017, and is well positioned to capture additional market share under the company’s impressive leadership. We look forward to joining forces with Flexis Capital, JW Levin and Moore Strategic Ventures, and partnering withJason and his team to drive further success.

|2|Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

About Waterloo Sparkling Water

In 2017, after recognizing that consumers were seeking, but not finding, healthy, authentic, transparent and better-for-them beverage choices that tasted great, the team dared to challenge expectation and launched Waterloo Sparkling. A rebel at heart, Waterloo has been breaking the mold since day one and is driven by its cofounder’s firsthand knowledge of the importance of food and beverage choices. The Austin-based brand is a BOLD take on sparkling water, making its mark by focusing on fruit-inspired flavor and aroma and delivering a richer, more authentic taste. Waterloo is made with Non-GMO Project verified and Whole 30 Approved flavors, free of calories, sodium, sugar and artificial sweeteners. For the benefit of its fans and the environment, Waterloo has only ever been produced in aluminum cans made with BPA-free liners.

About Eurazeo

Eurazeo is a leading global investment company, with a diversified portfolio of €18,5 billion in assets under management, including €12,9 billion from third parties, invested in over 430 companies. With its considerable Private Equity, real estateand private debt expertise, Eurazeo accompanies companies of all sizes, supporting their development through the commitment of its nearly 300 professionals and by offering in-depth sector expertise, a gateway to global markets, and a responsible and stable foothold for transformational growth. Its solid institutional and family shareholder base, robust financial structure free of structural debt, and flexible investment horizon enable Eurazeo to support its companies over the long term.

•Eurazeo has offices in Paris, New York, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, London, Luxembourg, Frankfurt, Berlin and Madrid.

•Eurazeo is listed on Euronext Paris.•ISIN: FR0000121121 -Bloomberg: RF FP -Reuters: EURA.PA

Categories: News

Tags:

DIF Capital Partners acquires majority stake in UK fibre broadband operator

DIF

19 August 2020  |  London

DIF Capital Partners acquires majority stake in UK fibre broadband operator

DIF Capital Partners, through its DIF Core Infrastructure Fund II (“DIF CIF II”), is pleased to announce that it has completed the acquisition of a majority stake (54%) in 4th Utility, a fibre-to-the-premise (“FTTP”) infrastructure developer and internet service provider based in Hale, Manchester (UK).

4th Utility partners with residential and commercial landlords, property developers and house builders to design, install and upgrade their properties with state-of-the-art FTTP infrastructure.

4th Utility currently operates FTTP networks within a number of residential property developments in the North of England. DIF CIF II will provide significant capital to fund a large pipeline of opportunities generated by 4th Utility with their development partners throughout the UK.

“We are excited to partner with DIF Capital Partners who share our desire to invest in high-quality fibre infrastructure providing ultrafast internet access to properties across the UK. This long-term investment allows us to expand our current platform and provide ‘full fibre’ connectivity to a significant number of new customers” comments Tony Hughes, CEO of 4th Utility.

The transaction is the first investment for DIF CIF II in the UK and its third investment in the digital infrastructure sector following recent acquisitions in Canada and France. “We are pleased to bring our experience in digital infrastructure to support 4th Utility and their management team in delivering FTTP infrastructure investment to underserved properties in the UK” comments Willem Jansonius, Head of DIF CIF.

Please visit www.the4thutility.co.uk for further information.

About DIF Capital Partners

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

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

DIF has a team of over 145 professionals, based in nine offices located in Amsterdam (Schiphol), Frankfurt, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Paris, Santiago, Sydney and Toronto. Please visit www.dif.eu for further information.

Contact: Thijs Verburg, IR & BD; t.verburg@dif.eu.

Categories: News

Tags:

EQT Infrastructure to acquire leading global data center provider EdgeConneX

eqt

  • EQT Infrastructure has agreed to acquire EdgeConneX, a leading global data center provider serving the fast growing Hyperscale and Edge ecosystems
  • EdgeConneX has a global footprint, operating and developing over 40 facilities in 33 markets across North America, Europe and South America
  • EQT Infrastructure is committed to actively support EdgeConneX’s accelerated growth via new market entries and material expansions of existing locations
  • EQT is acquiring EdgeConneX from an investor group led by Providence Equity Partners

EQT Infrastructure today announced that the EQT Infrastructure IV fund (“EQT Infrastructure”) has agreed to acquire EdgeConneX, Inc. (“EdgeConneX” or the “Company”) from an investor group led by Providence Equity Partners (“Providence”).

EdgeConneX builds and operates data centers for cloud, content, network and other service providers requiring both larger purpose-built facilities as well as edge facilities located closer to consumer and enterprise users to support latency-sensitive applications cost effectively. The Company’s broad footprint and relentless customer-focused business strategy have proven ideally suited to support these sophisticated customers’ strategic data center demands, from the Hyperscale to the Edge. As customers rapidly expand their critical infrastructure around the globe, they look to EdgeConneX as a trusted partner to enable their growth needs in an environmentally friendly manner.

EQT Infrastructure will support the continued development of EdgeConneX and actively assist the Company in its pursuit of new opportunities to grow in existing and new markets globally. EdgeConneX is uniquely positioned to benefit from the secular tailwinds driving increased data center usage. As the need for data grows ever larger, not only because of cloud and content but also driven by new innovations such as Artificial Intelligence, 5G Networks, Autonomous Vehicles, Virtual Reality, Cloud Gaming and the Internet-of-Things, there will continue to be substantial opportunities for EdgeConneX to continue to develop critical infrastructure to support its customers’ needs.

Jan Vesely, Partner at EQT Partners, said, “EQT has followed EdgeConneX’s journey from its early years to its growth into a top data center industry player. We are deeply impressed by EdgeConneX’s management team and the success they have had in creating a key contributor to the global cloud infrastructure. This partnership represents an exciting opportunity for EQT in a sector and geographies where we have significant experience. EQT looks forward to working with the team in continuing to grow the business and identify new expansion opportunities”.

Randy Brouckman, CEO of EdgeConneX, said, “EQT brings significant financial resources and digital infrastructure industry experience which EdgeConneX will use to accelerate growth and invest in new data centers around the world. I look forward to continuing to lead EdgeConneX and we are very pleased to have EQT as our new owner and partner in this exciting growth phase. On behalf of EdgeConneX, I thank our outstanding customers and partners, dedicated employees and long-term shareholders that gave us the latitude to succeed and create lasting value”.

Chris Ragona, Managing Director at Providence, said, “We have enjoyed working with Randy and team over the past five years and are pleased to have helped the company grow significantly, especially overseas. We fully expect EdgeConneX will continue its momentum and success as the company enters this next chapter. On behalf of our entire investor group, we wish them well”.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020. With this transaction, EQT Infrastructure IV is expected to be 80-85% invested.

Evercore acted as financial advisor and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP acted as legal counsel to EdgeConneX. Goldman Sachs acted as financial advisor and Kirkland & Ellis LLP acted as lead legal counsel to EQT Infrastructure.

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

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

US press contact: daniel.yunger@kekstcnc.com, +1 917 574 8582
EQT press office: press@eqtpartners.com, +46 8 506 55 334

About EdgeConneX
EdgeConneX provides a full range of data center solutions worldwide, from Hyperlocal to Hyperscale, from purpose-built to build-to-order, working closely with our customers to offer choice in location, scale, and type of facility. Delivering flexibility, connectivity, proximity, and value, EdgeConneX is a global leader in anytime, anywhere, any scale data center services for a diverse portfolio of industries including Content, Cloud, Networks, Gaming, Automotive, SaaS, IoT, HPC, Security, and more.

More info: www.edgeconnex.com
Press contact: jsa_edgeconnex@jsa.net, +1-866-695-3629 ext 13

About Providence Equity Partners
Providence is a premier global asset management firm with over $49 billion in aggregate capital commitments. Providence pioneered a sector-focused approach to private equity investing with the vision that a dedicated team of industry experts could build exceptional companies of enduring value. Since the firm’s inception in 1989, Providence has invested in more than 200 companies and has become a leading equity investment firm focused on the media, communications, education and information industries. Providence is headquartered in Providence, RI, and also has offices in New York and London.

More info: www.provequity.com
Press contact: Andrew Cole and Hayley Cook, Sard Verbinnen & Co, prov-svc@sardverb.com

Categories: News

Tags:

Duck Creek Technologies Prices Initial Public Offering

Apax

13 August 2020

Boston, August. 13, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Duck Creek Technologies, Inc. (“Duck Creek”), a provider of SaaS-delivered enterprise software to the property and casualty (“P&C”) insurance industry, announced today the pricing of its initial public offering of 15,000,000 shares of its common stock at a price of $27.00 per share. The shares are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on August 14, 2020 under the symbol “DCT.” The offering is expected to close on August 18, 2020 subject to customary closing conditions. The underwriters have a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 2,250,000 shares of common stock at the initial public offering price, less underwriting discounts and commissions.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, J.P. Morgan and BofA Securities are serving as lead book-running managers for the proposed offering. Barclays and RBC Capital Markets are also acting as book-running managers for the proposed offering. JMP Securities, Needham & Company, Stifel, William Blair, D.A. Davidson & Co, Raymond James and Loop Capital Markets are acting as co-managers for the proposed offering.

This offering is being made only by means of a prospectus. Copies of the final prospectus may be obtained, when available, for free by visiting EDGAR on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) website at www.sec.gov. Alternatively, copies of the final prospectus, when available, may be obtained for free from the offices of Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Attention: Prospectus Department, 200 Wall Street, New York, New York 10282, by telephone at (866) 471-2526 or by email at prospectus-ny@ny.email.gs.com; J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY, 11717, by telephone at (866) 803-9204 or by email at prospectus-eq_fi@jpmchase.com; or BofA Securities, Inc., Attn: Prospectus Department, 200 North College Street, 3rd floor, Charlotte, NC 28255 or by email at dg.prospectus_requests@bofa.com. The offering is subject to market and other conditions, and there can be no assurance as to whether or when the offering may be completed.

The registration statement relating to these securities has been declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission.  This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

About Duck Creek

Duck Creek Technologies is a leading provider of core system solutions to the P&C and General insurance industry. By accessing Duck Creek OnDemand, the company’s enterprise Software-as-a-Service solution, insurance carriers are able to navigate uncertainty and capture market opportunities faster than their competitors. Duck Creek’s functionally-rich solutions are available on a standalone basis or as a full suite, and all are available via Duck Creek OnDemand.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release includes certain disclosures which contain “forward-looking statements.” You can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as “believes” and “expects.” Forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the size, timing and expected price range of the initial public offering, are based on Duck Creek’s current expectations and assumptions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that may differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements, which are neither statements of historical fact nor guarantees or assurances of future performance. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are set forth in Duck Creek’s registration statement on Form S-1, as amended from time to time, including under the caption “Risk Factors.” Any forward-looking statement in this release speaks only as of the date of this release. Duck Creek undertakes no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by any applicable laws.

Media Contact:

Paul Rechichi
Racepoint Global
617 624 3295
prechichi@racepointglobal.com

Sam A. Shay
Duck Creek Technologies
857 201 5784
sam.shay@duckcreek.com

Categories: News

Tags:

Draper Esprit is pleased to participate in $33 million strategic investment round

Draper Esprit

Draper Esprit is pleased to participate in $33 million strategic investment round of Form3, the leading cloud-native payment and technology provider for banks and regulated Fintechs.

Our participation follows on from our investment in Form3’s Series B funding round in 2018. The company has since trebled in size and increased its annual recurring revenue by 160%.

Form3 is one of many Draper Esprit Fintech investments lead by partner, Vinoth Jayakumar, who focuses on the backbone and infrastructure of banking, specifically on three key areas of interest have been in fraud, payments and core banking systems.

Form3 provides real-time cloud-native end-to-end payments to combat the ever-evolving regulated payments sector, by making payments faster, easier and most cost effective for banks, Fintechs, and Fintech institutions. By removing the need to manage and focus solely on the complexities of the evolving payments infrastructure, Form3 enables banks and Fintechs to focus on building better customer propositions and growing their businesses. The company’s infrastructure significantly reduces downtime and allows for system upgrades to be achieved more seamlessly.

Working with companies like N26, Ebury, and Prepay Solutions, Form3 is helping to improve efficiency, issuing customers real bank account numbers for their clients, and decreasing the amount of time needed to complete and manage real time payments.*

Read the press release below to find out more.

*sourced from Draper Esprits Annual Results 2020

***********************************************************************************

London, August 18 2020: Draper Esprit, a leading venture capital firm investing in and developing high growth digital technology businesses, today announces that it has participated in the recent $33 million strategic investment round in Form3, the leading cloud-native payment technology provider for banks and regulated Fintechs. Form3’s cloud-native, API platform delivers technical connectivity and managed services to address critical payments infrastructure challenges facing banks, building societies and Fintechs globally.

Draper Esprit’s participation follows on from its investment in Form3’s Series B funding round in 2018, since which Form3 has trebled in size and increased its annual recurring revenue by 160%. The new funding will strengthen Form3’s market leading cloud-native payment technology, build significant functional enhancements and accelerate its global expansion plans in existing and new markets.

Leading banking providers worldwide are looking to leverage technology to improve their payments infrastructure and the customer experience. Figures from McKinsey & Company show that 40-90% of banks’ workload globally could be on cloud in 10 years*.

Draper Esprit invested alongside new shareholders led by Lloyds Banking Group and including Nationwide Building Society and venture capital firm 83North.

Michael Mueller, Chief Executive Officer at Form3, commented:

“Form3 has a close relationship with Draper Esprit, having worked with them since our Series B round in 2018. For any relatively young company it is very important to work with investors who fully buy into the vision and the ambitions of the founding team. Draper Esprit saw our potential from the beginning and continue to work with us today to help us execute on our strategy and vision to become the world’s most trusted provider of cloud-native payment technology for the global financial community.”

Vinoth Jayakumar, Partner at Draper Esprit, commented:

“We are delighted to be following our investment in Form3, which has shown phenomenal growth since its last round. Form3 is a great example of the investment potential in Fintech as the digital banking revolution continues. It’s also encouraging to invest alongside banking industry players who bring significant market knowledge and commercial opportunity.”

*Bank of England, The Future of Finance, 20 June 2019.

-ENDS-

About Form3

In 2016, four banking and technology leaders set out to revolutionise the world of payments processing. Form3 has disrupted the traditional payments infrastructure model and built from scratch an award-winning, cloud-native, Payments-as-a-Service platform. Today, Form3 is trusted by some of UK and Europe’s biggest Tier1 banks and fast-growing Fintechs to handle their critical payments architecture.

Form3 has been ranked in the Top European Fintechs to watch by Sifted 2020 and Fintech 50 2019 and named as the Best Digital Innovation by Bobsguide 2019 and runner up in British Bank Awards for Best Technology Partner 2020.

About Draper Esprit

Draper Esprit is one of the most active venture capital firms in Europe, developing and investing in disruptive, high growth technology companies. We believe the best entrepreneurs in Europe are capable of building the global businesses of the future. We fuel their growth with long- term capital, access to international networks and decades of experience building businesses. Currently, Draper Esprit is a shareholder in a diverse portfolio of companies including Trustpilot, UiPath, TransferWise, and Graphcore. For more information please visit: www.draperesprit.com

Contact:

Powerscourt (public relations)

Elly Williamson: 07970 246 725

Donjeta Miftari: 07961 628 862

Categories: News

Tags:

Speed Group secures logistics contract

Ratos

Speed Group has been entrusted by an existing customer to expand operations in a business including traditional storage services as well as production-focused assembly and configuration services. The four-year contract is expected to generate additional sales of approximately SEK 100m per year and will commence in 2021.

“We are delighted to win new contracts in these times and to be given the opportunity to substantially increase our business with one of our most important customers. This is a result of long-term development efforts, in which our team proactively presented solutions that provide the customer with more efficient logistics,” says Mats Johnson, CEO of Speed Group.

“I am proud of the management and the company’s employees who have successfully worked to turn around the profitability trend for the company in the past year. The new contract from this existing customer is a confirmation that Speed Group supplies cost-efficient services with high quality and customer satisfaction. The company is now further solidifying its position as a leading third-party logistics player in the Nordic market,” says Christian Johansson Gebauer, Chairman of the Speed Group Board and Head of Business Area Construction & Services at Ratos.

Speed Group offers flexible solutions in logistics, staffing, recruitment and training. The company is one of the Nordic region’s leading third-party logistics (3PL) providers, with effective automation solutions and a total of just over 150,000 square metres of warehouse space in Borås, Gothenburg and Stockholm. At 30 June, rolling 12-month sales for Speed amounted to SEK 717m and the EBITA margin was 6%.

For further information, please contact:
Christian Johansson Gebauer, Head of Business Area Construction & Services, Ratos, +46 8 700 17 00
Helene Gustafsson, Head of IR and Press, Ratos, +46 8 700 17 98, helene.gustafsson@ratos.se

About Ratos:
Ratos is a business group consisting of 12 companies divided into three business areas: Construction & Services, Consumer & Technology and Industry. In total, the companies have SEK 38 billion in sales and EBITA of SEK 1.8 billion. Our business concept is to develop mid-sized companies headquartered in the Nordics that are or can become market leaders. We enable independent mid-sized companies to excel by being part of something larger. People, leadership, culture and values are key focus areas for Ratos. Everything we do is based on Ratos’s core values: Simplicity, Speed in Execution and It’s All About People.

Categories: News

Tags:

DIF Capital Partners to acquire a stake in TTIA Container Terminal

DIF

DIF Capital Partners (“DIF”), through its DIF Core Infrastructure Fund I (“CIF I”), and French shipping giant CMA CGM, are pleased to announce that they have signed a sale and purchase agreement with HMM for the acquisition of a 50% less one share stake in the TTIA Container Terminal in Algeciras, which is located on the Spanish side of the Strait of Gibraltar. TTIA is currently 100% owned by HMM, the largest South Korean shipping line.

TTIA is a modern semi-automatic container terminal, strategically located in the bay of Algeciras, at the Strait of Gibraltar directly on the main shipping routes for containerized maritime traffic to Asia, Europe, the Mediterranean, North and West Africa as well as North and South America. Such a strategic location has allowed the terminal to maintain strong volumes despite the Covid-19 crisis. TTIA operates under a concession provided by the Port of Algeciras Bay Authority which runs until 2043.

TTIA will benefit from long-term support from both HMM and CMA CGM, who as major shipping companies and port operators, have decided to join forces to support and develop this strategic terminal.

Thomas Vieillescazes, partner of DIF, says: “We are delighted to initiate this partnership with CMA CGM, investing alongside world-leading shipping companies and port operators. TTIA is a modern and well-managed terminal, strategically located at the Strait of Gibraltar, with partners providing long-term volume support, making this an attractive investment for CIF I”.

The completion of the acquisition remains subject to certain conditions precedent, including antitrust and Algeciras Port Authority consents.

About DIF Capital Partners

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

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

DIF has a team of over 145 professionals, based in nine offices located in Amsterdam (Schiphol), Frankfurt, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Paris, Santiago, Sydney and Toronto. Please visit www.dif.eu for further information.

Contact: Thijs Verburg, IR & BD; t.verburg@dif.eu.

Categories: News

Tags:

Ratos – Speed Group secures logistics contract

Ratos

Speed Group has been entrusted by an existing customer to expand operations in a business including traditional storage services as well as production-focused assembly and configuration services. The four-year contract is expected to generate additional sales of approximately SEK 100m per year and will commence in 2021.

 

“We are delighted to win new contracts in these times and to be given the opportunity to substantially increase our business with one of our most important customers. This is a result of long-term development efforts, in which our team proactively presented solutions that provide the customer with more efficient logistics,” says Mats Johnson, CEO of Speed Group.

“I am proud of the management and the company’s employees who have successfully worked to turn around the profitability trend for the company in the past year. The new contract from this existing customer is a confirmation that Speed Group supplies cost-efficient services with high quality and customer satisfaction. The company is now further solidifying its position as a leading third-party logistics player in the Nordic market,” says Christian Johansson Gebauer, Chairman of the Speed Group Board and Head of Business Area Construction & Services at Ratos.

Speed Group offers flexible solutions in logistics, staffing, recruitment and training. The company is one of the Nordic region’s leading third-party logistics (3PL) providers, with effective automation solutions and a total of just over 150,000 square metres of warehouse space in Borås, Gothenburg and Stockholm. At 30 June, rolling 12-month sales for Speed amounted to SEK 717m and the EBITA margin was 6%.

For further information, please contact:
Christian Johansson Gebauer, Head of Business Area Construction & Services, Ratos, +46 8 700 17 00
Helene Gustafsson, Head of IR and Press, Ratos, +46 8 700 17 98, helene.gustafsson@ratos.se

About Ratos:
Ratos is a business group consisting of 12 companies divided into three business areas: Construction & Services, Consumer & Technology and Industry. In total, the companies have SEK 38 billion in sales and EBITA of SEK 1.8 billion. Our business concept is to develop mid-sized companies headquartered in the Nordics that are or can become market leaders. We enable independent mid-sized companies to excel by being part of something larger. People, leadership, culture and values are key focus areas for Ratos. Everything we do is based on Ratos’s core values: Simplicity, Speed in Execution and It’s All About People.

Categories: News

Tags:

Vaaka Partners’ successful 10 year journey with Musti Group finalized

Thursday 13.08.2020
Musti Oy

Vaaka Partners has sold the remaining shares in Musti Group in an accelerated bookbuild process together with EQT on August 12th 2020. This brought the successful 10 year journey with the company to an end.

Vaaka invested in Musti ja Mirri in 2010, when the industry was still relatively immature compared to other retail branches. However, the underlying market drivers were very attractive – non-cyclical demand and continuous historical growth based on healthy and sustainable drivers of pet population growth and pets becoming family members. Combining that with very dedicated and motivated company staff and the opportunity to apply best practices from other retail sectors, we eagerly began working and created a bold plan for the company, together with a CEO-to-be Mika Sutinen. Our clear target was to become the leading Nordic omnichannel pet retail chain. Mika then lead the company for the next 7 years and executed this plan very successfully.

One noteworthy milestone was the acquisition of Grizzly Zoo in Sweden in 2012 to bring what we felt was the Nordics leading pet retail concept to Sweden with a kick-start. EQT acquired the majority ownership in the company in the beginning of 2015, and Vaaka remained a ~10% shareholder after that transaction. Musti Group continued to expand and established presence in Norway. In February 2020, Musti Group became a publicly listed company in OMXNasdaq.

Since we acquired the company in 2010, the company has grown from €25 million net sales to €270m and is now the undisputed market leader in the Nordics. It has created new jobs with the employee count growing from 140 to 1100 today. Musti Group is effectively competing against foreign online competitors that generally pose a threat to retail companies and retail jobs. The business is healthy and profitable while growing rapidly and subsequently, the value of the company has grown more than 40-fold over this period. While the last 10 years have been very successful, the story is by no means over and we look forward to hearing great news from the company also going forward. Even if we are not part of the story anymore, we feel pride for being part of the team that got all this going a decade ago.

Categories: News

Tags: