Category Archives: News

KKR, Dunas Capital and Alua Hotels & Resorts Partner to Acquire 4 Hotels in the Balearic

  • KKR and Dunas Capital signed an agreement to acquire the Intertur hotels
  • The portfolio of 1,119 rooms in Mallorca and Ibiza will be managed by Alua Hotels and Resorts (“Alua”) and marketed under the Alua brand from 2018 onwards
  • The investment underlines KKR’s strong interest in leisure hotels in Southern Europe

LONDON– KKR, a leading global investment firm, the asset manager Dunas Capital and the hotel group Alua Hotels & Resorts today announced an agreement to acquire and manage the Intertur Hotels group.

Intertur Hotels is a prominent hotel group in the Balearic, with two assets in Mallorca (Palma Nova area), and two in Ibiza (Santa Eulàlia and San Antonio). The KKR-led venture aims at repositioning and modernizing the assets through a significant investment program. Alua will manage the hotels once the agreement is closed, and will market them under its brand starting 2018.

KKR and Dunas Capital’s real estate expertise, combined with Alua’s hospitality know-how, will be key to unlocking value in the portfolio. Guillaume Cassou, head of European Real Estate at KKR, commented “This portfolio of quality assets in strong locations offers a very solid basis to create value in a market benefiting from strong tailwinds. We are convinced that, together with our quality partners, we will be able to create value for our investors. This acquisition represents an exciting first step in KKR’s partnership with Dunas Capital and Alua, and all groups are looking forward to doing more together.”

Andreu Nubiola, Managing Director at Dunas Capital Real Estate, said: “We are delighted to share our expertise in the Spanish market with KKR and Alua. We believe that the Spanish tourism sector currently has great potential and we are convinced that the combination of the capabilities of the three groups will yield very positive results.”

Javier Aguila, CEO and co-founder of Alua Hotels & Resorts, also expressed his satisfaction: “We are excited to add assets with such quality and potential, and to kick-off this strategic collaboration with KKR and Dunas Capital. The transaction is a key milestone for our group, bringing rooms under management to over 3,200 in less than two years, thanks to the great job of our teams on the ground and the continued support of our shareholder, Alchemy Partners.”

KKR and Dunas Capital have been advised by Freshfields, Deloitte, Bird & Bird and Deerns. Intertur Hotels has Bufete Buades as advisor.

About KKR

KKR is a leading global investment firm that manages investments across multiple asset classes including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit and hedge funds. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world‐class people, and driving growth and value creation at the asset level. KKR invests its own capital alongside its partners’ capital and brings opportunities to others through its capital markets business. References to KKR’s investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds. For additional information about KKR & Co. L.P. (NYSE:KKR), please visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.

About Dunas Capital

Dunas Capital is an independent platform of financial services and a leader in the Iberian market. The group offers investment solutions through a portfolio of products covering fixed income, variable income, real estate and alternative assets, among others. Its team of professionals has extensive experience in financial markets (20 years on average), in industries such as banking, insurance and asset management. The firm is licensed by the Bank of Portugal, Portugal’s CMVM and Spain’s CNMV to carry out its activity in Spain.

About Alua Hotels & Resorts

Alua Hotels & Resorts is a hotel group created in 2015 by a group of executives with experience in the industry and by the European private equity and special situations investor Alchemy Partners, which has invested over €4 billion since its inception. Alua Hotels & Resorts aims to become a leader in the upper mid-market, and has a portfolio of fifteen hotels and about 3,200 rooms in the Balearic and Canary Islands. The group plans to expand by incorporating hotels and resorts of 3, 4 and 5 stars that offer vacations and leisure experiences in the main tourist destinations of Iberia.

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Investment Plan for Europe: EIB supports MariaDB with financing for accelerated growth

The European Investment Bank (EIB) announced a EUR 25m funding of MariaDB, the company behind the fastest growing Open Source database, to support the company’s next stage of growth and database innovation. This EIB operation is guaranteed under the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), a key element of the European Commission’s Investment Plan for Europe, aiming at reviving investment in strategic projects around Europe.

This is the EIB’s first financing for MariaDB. The EIB funding will be used to further product innovation for MariaDB’s expanding global enterprise client base and increase its sales and marketing teams in Europe, America, and Asia. Specifically, within Europe, the company will expand its European operations with new engineering hires in Helsinki.

Industry analysts provide different estimates on the database market, but they agree that it is in the midst of a massive shakeup that will disrupt established legacy vendors as businesses around the world look to adopt modern, open source databases. Companies like Telefonica, DBS Bank, Teleplan and more are re-architecting their infrastructure to reduce costs and modernize their business.

Industry estimates on the adoption of open source and growth of the database market include:

  • IDC expects the overall database market to reach $50 billion by 2017, up from $40 billion in 2015, according to their worldwide database forecast.*
  • Gartner estimates that more than 70 percent of new in-house applications will be developed on open source databases, while 50 percent of existing commercial databases will convert to open source by 2018.**
  • The popularity of open source database systems has increased from 35 percent four years ago to a new record high of 46 percent according to DB-engines, which tracks database popularity.

Supporting Quotes:

EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle, whose responsibilities include EFSI and innovation, said: “We are pleased to be partnering with MariaDB in this breakthrough operation as it will enable the EU bank to support a European software company particularly strong in innovation and with significant growth potential. This is also what the Investment Plan for Europe is about: strengthening Europe’s global competitiveness by supporting high-skilled employment opportunities and enhancing Europe’s position as a major technology supplier.”

Michael Howard, CEO of MariaDB Corporation, said: “The investment from the EIB accelerates our ability to expand our product capabilities and continue to develop features that make MariaDB the easiest to use, the easiest to extend and the easiest to deploy in any environment. This funding is part of a multi-step strategy to strengthen MariaDB across Europe, America and Asia, and will help foster the next phase of growth for the company.”

European Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen, responsible for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, said: “Developing new, innovative products requires sustained investment. I am delighted that the Investment Plan is unlocking finance to facilitate MariaDB’s development programme, that includes expanding their engineering team as well as increasing international sales and marketing operations. Focus on innovation and research as well as reaching out to new markets will help the company succeed in a highly competitive market.”

 

Background information:

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union owned by its Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals. In 2016 the EIB fostered projects in Finland with financing totalling EUR 2.22bn – an all-time record high for EIB commitment in Finland.

The Investment Plan for Europe, the so-called Juncker Plan, is one of President Jean-Claude Juncker’s top priorities. It focuses on boosting European investments to create jobs and growth by making smarter use of new and existing financial resources, removing obstacles to investment and providing visibility and technical assistance to investment projects.

The European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) is the central pillar of the Investment Plan. It provides a first loss guarantee, allowing the EIB to invest in more, often riskier, projects. The EFSI is already showing concrete results. The projects and agreements approved for financing under the EFSI so far are expected to mobilise over EUR 183 billion in total investments and support over 427,000 SMEs across all 28 Member States.

In September 2016, President Juncker proposed to extend the EFSI by increasing its firepower and duration as well as reinforcing its strengths. You can find the latest EFSI figures by sector and by country here.

MariaDB
MariaDB Corporation is the company behind MariaDB, the fastest growing Open Source database. MariaDB is the default in major Linux distributions like Red Hat, Ubuntu and SUSE, which in total reaches more than 60 million. MariaDB can be deployed in a hybrid, public or private cloud with technologies like Docker, Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services and OpenStack. Over the past year, the company expanded its product portfolio to include MariaDB MaxScale and MariaDB ColumnStore, enabling a broader range of use cases across the enterprise. MariaDB, with its commitment to community innovation and customer success, is the leading database preferred by developers and trusted by enterprises.

*IDC: Worldwide Relational Database Management Systems Forecast, 2015.
**Gartner: Emerging Technology Trends Create Opportunities for DBMS Cost Optimization, April 21, 2016.

Press contacts:

EIB:
Alicja Chytla, a.chytla@eib.org, tel.: +352 4379 88233
Website: www.eib.org/press – Press Office: +352 4379 21000 – press@eib.org
Follow us on Twitter @eib

MariaDB
Cindy Clement
+1 303 241 4818
mailto:mariadb@clementpeterson.co
Website: https://mariadb.com
Follow us on Twitter: @mariadb

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IK Investment Partners to acquire Messerschmitt Systems

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IK Investment Partners (“IK”) is pleased to announce that the IK Small Cap I Fund has reached an agreement with the founder to acquire Messerschmitt Systems AG (“Messerschmitt Systems” or “the Company”), a leading provider of access control and customised guest room management systems for the global hotel industry. Financial terms of the transaction are not disclosed.

Founded in 1994, Messerschmitt Systems has gained a reputation for combining system integration and product design, providing its clients with cutting-edge solutions which increase guest comfort and save energy. The Company’s multifunctional ‘Room Management Systems’ and innovative ‘Access Control Systems’ are trusted by more than 2,000 hotels worldwide. Founded by Hartmut Messerschmitt, the Company has grown into a leader within its niche with a fully integrated value chain from development, engineering and manufacturing to supply, installation and the related aftersales market.

“For more than 20 years, Messerschmitt Systems has set the standards in access control and guest room management systems for the premium and upscale hotel industry. It has truly been an extraordinary journey to take part of. The Company now enters its next phase of development, with Jürgen Roth as the CEO and IK as their partner. This gives me great confidence in the future of the Company,” said Hartmut Messerschmitt, Founder of Messerschmitt Systems.

“As the founder and former CEO of Messerschmitt Systems we would like to thank Hartmut Messerschmitt for his outstanding contribution to Messerschmitt Systems over the many years. Messerschmitt Systems is well-positioned to further capitalise on the growth opportunities in our sector by entering into new geographies and developing our business model. We are pleased to be working with IK given their considerable experience of growing businesses and international network,” said Jürgen Roth, CEO of Messerschmitt Systems.

“We had identified Messerschmitt Systems as a business with a very good product and service portfolio as well as a strong niche market position in an attractive market environment driven by hotel developments and renovations, resulting in a long-term profitable growth track record. The Company has a well-diversified customer base as well as a platform for international expansion. We thank Hartmut Messerschmitt for his trust in IK to continue the development of his company and we are excited to support Jürgen Roth and his team to further strengthen the Company’s position and drive growth,“ said Anders Petersson, Partner at IK Investment Partners and advisor to the IK Small Cap I Fund.

For further questions, please contact:

IK Investment Partners
Anders Petersson, Partner
Phone: +49 40 369 8850

Mikaela Hedborg, Director Communications & ESG
Phone: +44 77 87 573 566
mikaela.hedborg@ikinvest.com

Messerschmitt Systems
Jürgen Roth, CEO
Phone: +49 911 919990
juergen.roth@messerschmitt.com

About Messerschmitt Systems AG
Messerschmitt is one of the leading manufacturer specialised in Access Control and Room Management Systems. More than 2,000 Hotels are using Messerschmitt Systems world-wide. References include Jumeirah, Kempinski and Lotte Hotels. For more information, visit www.messerschmitt.com

About IK Investment Partners
IK Investment Partners (“IK”) is a Pan-European private equity firm focused on investments in the Nordics, DACH region, France, and Benelux. Since 1989, IK has raised more than €9 billion of capital and invested in over 100 European companies. IK funds support companies with strong underlying potential, partnering with management teams and investors to create robust, well positioned businesses with excellent long-term prospects. For more information, visit www.ikinvest.com

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IK Investment Partners to acquire Messerschmitt Systems

ik-investment-partners

IK Investment Partners to acquire Messerschmitt Systems

IK Investment Partners (“IK”) is pleased to announce that the IK Small Cap I Fund has reached an agreement with the founder to acquire Messerschmitt Systems AG (“Messerschmitt Systems” or “the Company”), a leading provider of access control and customised guest room management systems for the global hotel industry. Financial terms of the transaction are not disclosed.

Founded in 1994, Messerschmitt Systems has gained a reputation for combining system integration and product design, providing its clients with cutting-edge solutions which increase guest comfort and save energy. The Company’s multifunctional ‘Room Management Systems’ and innovative ‘Access Control Systems’ are trusted by more than 2,000 hotels worldwide. Founded by Hartmut Messerschmitt, the Company has grown into a leader within its niche with a fully integrated value chain from development, engineering and manufacturing to supply, installation and the related aftersales market.

“For more than 20 years, Messerschmitt Systems has set the standards in access control and guest room management systems for the premium and upscale hotel industry. It has truly been an extraordinary journey to take part of. The Company now enters its next phase of development, with Jürgen Roth as the CEO and IK as their partner. This gives me great confidence in the future of the Company,” said Hartmut Messerschmitt, Founder of Messerschmitt Systems.

“As the founder and former CEO of Messerschmitt Systems we would like to thank Hartmut Messerschmitt for his outstanding contribution to Messerschmitt Systems over the many years. Messerschmitt Systems is well-positioned to further capitalise on the growth opportunities in our sector by entering into new geographies and developing our business model. We are pleased to be working with IK given their considerable experience of growing businesses and international network,” said Jürgen Roth, CEO of Messerschmitt Systems.

“We had identified Messerschmitt Systems as a business with a very good product and service portfolio as well as a strong niche market position in an attractive market environment driven by hotel developments and renovations, resulting in a long-term profitable growth track record. The Company has a well-diversified customer base as well as a platform for international expansion. We thank Hartmut Messerschmitt for his trust in IK to continue the development of his company and we are excited to support Jürgen Roth and his team to further strengthen the Company’s position and drive growth,“ said Anders Petersson, Partner at IK Investment Partners and advisor to the IK Small Cap I Fund.

For further questions, please contact:

IK Investment Partners
Anders Petersson, Partner
Phone: +49 40 369 8850

Mikaela Hedborg, Director Communications & ESG
Phone: +44 77 87 573 566
mikaela.hedborg@ikinvest.com

Messerschmitt Systems
Jürgen Roth, CEO
Phone: +49 911 919990
juergen.roth@messerschmitt.com

About Messerschmitt Systems AG
Messerschmitt is one of the leading manufacturer specialised in Access Control and Room Management Systems. More than 2,000 Hotels are using Messerschmitt Systems world-wide. References include Jumeirah, Kempinski and Lotte Hotels. For more information, visit www.messerschmitt.com

About IK Investment Partners
IK Investment Partners (“IK”) is a Pan-European private equity firm focused on investments in the Nordics, DACH region, France, and Benelux. Since 1989, IK has raised more than €9 billion of capital and invested in over 100 European companies. IK funds support companies with strong underlying potential, partnering with management teams and investors to create robust, well positioned businesses with excellent long-term prospects. For more information, visit www.ikinvest.com

 

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Oakley Capital – Acquisition of Plesk

Oakley Capital logo

Oakley Capital Private Equity III (“Fund III”) has completed a deal to acquire the assets and operations of Plesk, at an enterprise value of $105 million, as a carve out from the Parallels Group. Fund III has invested $27.4 million (€25.2 million) for a 51% controlling stake in the business. The investment in Plesk represents another primary, proprietary deal in one of Oakley’s core sectors, originating from long-standing relationships within the hosting industry.

First released in 1999, Plesk is one of the most widely used control panels and software platforms for simplifying the lives of Web Professionals. Plesk’s web-server management tools secure and automate server and website administration as well as operations. Key features include the automation and management of domain names, email accounts, web applications, programming languages, databases and infrastructure tasks to provide a ready-to-code environment and strong security across all layers and operating systems. The Plesk software platform operates on more than 350,000 servers globally, supporting the operations of more than 10 million websites and 18 million email boxes. Plesk is available in 32 languages globally and many of the top cloud and hosting service providers partner with Plesk.

Plesk generated revenues of $28 million and EBITDA of approximately $14 million for the year ended 31 December 2016. The business is expected to drive growth through a number of clearly identified revenue and operational initiatives, made possible by focussed management following its separation from the Parallels Group.

Arthur Mornington, Partner Oakley Capital, commented:

“We are delighted to be investing in Plesk, which is a widely used software platform with significant growth potential in a sector we know well. We are excited to be partnering with a strong management team and we believe that our combined experience will support the business as it moves into the next phase of its development.”

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EFG International completes integration of BSI in Luxembourg

EFG International today announces that it has completed the legal and operational integration of BSI in Luxembourg by way of a merger, including the BSI branch in Italy.
In line with the previously announced gradual process to integrate BSI into EFG, the acquired business from BSI’s entity in Luxembourg, including the BSI branch in Italy, has been migrated to EFG Bank in Luxembourg.
BSI (Europe) S.A, the official name of BSI in Luxembourg, is now legally and operationally integrated into EFG Bank (Luxembourg) S.A. The combined business has its registered office in 56, Grand-Rue, L-1660 Luxembourg, and will now operate in the market solely under the EFG name.
By way of this merger, EFG further strengthens its presence in Luxembourg, remaining focused on providing superior service with a long-term perspective in wealth and asset management.
With this step, the EFG brand will also be introduced in Italy for the first time. For the combined business, Italy is one of the strategic markets, and EFG is present in Milan, Como and Genoa.

About EFG International
EFG International is a global private banking group offering private banking and asset management services and is headquartered in Zurich. EFG International’s group of private banking businesses operates in around 40 locations worldwide. Its registered shares (EFGN) are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange.
EFG International AG, Bleicherweg 8, 8001 Zurich, Switzerland
www.efginternational.com

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Almi Invest invests in the medtech company B! BB Instruments

Press Release • May 03, 2017 07:13 CEST
Superstartup of the Year (2016) Ulf Skarin, The Week’s Stores, Mikael Karlsson, Almi Invest, Charles Walther, Bibb Instruments, Maria Kesslling, Almi Invest and PO Lindsten, Weekly Stores. 

Almi Invest invests just under SEK 1 million in B! BB Instruments, a company in Lund that develops an instrument that enables quick and easy testing of suspected cancer patients. The issue of a total of SEK 4.6 million also includes Swedish Growth Fund, Christer Fåhraeus via Fårö Capital and a number of private and institutional investors. The money will go for launch of the company’s first product in the Nordic market. 

B! BB develops EndoDrill, an instrument that facilitates the diagnosis of cancer tumors by drilling into the tissue. This makes it possible to reach deep-lying tumors. This differs from today’s methods that are difficult to capture deeply lying tissue. 

The first version of EndoDrill is used to take samples in the stomach, where tumors are difficult to diagnose with today’s methods. Today, repeated samples must be taken or waived until the tumor has grown in size, causing unnecessary suffering to the patient. Often surgery is required to make a final diagnosis. With EndoDrill, you can easily set an early and safe diagnosis, which allows the patient to get the right treatment faster. 

EndoDrill has the potential to become a new standard method for sampling in deep-lying tumors, says Per Antonsson, Investment Manager at Almi Invest. This would save a lot of money for healthcare as you can reduce the number of tests and avoid unnecessary operations. 

B! BB already has orders for EndoDrill from several hospitals in Sweden and deliveries of sterile disposable instruments are scheduled for 2017. The company was named 2016 for the Superstartup of the Year by Almi Invest in cooperation with Veckans Affärer. 

https://www.va.se/nyheter/2016/05/10/arets-superentreprenor/ 

Financing enables the launch of EndoDrill and continued development of other closely related biopsy instruments for major indications, such as lung, intestinal, prostate and breast cancer. Our vision is to improve diagnostics for many of the most common forms of cancer, and we see a significant market potential in this, says Fredrik Lindblad, CEO B! BB Instruments. 

For further information, please contact: 

Per Antonsson, Investment Manager Almi Invest, tel 070 872 87 17, mail per.antonsson@almiinvest.se
Fredrik Lindblad, CEO B! BB, tel 0708-999 486, mail fredrik.lindblad@bibbinstruments.com
Maria Kessling, Communications Manager Almi Invest, tel. 076-880 88 10, mail maria.kessling@almiinvest.se 

About Almi Invest 

Almi Invest is Sweden’s most active investor in startups. We make investments throughout the country through 8 regional venture capital companies and a national venture capital company in GreenTech. Almi Invest manages approximately SEK 3 billion and has since invested approximately 600 startups. Our best holdings have been acquired by Google, Microsoft, Qlik and Apple, for example, or listed on different stock exchanges. Almi Invest is a venture capital company within the Almi Group.

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Adelis New Owner in Knightec

Adelis

Adelis Equity Partners becomes the new majority owner in Knightec together with founders Dimitris Gioulekas and Håkan Jarnbjer. Mr Gioulekas and Mr Jarnbjer remain significant shareholders and will continue in their current roles, CEO and Business Unit Manager Technology, respectively. In conjunction with the transaction, management and other key employees will also become owners in the company. With Adelis as its new partner, Knightec will take the next step in its growth strategy.

Since inception in 2003, Knightec has grown significantly and today employs over 500 consultants with revenues of SEK 500 million. Together with Adelis, Knightec will continue its growth strategy, make necessary investments and position itself as the strategic partner to its customers and preferred employer for its employees.

”We are delighted with Adelis as our new partner. Adelis is an experienced owner who shares our values about entrepreneurship, creativity and teamwork. Their industrial network, experience and track record from developing professional services businesses make Adelis our ideal partner”, says Dimitris Gioulekas, CEO at Knightec.

”We see Knightec’s success story as the result of a unique culture, driven and technically skilled consultants as well as successful leadership. We look forward to developing Knightec into the market leader within product development together with the management team and the rest of the organisation”, says Erik Hallert at Adelis.

The transaction is subject to competition clearance.

For further information:

Dimitris Gioulekas, dimitris.gioulekas@knightec.se, +46 705 699 688

Erik Hallert, erik.hallert@adelisequity.com, +46 709 36 80 41

About Knightec

Knightec is a fast growing consultant company offering engineering specialist services for an increased product profitability, from idea to quality assured product. Knightec operates within Automotive, Life Science, Defense, Energy, Packaging and Machinery. Our vision is to drive change in the consultancy business by introducing new business models based on customer value. For further information please visit www.knightec.se/en .

About Adelis Equity Partners

Adelis is an active investor and partner in creating value at medium sized Nordic companies. Adelis was founded in 2012 with the goal of building the leading middle market investment firm in the Nordics. Adelis’ team members have extensive Private Equity experience, have invested in over 50 companies and have been members of the board in more than 50 middle market companies. Our current fund size is approximately €400 million. For more information please visit www.adelisequity.com .

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Gimv invests in emerging immuno-oncology company ImCheck Therapeutics

GIMV

Gimv invests in emerging immuno-oncology company ImCheck Therapeutics

Gimv today announces a EUR 5 million investment in French ImCheck Therapeutics, an emerging player in the field of cancer and auto-immune immunotherapies that focuses on the development of first-in-class antibodies that activate the immune system against different cancer types. This investment is part of a total Series A financing of EUR 20 million from a consortium of specialized life sciences investors including Kurma, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (BIVF), Idinvest and Life Science Partners (LSP).

ImCheck Therapeutics was founded in 2015 as a spin-off from the Paoli-Calmettes Cancer Institute in Marseille (France). The company is developing innovative antibody therapeutics in the field of immuno-oncology, based on scientific assets originating from the pioneering work of Prof. Daniel Olive. The funds will be used to advance its lead candidates towards clinical development, as well as to progress its discovery programs.

Karl Nägler, Partner in Gimv’s Health and Care platform, on this transaction: «We are excited to partner with ImCheck and with such a strong syndicate of first class biotech investors, given the game-changing potential of ImCheck’s development candidates for the treatment of cancer. After earlier investments in Topas Therapeutics, G-Therapeutics, Endostim, Spineart and Breath Therapeutics, ImCheck Therapeutics in the sixth new investment of Gimv’s Health & Care team over the past 12 months.»

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Summa Equity invests in Pagero Group

Summa Equity invests in Pagero Group, a company that develops and markets Pagero Online, a cloud-based network platform for communication of business documents within the purchase-to-pay, order-to-cash and logistic-to-pay (TMS) processes. Summa Equity becomes the largest shareholder. CEO Bengt Nilsson and management will remain invested alongside Summa Equity.

Christian Melby, Partner at Summa Equity, said : “In our extensive search for the next global trend, we have met a lot of companies with interesting applications for business support within procurement and order-to-cash. However, most of them were either built on a closed network or traditional EDI connections. We believe in Pagero’s philosophy of offering an open platform, connecting businesses with all their customers and suppliers in an easy and cost-efficient way that allows room for correct and fast decision-making in a global and competitive world.”

Since its foundation, Pagero has developed into a modern SaaS provider with more than 80 per cent recurring revenues, over 20,000 customers, more than 1.5 million transactions per month, and a network that reaches millions of companies directly and via roaming agreements. The value-added services enable Pagero’s customers to achieve accurate data and obtain a 100 per cent digital inbound and outbound business document flow, resulting in minimal error handling, compliance with local VAT regulation and control over company spend. Pagero Online is independent of ERP systems and therefore suits companies of all sizes and within all industries. It is also interconnected with an extensive number of other networks for global reach.

Bengt Nilsson, CEO of Pagero, said: “Summa Equity’s confidence in Pagero is a clear sign that our choice of strategy and business model are right. Thanks to Summa Equity’s funding and commitment to Pagero, we can continue with our growth strategy and bring our services to a market largely driven by legislation with high demands on compliance. Our goal is to be the top-of-mind player on the market enabling companies all over the globe to streamline their business processes with accurate data and a 100 per cent digital business document flow.”

Pagero has over 190 employees and a strong innovation focus, with 50 employees in R&D. It is headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, with offices in Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, Helsinki, London, Dublin, Amsterdam, Rome, Madrid, Paris, Istanbul and Dubai. Pagero is in an expansive growth phase and saw revenues grow to SEK 168m in 2016.

The investment will be made through a rights issue of SEK 100 million and the acquisition of shares from existing shareholders. Summa Equity will support Pagero through continued investments in R&D, new markets, and people with the ambition of sustaining the company’s high growth trajectory. Pagero is expected to benefit from the global trends towards increasing digitalisation and automation of business processes, and increasing regulatory demands on compliance.

Ends

For more information, please contact:

Christian Melby, Partner, Summa Equity, +47 958 13 277, christian.melby@summaequity.com

Bengt Nilsson, CEO, Pagero Group, +46 708 11 22 11, bengt.nilsson@pagero.com

About Summa Equity

Summa Equity was formed in 2016 by partners with a shared vision of building a leading specialised private equity firm in the Nordic lower mid-market, positioned to capture the investment opportunity provided by the thematic megatrends expected to drive growth over the long term. The firm focuses on sectors related to four megatrend-driven themes: resource scarcity, energy efficiency, changing demographics and tech-enabled businesses. Summa Equity closed its first fund in February 2017 with commitments of SEK 4.5 billion.

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