|
|
|
|
INVESTOR AB (publ) intends to invite noteholders of its outstanding EUR 600,000,000 4.875 per cent. notes due 2021 (ISIN: XS0466670345) (the “Notes”) to tender any and all of their Notes for purchase for cash (the “Offer”). The intended purchase price is expected to include a customary premium.
In conjunction with the Offer, Investor AB is considering a potential issue of new notes, subject to market conditions, under its EUR 5,000,000,000 Debt Issuance Programme.
Part of the proceeds from the new issue will be used for purchasing the Notes. The rationale of the Offer and the new issue is thus to proactively manage upcoming debt repayments and to extend the average debt maturity profile of Investor AB. Notes repurchased pursuant to the Offer will be cancelled and will not be re-issued or re-sold.
Please note that further information, which among other things will set out certain important restrictions, regarding the intended Offer is expected to be made available shortly and will be found on: http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-home.html
This information is, with respect to Investor AB’s outstanding Notes, such information that Investor AB is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out below, at 09.30 CET on September 4, 2018.
In times of increasing climate change and extreme weather, the need for agile and foreseeable forecasting has never been greater. Headquartered in Bergen, Norway, StormGeo is a trusted partner for companies operating in challenging weather conditions within shipping, oil and gas, renewable energy, aviation, media and cross industries.The company’s diverse employee base, consisting of meteorologists, oceanographers and data scientists, provides tailored weather decision support and route guidance to over 9,000 ships and 1,300 offshore locations on a 24/7 basis, amongst other services.
The add-on of Nautisk is a strategic step in StormGeo’s mission to provide the most innovative and future-proof decision support solutions and services for weather-sensitive operations. With more than 100 years of industry experience, Nautisk offers state-of-the-art digital solutions for vessel navigation, including charts, voyage planning and a digital publication library. Nautisk complements StormGeo’s current maritime solutions and with the add-on, StormGeo will create a unified and complete onboard-to-onshore software platform for maritime navigation and planning.
Rikke Kjær Nielsen, Partner at EQT Partners and Investment Advisor to EQT Mid Market, comments: “The acquisition of Nautisk aligns well with StormGeo’s ambition of becoming the undisputed global leader within premier shipping services. With the combination of Nautisk, StormGeo further cements its position as an industry leader within digital solutions, enabling it to be a trusted partner to its customers on their digital journeys. EQT is excited to support the management team through the next phase of digital transformation”.
Since EQT Mid Market’s acquisition of StormGeo in April 2014, the company has expanded steadily and has grown to become a truly global champion within its sector. Following the acquisition of Nautisk, StormGeo will employ more than 400 employees from 27 offices, including six operations centers operating 24/7/365 supporting customers worldwide, across 15 countries.
During its ownership period, EQT has supported StormGeo in accelerating its digital transformation and strengthening its analytical offering. Actions include completing the strategic add-on acquisition and integration of Silicon Valley-based leader within ship routing and fleet performance, Applied Weather Technology (AWT), as well as launching “Advanced Fleet DSS”, a fleet performance software allowing customers to optimize their fuel consumption based on advanced analytics.
Moreover, StormGeo continues to invest substantially in future-proofing its portfolio to offer its customers state-of-the-art services through the research and development of next generation products within machine learning and advanced analytics.
StormGeo is a leading global provider of software-based decision support for companies operating in weather-sensitive environments within shipping, oil and gas, renewable energy, aviation, media and cross industries.
Waterland Private Equity expands its Swiss activities with an office in Zurich. This enables Waterland to get closer to Swiss entrepreneurs and local markets. The team will be working closely with the offices in Munich and Hamburg, and will help to continue fostering international growth while leveraging synergies between the locations.
“Switzerland is a highly interesting market, and we are a very attractive growth partner for mid-sized companies in the region. This is demonstrated by our current engagement in Tineo – previously Quickline Business,” says Jörg Dreisow, Managing Partner at Waterland. “With our buy & build experience, financial strength, European office network and new proximity, we will be able to help Swiss companies expanding their potential, realising their growth targets and thereby creating added value for SMEs.”
Alongside its current investment Tineo, Waterland has already successfully engaged in Swiss transactions in the past, for example, in the establishment of Switzerland’s largest private nursing home operator Seniocare.
Potential for growth at Tineo
Tineo is an integrated enterprise solution provider of data centres, fibre optic connections, high-speed internet and VoIP services with state-of-the-art infrastructure and a broad customer base. “The independent company is in an excellent position to intensify the pursuit of its organic and inorganic growth strategy in the fragmented Swiss market. With its clear focus on the enterprise segment, Tineo will be able to generate substantial added value for its customers,” explains Dr Gregor Hengst, Principal at Waterland. “Further, there are many other interesting, well-positioned companies with excellent products that could benefit from a partnership with Waterland.”
LONDON & ZURICH–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sep. 3, 2018– Global investment firms Bregal Investments and KKR today announced the signing of a binding agreement for the sale of Cognita, the leading global schools group, to Jacobs Holding of Switzerland.
Cognita operates over 70 schools across 8 countries, educating more than 40,000 children. The organisation was established in 2004 by Bregal with the acquisition of a single school in the UK and expanded successfully into Europe, Asiaand Latin America. Cognita continued to grow rapidly and in 2013 KKR invested to become a 50% shareholder in the company, giving even greater support to Cognita’s growth across the globe and helping to build a world-class organisation. Since then, through significant additional investment, the company’s growth has accelerated in both Asia and Latin America, educating more than 20,000 children in these markets. From inception, Cognita has strived to improve the quality of education and provide genuinely inspiring environments for children to develop.
Patrick De Maeseneire, Chief Executive of Jacobs Holding, said: “We are very excited to join forces with Cognita and its management team. It has always been the aim of Jacobs Holding and the Jacobs Family to create global leaders in attractive markets, and therefore we are keen to support Cognita in its further international expansion. With this acquisition we are able to invest in education and the development of young people. These themes always played an important role for Klaus Jacobs, our founder, and are at the heart of the Jacobs Foundation, which is the sole economic beneficiary of our investments. In this sense and from the perspective of a long-term orientated investor, Cognita presents a very interesting opportunity to create value not only for Jacobs Holding but also for society.”
Chris Jansen, Chief Executive of Cognita, said: “We are extremely pleased to be entering a new and exciting phase with Jacobs Holding. We both share an ambition to help shape the future, by educating young minds to think globally, act responsibly and achieve their full potential. None of this would have been possible without Bregal and KKR. Together they have been great custodians of Cognita and have built a global and well-regarded company. We will forever be thankful for their foresight, belief and encouragement.”
Commenting on the sale to Jacobs Holding, Edmund Lazarus, formerly Managing Partner at Bregal Capital and now Managing Partner of EMK Capital, who represents Bregal Investments in relation to Cognita, said: “We founded Cognita in 2004 with the late Sir Chris Woodhead, with a single small UK school. He believed that putting educational quality first would give Cognita wings. We are very proud of the extraordinary global success story that Cognita has become and we are delighted that Cognita is led by people who are committed to our vision of educational excellence. With Jacobs, a long-term investor committed to education, the future for Cognita will be even more exceptional.”
Christian Ollig, Managing Director at KKR, said: “Cognita’s success has been built on the quality of education that it offers, both in terms of academic results and personal development of the children. We are proud to have been a partner for Cognita in bringing this model of education and care to parents and children throughout the world, and feel confident that Jacobs are the right partner for Cognita going forward.”
The transaction is expected to complete in the fourth quarter of 2018, subject to customary regulatory approvals. No financial details of the transaction have been disclosed.
Financial advisers on the transaction were Goldman Sachs International and Barclays for Bregal Investments and KKR, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch for Jacobs Holding.
****Ends****
Notes:
About Cognita
Launched in 2004, Cognita is an extraordinary family of diverse yet connected schools spanning eight different countries. We share one common purpose: to create an inspiring world of education that builds self-belief and empowers individuals to succeed. With some 70 schools in Europe, Latin America and Asia, we employ 7,000 teaching and support staff in the care and education of more than 40,000 students. Together, our schools provide a uniquely global education that goes beyond grades to develop all-round academic excellence – equipping young people with the confidence and resourcefulness that prepares them to grow, thrive and find their success in a fast-changing world. For further information about Cognita please visit: www.cognita.com
About Bregal Investments
Bregal Investments is a global private equity firm which has approximately US $10 billion in invested and committed capital. The firm invests through several dedicated funds including: Bregal Sagemount, a U.S. private equity fund for growth companies, Bregal Unternehmerkapital, which provides Equity Capital for mid-sized companies in German-speaking Europe, Bregal Freshstream, a UK and Benelux focused middle market private equity fund, Bregal Partners, a North American middle market private equity fund, Bregal Energy, an energy-focused private equity fund, Bregal Milestone, providing non-control capital and strategic assistance to leading growth companies in Europe and Bregal Private Equity Partners, a global investor in private equity funds and secondaries. For more info visit: www.bregal.com
About KKR
KKR is a leading global investment firm that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate and credit, with strategic manager partnerships that manage hedge funds. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns for its fund investors by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people, and driving growth and value creation with KKR portfolio companies. KKR invests its own capital alongside the capital it manages for fund investors and provides financing solutions and investment opportunities through its capital markets business. References to KKR’s investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR), please visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.
About EMK Capital
EMK Capital LLP is an independent private equity firm, established to continue the investment track record of Edmund Lazarus (previously Founder and Managing Partner of Bregal Capital) and Mark Joseph (previously Founder and Partner at Oakley Capital Private Equity) and to continue to manage portfolio companies of Bregal Capital. EMK is focused on investing in businesses with unrecognised and/or hard to realise value and where EMK can support management teams in executing transformative change. The firm closed its first fund in May 2017 at its hard cap of £575 million. For further information about EMK please visit: www.emkcapital.com
About Jacobs Holding AG
Jacobs Holding AG is a global professional investment firm based in Zurich and founded in 1994 by entrepreneur Klaus J. Jacobs. Jacobs Holding AG takes an entrepreneurial approach to investing in growth, generating value by creating long-term, sustainable market leaders. Jacobs Holding AG’s sole economic beneficiary is the Jacobs Foundation, one of the world’s leading charitable foundations. Established in Zurich in 1989 by Klaus J. Jacobs and his family, the Foundation’s goal is to sustainably support future generations by improving their developmental opportunities, thus enabling them to become socially responsible members of society. The Jacobs Foundation funds research projects and intervention programs and supports scientific institutions to bring about social changes in the area of child and youth development. Over CHF 500 million in cumulative grants has been paid out since the Foundation’s establishment in 1989.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180903005105/en/
Source: KKR
Media Contacts
For Jacobs Holding
Andreas Hildenbrand
Lemongrass Communications
Phone: +41 44 202 52 38
Email: andreas.hildenbrand@lemongrass.agency
or
For Cognita
Margaret Kubicek
Cognita
Phone: +44(0)7879 802853
Email: Margaret.kubicek@cognita.com
or
For KKR
Alastair Elwen / Shiv Talwar
Finsbury
Phone: +44(0)20 7251 3801
Email: alastair.elwen@finsbury.com / shiv.talwar@finsbury.com
Munich, 31 August 2018 – Hotel operator GHOTEL hotel & living (www.ghotel.de), a subsidiary of AURELIUS Equity Opportunities SE & Co. KGaA (ISIN DE000A0JK2A8), has acquired three hotels in Düsseldorf, Gütersloh, Salzburg (Austria) in operation, and one in Osnabrück, currently still under construction with its opening planned for spring 2019, as an add-on acquisition of Arcadia Hotelbetriebs GmbH. The hotels will be operated under franchise for the InterContinental Hotels Group with the brands Holiday Inn, and Holiday Inn Express in Gütersloh. This will boost GHOTEL hotel & living’s revenue by approximately 25 percent.
The new hotels will enable GHOTEL to expand its network with attractive locations in high-growth regions. All of the hotels have enjoyed strong growth rates in recent years and continue to show good potential, especially in the business customer segment. The hotel in Gütersloh is considered the leading hotel in its location, while the modern hotel in Düsseldorf opened recently, in 2016, and is centrally located downtown. GHOTEL expects considerable synergy potential on the basis of incorporating these new houses in its own hotel network. Cooperation with the InterContinental Hotels Group opens further potential for expansion.
“We are delighted with this further growth step as a new franchise partner of the InterContinental Hotels Group” said Jens Lehmann, CEO of GHOTEL hotel & living. “We have signed a multi-development agreement which sets joint growth targets for the coming years.”
In the first half of 2018, the GHOTEL Group had already acquired three new locations, the nestor brand hotels in Ludwigsburg and Neckarsulm and a downtown hotel in Göttingen. GHOTEL hotel & living will continue its strong growth through 2020 with the opening of five further locations.
About GHOTEL hotel & living
GHOTEL hotel & living is an expanding hotel and apartment building chain with 12 properties in several cities in Germany including Kiel, Hannover, Göttingen, Koblenz, Munich, Würzburg, Essen, Ludwigsburg and Neckarsulm. The business hotels with modern conference rooms are marketed under the GHOTEL hotel & living and nestor Hotels brands as well as the franchise brands Accor and InterContinental Hotels Group. Under the GHOTEL living brand, GHOTEL hotel & living also operates “temporary residence” apartment buildings in Bonn and Munich. GHOTEL hotel & living is headquartered in Bonn and belongs to AURELIUS Group since December 2006.
As previously announced, Nordstjernan AB (“Nordstjernan”) has confirmed, through pre-acceptance, that the company is divesting its holding in the Norwegian furniture group Ekornes ASA (“Ekornes”) to a Chinese consortium under the management of the Chinese furniture company Qumei Home Furnishings Group Co. Ltd. (“Qumei”), provided that the transaction is completed. At the end of the acceptance period, Qumei’s offer had the support of 98 percent of the shares in Ekornes. On August 29, 2018, Nordstjernan sold its entire ownership share of 17.2 percent in Ekornes to Qumei. The offer for all the shares in Ekornes was equivalent to a value of NOK 5.1 billion.
Nordstjernan initially invested in Ekornes in 2007, and has been the largest shareholder and represented on the Board of Directors since 2008. Since 2016, Nordstjernan’s Nora Förisdal Larssen has been the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ekornes. Over the past few years, Ekornes’ management and Board has enjoyed great success in terms of rationalizing costs and the acquisition of the furniture company IMG, based in Southeast Asia. A unanimous Board recommended the offer from Qumei on May 23, 2018. In order to ensure a successful ownership succession, Nordstjernan will continue to be represented on the Board of Ekornes for some time.
“Nordstjernan believes the new industrial ownership will create additional growth potential for Ekornes. We wish the company and the new owner constellation all the best in the future,” says Tomas Billing, CEO of Nordstjernan.
Tomas Billing
President and CEO
Nordstjernan AB
Questions will be answered by:
Tomas Billing, CEO of Nordstjernan
Telephone: +46 8 788 50 18
E-mail: tomas.billing@nordstjernan.se
Nordstjernan AB is a family-controlled investment company whose business concept is to be an active owner that creates long-term and positive value growth. More information about Nordstjernan can be found on www.nordstjernan.se.
wtransnet is the leading freight exchange in Spain and Portugal with a growing footprint in countries such as Italy, France and Germany. wtransnet is owned by Wotrant SL, founded in 1996 and headquartered in Terrassa, Spain. Wotrant has shown attractive growth in the past and created an appealing product that is used by more than 11,500 customers. wtransnet differentiates itself from its competitors with a strong focus on ensuring trust between users of the platform, for example by thoroughly screening any new carrier.
Alpega’s freight exchanges Teleroute, Bursa and 123cargo focus on other geographic areas such as France, Benelux and Romania. The combination with wtransnet promises an increase of the liquidity in terms of shipments and trucks for all freight exchanges in the Group. This will improve the value proposition to customers who will be able to access a wider market in the future. It is envisaged that all freight exchange brands in the Group, including wtransnet, continue to operate in the market with different geographical focus areas.
Alpega intends to continue its investments in innovating freight exchange products to further improve their attractiveness to customers by adding functionalities allowing for more convenience and higher efficiency in the daily use of the products.
The management of Alpega, as well its majority shareholder Castik Capital, are grateful to the founders of Wotrant SL, Jaume Esteve, Anna Esteve, Salvador Ejarque, Carmen Grau and Josép Maria Sallés about the opportunity to partner with Wotrant as this is an exciting strategic addition to the Group.
With the addition of wtransnet, Alpega is growing its carrier network to significantly more than 70,000 members across Europe, which provides for a strong value-add to its customers. Alpega was formed in 2017 as a leading global logistics software company that offers end-to-end solutions covering all transport needs, including transportation management solutions (“TMS”) and freight exchanges. Key products comprise:
About Castik Capital
Castik Capital S.à r.l. (“Castik Capital”) manages investments in private equity. Castik Capital is a European multi-strategy investment manager, acquiring significant ownership positions in European private and public companies, where long-term value can be generated through active partnerships with management teams.
Castik Capital has an investment horizon of up to ten years – longer than most other private equity funds. This enables Castik Capital to focus resources on its portfolio companies and ensure sustainable, long-term value creation.
Founded in 2014, Castik Capital is based in Luxembourg and focuses on identifying and developing investment opportunities across Europe. Investments are made by the Luxembourg-based fund, EPIC I SLP, the first fund managed by Castik Capital, which had its final close at EUR 1bn in July 2015.
Stevenage, UK, 29 August 2018 – KaNDy Therapeutics, a clinical-stage Women’s Health company, today announces it has successfully closed a Series C financing round, raising £25 million from new US investor Longitude Capital, and existing internationally recognised life sciences investors Advent Life Sciences, Fountain Healthcare Partners, Forbion Capital Partners and OrbiMed.
The proceeds will enable KaNDy Therapeutics to advance its breakthrough non-hormonal drug candidate, NT-814, for treatment of multiple symptoms of the menopause, through a multi-country Phase 2b dose-ranging study due to start recruiting patients in Q4 2018 with headline results expected in late 2019.
Commenting on the financing round, Mary Kerr CEO of KaNDy Therapeutics, said:”We are delighted by the level of enthusiasm and financial support we have received from our investors and would like to welcome Longitude Capital into the syndicate and the board of directors. Our investors and the KaNDy management team are united by the common belief that NT-814 has the potential to be a transformational treatment for the millions of women worldwide who suffer debilitating symptoms of the menopause.”
NT-814 is an orally administered once daily, potent and selective small molecule dual antagonist of both the neurokinin-1 and 3 receptors. It is being developed by KaNDy Therapeutics to provide a viable alternative to hormone replacement therapy. In June 2018, the Company announced positive data from the Phase Ib/IIa proof of concept clinical trial which showed that women who were treated with NT-814 once daily for two weeks at the most effective doses evaluated, experienced a rapid and profound reduction in two key symptoms of the menopause, namely frequency and severity of hot flashes and the number of night time awakenings
Josh Richardson, M.D., Managing Director of Longitude Capital said: “We were very pleased to participate in this funding round. We have been impressed with the data announced thus far, by KaNDy’s business strategy and the strong and experienced management team. We believe NT-814 has the potential to greatly improve the quality of life of millions of women worldwide and we look forward to supporting the Company as it continues to progress this potentially transformational candidate through the clinic towards commercialization.”
A Phase 2b study to further evaluate the safety and efficacy of NT-814 in women with bothersome post-menopausal symptoms, and to establish the optimum dose to take forward into Phase 3, is anticipated to start recruiting patients in the US, Canada and the UK in Q4 2018, with headline results expected in late 2019.
The Addition of Zephyr for Jira, the No. 1 Grossing App on the Atlassian Marketplace, to the SmartBear Portfolio Will Create the Most Comprehensive Set of Test Management Solutions
SOMERVILLE, Mass. and SAN JOSE, Calif. — SmartBear, the leader in software quality tools for teams, will acquire Zephyr to create the most comprehensive set of test management solutions in the market. With this acquisition, SmartBear reinforces its commitment to provide software development teams with the most innovative tools to build, test, and monitor great software, faster. The popularity of Zephyr for Jira has catapulted it to become the No. 1 grossing app on Atlassian Marketplace with 18,000 teams using its tools to execute over 40 million tests. SmartBear will continue to extend and deepen the Zephyr product line and strengthen its relationship with Atlassian by leveraging SmartBear tools to bring more value to the users of the Atlassian Marketplace.
“We are thrilled to have Zephyr join the SmartBear team,” said Justin Teague, CEO of SmartBear. “The acquisition of Zephyr will establish SmartBear a leader in test management and broaden our portfolio of high-impact, easy-to-use tools, which includes SoapUI, TestComplete, SwaggerHub, CrossBrowserTesting, Collaborator, and AlertSite.”
Test management is a critical component of being able to develop, test, and deploy high quality software at the speed digital businesses demand. However, each software development teams’ test management requirements are unique, depending on their development methodology, organizational structure, and processes. By adding Zephyr to the portfolio, SmartBear will offer the most comprehensive set of test management offerings in the market. Zephyr for Jira supports Atlassian customers that want native test management inside Jira, Hiptest supports Agile and DevOps teams embracing Behavior Driven Development (BDD) and Continuous Testing, and Zephyr Enterprise supports enterprises looking for a modern replacement for HP Quality Center.
“We created Zephyr to help organizations continuously improve efficiencies and collaboration for their software testers and developers,” said Scott Johnson, CEO of Zephyr. “By leveraging the industry expertise and array of SmartBear solutions, our customers will continue to benefit from the tools they know and love, while now being able to solve additional software development challenges related to building, testing, and monitoring software applications across the UI and API layer.”
“The Atlassian Marketplace makes it seamless for Atlassian’s more than 125,000 customers to extend the functionality of their Atlassian tools,” said Scott Farquhar, CEO of Atlassian. “We are thrilled to work more closely with SmartBear moving forward to advance the Zephyr product line and also bring more SmartBear industry-leading software development and testing tools into the Atlassian Marketplace.”
“There is a growing need for integrated lifecycle management tools to support a variety of software development environments,” said Carl Lehmann, Principal Analyst at 451 Research. “SmartBear’s acquisition of Zephyr is representative of the accelerating trend we see in modern digital enterprises to strengthen support for diverse development and testing toolchains.”
About SmartBear Software
Supporting more than six million software professionals and over 22,000 companies in 194 countries, SmartBear is the leader in software quality tools for teams. The company’s products help deliver the highest quality and best performing software possible while helping teams ship code at nearly impossible velocities. With products for API testing, UI testing, code review and performance monitoring across mobile, web and desktop applications, http://smartbear.com equips every development, testing and operations team member with the tools to ensure quality at every stage of the software cycle. For more information, visit: http://smartbear.com, or for the SmartBear community, go to: LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook.
