Category Archives: News

Almi Invest invests in Crossers real-time analysis

Almi Invest

Almi Invest invests SEK 3.5 million in Sundsvall company Crosser Technologies, which is developing a Fog Computing software for real-time data analysis.

The total financing round of EUR 13.5 million, which also Spintop, Norrland Fund and ALMI involved. The money will be used to further the development and launch of the product.

As more objects are connected to the Internet, Internet of Things (IoT) requires large infrastructures to handle all the data and then it is not rational to store everything in the cloud. The solution to this is Fog Computing, which serves as an intermediate layer between the sensors and cloud services.

Crossers software analyze streaming data in real time and determine what should be analyzed, filtered and passed on, for example, for storage and calculations in the cloud. This results in dramatically reduced costs for cloud services and bandwidth.

– Crosser is early in a hot industry. They have, thanks to a forward-looking technology and the right team chance to define a new market, says Mats Håkansson, Investment Manager at Almi Invest.

The target group for Crosser’s manufacturing industries as machine and equipment manufacturers, vehicle manufacturers and energy companies where IoT is becoming increasingly common.

Crossers technology provides an easy management of sensor-generated data and creates the opportunity to act within milliseconds of business-critical events world över.Crosser can be used in many different areas such as industrial IoT, distribution and logistics management, health care, smart homes and smart cities.

– The core of our real-time server has been developed since 2009, says Crossers CEO Martin Thunman. So when we started Crosser was basically already finished, which enabled us to go to market very quickly. This funding will allow us to build on the team and invest in sales and marketing.

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Perfect Gym Fuels Growth with €4.5M in Expansion Capital

3TS Capital Partners

Warsaw – October 9, 2017

Perfect Gym Software, a rapidly emerging leader, which provides an end-to-end platform that revolutionizes how fitness clubs are managed, announced today that it has raised €4.5M in a new round of funding. The round was led by 3TS Capital Partners, a leading European growth technology investor. Innovation Nest (lead investor in the seed round) and Trigon TFI also participated in the round. The company will use the investment to accelerate its growth in Europe, Middle-East and Asia, as well as continue development of its technology platform.

Perfect Gym offers a comprehensive suite of product modules for next-generation management of fitness clubs, sports facilities and gyms. The company’s integrated solution is based on the latest technology with modular architecture covering all key operations performed by multi-location and multi-country fitness chains. The platform’s breadth of functionality optimizes costs and increase profits significantly. Clients receive advanced reports with up-to-date club key performance indicators, monitoring of members activity, a complete CRM database, credit card and other payments solutions, as well as the ability to generate invoices and work schedules for trainers and specialty staff. Perfect Gym’s clients include well-known brands such as McFit, Gold’s Gym, World Class, Anytime Fitness, Fitness First, Fitness World and Fitness 24 Seven. Currently the company has more than 500 Customers in 37 markets on 4 continents.

Jacek Szlendak, Founder and CEO at Perfect Gym said, “We believe that our platform provides unique opportunities for fitness clubs and gyms to improve their business results more efficiently, while driving high customer engagement benchmark. We’re thrilled to add the experience and expertise of 3TS whose support will help accelerate our growth and the development and rollout of the platform to meet the increasing demand.”

3TS Partner Zbigniew Lapinski who led the investment commented, “Perfect Gym is serving a large and fast-growing fitness market. Being fit and healthy is a priority for individuals across the globe and this trend continues to drive explosive growth of mobile applications, connected devices and ultimately number of fitness clubs and gyms. We’re extremely excited to support Perfect Gym’s rapid growth as it helps operators run their businesses better while keeping their customers happy.”

Marcin Szelag, Partner at Innovation Nest who led the previous financing in Perfect Gym said, “With its suite of products, Perfect Gym is helping clients transition from legacy on premise software to a flexible cloud solution. We feel that this is an important step for the fitness industry, which will allow to launch new products and services. As an early believer and investor in Perfect Gym we are really impressed with the progress the company has made over the last 18 months and will continue to support the founders in realizing their vision.”

Paweł Burzyński, a partner and deputy CEO of Trigon TFI added, “We are pleased to support Perfect Gym which is well positioned to benefit from two mega trends of fit lifestyle and mobile applications development. Perfect Gym is a kind of investment we like the most, which should bring positive returns to our investors and healthier life to the company’s clients.”  

About Perfect Gym
Perfect Gym is the leading technology platform for the fitness clubs, sports facilities and gyms. Local, regional and global fitness business owners use Perfect Gym’s solutions to run, automate and grow their businesses.

Learn more at www.perfectgym.com

About 3TS Capital Partners

3TS Capital Partners is one of the leading European technology focused private equity and venture capital firms.  3TS provides expansion capital and buyout funding for small and medium-sized businesses in growth sectors including Technology & Internet, Media & Communications and Technology-Enabled Services. Investors in the current and past 3TS funds totaling over €300 million include EIF, EBRD, Cisco, OTP, Sitra, 3i and KfW among others.

About Trigon TFI

Trigon is one of the fastest growing and leading Polish private Mutual Funds with asset under management of USD 1.2bn. Venture FIZ, a VC arm of the Fund, has been directly engaged into the transaction of Perfect Gym.

Learn more at www.trigontfi.pl 

About Innovation Nest

Innovation Nest is an early stage VC firm focused on B2B Software. As a thesis driven fund, Innovation Nest helps seed stage companies in the B2B market go through product and market validation phase. Innovation Nest provides financing across Seed and Series A rounds. Now investing out of the second fund and targeting B2B software companies across Europe.

Learn more at www.innovationnest.com

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Crosser Technologies AB secures €1.4 million in seed funding

Spintop Ventures

Pioneers in real-time technologies raises capital to launch its Intelligent Edge Computing software for Industrial IoT.

Sundsvall/Stockholm, Sweden, October 9, 2017 — Crosser Technologies AB, a leader in Intelligent Edge Computing software (or “Fog Computing”) for industrial and enterprise IoT, announces today that it has raised €1.4 million in Seed capital led by Spintop Ventures with Almi Invest and Norrlandsfonden as co-investors in the round.

Crosser’s software acts as an on-site middle-layer between sensors and cloud services, analysing the streaming data in real-time and enabling large cost savings and real-time local actions for time-sensitive applications. It is designed to collect all the data from sensors
or operational technology (OT) machine data in real-time, analyse the data in milliseconds, aggregate, lter, enhance and take actions on the data in a distributed way. It is typically installed on a factory oor server or IoT Gateways and can also be embedded in equipment, machines or vehicles.

”The core real-time engine has been in development for several years by Ulf Björklund, our Head of R&D and co-founder”, said Crosser CEO and co-founder Martin Thunman. ”When we started Crosser we had the foundation already built which has enabled us to bring a product to market in a very short time. The funding will allow us to expand the team and to invest in sales and marketing”.

”The opportunities for industrial companies to embrace IoT to leverage data analytics for competitive advantages are huge.In many scenarios it will require distributed and intelligent edge computing” said Finn Persson, Partner at Spintop Ventures.
“The combination of a very large market opportunity, Crosser’s technology and the expertise and track-record of the founders make us very excited to lead the seed round in the company”.

Crosser’s solution includes a cloud-based management platform with a drag ‘n drop Flow Studio for easy set-up and over-the-air con guration and software updates. It also comes with a library of pre-built adapters and connectors for sensor data, industrial protocols, enterprise data sources and applications, cloud apps and cloud services.

Crosser has several deployments in various industries. As an example can be mentioned the data coordination for a supply and eet management system for Sweden’s largest forestry industry. Which was implemented and customized in partnership with one of Europe’s leading software integrators. Crosser’s partnership model has gained great traction, and there are s”ome major industry projects in the pipeline.

”An Industrial IoT project is not a stand-alone initiative. Besides collecting the sensor data it is also an integration project. It is when the sensor data is combined with other enterprise data that the full value is extracted.” said Martin Thunman. “Our objective is to make it very simple to collect, analyze and integrate the streaming data. All in the edge, managed by a cloud-based platform.”

About Crosser Technologies
Crosser designs and develops intelligent edge computing software for industrial and enterprise IoT applications.
The Crosser Fog Computing solution o oads the Cloud services, provides real-time analytic and decision making capabilities close to IoT sensors and IoT devices. This sub- stantially reduces Cloud services cost and bandwidth costs and gives a sub millisecond response time on data streams for real-time local actions. The software is ideally suited for Enterprise customers in a variety of industries and applications including Industrial IoT, Supply Chain, Healthcare, Smart Building and Smart Cities.
https://crossertech.com/

About Spintop Ventures
Founded in 2009, Spintop Ventures is a venture capital rm with a senior team backed by a network of successful tech entrepreneurs who have invested in Spintop alongside institutional investors family o ces and experienced private investors.

About Almi Invest
Almi Invest is Sweden’s most active startup investor. Almi Invest manages a total equity of SEK 3 billion and has since start invested in about 600 startups. Our best holdings have been divested to major industry players such as Google, Apple, Microsoft and Qlik or through successful IPOs such as Tobii and MIPS. Almi Invest is a Venture Capital company within the Almi Group.
www.almiinvest.se

About Norrlandsfonden

Norrlandsfonden is a trust fund that works to promote the development of companies with ambitions for growth in the counties of Norrbotten, Vasterbotten, Vasternorrland, Jamtland and Gavleborg in northern Sweden.
http://norrlandsfonden.se/

Crosser Media Folder (DropBox)
Contains resent pressreleases, team images, logos and product images.
http://dropbox.com/crossertech

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Segulah IV’s portfolio company Balco has been listed on Nasdaq Stockholm

On October 6, 2017, Segulah IV LP’s portfolio company Balco Group AB (publ) was listed on Nasdaq Stockholm. The Initial Public Offering attracted strong interest both from Nordic and international institutional investors, as well as from the general public in Sweden. The offering was several times over-subscribed.

The offering was set at a fixed price of SEK 56 per share, corresponding to a total market value of all issued shares of SEK 1,200 million. Assuming the over-allotment option is exercised in full, the offering will comprise 14,785,853 shares, corresponding to SEK 828 million or 69 percent of the total number of shares upon completion of the offering. Segulah IV will remain as the largest shareholder and hold approximately 19 percent of the shares after the IPO, assuming the over-allotment option is exercised in full.

Eight cornerstone investors, consisting of Erik Selin, Swedbank Robur Fonder AB, Vätterleden Aktiebolag, Lazard Asset Management GmbH, Stiftelsen Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, Taiga Fund Management AS, the Hamrin family and LMK Venture Partners AB, have in aggregate acquired 34.2 percent of the outstanding shares in Balco.

”Segulah IV is very satisfied with Balco’s strong development in recent years and it has been a pleasure working together with management and the board. During Segulah IV’s ownership, Balco has created a robust operational platform from which to continue to grow profitably for several years to come in the Nordics and in Europe. The listing is an important milestone in Balco’s 30 years history and an opportunity for also new shareholders to participate in the next growth phase of the Company”, says Percy Calissendorff, Partner, Segulah Advisor AB.

Carnegie Investment Bank acted as Global Coordinator and Joint Bookrunner, and Danske Bank as Joint Bookrunner.

For more information, please visit www.segulah.com or contact:

Percy Calissendorff, Partner, Segulah Advisor AB, phone +46 73 347 62 81

Marcus Planting-Bergloo, Partner, Segulah Advisor AB, phone +46 702 29 11 85

 

Balco in brief:

Since Balco was founded in 1987 in Växjö, Sweden, the Company has grown from being a local product-oriented supplier of concrete balconies into a leading market-oriented supplier of glazed balcony solutions. Balco primarily offers customized, innovative balcony solutions under its own brand to tenant-owner associations, private landlords, the public housing sector and construction companies. Balco operates on its Main Markets, which comprise Sweden, Denmark and Norway, as well on its Other Markets, which comprise Germany, Finland, the UK and the Netherlands.

Balco’s core expertise is in delivering glazed balconies and balcony solutions, primarily on the renovation market and to tenant-owner associations. The company is specialized in replacing existing balconies with new glazed balconies in accordance with the Balco-method. The method provides many advantages for the customer, such as lower energy costs, enhanced living standard and an increase in the value of the property. Balco has a successful sales process which means that the Company assumes overall responsibility and guides the customer through the entire construction process, from project planning to concluded final inspection and aftermarket service. The Company is one of few complete balcony suppliers on its Main Markets who has the ability to provide customized and high-quality balcony solutions, irrespective of order size and complexity, with short delivery times.

Since its inception, Balco has expanded to several European countries and has today 18 sales offices in seven countries. The Company has three wholly-owned production facilities in Sweden, Denmark and Poland, and is part-owner of a strategic Polish subcontractor which, together with the large sales force, constitutes the platform from which Balco delivers its balcony solutions to customers around northern Europe. The Company has made significant investments in its operational platform, thereby creating positive conditions for continued growth in both sales and earnings.

Balco is today the market leader in the balcony market on its Main Markets. Balco is a strong challenger in the Company’s Other Markets.

Balco’s strong market position within the Renovation segment, combined with its high quality balcony solutions, operational platform and positive underlying market trends, has contributed to a positive development in recent years. During the period 2014 to the twelve-month period ending 30 June 2017, the Group’s sales increased from SEK 568.4 million to SEK 929.0 million and adjusted EBIT increased from SEK 41.0 million to SEK 109.8 million, equivalent to an increase in adjusted EBIT margin from 7.2 percent to 11.8 percent. This makes Balco one of the most profitable companies in the balcony market. 

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EQT Real Estate broadens its German portfolio

eqt

  • EQT Real Estate invests in two office buildings comprising about 70,000 square meters in Frankfurt, Germany’s foremost hub for financial services
  • The plan includes an extensive repositioning of the buildings in the rapidly changing Niederrad and Neu-Isenburg submarkets
  • The investment represents EQT Real Estate’s fifth investment to date

EQT Real Estate I (“EQT Real Estate” or “the Fund”) has acquired two multi-let office assets in Frankfurt, Germany. The assets form part of the pan-German portfolio Project Mars, acquired by Eurocastle from DWS in 2007, and represents the fund’s fifth investment to date and second in Germany.

Frankfurt is well-known as an attractive base for the European banking and financial services sectors, with a rapidly evolving office market with strong demand from tenants but only a small number of new developments. The two buildings are both modern and strategically located in terms of transport links and political initiatives. The largest one, Atricom, comprises 45,600 square meters and is located in Niederrad, while the second building, Le Büro, comprises 23,700 square meters and is located in Neu-Isenburg.

The buildings are set to receive a comprehensive refresh and optimization by further modernizing, upgrading and improving the buildings, both technically and visually, in order to offer future and existing tenants a quality working environment.

Frank Forster, Director at EQT Partners and advisor to the Fund, said:

“We are looking forward to EQT Real Estate taking part of the ongoing development in Frankfurt-Niederrad. The area is rapidly changing and the plans for Atricom should make a positive contribution to this part of town.”

Contacts:
Frank Forster, Director at EQT Partners, Investment Advisor to EQT Real Estate I, +44 20 8432 5404
EQT Press Office, +46 8 506 553 34

About EQT
EQT is a leading alternative investments firm with approximately EUR 37 billion in raised capital across 24 funds. EQT funds have portfolio companies in Europe, Asia and the US with total sales of more than EUR 19 billion and approximately 110,000 employees. EQT works with portfolio companies to achieve sustainable growth, operational excellence and market leadership.

More info: www.eqtpartners.com

About EQT Real Estate I
EQT Real Estate I will seek to make direct and indirect controlling investments in real estate assets, portfolios and operating companies that offer significant potential for value creation through repositioning, redevelopment, refurbishment and active management. The investments will typically range between EUR 50 million and EUR 200 million. The fund is advised by an experienced team from EQT Partners, with extensive knowledge of property investment, development and intensive “hands-on” asset management, and with access to the full EQT network, including 10 European offices and more than 250 industrial advisors.

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CapMan Buyout to divest Oral Hammaslääkärit to Colosseum Dental Group

CapMan Buyout to divest Oral Hammaslääkärit to Colosseum Dental Group

CapMan Buyout press release 6 October 2017 at 11.00 a.m. EEST

CapMan Buyout to divest Oral Hammaslääkärit to Colosseum Dental Group

A group of investors led by CapMan Buyout, including funds managed by CapMan Buyout, are pleased to announce to have reached an agreement to divest Oral Hammaslääkärit Plc (“Oral”) to Colosseum Dental Group (“Colosseum”), a Swiss-based dentistry group. Financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.

Oral is the leading Finnish private dentistry chain with 63 clinics and sales close to EUR 100 million. During CapMan’s ownership, Oral’s revenue has increased by 15 per cent annually while EBITDA has increased by a compound annual growth rate of 19 per cent. Funds managed by CapMan acquired Oral in 2014.

Together with Oral, Colosseum is expected to have sales of around EUR 350 million and will operate more than 200 clinics in Finland, Norway, Sweden, the UK, Switzerland, Italy and Denmark, further pursuing its journey to build a leading pan-European dentistry group.

“We are very pleased with the development of Oral and the return of our investment. During our ownership, Oral has significantly expanded and completed several developments projects, especially within the digitalisation of its operations. Today, Oral is one of the most developed private dental care companies in Europe. Oral will in my mind fit very well into Colosseum Dental Group, who will continue to support the company in its future development and further build on the strengths of the business and its ongoing initiatives. It has been an honour to be part of Oral’s development, and I would like to offer my sincere thanks to the company’s management, the dental care professionals and all its employees,” says Jan Mattlin, Partner at CapMan Buyout and responsible for the investment in Oral.

“We are delighted to become part of the Colosseum Dental Group. The company has a long-term mandate to build a strong European dentistry platform. This allows us here in Finland to continue building a great local business with high quality offering for both patients and dentists. We will continue to improve oral health in Finland as we have done for the past 35 years. Oral’s strong brand will prevail in Finland and our employees and dentists will have even more opportunities to develop their know-how in the future through the opening-up of opportunities for international exchange. We see the acquisition as a very positive opportunity for our service development in the years to come”, says Martin Forss, CEO of Oral.

“With Oral we both reach a group of highly competent new colleagues, as well as gain access to forefront know-how around how to run many of our processes in a more advanced manner that we can leverage across other geographies. Our vision of modern, high quality dentistry for the benefit of patients, dentists and employees fits well with what management wants to accomplish. We are certain that the increased scale of the new company will be for the benefit of all stakeholders,” says Tomas Aubell, CEO of Colosseum.

Colosseum will continue to support management with its development of the company and Martin Forss and his team have agreed to continue to run Oral also after the transaction. The transaction is expected to close in November 2017.

For more information, please contact:
Jan Mattlin, Partner, CapMan Buyout
jan.mattlin@capman.com
+358 40 508 6406

Tomas Aubell, Chief Executive Officer, Colosseum Dental Group
tomas.aubell@colosseumdental.com
+41 79 519 55 02

Martin Forss, Chief Executive Officer, Oral Hammaslääkärit Plc
martin.forss@oral.fi
+358 40 779 6266

About CapMan
CapMan is a leading Nordic investment and specialised asset management company. As one of the Nordic private equity pioneers we have actively developed hundreds of companies and real estate and thereby created substantial value in these businesses and assets over more than 25 years. CapMan has today 110 private equity professionals and manages €2.3 billion in assets. We mainly manage the assets of our customers, the investors, but also make direct investments from our own balance sheet in areas without an active fund. Our objective is to provide attractive returns and innovative solutions to investors and value adding services to professional investment partnerships, growth-oriented companies and tenants. Our current investment strategies cover Buyout, Growth Equity, Real Estate, Russia, Credit and Infrastructure. We also have a growing service business that currently includes fundraising advisory, procurement activities and fund management.
www.capman.com
twitter.com/CapManPE

About Colosseum Dental Group
Colosseum Dental Group, a company fully owned by Jacobs Holding AG, has the ambition to become the leading European provider for dentistry services. With the acquisition of Oral, Colosseum now operates more than 200 clinics with 900 dentists across Finland, Norway, Sweden, the UK, Switzerland, Italy and Denmark with run-rate sales of approximately EUR 350 million. The group wants to provide modern, quality dentistry services for the benefit of patients, dentists, employees and shareholders alike, striving for continuous growth and excellence.
www.colosseumdental.com

About Oral Hammaslääkärit Plc
The Finnish Oral Hammaslääkärit Plc is a service company offering oral health care, with more than 1,300 professionals providing services throughout Finland. In 2016, the company’s revenue amounted to EUR 81.4 million. Oral provides dental health services at over 60 dental clinics in various locations in Finland. The dental laboratory Oral Hammaslaboratorio Oy is part of the Group.
www.oral.fi

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Major shareholder enters into a margin loan. Nordic Capital remains committed to Intrum Justitia AB (publ)

Nordic Capital

Cidron 1748 S.à r.l. (the “Shareholder”), the company through which Nordic Capital Fund VIII (“Nordic Capital”) holds shares in Intrum Justitia AB (publ) (the “Company” or “Intrum”), and the largest shareholder in the Company, has today entered into a three-year EUR 518 million margin loan (the “Margin Loan”) secured against shares held in Intrum by the Shareholder. The Shareholder will not sell any shares in Intrum in connection with entering into the Margin Loan.

“Nordic Capital sees significant value creation potential for Intrum and wants to remain invested. This way the Fund can return some money to its investors while keeping shares in the Company. Nordic Capital firmly believes in the benefits of the combination of Lindorff and Intrum, and the creation of an industry leading CMS player.” says Kristoffer Melinder, Managing Partner of NC Advisory AB, advisor to the Nordic Capital Funds.

The loan arrangement will adhere to all conditions from the merger agreement between Lindorff and Intrum Justitia AB and the Margin Loan has been provided by reputable third party financial institutions on conditions that are customary for this kind of instrument.

Press contact

Katarina Janerud, Communications Manager,
NC Advisory AB, advisor to the Nordic Capital Funds
Tel: +46 8 440 50 69
e-mail: katarina.janerud@nordiccapital.com

About Nordic Capital

Nordic Capital is a leading private equity investor in the Nordic region with a resolute commitment to creating stronger, sustainable businesses through operational improvement and transformative growth. Nordic Capital focuses on selected regions and sectors where it has deep experience and a proven track record. Core sectors are Healthcare, Technology & Payments, Financial Services, Industrial Goods & Services and Consumer & Retail, and key regions are the Nordics, Northern Europe, and globally for Healthcare. Since inception in 1989, Nordic Capital has invested EUR 11 billion through eight funds. The Nordic Capital Funds are based in Jersey and are advised by six advisory entities, which are based in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Germany and the UK. For further information about Nordic Capital please see www.nordiccapital.com

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Gimv-backed Luciad acquired by Hexagon

GIMV

Luciad, a leading provider of high performance geospatial situational awareness technology that powers the world’s mission critical operations, today announces that it has been acquired by Hexagon AB, a global provider of information technologies that drives productivity and quality across geospatial and industrial enterprise applications.

Luciad (www.luciad.com) was founded in 1999 as a spin-off from the University KU Leuven. Luciad’s applications simplify the lives of developers and end users with advanced visual analytics that allow them to unlock the potential of real time location intelligence and create the foundation for next generation geospatial systems. From safeguarding critical assets to creating the digital infrastructure for smart cities, Luciad helps users implement intuitive command and control systems. Its customers depend on the company for high performance visualization that allows them to implement scalable solutions. Today, the company serves clients worldwide through a network of subsidiaries and resellers in Europe, Asia and the Americas. In addition, major systems integrators incorporate Luciad’s software in their own products. Airbus Defence & Space, Boeing, Dassault, Lufthansa Systems, NATO and Unifly belong to the company’s customers.

Gimv, together with co-investor Gimv Arkiv Tech Fund II and the other shareholders today sold their stake in Luciad to the Swedish-headquartered Hexagon (Nasdaq Stockholm: HEXA B), which generates revenues of EUR 3.2 billion with 18.000 employees. Luciad will become a fully owned subsidiary of Hexagon and will operate under its Geospatial division. The company’s products perfectly combine with the offering from Hexagon. Therefore, we see Hexagon as the right partner to unlock the full potential of Luciad’s technology.

Since Gimv’s initial investment in spring 2013, the company’s references and proof concepts for big data applications have contributed to the strategic value of the technology. Over the past years, the company’s products evolved significantly, being from desktop only to web based, into 3D. Moreover, server capacity was added to its offering.

“Gimv has given us the platform we needed to evolve from startup to scale-up. During the 4 years that we were part of Gimv’s portfolio, the organization has grown significantly without experiencing the growth pains that characterize this coming into adulthood for companies,” said Marc Melviez, CEO of Luciad.

Tom Van de Voorde, Head of Gimv‘s Smart Industries platform and board member of Luciad comments: “We are delighted to have found a harbor for Luciad that will be stimulating and synergetic beyond the current standalone potential. Hexagon’s clients will benefit from Luciad’s world class geospatial software allowing them to use geospatial data in making excellent business decisions. During our investment period within Luciad, we have seen Luciad evolve from a timid software player to the leading player in its field thanks to excellent new product releases and hard work of the Luciad employees to establish Luciad as a brand of excellence in some of its verticals. Hexagon understood and experienced Luciad’s power resulting in this transaction.”

Luciad was the first investment of the Smart Industries team after the lauch of Gimv’s platform strategy back in late 2012. Over the entire holding period, the investment in Luciad generated a return well above Gimv’s long-term average return, with a positive impact on the equity value at 30 June 2017 of about EUR 0.75 per Gimv-share. No further details about this transaction will be disclosed.

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EV Private Equity invests in Ashmin and Workover Solutions

Ashmin, founded in 2003 by Doc Gunther, a respected engineer of downhole drilling tools, announced the completion of an investment of $15,000,000 from EV Private Equity into Ashmin and its sister company Workover Solutions. The funds will be primarily used to accelerate broad commercialization of Ashmin’s proprietary downhole tools including drilling motors and friction reduction tools; and to continue the rapid growth of Workover Solution in providing thru-tubing services for well completion and intervention.

“Ashmin has a solid track-record of developing premium, reliable drilling and well intervention/completion tools,” said Neil Fletcher, who was recently appointed as Ashmin’s CEO. “The investment by EV Private Equity allows us to strengthen the management team and build a rental fleet of our proprietary drilling motors and friction reduction tools to satisfy current customer demand for high performance downhole tools.”

“We believe that backed by its engineering strength, Ashmin is well positioned in a growing market, and we are proud to partner with the current owners and management,” said Espen Strøm, Investment Director with EV Private Equity.

Workover Solutions has grown rapidly in the Northeast since inception in 2015, and the capital from EV Private Equity will allow the company to increase its footprint in NAM.

“We are very excited to receive funding from EV Private Equity, and we are looking forward to the next phase of Ashmin,” said Doc Gunther, Founder of Ashmin.

About Ashmin and Workover Solutions

Ashmin is a recognized leader in product engineering and has delivered unique solutions to the industry for close to 15 years. Ashmin has a strong product portfolio and several novel technologies under development. Workover Solutions has established strong relationships with numerous clients in the Northeast delivering prompt and reliable workover and completion services. Ashmin is headquartered in Conroe, Texas.

For more information visit ashmin.com or workoversolutions.com.

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EURAZEO succesfully completes the sale of part of its ELIS shares

Eurazeo

Eurazeo, which has accompanied Elis since its initial investment in October 2007, today announces the
sale of a total of 10 million Elis shares by Eurazeo, directly and through its subsidiary Legendre Holding 27
SAS(“LH27”), and together with ECIP Elis Sarl. The disposal, representing 4.56% of
Elis’ share capital and 4.36% of Elis’ voting rights, was achieved at a price of €22.01 per share, for a total consideration of € 220 million, by way of an accelerated book building to institutional investors (the “
Placement”). The sale comprised 8,696, 854 Elis shares (i.e. 3.96% of Elis’ share capital) sold by
LH 27, 1,112,974 Elis shares (i.e. 0.51% of Elis’ share capital) sold by Eurazeo directly and 190,
172 Elis shares (i.e.0.09 of Elis’ share capital) sold by ECIP Elis Sarl.

Following completion of the Placement, LH27 hold s 6.30 % of Elis’ share capital nd 10.24 % of Elis’ voting rights.In economic terms, Eurazeo holds via LH27 an interest equivalent to 5.7% of Elis’ share capital, compared with 9.1 % prior to the Placement. Out of the three members of the Supervisory Board appointed on the proposal of Eurazeo and LH27, one will be stepping down in the coming months.

Marc Frappier, Managing Director of Eurazeo Capital, declared:

“Under the leadership of Xavier Martiré, Elis has been able to develop at an amazing pace with strong expansion outside of France. The Group has successfully accelerated its M&A strategy with recent acquisitions of Lavebras in Brazil,Indusal in Spain and the ongoing merger with Berendsen.

We strongly support the management team in this strategy which we believe will deliver material benefits for the Group and its shareholders in the future.”

 

This transaction generated net proceeds for Eurazeo of around €162 million.
Eurazeo realized a multiple of about 2.3 x its investment.
In accordance with market practices, a 90-day lock-up has been granted by LH 27 in respect of its remaining shareholding in Elis, subject to customary exceptions and waivers. BNP Paribas acted as Bookrunner in connection with the Placement. Rothschild acted as financial advisor to Eurazeo.
***

About Eurazeo

With a diversified portfolio of approximately €6 billion in assets under management, of which €1 billion is from
third parties, Eurazeo is one of the leading listed investment companies in Europe. Its purpose and mission is
to identify, accelerate and enhance the transformation potential of the companies in which it invests. The
Company covers most private equity segments through its five business divisions – Eurazeo Capital, Eurazeo Croissance, Eurazeo PME, Eurazeo Patrimoine and Eurazeo Brands. Its solid institutional and family shareholder base, robust financial structure free of structural debt, and flexible investment horizon enable Eurazeo to support its companies over the long term. Eurazeo is notably a shareholder in AccorHotels, Asmodee, CIFA, CPK, Desigual, Elis, Europcar, Fintrax, Grape Hospitality, Les Petits Chaperons Rouges, Moncler, Neovia, Novacap, Sommet Education, Trader Interactive, and also SMEs such as Péters Surgical and lash Europe International, as well as start -ups such as Farfetch and Vestiaire Collective.
Eurazeo is listed on Euronext Paris.
ISIN: FR0000121121
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Bloomberg: RF FP
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Reuters: EURA.PA

 

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