Category Archives: News

Fortino Capital Partners invests in Declaree, the innovative Dutch challenger in expense management

Fortino Capital

Fortino Capital Partners expands its portfolio of Travel & Expense management companies with its investment in Declaree, the innovative Dutch challenger.  Besides the acquisition of MobileXpense in Belgium and eBuilder Travel in Sweden, it is the third investment of Fortino Capital in the market of expense management.

Declaree was founded in 2014 by Bas Janssen, Bart Jochems and Jasper Spoor with the ambition of simplifying and facilitating paper-based and cumbersome expense management processes. Since then, Declaree has 20 employees and 750 clients mainly located in the Netherlands and Germany. In the Netherlands and Belgium, Declaree serves large customers such as KLM, Hunter Douglas, Schiphol and KPMG, as well as many small and medium-sized companies. For Germany, it is about companies such as Lemonaid, Suitepad and Lufthansa Group Business Services.

Expense management is a challenge for many organisations. Many companies still use inefficient methods for these processes. Thanks to Declaree’s mobile and web application, they are capable of reducing the time spent on the internal management of expenses by almost 75 per cent, while also getting more grip on the expenses itself by increased transparency.

Fortino Capital Partners started its growth journey in travel & expense management by investing in MobileXpense in Belgium and eBuilder Travel in Sweden. These two players mainly focus on multinational and governmental organisations that need to comply with many different and often complex rules in all countries active in.

Matthias Vandepitte, partner at Fortino Capital, explains: “Declaree offers a genuinely innovative solution which has already served hundreds of companies of all sizes. We are really impressed by what the team of Bas, Bart and Jasper have built over the past years, and we see enormous potential for the future. That is why we are particularly proud of being able to support the internationalisation of Declaree in Europe with our expertise and investment. We look forward working together on our joint growth aspirations.”

Bas Janssen from Declaree concludes: “The past five years, we have heavily invested in developing our product and scaling in the Netherlands and Germany. To realize the next step in our growth we have searched for a strategic investor with knowledge and experience in international expansion. We are convinced to have found the right strategic partner in Fortino Capital.”

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AnaCap makes credit investments in two prime Italian real estate opportunities

Anacap

AnaCap Financial Partners (“AnaCap”), a leading specialist European financial services private equity firm and active investor in the Italian market, today announces the recent completion of credit investments in two prime real estate opportunities located in Rome.

The opportunities include the acquisition and refurbishment of an existing rented office building in semi-central Rome and a prime residential development located on the top of Monte Mario Hill, with panoramic views over the city. A severe lack of Grade A office space characterises semi-central Rome, with take up increasing since 2014 (74% of take up in H12018 was in Grade A buildings). Similarly, in the residential market, there is a lack of supply of more modern, higher grade properties. House prices for new versus older properties are diverging, with prices for new properties remaining at pre-crisis levels. The residential development is located in an area of Rome where there has been no new construction in the past decade and buildable plots of land are extremely rare.

AnaCap is partnering with Green Stone, a regulated Italian real estate company, for both projects. Green Stone and its founder have a combined local track record extending over 15 years encompassing more than 30 comparable projects, focused on the mid to high end residential, office and retail markets.

The Italian market has been core to AnaCap since 2012, completing investments in every year since, now extending to over €13bn face value across 18 separate transactions, including a wide range of performing and non-performing asset types.

Jacqueline Li, Investment Director at AnaCap Financial Partners LLP, commented: “The opportunity to partner with Green Stone in these prime developments in central parts of Rome exemplifies AnaCap’s ability to extend our long track record in Italy in primarily distressed non-performing loan portfolios, much of which is secured by real estate, to attractive transactions like these where funding remains constrained.”

The investment was made by AnaCap Credit Opportunities Fund III.

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HR Manager and Webcruiter adds Swedish ReachMee to its HR platform

Verdane Capital

Stockholm — HR Manager and Webcruiter, a Verdane-owned group providing cloud-based HR and recruitment systems, is expanding its footprint on the Swedish market through the acquisition of ReachMee, a leading provider of cloud-based recruitment solutions. The acquisition is the group’s latest step on its journey to create a leading HR technology platform in the Nordics.

HR professionals and management teams in companies of all types and sizes are searching for HR technology solutions which make talent identification, recruitment, hiring, onboarding and HR management easier, more efficient and successful. To support hiring organisations in the war for talent, HR Manager and Webcruiter have embarked on an M&A-driven expansion journey to create a leading Nordic HR platform. End customers will benefit from an improved range of complementary HR and recruitment solutions across the markets in which the group operates, and the companies in the group will benefit from technological synergies allowing them to release better products, faster. Verdane’s initial investment in HR Manager and Webcruiter was made in 2018.

“With ReachMee now part of our platform, we are in a stronger position than the competition to ramp up development speed and offer cutting-edge HR solutions thanks to our combined technology stack. Both growing companies and talent across the Nordics stand to benefit,” says Lars Christian Ringdal, CEO of HR Manager/Webcruiter.

Stockholm-based ReachMee has grown from 25 000 to 130 000 users since 2014 and has an industry-leading 97% customer loyalty and revenues growing by 25% annually. In 2014, the company made the successful decision to focus its efforts on developing a best of breed talent acquisition platform from scratch.

“The last five years have seen us grow our client base in the Nordics, averaging an organic recurring revenue growth rate of 25 percent per year. Our now nearly 700 customers, mainly in Sweden, Norway and Finland, will benefit from this merger by us being able to provide a wider, complementary pool of products. By doing so, ReachMee will deepen its service as a trusted partner within HR tech – now to organizations who want a 360-view of everything they need in HR and recruitment. It’s a great step forward for organizations looking to be attractive employers whilst strengthening their competitive edge,” says Nils Bergman, CEO of ReachMee.

With over 2 000 customers and combined recurring revenues of NOK 150 million per year, the HR Manager, Webcruiter and ReachMee group is already among the leading suppliers of cloud-based HR solutions in a fragmented and fast-growing Nordic market.

“This is a star collection of HR business talent. We’re pleased to welcome ReachMee into Verdane’s family of software portfolio companies and look forward to supporting the group in accelerating growth”, says Johnny Rindahl, Partner at Verdane.

In the transaction, holding company HR Nordic acquires all the shares in ReachMee, including the shares of majority owner FH Kapital, which will reinvest and be part of the continued HR platform journey. The parties have agreed not to publish the terms of the deal.

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For further information, please contact:

Lars Christian Ringdal, CEO, HR Manager/Webcruiter, +47 922 57 731, lars.ringdal@hr-manager.net

Nils Bergman, CEO, ReachMee, +46 70 495 0066, nils.bergman@reachmee.com

Jonathan Bui, Communications Manager, Verdane, +46 762 72 8100, jonathan.bui@verdane.com

David Frykman, FH Kapital, +46 70 819 2222, david.frykman@gmail.com

 

About Verdane

Verdane works to be the preferred growth partner to technology enabled businesses in Northern Europe. Verdane funds provide flexible growth capital to fast-growing software, consumer internet, energy or high-technology industry businesses, through both majority and minority investments in individual companies and portfolios. Verdane funds act as ambitious, active and long-term owners, helping management teams and companies accelerate and sustain growth by leveraging the Verdane advisory team’s capabilities and proven track record in driving business value for companies whose growth is driven by, or connected to, technological development. Verdane funds’ current portfolio includes Conexus, EasyPark, Freespee, HR Manager/Webcruiter, inRiver and Lingit. Verdane has 39 employees working out of offices in Copenhagen, Helsinki, London, Oslo and Stockholm. For more information, please visit www.verdane.com
About ReachMee

ReachMee offers a powerful, market-leading solution for discovering, recruiting and hiring talent and is used by smart and adept organizations who need to recruit more successfully by increasing the chances of finding the right person for the right position. With the right technology, deep understanding of recruitment processes as well as a strong devotion to solve customers’ challenges, ReachMee has taken a strong and leading position in the Nordic market. Our solutions are used by more than 700 large and small customers in both the private and public sectors, including NCC, Ahlsell, and McDonalds. ReachMee has offices both in Oslo, Helsinki, Kiev and with headquarters in Stockholm. For more information, please visit www.reachmee.com

 

About HR Manager

HR Manager specializes in HR and recruitment processes. The solutions we offer generate added value for any business, independent of industry or size. Our user-friendly cloud services Talent Recruiter, Talent Onboarding and Talent Manager cover all aspects of HR and allow them to be managed through one integrated solution. The systems are adapted to both private and public sector regulations, including GDPR. More than 900 clients across the Nordics use our solutions. We are over 50 employees and have offices in Oslo, Copenhagen and Stockholm. For more information, please visit www.hr-manager.net

 

About Webcruiter

Webcruiter delivers a recruitment solution that ensures tailored and professional recruitment processes for private, state and municipal sector businesses. Webcruiter is used today by 400 clients with users in over 120 countries and has established itself as a thought leader in the field through www.rekryteringsbloggen.se. Webcruiter has 30 employees and offices in Oslo and Stockholm. For more information, please visit www.webcruiter.com  

 

About FH Kapital

FH Kapital is an investor specialised in majority positions of well-driven companies facing a generational change or other ownership changes. FH Kapital is an active and responsible owner, and owns majority positions in companies such as MCD, Fasty and Microdeb. FH Kapital is owned by David Frykman and Pål Hodann.

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GP Bullhound Fund IV holds final close at EUR113m

Gp Bullhound

GP Bullhound Fund IV holds final close at EUR113m
GP Bullhound Fund IV holds its final close at EUR113 million, continuing its successful strategy of investing in some of the best technology entrepreneurs, with a focus on growth stage businesses in the Software, Entertainment, Marketplaces and Fintech sectors. Recent investments include Slack, Klarna, Tradeshift, Glovo and LendInvest.

In addition to independent deal sourcing, the fund benefits from a unique deal flow through GP Bullhound’s merchant bank organisation with 110 professionals across nine offices on three continents.

“We are passionate about backing great technology entrepreneurs and this oversubscribed final close allows us to commit more capital to the best of the best”, commented Per Roman, Co-Founder and Head of Asset Management at GP Bullhound, acting as exclusive investment advisors to the Fund.

Joakim Dal, Partner at GP Bullhound Asset Management and Ben Prade, Head of Investor Relations, added: ”We highly value the trust of our existing and new LPs, institutions, entrepreneurs and family offices. Leveraging GP Bullhound’s global network, industry intelligence and strategic knowledge, we continue on our mission to support and invest in extraordinary entrepreneurs.”

Enquiries
For enquiries, please contact:
Per Roman, Managing Partner, at per.roman@gpbullhound.com
Joakim Dal, Partner, at joakim.dal@gpbullhound.com
Ben Prade, Head of Investor Relations, at ben.prade@gpbullhound.com

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

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EQT to sell AutoStore

eqt

  • EQT to sell AutoStore, the leading global provider of warehouse automation systems, to THL Partners and other co-investors
  • During EQT’s ownership, AutoStore has expanded its geographical presence, broadened its addressable market through new R&D innovations (including launch of the Black Line) and empowered some of the world’s largest warehouses with state-of-the-art automation solutions
  • Since acquired by EQT, AutoStore has experienced exponential growth, with quadrupled revenues, a 4.5 EBITDA increase and a doubling of the employee base

The EQT VII fund (“EQT” or “EQT VII”) has entered into an agreement to sell AutoStore (“the Company”) to THL Partners L.P. (or “THL Partners”). EQT VII will reinvest in AutoStore and continues as minority owner, holding an approximate 10 percent stake in the Company.

Headquartered in Nedre Vats, Norway, AutoStore is an automated cubic warehouse systems pioneer. The Company’s cubic solution has automated more than 350 warehouses in 28 countries around the globe. AutoStore’s technology increases logistic efficiency significantly and consequently cater for consumers’ rapid-growing demand for speedy delivery of goods. AutoStore’s solutions represent a competitive advantage for leading retail companies, such as Puma, Best-Buy and Boozt.

Following a “cross-pollination initiative” to identify key investment themes across EQT’s core sectors, Warehouse Automation was identified as an attractive thematic investment opportunity in the Industrial Technology sector. AutoStore first appeared on EQT’s radar in 2011 through the previous portfolio company XXL, a leading Nordic sports retail chain, which utilized AutoStore’s storage solutions as one of its tools to disrupt the Nordic sports retail market. After following the Company closely for years, EQT acquired AutoStore in January 2017.

Together with the management team, the board of directors and two advisory boards, EQT has supported AutoStore’s accelerated growth journey. Under EQT’s tenure, revenues have quadrupled, EBITDA has increased by 4.5 and the employee base, including the R&D department, has more than doubled.

Enabled by substantial step-up in R&D investments, AutoStore launched the “Black Line” series in 2019, a new product family of retrieval robots generating up to 140 percent higher throughput compared to its predecessors. By introducing the Black Line and catering for even more high-speed application, AutoStore expects to broaden the addressable market by 40 percent. Furthermore, the R&D pipeline looks promising with multiple new launches expected over the coming years.

Karl Johan Lier, CEO and President of AutoStore, said: “The AutoStore and EQT partnership has been excellent. EQT has played a critical role from A to Z and has actively supported us in overperforming the Company’s ambitious targets set in 2016. We look forward to continuing our growth journey with our new partner THL Partners and are happy that EQT has rolled over some of its proceeds”.

Anders Misund, Partner at EQT Partners, Investment Advisor to EQT VII, concluded: “EQT has been proud to support AutoStore’s mission to become one of the leading logistic technology providers globally. We are highly impressed by the innovation spirit and R&D efficiency in AutoStore and the result-oriented culture. Management has done an outstanding job in accelerating growth and solidifying its global presence in the Automated Storage and Retrieval System market and EQT is happy to remain invested in the coming years”.

The transaction is subject to customary approvals and is expected to close during the third quarter of 2019.

Contact
Anders Misund, Partner at EQT Partners, Investment Advisor to EQT VII fund, +47 232 37 555
EQT Press Office, press@eqtpartners.com, +46 8 506 55 334

About EQT
EQT is a leading investment firm with more than EUR 61 billion in raised capital across 29 funds and around EUR 40 billion in assets under management. EQT funds have portfolio companies in Europe, Asia and the US with total sales of more than EUR 21 billion and approximately 127,000 employees. EQT works with portfolio companies to achieve sustainable growth, operational excellence and market leadership.

More info: www.eqtpartners.com

About AutosStore
AutoStore, founded in 1996, is a robot technology company that invented and continues to pioneer Cube Storage Automation; the densest storage solution in existence. Our focus is to marry software and hardware with human abilities to create the future of warehousing. The company is global with more than 350 systems in 28 countries in a wide range of industries. All sales are distributed, designed, installed and serviced by a network of qualified system integrators we call partners. Our headquarters is in Nedre Vats, Norway, and with offices in US, UK, Germany and France.

More info: www.autostoresystem.com

Categories: News

DIF opens office in Santiago (Chile)

DIF

Schiphol, 19 June 2019 – DIF is pleased to announce that it has opened an office in Santiago, Chile. From Santiago DIF will target Latin America with an initial focus predominantly on Chile and Uruguay.

The office will be headed by Daniel Aninat, who is hired as a Managing Director. Daniel came from Scotiabank, where he was heading the Chilean corporate banking division. Before that he was head of project and acquisition finance for Santander in Chile. Daniel has a broad experience in the Latin American infrastructure and power sectors. Furthermore Luis Hinojosa, Senior Director in DIF’s Madrid office, will relocate to Santiago. Luis is with DIF since 2015 and has a broad infrastructure experience, including in different Latin American countries.

Wim Blaasse, Managing Partner at DIF: “Latin America is a large and fast growing infrastructure market, in which we see several interesting investment opportunities across all our target sectors. We are delighted with this next step for DIF and further expand our global office network to nine offices, enabling us to better source and manage projects locally, as well as continue to construct diversified portfolios.”

About DIF
DIF is an independent infrastructure fund manager, with €5.6 billion of assets under management across seven closed-end infrastructure funds and several co-investment vehicles. DIF invests in greenfield and brownfield infrastructure assets globally through two complementary strategies:

  • DIF Infrastructure V targets equity investments in public-private partnerships (PPP/PFI/P3), concessions, regulated assets and renewable energy projects with long-term contracted or regulated income streams that generate stable and predictable cash flows;
  • DIF Core Infrastructure Fund I targets equity investments in small to mid-sized infrastructure assets in the energy, transportation and telecom sectors with mid-term contracted income streams that generate stable and predictable cash flows.

DIF has a team of over 125 professionals, based in nine offices located in Schiphol (the Netherlands), Frankfurt, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Paris, Santiago, Sydney and Toronto. Please visit www.dif.eu for further information.

Contact: Allard Ruijs, Partner, a.ruijs@dif.eu

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EQT acquires Acumatica – a US-based ‘cloud-native’ ERP software vendor – in connection with its existing IFS investment

eqt

  • EQT acquires Acumatica, a fast-growing US-based provider of modern, flexible, cloud-based ERP software systems
  • Acumatica is uniquely positioned to capitalize on the opportunity created from the ERP market’s shift to cloud-based software, thanks to its customer-centric product proposition and a highly-scalable indirect distribution model
  • Acumatica to become sister company of existing EQT VII portfolio company IFS, the leading ERP software vendor
  • EQT will support Acumatica’s continued growth journey by leveraging its TMT and software expertise, global platform and cross-pollination opportunities with IFS

The EQT VII fund (“EQT” or “EQT VII”) has entered into agreements to acquire Acumatica (or “the Company”) from its founders, management and other minority investors. Existing shareholders and management will re-invest significantly into the Company, while EQT will have majority ownership.

Headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, US, Acumatica is a fast-growing software as a service (“SaaS”) company, serving customers with true cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (“ERP”) solutions. Through its ERP platform, Acumatica helps customers streamline and automate processes, manage and control inventory in real-time and increase productivity. The Company’s software is delivered via the cloud and is accessible from any location, on any device.

The acquisition was made through the same EQT VII holding company, which currently owns leading ERP software vendor, IFS. Going forward, Acumatica and IFS will operate as sister companies, serving the market with complementary cloud ERP solutions. Acumatica will focus on small to medium sized businesses while IFS will continue to focus on larger enterprise customers.

The two companies are expected to benefit from cross-pollination of R&D capabilities and a synergistic geographic and end-market footprint. At the same time, Acumatica will continue to operate as an independent company, led by CEO Jon Roskill, with a focus on accelerating its strong growth momentum, customer satisfaction and channel-only go-to-market strategy.

Johannes Reichel, Partner at EQT Partners and Investment Advisor to EQT VII, commented: “Acumatica perfectly fits EQT’s thematic investment approach and will strongly benefit from EQT’s long experience in developing companies in the software sector. The transaction also forges a strategic relationship between Acumatica and IFS – two of the fastest-growing ERP vendors globally. These two companies are best-in-class challengers and together they are well-positioned to serve the entire ERP market, from small and medium, all the way to large enterprises, on a global scale. EQT is very excited to back Jon and the greater leadership team at Acumatica.”

Jon Roskill, CEO of Acumatica, said: “This move provides exceptional validation of Acumatica’s market execution and growth in the last several years. Greater investment from EQT will unlock new opportunities for us to better serve our customers and secure a stronger future for Acumatica. To compound this potential, is the access to, and collaboration with, ERP industry leader and fellow EQT portfolio company, IFS.”

Darren Roos, CEO of IFS, said: “I am excited about the enormous potential the IFS and Acumatica businesses have being part of the same portfolio. Our ability to add value to each other’s customers and partners will accelerate value creation across both companies. I am a huge admirer of what Jon has achieved and look forward to being part of the next chapter of Acumatica’s story.”

Serguei Beloussov, CEO of Acronis, Founder and Chairman of Acumatica said: “Acumatica has built one of the leading cloud platforms in the world since we founded the business in 2006, testament to the founding team’s expertise in building cloud platforms, as also reflected by the success of Acronis‘ Cyber Protection platform. EQT’s investment will allow Acumatica to focus on achieving its goal to become the global market leader in the cloud ERP market and continue to accelerate its xRP platform development to better support to its current and future ISVs and OEMs.”

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. The proposed transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals.

Jefferies acted as financial advisor and Kirkland and Ellis LLP acted as legal advisors to EQT VII. GCA acted as financial advisor to Acumatica and Willkie Farr & Gallagher as legal counsel.

Contacts
Johannes Reichel, Partner at EQT Partners and Investment Advisor to EQT VII, +49 89 25 54 990; EQT Press office, press@eqtpartners.com, +46 8 506 55 334

About EQT
EQT is a leading investment firm with more than EUR 61 billion in raised capital across 29 funds and around EUR 40 billion in assets under management. EQT funds have portfolio companies in Europe, Asia and the US with total sales of more than EUR 21 billion and approximately 127,000 employees. EQT works with portfolio companies to achieve sustainable growth, operational excellence and market leadership.

More info: www.eqtpartners.com

About Acumatica
Acumatica Cloud ERP provides the best business management solution for transforming your company to thrive in the new digital economy. Built on a future-proof platform with open architecture for rapid integrations, scalability, and ease of use, Acumatica delivers unparalleled value to more than 5,000 small and midmarket organizations through our team of 275 worldwide employees and 300 channel partners.

More info: www.acumatica.com

About IFS
IFS™ develops and delivers enterprise software for customers around the world who manufacture and distribute goods, maintain assets, and manage service-focused operations. The industry expertise of our people and solutions, together with commitment to our customers, has made us a recognized leader and the most recommended supplier in our sector. Our team of 3,500 employees supports more than 10,000 customers worldwide from a network of local offices and through our growing ecosystem of partners.

More info: www.IFSworld.com

Follow us on Twitter: @ifsworld

 

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Altor invests in XXL

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Altor

XXL ASA (“XXL” or the “Company”) has agreed to sell its 3,096,274 XXL shares (2.23% of the outstanding shares in the Company) held in treasury (the “Treasury Shares”) to Altor Invest 5 AS and Altor Invest 6 AS at a price of NOK 25.00 per share. Altor Invest 5 AS and Altor Invest 6 AS are indirect subsidiaries of Altor Fund IV, a fund in the Altor family of funds (together referred to as “Altor”).

The Company’s sale of Treasury Shares will yield total proceeds to XXL in the amount of NOK 77.4 million and contribute to a strengthened liquidity situation for the Company.

In addition to acquiring the Treasury Shares, Altor has on 19 June 2019 acquired 7,100,000 shares from existing XXL shareholders. Together with the 6,900,000 shares already owned by Altor, Altor will own 14,000,000 shares (10.06%) excluding the Treasury Shares and 17,096,274 shares (12.29%) including the Treasury Shares, and has requested a representative on the Board of Directors of the Company.

In the period from 2010 to 2015 XXL was partly owned by EQT. In this period XXL developed strongly, gaining market leadership in Nordic sports retail, including a strong position online, together with solid financial results. XXL has accordingly good experience with PE owners, and believes Altor will fuel the Company with competence in the next phase. Altor is a market leading Nordic PE fund and a long-term investor focused on investing in and developing medium sized companies, with extensive retail and consumer goods experience, strong industrial network and portfolio companies with both similar characteristics as well as potential partnerships with XXL. The Board of Directors is of the view that Altor’s involvement with the Company will contribute to strengthening XXL’s business model as Altor is recognized as a long term value creator with an active ownership model, and that increased involvement from Altor will be in the best interest of the Company and its shareholders.

Chairman of the Board of Directors in XXL, Øivind Tidemandsen, is supportive of the transaction and to have Altor as a large shareholder in the Company. Dolphin Management AS, controlled by Øivind Tidemandsen, has therefore today sold 2,400,000 shares in XXL at a price of NOK 25.00 to Altor. Following this transaction, Dolphin Management AS owns 31,650,000 shares in XXL (22.75%) and will remain a large shareholder in the Company.

The Treasury Shares have been acquired by the Company pursuant to a board authorization granted by the general meeting under which treasury shares may only be used in conjunction with the share incentive scheme for the Company’s employees or cancelled in connection with a reduction of the share capital of the Company. A different use of the Treasury Shares will need an approval from the general meeting, and the sale of the Treasury Shares to Altor is therefore subject to approval by the Company’s general meeting. The Board of Directors will in due course call for an extraordinary general meeting with the agenda of approving the sales of the Treasury Shares as well as electing a representative of Altor as a member of the Board of Directors in XXL. Shareholders representing in the excess of 50% of the outstanding shares have confirmed that they will vote in favour of such resolutions.

This information is subject of the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

For more information, please contact:
Tor Krusell, head of Communications Altor, +46705438747

About XXL ASA
XXL is a leading sports retailer with stores and e-commerce in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Austria. It is the largest among the major sports retailers in the Nordics and the fastest growing among the major sports retail chains in the World. XXL pursues a broad customer appeal, offering a one stop shop experience with a wide range of products for sports, hunting, skiing, biking and other outdoor activities. XXL’s concept is to have the largest stores with the best prices and the widest assortment of products, focusing on branded goods.

About Altor
Since inception, the family of Altor funds has raised some EUR 8.3 billion in total commitments. The funds have invested in excess of EUR 4.2 billion in more than 60 companies. The investments have been made in medium sized predominantly Nordic companies with the aim to create value through growth initiatives and operational improvements. Among current and past investments are Dustin, Byggmax, Navico, Infotheek, Orchid, Wrist Ship Supply, Sbanken, Rossignol, Helly Hansen, SATS and Carnegie Investment Bank. For more information visit www.altor.com.

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Fortino Capital Partners invests in Declaree, the innovative Dutch challenger in expense management

Fortino Capital

Fortino Capital Partners expands its portfolio of Travel & Expense management companies with its investment in Declaree, the innovative Dutch challenger.  Besides the acquisition of MobileXpense in Belgium and eBuilder Travel in Sweden, it is the third investment of Fortino Capital in the market of expense management.

Declaree was founded in 2014 by Bas Janssen, Bart Jochems and Jasper Spoor with the ambition of simplifying and facilitating paper-based and cumbersome expense management processes. Since then, Declaree has 20 employees and 750 clients mainly located in the Netherlands and Germany. In the Netherlands and Belgium, Declaree serves large customers such as KLM, Hunter Douglas, Schiphol and KPMG, as well as many small and medium-sized companies. For Germany, it is about companies such as Lemonaid, Suitepad and Lufthansa Group Business Services.
Expense management is a challenge for many organisations. Many companies still use inefficient methods for these processes. Thanks to Declaree’s mobile and web application, they are capable of reducing the time spent on the internal management of expenses by almost 75 per cent, while also getting more grip on the expenses itself by increased transparency.
Fortino Capital Partners started its growth journey in travel & expense management by investing in MobileXpense in Belgium and eBuilder Travel in Sweden. These two players mainly focus on multinational and governmental organisations that need to comply with many different and often complex rules in all countries active in.
Matthias Vandepitte, partner at Fortino Capital, explains: “Declaree offers a genuinely innovative solution which has already served hundreds of companies of all sizes. We are really impressed by what the team of Bas, Bart and Jasper have built over the past years, and we see enormous potential for the future. That is why we are particularly proud of being able to support the internationalisation of Declaree in Europe with our expertise and investment. We look forward working together on our joint growth aspirations.”
Bas Janssen from Declaree concludes: “The past five years, we have heavily invested in developing our product and scaling in the Netherlands and Germany. To realize the next step in our growth we have searched for a strategic investor with knowledge and experience in international expansion. We are convinced to have found the right strategic partner in Fortino Capital.”

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Ampersand Completes Growth Equity Investment in N2 Biomedical

Bedford, MA – June 18, 2019 – N2 Biomedical, a leading provider of coating and surface treatment solutions to the medical device industry, announced today the majority recapitalization of the company by Ampersand Capital Partners. As part of the transaction N2 also announced the appointment of Randall Sword, an executive with 30 years of experience in the medical device sector, as President and CEO. Mr. Sword has served in executive leadership positions at multiple leading medical device manufacturing companies, including as CEO of AdvancedCath.

Since its founding in 2013, N2 has processed millions of medical devices utilized in orthopedic, cardiovascular, and other procedures. The company’s proprietary processes are utilized in a variety of critical settings to improve material characteristics including lubricity, infection resistance, biocompatibility and tissue integration, and wear and corrosion resistance.

Mr. Sword commented, “I am very pleased to join a company with such unique technologies and a history of developing innovative coating and surface modification solutions for the medical device industry. With the support of an experienced and successful medical device investor in Ampersand, we look forward to further enhancing the high level of service and innovation customers have come to expect from N2.”

Trevor Wahlbrink, a Partner at Ampersand added, “N2 is an excellent fit with Ampersand’s investment strategy in the medical device industry, in which we target industry leaders with differentiated manufacturing technologies that address the critical needs of patients and global medical device OEMs. We are very excited to partner with Randall and the rest of the N2 management team to continue the company’s growth trajectory and support the expansion of N2’s service offering in this rapidly evolving industry.”

N2 co-founders Mark Little and Eric Tobin remain shareholders in the company. Mr. Little will remain on the Board of Directors, and Mr. Tobin will remain in his current position as the company’s Chief Operating Officer.

About N2 Biomedical

Established in 2013, N2 provides coating and surface treatment development and application services for implantable and other medical devices utilized in orthopedic, cardiovascular, and other healthcare end-markets. N2 is ISO-13485 certified, FDA GMP-compliant, and operates in a 30,000 square foot facility with laboratory, manufacturing, and cleanroom space to service all customer and regulatory requirements. The company leverages its proprietary processes and equipment to provide customized solutions that enhance the characteristics of various materials in critical applications, including lubricity, infection resistance, biocompatibility and tissue integration, and wear and corrosion resistance. Additional information about N2 Biomedical is available at N2bio.com.

About Ampersand Capital Partners

Founded in 1988, Ampersand is a middle market private equity firm dedicated to growth-oriented investments in the healthcare sector. With offices in Boston, MA and Amsterdam, Netherlands, Ampersand leverages a 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 its core healthcare sectors, including Avista Pharma Solutions, Brammer Bio, Confluent Medical, Genewiz, Genoptix, Talecris Biotherapeutics, and Viracor-IBT Laboratories. Additional information about Ampersand is available at ampersandcapital.com.

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