Category Archives: News

Bullhorn Announces New Strategic Investment from Stone Point Capital to Fuel Company’s Continued Growth

Investment will help power the staffing industry’s digital transformation agenda

BOSTON, September 8, 2020 — Bullhorn®, the cloud computing company that helps staffing and recruiting organizations transform their businesses, today announced that Stone Point Capital LLC will become the lead investor to power the next phase of the company’s growth. Insight Partners and Genstar will remain investors in the business. Stone Point was attracted to Bullhorn on the strength of its long-term opportunity to serve the global staffing and recruiting industry, its consistent revenue growth, and its reputation for delivering an incredible customer experience. The entire Bullhorn management team will remain with the company to execute on its strategic roadmap and continue its mission to create an incredible customer experience.

The staffing and recruiting industry has increasingly embraced digital transformation, reexamining how their businesses should operate to drive deeper candidate and client relationships, to improve margins, and to compete effectively as the talent acquisition landscape fundamentally changes. The staffing and recruiting market is currently in the midst of transformational change, driven by several trends: 1) consolidation, necessitating process and system overhauls to facilitate greater responsiveness to customer needs; 2) a rethinking of service models, led by customer demand and exacerbated by the distributed nature of a COVID-impacted workforce, which requires flexible delivery frameworks predicated around candidate communication and engagement; and 3) increasing competition from peer firms and online staffing platforms alike, creating a need for speed and scale. Bullhorn is helping to shape this transformation, as companies invest in upgrading their technology infrastructure and business processes to meet the changing needs of their customers, candidates, and the industry at large.

Stone Point’s sector expertise in staffing and financial services will help to guide Bullhorn’s continued momentum with its pay and bill solutions, which allow staffing firms to align their sales and recruiting teams with finance and operations on a single platform that unifies operational and finance information so that firms can make better business decisions and deliver a superior customer experience. Stone Point is already an investor in one of Bullhorn’s fastest-growing partners, Prism HR, which provides an integrated payroll and benefits solution that extends the power of Bullhorn’s pay and bill solutions. The additional financial flexibility gained by Bullhorn in connection with Stone Point’s investment will enable the company to supercharge its previously announced Unified Workforce Management strategic roadmap to deliver a cohesive candidate experience through the entire recruitment lifecycle — from getting started to getting paid.

“We are very excited to be working with the team at Stone Point as we enter the next phase of Bullhorn’s growth,” said Art Papas, founder and CEO of Bullhorn. “We have a tremendous opportunity to help the global staffing industry execute on their digital transformation strategies, and Stone Point’s experience and industry expertise will be invaluable as we grow the company to the next level. We’re also happy that Insight and Genstar will remain investors, as they have been integral to helping us more than double our revenue over the last three years.”

Chuck Davis, CEO at Stone Point Capital, added: “We are excited about the long-term opportunity to work with Bullhorn. We are in the early stages of the industry’s adoption of digital transformation initiatives, and we couldn’t be more excited about partnering with an experienced team that knows the industry, their customers, and how to build a business with a deep focus on customer experience.”

“We’re thrilled to announce this investment by Stone Point in Bullhorn,” said Deven Parekh, Managing Director at Insight Partners. “While we weren’t actively seeking new investment, Stone Point’s deep experience in the finance and staffing industries and their strong conviction in Bullhorn makes them an incredibly valuable partner for the journey ahead. Bullhorn has and continues to outperform our projections as they help staffing firms digitally transform all aspects of their operations.”

“Despite the current macro-environment, we continue to find that great companies attract interest from leading investors,” said Eli Weiss, Managing Director at Genstar Capital. “It’s been great to work with Art and the team, and we’re looking forward to continuing to be a partner through this next phase of growth.”

Bullhorn expects the investment by Stone Point to close early in the fourth quarter of 2020. Terms of the deal will not be disclosed. Lazard and District Capital Partners served as financial advisors to Bullhorn in connection with this transaction.

About Insight Partners

Insight Partners is a leading global venture capital and private equity firm investing in high-growth technology and software ScaleUp companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. Founded in 1995, Insight Partners has invested in more than 400 companies worldwide and has raised through a series of funds more than $30 billion in capital commitments. Insight’s mission is to find, fund, and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with practical, hands-on software expertise to foster long-term success. Across its people and its portfolio, Insight encourages a culture around a belief that ScaleUp companies and growth create opportunity for all. For more information on Insight and all its investments, visit www.insightpartners.com or follow us on Twitter @insightpartners.

About Genstar Capital

Genstar Capital (www.gencap.com) is a leading private equity firm that has been actively investing in high quality companies for over 30 years. Based in San Francisco, Genstar works in partnership with its management teams and its network of strategic advisors to transform its portfolio companies into industry-leading businesses. Genstar currently has approximately $19 billion of assets under management and targets investments focused on targeted segments of the financial services, healthcare, industrial, and software industries.

About Stone Point Capital LLC

Stone Point Capital LLC is a financial services-focused private equity firm based in Greenwich, CT. The firm has raised and managed eight private equity funds – the Trident Funds – with aggregate committed capital of more than $25 billion. Stone Point targets investments in companies in the global financial services industry and related sectors. For more information, please visit www.stonepoint.com.

About Bullhorn

Bullhorn is the global leader in software for the recruitment industry. More than 10,000 companies rely on Bullhorn’s cloud-based platform to power their recruitment processes from start to finish. With offices around the world, Bullhorn is founder-led and employs more than 1,000 people globally. To learn more, visit www.bullhorn.com or follow @Bullhorn on Twitter.

Media contact:

Vinda Souza
VP, Global Communications
Bullhorn
vsouza@bullhorn.com
Twitter: @seriousvinda

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Building a world-leading marketing procurement platform

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GP Bullhound acted as the exclusive financial advisor to LDC on its more than £17m investment into Beekman Associates, the developer and provider of the data-driven marketing procurement platform RightSpend.

Headquartered in London and with a second office in New York, Beekman Associates and its industry-leading software platform RightSpend supports global brands in the assessment of their marketing activity in real time, to help save and optimise marketing spend and manage agency relationships more effectively.

 

The business has an extensive blue-chip client base which includes many of the world’s largest brands, each leveraging an extensive pricing database covering 75 different international markets, and 10 marketing specialisms including creative, digital, design, PR, production and events. The deal sees LDC backing the experienced existing management team as part of a Management Buyout.

 

David Andrews, Director at LDC, said: “The impressive client base and track record that RightSpend has developed speaks for itself. The business model and proprietary technology, coupled with a highly scalable proposition, means the business is well-placed to expand and build on its success to date.”

 

Simon Nicholls, Partner at GP Bullhound, added: “We are delighted to have advised LDC on their investment into RightSpend. This investment will enable Beekman Associates CEO Iain Seers and his team to build on their success to date and support the business’s evolution into a leading global marketing procurement software platform.”

 

This transaction is a further testament to GP Bullhound’s expertise in software with 12 transactions completed in the last 12 months globally, including CVC’s $200m investment in EcoVadis, Wavecrest Growth Partners and Beringea’s $29m investment in EDITED, the acquisition of Assetic by Dude Solutions, and Accel-KKR’s $50m investment in Partnerize, among many others.
Enquiries

For enquiries, please contact:

Simon Nicholls, Partner

simon.nicholls@gpbullhound.com Ravi Ghedia, Director

ravi.ghedia@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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Ardian acquires stake in Ardian acquires stake in Wintics, a french ai-powered solution for augmented infrastructure.

Ardian

Paris, September 8, 2020 – Ardian, a world leading private investment house, and Wintics, a French AI solution for smart cities today announce that Ardian, along with a group of business angels, has acquired a minority stake in Wintics, in July 2020.

Founded in 2017, Wintics uses deep learning algorithms to gather data from fixed cameras installed on roads, buildings and elsewhere in cities. Wintics’ technology notably provides a powerful solution to optimize traffic management, thus reducing congestion and pollution and to monitor and integrate efficiently soft mobility solutions in cities.

The technology enables Wintics to provide strategic and actionable insights for mobility operators and public authorities. Wintics’ insights support operators to better manage infrastructures, safely and efficiently.
Led by an experienced and cohesive team, Wintics operates in a booming market as the ability to optimize mobility and infrastructure assets, manage congestion and improve public safety is becoming increasingly important to infrastructure providers and authorities. Wintics launched its fundraising process in the spring of 2020 with the aim to scale its technology and accelerate its development in France and internationally.

Quentin Barenne, Co-Founder of Wintics, said: “We are thrilled about our partnership with Ardian. Working with Mathias and the team throughout the process, it was clear that our excitement for innovation and data is shared. We are particularly pleased about the opportunities this opens up for Wintics’ next stage of growth and the strides this will enable across our R&D activities – ultimately allowing us to continue to support the development of smarter cities and roads.”

Mathias Burghardt, Head of Ardian Infrastructure and Member of the Executive Committee of Ardian, commented: “Entrepreneurship is in Ardian’s DNA, and by investing in Wintics we are proud to support French innovation and contribute to the country’s smart cities technology ecosystem. We have been consistently impressed by what Wintics’ technology has to offer and by the know-how and leadership demonstrated by its founders. We look forward to supporting Wintics’ development and intend to leverage our partnership to create strategic synergies with our portfolio companies. Wintics’ technology is indeed an essential brick in our vision of Augmented Infrastructures.”

ABOUT WINTICS

Wintics is an innovative software company specialized in intelligent video analysis for mobility operators. By leveraging the latest AI innovations, its software automatically extracts insightful data from any camera and offers the best video analysis applications for its clients (traffic analysis, bicycle lanes monitoring, crossroads management, car-pooling detection, tolling systems, crowd analysis in public transportation).
This software is the result of continuous R&D efforts combined with the feedback from its customers. The data produced is highly valuable and helps infrastructure managers make informed decisions for their mobility and smart city projects.

ABOUT ARDIAN

Ardian is a world-leading private investment house with assets of US$100bn managed or advised in Europe, the Americas and Asia. The company is majority-owned by its employees. It keeps entrepreneurship at its heart and focuses on delivering excellent investment performance to its global investor base. Through its commitment to shared outcomes for all stakeholders, Ardian’s activities fuel individual, corporate and economic growth around the world. Holding close its core values of excellence, loyalty and entrepreneurship, Ardian maintains a truly global network, with more than 690 employees working from fifteen offices across Europe (Frankfurt, Jersey, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Zurich), the Americas (New York, San Francisco and Santiago) and Asia (Beijing, Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul). It manages funds on behalf of around 1,000 clients through five pillars of investment expertise: Fund of Funds, Direct Funds, Infrastructure, Real Estate and Private Debt.

PRESS CONTACTS

Ardian – Headland

Gregor Riemann

griemann@headlandconsultancy.com +44 (0)7920 802 627

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Blue Horizon Corporation raises its stake in New Roots, a Swiss alternative cheese producer

Blue Horizon

By Blue Horizon

Zurich, 7 September 2020 – Blue Horizon Corporation, a pure play investment company with focus on investments in innovative companies in the Food 4.0 sector,  today announced that it has raised its equity stake in New Roots, a Swiss based producer of  alternative cheese based on cashew milk in a capital increase completed in August 2020.

Founded in 2015 and based in Thun, Switzerland, New Roots is an innovative vegan cheese start-up. The company’s vegan cheese alternative is made from homemade organic cashew milk and the same artisanal techniques of fermentation and ripening as traditional cheese. It offers a selection of tasty kinds of cheese and joghurts,  including cream cheese, ricotta, camembert and fresh cheese with different herbs and spices, enabling consumers to transition to a plant-based diet. The two largest Swiss retailers, Coop and Migros, both added products of New Roots to their product range.

The cashew nuts are supplied by a partner farm in Vietnam, which was selected based on high quality and human rights standards. Although the cashew nuts are imported from Vietnam, the company’s ecological footprint is smaller than it would be with traditional cheese. From one kilo of nuts 2 kilos of cheese can be produced. With cow milk, in contrast, it takes up to 12 liters for one kilo of cheese. Started in the kitchen of Co-Founder Freddy Hunziker, who sold his first product to the local Eco store around the corner, the start-up quickly developed into a 20 person enterprise. In 2019, New Roots won the Swiss Economic Award in the category Production / Trade & Industry. The investment of Blue Horizon in the course of a capital increase is a major step in the history of the young company.

Freddy Hunziker, Co-Founder & CEO of New Roots said: “We are very excited to have Blue Horizon as a partner which enables us to drive forward new initiatives, increase our product range and capabilities and enhance our brand and network. We share a common vision and look forward to further working together on offering delicious, ethical and sustainable alternatives to traditional cheese made from animal milk.”

Björn Witte, CEO of Blue Horizon, said: “New Roots already has a unique growth story and the company is very well positioned to capitalize on the growing demand for alternative dairy. In particular, the products of New Roots appeal to the taste of consumers. We are happy to bring our experience and operational capabilities into partnership with the young and talented team in order to shape the future of plant based cheese in Switzerland and globally.”

About Blue Horizon Corporation
Blue Horizon Corporation has shaped the growth of the market for alternative proteins since the beginning and accelerates it through targeted investments as a pure play industry pioneer.,. The company aims to sustainably transform the global food industry through investments into companies who are replacing animal proteins with healthy, alternative protein sources across the global supply chain. Blue Horizon was founded in 2016 and is based in Zurich and Los Angeles. The company launched its first venture fund in 2018. Since then, it has completed over 50 seed and venture capital investments in the alternative protein food tech sector and raised more than CHF 350 million. Its business model offers a unique market access from Seed to Consolidation via funds and direct investment platforms throughout all stages of asset lifecycles. More on www.bluehorizon.com

Media contact
Martin Meier-Pfister, IRF
Phone +41 43 244 81 40
bluehorizon@irf-reputation.ch

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Gaw Capital Partners Successfully Completes Fundraising for IDC Platform Close to US$1.3 Billion

Gaw Capital

September 7, 2020, Hong Kong – Real estate private equity firm Gaw Capital Partners announced the closing of fundraising for its internet data center (IDC) platform, which targets to invest in a portfolio of projects in partnership with IDC developers and operators in China, bringing the total equity raised approximately US$1.3 billion.

Humbert Pang, Managing Principal and Head of China, said, “Gaw Capital Partners is extremely pleased to be teaming up with industry leaders and outstanding operating teams to invest in IDC projects. We have seen good results thanks to our operating partners’ strong execution capabilities. Amid the backdrop of pandemic and the rapid adoption of 5G in China, there is a strong demand for data processing services due to the increasing use of data because of the social distancing measures. With most social and economic activities migrating online, data centers in promising locations along the densely populated region of China are emerging as valuable assets that produce stable rental income.”

Christina Gaw, Managing Principal and Head of Capital Markets, commented, “We are delighted to complete the final close of fundraising for our IDC platform, following the highly successful fundraising round for our Gateway Real Estate Fund VI. A wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) is the largest investor in the IDC Platform, with additional commitments made by other global institutional investors. These commitments we have received are a strong vote of confidence in Gaw Capital’s approach to IDC assets, which is a focused sector for us, and we have further plans to grow into other Asia regional markets.”

From 2010 to 2018, the total IDC market size in China grew more than 10 times from RMB 10.2 billion to RMB 127.7 billion. The compound annual growth rate of the market was 37%, doubling that of the global average during the same period. The rapid growth of the IDC sector will be sustained in the coming years, spurred by China’s push towards greater digital transformation and technology adoption across sectors.

In addition to Gaw Capital Partners’ six funds in the Gateway Fund series targeting Asia Pacific, Gaw Capital Partners also manages opportunistic funds in Vietnam and the US along with a Pan Asia Hospitality Fund and European Hospitality Fund. Additionally, Gaw Capital also provides services for separate account direct investments in the global markets. Gaw Capital has also successfully developed a sizable logistics platform, medical-asset backed platform, mini-storage platform, premium outlet malls and education-related platform in recent years to help support the growth and management of these assets.

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Kimberly-Clark to acquire Softex Indonesia

04 Sep 2020

The $1.2b all-cash transaction has been agreed with a group of shareholders including CVC Capital Partners Asia Pacific IV.

Kimberly-Clark Corporation today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Softex Indonesia, a leader in the fast-growing Indonesian personal care market, in an all-cash transaction for approximately $1.2 billion from a group of shareholders including CVC Capital Partners Asia Pacific IV.

Since 1976, Softex Indonesia has built a successful personal care business with strong market positions and has consistently delivered double-digit growth. The company has excellent manufacturing capabilities and a strong go-to-market distribution network. Softex Indonesia generated net sales of approximately $420 million in 2019.

The transaction is expected to close early in the fourth quarter of 2020 and is subject to customary closing conditions. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and Centerview Partners LLC acted as financial advisors, and Gibson Dunn and Crutcher LLP acted as legal counsel to Kimberly-Clark on the transaction.

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Kimberly-Clark to acquire Softex Indonesia

The $1.2b all-cash transaction has been agreed with a group of shareholders including CVC Capital Partners Asia Pacific IV.

Kimberly-Clark Corporation today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Softex Indonesia, a leader in the fast-growing Indonesian personal care market, in an all-cash transaction for approximately $1.2 billion from a group of shareholders including CVC Capital Partners Asia Pacific IV.

Since 1976, Softex Indonesia has built a successful personal care business with strong market positions and has consistently delivered double-digit growth. The company has excellent manufacturing capabilities and a strong go-to-market distribution network. Softex Indonesia generated net sales of approximately $420 million in 2019.

The transaction is expected to close early in the fourth quarter of 2020 and is subject to customary closing conditions. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and Centerview Partners LLC acted as financial advisors, and Gibson Dunn and Crutcher LLP acted as legal counsel to Kimberly-Clark on the transaction.

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BGF leads investment round into e-commerce platform Moteefe

BGF

Moteefe, the e-commerce platform providing infrastructure, customisation and global fulfilment for retailers of all sizes, has successfully completed an $11M funding round. New investor BGF led the round with participation from existing investors including Gresham House Ventures and Force Over Mass Capital.

More than 5,000 retailers, from indie entrepreneurs to high street brands, use Moteefe’s platform to manage the sale, on demand production and fulfilment of new products. The fully flexible end-to-end e-commerce platform enables anyone to set up an online store or offer customised products on their own site in minutes. Products are produced immediately following a customer order.

“We were impressed with how Moteefe’s unique platform capabilities have allowed it to continue on its fast growth trajectory during the first part of 2020 despite the Covid 19 pandemic. This performance has underlined the demand in the market for their technology as the global retail landscape undergoes a massive transformation” said Daina Spedding, investor for BGF who led the deal. “What Moteefe represents is truly visionary – bringing together the entire ecosystem from store to just-in-time production and delivery – to solve the challenges retailers are facing getting to grips with the new speed, quality, choice and sustainability expectations of consumers. Those retailers don’t have the time to piece individual technologies together.”

 

Large retailers are turning to Moteefe to offer customised products for their customers. They are also working with the platform to efficiently test new product styles and categories at both small and large scale, which their often outdated systems and supply chains are ill-equipped to handle.

With no minimum production run, Moteefe’s platform removes the risk, wastage and upfront cost normally associated with testing ideas, geographies and markets, enabling the rapid scale up and production of successful products to meet demand. It also improves supply chain efficiency and sustainability by working with local fulfilment partners to minimise shipping distances.

Retailers of all sizes have total flexibility: they can use the Moteefe platform either as a fully integrated end to end service, or just pick and choose the parts they need. And as Moteefe is white labelled, the retailer owns the customer relationship and can use the data to drive repeat sales.

“At a time when global retail has been suffering and supply chains have virtually ground to a halt, we have seen a doubling in users and strong customer demand for our retailers’ products. This increased demand enabled us to grow our team and increase our production throughput, benefitting our entire network and creating high quality jobs internationally,” said Mathijs Eefting, CEO of Moteefe. “We have moved beyond our original goal to help anyone set up a store and sell globally. We now are able to support innovative retailers of all sizes to respond to entirely new e-commerce demands and opportunities as customers continue to walk away from old fashioned brick and mortar sales store environments.”

Growth and momentum

Since the start of 2020, Moteefe has made significant leaps. It has expanded with 40 new hires and three new executives whose experience will support the company’s expansion and enterprise proposition: Head of Product Nir Ehrlich; People Director Abbas Jeraj and senior innovation leader Peter Dingle. Moteefe now boasts a network of 20 production and fulfilment partners across Europe, USA, Canada, Australia and Brazil, enabling retailers and entrepreneurs from around the world to easily tap international demand.

Showing 150% growth in H1 2020, other outputs since the start of the year include:

  • Thousands of new merchants launched stores and started selling worldwide on the Moteefe platform which now supports 5,000 merchants
  • Products have been sold and shipped into 166 countries
  • Supply chain capacity has doubled as a result of integrating several new third-party manufacturers into the network to support tens of thousands orders per day

Eefting has recently been joined by Charlie Cannell, previously Digital Director at Inflexion, who has joined Moteefe as Chairman.

 

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Trinity Hunt Partners Announces Acquisition of MainStreet Family Urgent Care

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Trinity Hunt

Trinity Hunt Partners, a growth-oriented middle market private equity firm, today announced its partnership with MainStreet Family Urgent Care, a leading urgent care provider based in Birmingham, Ala. MainStreet was founded in 2015 by Sam Eskildsen, Chief Executive Officer, and has grown to 16 clinics across the state of Alabama, with additional new clinics opening soon in Georgia. Trinity Hunt is partnering with Eskildsen and the company’s senior management team including Rhett Plugge, Chief Financial Officer, and Dr. Timothy Taylor, Chief Medical Officer, to accelerate the company’s growth trajectory through new clinic expansion and strategic acquisitions. The management team will remain significant shareholders of MainStreet.

“We are incredibly pleased to partner with Trinity Hunt,” said Eskildsen. “Trinity Hunt’s industry knowledge, transparency and excitement in supporting our rural and pediatric growth strategies in the Southeast were what we were looking for in a private equity partner.”

“MainStreet’s track record of deploying new clinics and its tech-enabled operating model are truly differentiated in the urgent care space,” said Blake Apel, Partner at Trinity Hunt Partners. “We believe MainStreet is a best-in-class operator, and we plan to support the company as it ramps up its new location and add-on acquisition strategies.”

Allen Mooney Barnes Investment Banking Group (“AMB”) served as exclusive financial advisor to MainStreet Family Urgent Care.

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IK Investment Partners acquires Forthglade

ik-investment-partners

IK Investment Partners (“IK”) is pleased to announce that the IK Small Cap II Fund has acquired a majority stake in Forthglade Foods Limited (“Forthglade” or “the Company”) alongside management. This is the first investment by IK’s newly established UK team. Financial terms of the transaction are not disclosed.

Forthglade is a fast-growing UK based natural pet food brand, producing premium wet and dry dog food and treats. The Company was founded in 1971 and has been led by Gerard Lovell and Chris Brooking since their management buyout in 2011 and subsequent investment by Piper in 2015. IK will acquire a majority stake in Forthglade, with the management team reinvesting alongside.

Based in Okehampton, Devon, Forthglade employs over 130 people in the UK, and distributes across supermarkets, independent specialist pet retailers and online retailers including its own website (www.forthglade.com). Forthglade’s award-winning recipes are valued by customers for their natural ingredients, high meat content, gentle cooking methods, and grain free recipes. Backed by the increasing demand for quality natural pet food and following strategic investments in production processes, marketing, and operations, Forthglade has grown branded sales by over 30% per annum in the last three years and is set to generate over £22 million in sales in the year to September 2020. The company has seen sales accelerate ahead of plan throughout the lockdown period.

The Company recently opened a state-of-the art factory in Devon, which produces the business’ natural wet dog food and has significant additional capacity to support future growth. Forthglade has also successfully launched ranges of cold pressed natural dry food and hand baked dog treats, which are key growth areas for the Company. With IK’s investment, Forthglade plans to increase brand awareness and distribution to drive growth in the UK and overseas. IK will also support Forthglade’s ongoing digital development, as well as further expansion in the business’ product range and growth in its manufacturing capabilities.

The transaction represents the 10th investment from IK’s €550 million Small Cap II Fund. The investment in Forthglade marks a significant milestone for IK’s recently formed UK Small Cap team as they seek to deploy capital in the UK market across IK’s four core sectors: Business Services, Consumer/Food, Engineered Products and Healthcare.

Gerard Lovell, Joint Managing Director of Forthglade commented: “We have thoroughly enjoyed working with Piper whose support and expertise have been invaluable in helping us achieve so much. We are delighted to partner with IK for the next stage of our growth. With their experience across food production and animal health and an established Pan-European footprint, they are well placed to help us grow our offering and enter new markets. We have exciting plans ahead as we look to expand our success in wet into cold pressed and treats, and we see a strong runway for growth ahead.”

Tom Salmon, Partner at IK and advisor to the IK Small Cap II Fund, commented: “Forthglade is an excellent business and a great fit for our investment strategy. We have been very impressed with the achievements of Gerard, Chris and the rest of team in growing the business in recent years, and we are delighted to be backing them in the first investment made by IK’s new UK investment team. The market for natural pet food in the UK is particularly strong and resilient, and we see significant further growth potential for Forthglade in the UK and beyond in the years to come. With our strong track record in supporting growing food production and animal health companies, we look forward to similar success with Forthglade.”

For further questions, please contact:

Maitland/AMO
James McFarlane
Phone: +44 (0) 7584 142 665
jmcfarlane@maitland.co.uk 

IK Investment Partners:
Nastasja Vojvodic
Phone:+44 (0) 20 7304 4300
nastasja.vojvodic@ikinvest.com

About IK Investment Partners

IK Investment Partners (“IK”) is a Pan-European private equity firm focused on investments in the Benelux, DACH, France, Nordics and the UK. Since 1989, IK has raised more than €13 billion of capital and invested in over 130 European companies. IK supports 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

About IK Small Cap II
The €550 million IK Small Cap II Fund (“IK Small Cap II” or “the Fund”) closed in 2018 and invests in growing businesses across IK’s four core sectors: Business Services, Consumer/Food, Engineered Products and Healthcare. Dedicated investment teams in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Hamburg, London, Paris and Stockholm look to support businesses with an Enterprise Value of between c. €30 million and c. €100 million across the Benelux, DACH, France, Nordics and the UK. For more information, visit www.ikinvest.com/IK-Funds/ik-small-cap-ii-fund

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