Category Archives: News

Innovation Industries And Samsung Ventures Investment Corporation Invest In TNO Spin-Off Nearfield Instruments B.V.

Innovation Industries

Innovation Industries announced today that it has closed an investment in Nearfield Instruments B.V.

Ultrafast High-Throughput Atomic Force Microscopy (HT-AFM) will keep Moore’s Law alive. Amsterdam, 5 September 2017. Innovation Industries announced today that it has closed an investment in Nearfield Instruments B.V. The investment will enable Nearfield Instruments to start the development of its first ultrafast High-Throughput Atomic Force Microscopy (HT-AFM) system for metrology of advanced integrated circuits (IC’s). Nearfield Instruments is a spin-off company of the Netherlands Organisation for applied-scientific Research TNO. Innovation Industries made this investment in syndication with Samsung Venture Investment Corporation.

Atomic scale dimensions
There’s a high demand for more powerful and lower power-consuming electronics for mobile devices and computer systems. To achieve new functionalities and to make optimum use of the available wafer space integrated circuit (IC) devices will shrink to atomic scale dimensions using novel, sensitive materials while at the same time being designed in a full three-dimensional configuration. In order to accommodate these trends in a technologically and economically viable way breakthroughs in metrology processes and equipment for IC device development and manufacturing are required. Without it, Moore’s Law would come to an end. Moore’s law is the observation that the number of transistors in a dense IC doubles approximately every two years.

Atomic Force Microscopy up to 1000x faster
Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) is a well-known technology for imaging the smallest features and often applied in research. An AFM system uses an atomically-sharp probe to scan (but just not touch) the surface of the sample under investigation to sense the pattern on it. However, AFM was always considered too slow for industrial applications. Five years ago, TNO initiated the NOMI (Nano-Optomechatronics Instrumentation) program, in which scientific research is combined with application know-how, which has led to multiple improvements to this technology with the potential to make AFM up to 1000x faster than traditional AFM-technology. This makes Nearfield Instruments’ AFM-solution of prime interest for the semiconductor industry.

Dr. Hamed Sadeghian, principal scientist at TNO and scientific leader of NOMI: “This patented revolutionary architecture is based on parallelizing AFM. The parallelization is achieved by miniaturizing the AFM and operating many of them simultaneously. This instrument has the advantage that each miniaturized AFM can be operated independently that allows one to measure several physical parameters simultaneously; while one mini AFM measures nano-scale topography, another instrument can measure mechanical, electrical, or thermal properties, making it a lab-on-an-instrument. The key to this was to miniaturize AFM to size of a match box to allow achieving very high measurement bandwidth, while achieving very high stability of nano-imaging by shortening the metrology loop[1].

Innovation Industries’ second investment
Innovation Industries made this investment to accelerate the market introduction of Nearfield’s High-Throughput AFM. Within the next few years, Nearfield Instruments will develop HT-AFM to a viable product for the semiconductor market. General Partner at Innovation Industries, Nard Sintenie comments: “We are very positive about the potentiality of Nearfield’s product and technology. Through our collaboration with Samsung Venture Investment Corporation we will do our best to help the company and its team to realize its strategy to help the semiconductor industry in its continuous strive towards even more powerful and lower power-consuming electronics.”

 

‍About Innovation Industries
Innovation Industries [2] is a specialist independent hightech VC fund, targeting Dutch companies that are developing commercially promising products and technologies in attractive technology fields like: nano/microtechnologies, semiconductors & integrated photonics, ICT & (cyber) security, clean technology, Food & Agro technology and medical technology (medical devices & diagnostics).

Contacts:
Nard Sintenie, General Partner
ns@innovationindustries.com
+31610011072

Harm de Vries, General Partner
hv@innovationindustries.com
+31653216339

About Samsung Venture Investment Corporation
Samsung Venture Investment Corporation manages investment and investment-related activities for Samsung affiliate companies, including Samsung Electronics. The investment mandate for Samsung Venture Investment Corporation tracks closely to the strategic priorities of Samsung affiliate companies’ core operating divisions, and encompasses investments in semiconductors, displays, telecommunications, and consumer electronics.

About TNO
The Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) is an independent research organization. We connect people and knowledge to create innovations that boost the sustainable competitive strength of industry and well-being of society. This is our mission and it is what drives us, the over 3,000 professionals at TNO, in our work every day. We work in collaboration with partners and focus on five transitions that we have identified together with our stakeholders. TNO is established by law and exists as a legal entity by public law. The TNO-law gives us a number of special tasks and frameworks and linking it to specific conditions under which we have to perform our work. Based on these preconditions, we create independent and reliable solutions to the grand challenges our societies face.

Contact:
Maarten Lortzer
maarten.lortzer@tno.nl
+31888660888

About Nearfield Instruments B.V.
Please refer to the following movie.

Contact:
Roland van Vliet (CEO)
roland.vanvliet@nearfieldinstruments.com

[1] Sadeghian et al., High-throughput atomic force microscopes operating in parallel, Review of Scientific Instruments 88, 033703 (2017).

[2] The Innovation Industries is supported by InnovFin Equity, with the financial backing of the European Union under Horizon 2020 Financial Instruments and the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) set up under the Investment Plan for Europe. The purpose of EFSI is to help support financing and implementing productive investments in the European Union and to ensure increased access to financing (or the relevant translation).

‍

Categories: News

Bricoprivé acquires Racetools

Ardian

Bricoprivé is 12 months ahead of schedule in reaching the ambitious target of €100 million in gross revenues per annum

Toulouse, 4 September 2017 – Bricoprivé, the leading website specialising in flash sales of DIY, gardening and home improvement products, today announces the acquisition of Racetools, a specialist distributor of portable electric tools to professionals. The deal was completed with the support of Bricoprivé’s minority shareholder, Ardian, the independent private investment company.

Founded in Nîmes in 2012, Racetools has established itself as the leader in portable electric tools for professionals. The company owns a major retail outlet and a 1000m² space dedicated to shipping, as well as an after-sales service counter. Over the last five years, the company has successfully formed partnerships with the largest professional tool brands across France, which has contributed to its strong growth and leading market position.

Bricoprivé.com offers a wide range of professional quality products at competitive discount prices. Since its founding in 2012, the Toulouse-based company has experienced rapid and profitable growth, with a gross revenues of more than €75 million in the last 12 months.

Over the last few years, Bricoprivé has established itself in France and southern Europe as the leader in flash sales among consumers and DIY sector customers. In line with its external growth strategy, this acquisition will strengthen its leading position in the power tool segment by giving it a foothold in the professional market.

Julien Boue, co-founder of Bricoprivé, said: “The relationship with leading brands in our sector is the fundamental pillar of Bricoprivé’s strategy. These partnerships provide access to exclusive offers in return for the media exposure and turnover we offer the brands. Racetools’ success in forging strong partnerships with professional brands which complement Bricoprivé’s existing partners was a major deciding factor for us.”

Nicolas Leron, founder of Racetools, added: “The merger with Bricoprivé takes Racetools to a new dimension. As well as expanding reach into two new countries, Spain and Italy, Bricoprivé’s infrastructure and logistical expertise will enable us to accelerate our growth and reinforce our range of products and services.”

Marc Leverger, co-founder of Bricoprivé, added: “This acquisition means we are 12 months ahead of schedule in reaching the ambitious target of €100 million in gross revenues per annum. This is crucial, since we believe that rapid development is vital to success online. The Racetools product offering complements ours well, particularly due to the company’s exposure to the professional power tool market. The technical knowledge of the Racetools teams, both in terms of products and after-sales service, will enable us to progress the business to the next level.

Furthermore, we will now have a physical retail outlet for the first time, and from the autumn, will be able to offer our partner brands access to new distribution channel.”

Romain Chuidini, Senior Investment Manager at Ardian Growth added: “This acquisition is the next step in Bricoprivé’s development. After strong organic growth and international expansion in southern Europe, the company is continuing its expansion via an active external growth strategy. This reflects the ambition expressed when we first acquired a stake in Bricoprivé of becoming the European leader in online DIY distribution.”

ABOUT BRICOPRIVÉ

Founded in October 2012 in Toulouse and managed by Julien Boue and Marc Leverger, Bricoprive.com is the leading website for flash sales of DIY, gardening and home improvement products. A major e-commerce player in the DIY sector in France, Bricoprivé organises private sales, of the main brands in the sector (Grohe, Bosch Legrand, Ryobi and Dewalt) for its five million members.

With the brands’ agreement, Bricoprivé holds nine to 10 flash sales each day of surplus stock and end-of-life products. Considered as a sales platform (three logistics platforms in France covering the entire country), the website is also an excellent communications platform for brands with its community of highly targeted members. After five years of strong growth, more than €75 million in gross revenues over the 12 last months and the recruitment of 130 staff, Bricoprivé is entering a new phase in its development with this new acquisition.

www.bricoprive.com

ABOUT RACETOOLS

Founded in June 2012 and managed by Nicolas Leron, Racetools has established itself as the leader in portable electric tools for professionals. Based in Nîmes, the company has a retail outlet and a 1000m² space dedicated to shipping as well as an after-sales service counter. After five years of steady development, Racetools is merging entirely into Bricoprivé.

www.racetools.fr/

ABOUT ARDIAN

Ardian, founded in 1996 and led by Dominique Senequier, is an independent private investment company with assets of US$62 billion managed or advised in Europe, North America and Asia. The company, which is majority-owned by its employees, keeps entrepreneurship at its heart and delivers investment performance to its global investors while fuelling growth in economies across the world. Ardian’s investment process embodies three values: excellence, loyalty and entrepreneurship.

Ardian maintains a truly global network, with more than 470 employees working through twelve offices in Beijing, Frankfurt, Jersey, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Singapore and Zurich. The company offers its 580 investors a diversified choice of funds covering the full range of asset classes, including Ardian Funds of Funds (primary, early secondary and secondary), Ardian Private Debt, Ardian North America Direct Buyout, Direct Funds (Ardian Mid Cap Buyout, Ardian Expansion, Ardian Growth, Ardian Co-Investment), Ardian Infrastructure, Ardian Real Estate and customized mandate solutions with Ardian Mandates.

www.ardian.com

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CapMan Real Estate closes its second pan-Nordic fund at hard cap with EUR 425 million of equity commitments

Capman

CapMan Real Estate press release 4 September 2017 at 10.00 a.m. EEST

CapMan Real Estate closes its second pan-Nordic fund at hard cap with EUR 425 million of equity commitments

CapMan Real Estate holds the first and final closing of CapMan Nordic Real Estate II (CMNRE II), its second pan-Nordic value-add fund, at EUR 425 million of equity commitments from Nordic, European and US institutional investors. With leverage CMNRE II reaches an investment capacity of over EUR 1 billion to be invested primarily across the office, retail and residential sectors in the most liquid real estate markets in the Nordics following the successful strategy of its predecessor fund.

With continued support from the investors in the previous fund and a strong demand from new investors, CMNRE II quickly became oversubscribed. In line with the previous fund, the investors are equally distributed from the Nordics, the rest of Europe and the US, with each region representing roughly a third of the invested capital. The fund has a total of 30 investors.

CMNRE II follows the proven investment strategy of its predecessor fund by focusing on established office submarkets; necessity anchored retail; and residential opportunities in the capital cities as well as other growth centres in Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway. CMNRE II will also selectively invest in other real estate sectors supported by increasing urbanization, changing demographics and other prevailing macro themes.

“We are extremely pleased for the strong support from both our existing and new investors. Our disciplined and prudent investment approach towards selecting the best assets and managing them hands-on by our local teams has provided great results over time. We continue to see interesting opportunities throughout the Nordics in our focus areas and believe we can continue providing good returns to our investors by maintaining our disciplined approach,” says Mika Matikainen, Managing Partner of CapMan Real Estate.

“I am satisfied to see the positive development continue in our Real Estate business. The closing of this new fund is an important part of CapMan’s growth strategy and a strong expression of trust among our investors,” comments Joakim Frimodig, CEO of CapMan.

CMNRE II fund generates management fees and carry according to private equity real estate fund standards.

CapMan Real Estate was advised by Scala Fund Advisory, Wren Capital LLC and Ashurst LLP in the establishment of CMNRE II fund.

CapMan Real Estate has a team consisting of over 30 real estate professionals in Helsinki, Stockholm and Copenhagen. CapMan Real Estate currently has over EUR 1.7 billion of assets under management and the first fund was established in 2005.

Additional information:
Mika Matikainen, Managing Partner, CapMan Real Estate, +358 40 519 0707
Joakim Frimodig, CEO, CapMan Plc, tel. +358 50 529 0665

CapMan
www.capman.com
twitter.com/CapManPE

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 the last 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, Infrastructure and Tactical Opportunities. We also have a growing service business that currently includes fundraising advisory, procurement activities and fund management.

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ATS and Service Link merge with Orwak Sweden and become the market leader in sales and service of compacting waste equipment

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Accent Equity

San Sac Group acquires the two companies Avfallsteknik Skandinavien AB (ATS) and Service Link Skandinavien AB (S
ervice Link). ATS is the market leader in sales of waste compaction equipment and Service Link offers a nationwide service organization for compaction equipment. Fredrik Jagin der, CEO of San Sac Group states:
”With the acquisition of ATS and Service Link and the upcoming merger with our Swedish sales company Orwak Sverige AB, we can offer the Swedish market the most complete product range of waste compaction equipment. In addition, we get
a nationwide service organization that ensures reliable operation at our customer sites.
The former owners of ATS and Service Link, Risto Sunell and Daniel Egeberg, remain in the business.
Daniel Egeberg comments:“The fact that our organization now gets access to the high quality products and the
competence in development andproduction of balers, which Orwak is in possession of, allows us to offer even more attractive solutions to the market.”
Risto Sunell, adds:” The merged business gains a position that enables us to become an even larger player nationwide and
strengthens our service offer further in the Swedish market.”
San Sac Group:
San Sac Group was formed in 2014 when San Sac and its subsidiaries ILAB Container and Rubaek merged with
Enviropac. The group expanded when acquiring the baler manufacturer Orwak in 2015.
With the acquisition of ATS and Service Link, San Sac Group has 275 employees and a turnover that amounts to 115 M EUR.
www.sansacgroup.com
Orwak:
Orwak is a world leader in compaction and baling solutions and offers an innovative
range of products that promotes sorting at source and make waste management more
profitable. Orwak is headquarter ed in Sweden and is present in approximately 40 countries
through subsidiaries and distributors.
www.orwak.com
ATS:
ATS is a market leader in sales of waste compaction equipment, mainly container compactors and balers.
The company has 20 employees and a turnover of approx. 11.5M EUR. The headoffice is located in Bromma, Sweden.
www.ats-ab.se
Service Link:
Service Link  specializes in service on compacting waste equipment and serves the Swedish market with a dedicated team of 18 technicians.The turnover amounts to approx. 3 M EUR.
http://servicelink.se

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EV Private Equity invests in Evolution Engineering

EV Private Equity has invested in Evolution Engineering Inc. Financial terms weren’t announced. Evolution Engineering, of Calgary, provides products and engineering services to the measurement while drilling market.

PRESS RELEASE 

Evolution Engineering Inc. (“Evolution” or “the Company”) today announced the completion of an investment from EV Private Equity. The funds will be used to accelerate the Company’s North American growth and expand product development related to its market leading EVO ONE measurement while drilling (“MWD”) platform and related directional drilling technologies.

“Evolution now has additional resources to pursue its aggressive growth strategy and build on its industry leading directional drilling technologies,” said Paul Crilly, Evolution’s CEO. “The growth capital also positions us to ensure that our customers will continue to benefit from the highest level of product innovation, service and support. In parallel, we will be accelerating our marketing efforts, serving the needs of clients throughout North America and around the world.”

“We are delighted to support the on-going business and vision of Evolution Engineering’s team, whose EVO ONE MWD systems are already enabling the drilling of the industry’s most extreme horizontal wellbores,” said Matthew Anstead, EV Private Equity partner. “We believe that Evolution is well positioned for further growth, particularly in the horizontal shale plays of the US and Canada.”

About Evolution Engineering

Building upon its patented and proven Unified Telemetry platform, Evolution delivers purpose-built MWD products that exceed today’s drilling requirements for performance and reliability. The company’s flagship MWD system, EVO ONE, was built to provide a single, highly reliable MWD tool suitable for every drilling requirement. By designing and manufacturing these systems in-house, Evolution engineered out the most common MWD tool failure modes while combining EM and Mud Pulse technology into a single Unified Telemetry with a one-size-fits-all probe design. By designing extremely reliable, high data rate, large bandwidth communication technology, Evolution is at the forefront of developing the Subsurface Internet TM. Evolution Engineering Inc. is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta and Conroe, Texas.

For more information visit Evolutioneng.com.

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New ownership strengthens OptoFidelity’s resources and production capacity

Tesi

Changyuan Group Ltd (“Changyuan”) has acquired 100% of OptoFidelity Oy (“OptoFidelity”) bringing together a unique combination of test & measurement solutions and capabilities available to customers worldwide. With Changyuan and OptoFidelity joining forces, customers will also enjoy many complementary benefits given Changyuan’s strong presence in Asia and Optofidelity respectively in Europe and in the US.

Picture: Tommi Turunen

OptoFidelity is a global market leader in designing robots and systems for testing smart devices. The company’s products are used to test the performance and reliability of touch-screen interfaces. The world’s leading technology firms rank among OptoFidelity’s customers, including Google, China Mobile and Atmel. There is strong demand for the company’s testing solutions also from the automotive industry and in the development of virtual reality applications.

Changyuan Group Ltd is a high-tech enterprise set up by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1986, specializing in R&D, manufacturing and service of EV-related materials, intelligent plant equipment and solutions, smart grid equipment.

“Our new Chinese partner will boost our growth, provide us with more resources and the capacity to deliver our test technology to our global customers worldwide, and give us access to Chinese smart device manufacturers. Within Changyuan we will be part of the conglomerate’s smart device production technology cluster, with a combined offering in test automation that is truly unique,” says OptoFidelity’s CEO Pertti Aimonen.

“To succeed in international competition, companies in the testing industry need cutting-edge technology, substantial capital and adequate manufacturing resources. OptoFidelity’s strength is testing technology, and we envisage a surge of growth now that Changyuan provides us with the other two,” comments OptoFidelity’s Board Chairman Antti Sivula.

“We are impressed by OptoFidelity’s rapid growth, test technology and prestigious customers. The company’s expertise and technology are unmatched, not only in robotics for test solutions but also in new growth sectors such as virtual reality applications and testing recycled phones. We will provide OptoFidelity with the manufacturing capacity it needs and with new customers close to end-customers in the People’s Republic of China. We will continue OptoFidelity’s growth story by building it into a world-class testing automation company,” explains Erbing Lu, Chief Executive Officer, Changyuan Group.

Pertti Aimonen, Tapio Koskinen and Kimmo Jokinen founded OptoFidelity in 2005. They were brought together by their desire to expand internationally and to do business with testing and measuring systems. The company has grown strongly, generating net sales in 2016 of EUR 20 million, of which exports accounted for 95%. OptoFidelity’s target is to reach sales of EUR 100 million or so by the end of 2020.

Strong growth in Finland will continue

“We’ve always recruited “MacGyver-minded” people who love testing technology and want to solve customers’ problems with passionate creativity. We will stay true to this culture in the future also,” Aimonen points out.

“We aim to accelerate growth through our Chinese partner by joining forces. We plan to keep Tampere and Oulu as our centres of expertise and to recruit more talent in those cities as our business grows.”

Finnish investors Tesi and Vision+ helped boost the company’s growth up to this point. Both investors see the improved growth opportunities that the industrial partnership offers as a positive forward step.

“OptoFidelity’s development from an R&D subcontractor into an industry leader in test automation solutions is exemplary, and demonstrates the company’s ability to predict customer needs over the long term. A primary aim of the Chinese partner was to acquire a highly skilled team to function as part of the Chinese parent company. We believe that this partnership will strengthen OptoFidelity both locally in Tampere, Finland, and in the global market,” says Tesi’s Investment Director Jussi Sainiemi.

Further information:

Pertti Aimonen, Chief Executive Officer, OptoFidelity Oy. Email: pertti.aimonen@optofidelity.com
Tel: +358 40 7749259 (available week 35 UTC – 7 h)

Antti Sivula, Chairman of the Board, Email: antti.sivula@optofidelity.com Tel: +358 40 843 5839

Erbing Lu, Chief Executive Officer Changyuan Group Ltd. Email: luerbing@cyg.com Tel: +86 135-0285-2066

Jussi Sainiemi, Investment Director, Tesi Email: jussi.sainiemi@tesi.fi 
Tel: +358 40 564 4660

Marko Tulonen, Co-founder & Partner, Vision+  Email: marko.tulonen@visionplus.fi
Tel. +358 40 508 9848

About Changyuan Group Ltd
Changyuan Group Ltd is a high-tech enterprise set up by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1986, specializing in R&D, manufacturing and service of EV-related materials, intelligent plant equipment and solutions, smart grid equipment. The company is a global partner for several industry-leading companies. The company headquartered is in Shenzhen, China See: www.cyg.com/web/

About OptoFidelity
OptoFidelity Oy is driven by a passion to innovate and design test and production solutions for mobile devices, sensors and electronics used in smart devices. The company is a global partner for several industry-leading companies. The company is headquartered in Tampere, Finland See: www.optofidelity.com

About Tesi
Tesi (Finnish Industry Investment Ltd) is a venture capital and private equity company that accelerates companies’ success stories by investing in them directly and via funds. Tesi always invests together with other investors, providing them with access to high quality deal flow in Finland. Our investments under management total 1 billion euros and we have altogether 723 companies in portfolio. www.tesi.fi / @TesiFII

About Vision+
 Vision+ is a capital fund investing in Finnish digital startups and growth companies. The size of the fund is €50m. The company has 87 investment projects in its portfolio. Investors in the fund include Nokia, Microsoft, the City of Oulu, The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, Finnish Industry Investment (Tesi), the FII-managed FoF Growth fund, and a number of pension funds. www.visionplus.fi

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Partners Group publishes market outlook for H2 2017: ‘In search of platform-building opportunities’

Partners Group logo

aar-Zug, Switzerland, 30 August 2017

Partners Group publishes market outlook for H2 2017: ‘In search of platform-building opportunities’

Partners Group today publishes its H2 2017 Private Markets Navigator report, which shares the firm’s mid-term outlook and investment preferences for all private markets asset classes.

Introducing the report, Steffen Meister, Partner, Delegate of the Board of Directors, and Chairman of the Relative Value Committee at Partners Group, says: “We continue to believe in a base case macroeconomic projection of sustained low but steady growth. However, after nearly a decade of rising markets, and with a shift away from extremely loose monetary policy, there is the risk of a deviation from our base case. Identifying anchor assets with platform-building potential in above-average growth segments and testing their resilience to adverse economic scenarios is key to outperformance in this environment.”

A short summary of the views presented in the H2 2017 Private Markets Navigator:

Private equity: the prospect of different potential macroeconomic outcomes paired with high valuations makes for a challenging investment environment. To continue to generate sustainable returns, we focus on ‘platform investments’ through which we can develop resilient market leaders at a reasonable price. Next to platform investments, we maintain two additional major investment strategies: we aim to find ‘category winners’, which are leaders in terms of market share or growth potential in sub-sectors benefiting from trend-based tailwinds, and seek out ‘niche leaders’ with strong defensive capabilities. A recent example of our ability to capture a category winner is our acquisition of Cerba HealthCare, a leading European operator of clinical pathology laboratories.

Private real estate: an uncertain market environment has prompted us to take a more measured investment approach. We seek properties and locations benefiting from social, demographic and technological trends and remain focused on identifying assets with value creation potential. To crystallize value, we buy assets in rebounding markets below replacement cost, we ‘buy, fix, and sell’ older properties in great locations that are in need of active asset management and we selectively develop core. The European office market, for instance, offers opportunities to buy properties below replacement cost and upgrade their design to cater to the changing ways in which people live and work. One such opportunity is represented by our acquisition of CB16 Tower in La Défense, Paris.

Private debt: while many market participants have been willing to pursue more aggressive structures with even lower pricing, we favor more conservatively structured investment opportunities which we source and negotiate outside of traditional syndicated loan markets. We continue to focus on supporting successful sponsors and management teams in their buy-and-build strategies, on offering creative structures that support companies’ specific cash flow profiles and working capital needs, and on targeting niche industries where we have the depth of experience and confidence in underlying growth fundamentals. For example, based on our long track record of investment in the restaurant industry, we recently invested in Checkers, a quick service restaurant chain in the US.

Private infrastructure: as infrastructure asset valuations continue on their steady upward trajectory, especially in the core space, our investment focus remains firmly on assets that offer value creation potential, with platform-building being our preferred strategy. We consider platform investments in all sectors of the infrastructure market and currently see the most attractive opportunities within the communications and energy infrastructure spaces. Proactively building core assets instead of buying them continues to be our preferred strategy for renewable power generation assets, particularly in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. One example is our investment in Sapphire Wind Farm, a 270MW onshore wind project in Australia.

To request a copy of the report, please contact Milevka Grceva: milevka.grceva@partnersgroup.com

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Cinven to sell CPA Global

Cinven

International private equity firm, Cinven, today announces it has agreed to sell CPA Global, the world’s leading Intellectual Property (‘IP’) management and technology company, to Leonard Green & Partners, L.P. (‘LGP’), a leading US buyout firm, for an undisclosed consideration.

CPA Global is the world’s leading provider of IP software, services and data & analytics for corporates and law firms. The business manages more than two million patents for more than 10,000 customers across the globe. The business has 23 offices worldwide and operates from its headquarters in Jersey, Channel Islands.

CPA Global

Cinven acquired CPA Global in March 2012 as part of its strategy of investing in world-class European-headquartered companies where it can support global growth using its sector expertise and Asian portfolio capabilities.

Cinven acquired the business directly from a group of IP law firms who had originally established the company.  Under Cinven’s ownership, CPA Global has achieved strong growth, accelerated its global expansion, and led a successful transformation into a technology-led business.

Over the past five years, Cinven has worked closely with CPA Global’s management team to:

  • Achieve double-digit organic EBITDA growth in the company’s core business of IP software and renewals, driven by consistent increases in the total global stock of patents;
  • Drive significant investment in CPA Global’s technology platform, software suite and IP data and analytics proposition;
  • Develop new innovative products for IP professionals to automate IP processes and workflows (including CPA Global File, and CPA Global’s proprietary IP PlatformTM);
  • Complete six bolt-on acquisitions in the IP management sector, including three in the United States, two in Europe, and one in Asia;
  • Accelerate the company’s geographic expansion, particularly in China and South Korea, both organically and through acquisitions; and
  • Transition to a best-in-class management team, led by CEO, Simon Webster, and CFO, Ben Gujral.

Stuart McAlpine, Managing Partner at Cinven, said:

“Cinven acquired CPA Global because we saw an exceptional company in a highly attractive market, with an opportunity to transform the business from a service provider into a technology-led business, as Cinven has done with other successful investments, such as Amadeus.”

“During our ownership, Cinven and CPA Global’s management team have driven this transformation as well as consolidated the sector through a buy-and-build strategy. CPA Global is now in a strong position to continue taking advantage of the market opportunity.”

Anthony Cardona, Principal at Cinven, added:

“Cinven and CPA Global’s entrepreneurial management team have led CPA Global’s transition to a technology-led business, by investing in the company’s software suite and technology platform, and extending into other parts of the IP process such as patent filing and patent data & analytics.”

“Cinven also supported CPA Global’s global expansion – with the support of our Portfolio team in Asia – and executed multiple bolt-on acquisitions across the world.  We wish the company and its management team, led by Simon Webster, success in its next stage of growth.”

Simon Webster, Chief Executive Officer, CPA Global, commented:

“Cinven has provided huge support to CPA Global over the past five years. Our investment in technology has enabled us to provide an unrivalled integrated technology platform for end-to-end IP management for both corporates and law firms. In addition, we have successfully built our proposition to span the entire IP lifecycle, providing products and services to customers to support innovation, ensure patent protection, and enable companies to commercialise their IP. We would like to thank the Cinven team and are now looking forward to the next exciting phase of our growth.”

This transaction follows Cinven’s recent sale of HEG, the web hosting provider, to GoDaddy Inc. in the US in April 2017.  During 2017, Cinven has also realised its investments in SLV, the residential and technical lighting provider (Germany); Avio Space Propulsion, the international operator of space launchers and space propulsion (Italy); and will complete the partial realisation of Visma, the provider of business critical software (Nordics and Benelux).

The completion of the sale of CPA Global is subject to customary regulatory approval.

Advisors to Cinven on this transaction included: Goldman Sachs (M&A), J.P. Morgan (M&A), Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (legal), Boston Consulting Group (commercial), Ernst & Young (financial), BDO (tax).

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Inside Secure completes the acquisition of Meontrust

Vendep

Aix-en-Provence, France, August 28, 2017 – Inside Secure (Euronext Paris: INSD), at the heart of security solutions for mobile and connected devices, today announced it has completed the acquisition of Meontrust, a Finland-based cybersecurity emerging-growth company, in an all-cash cash transaction of up to 5 million euros.

Meontrust has developed MePIN™, a flexible authentication, identification and authorization technology, ideally suited for the financial, insurance, retail and telecom markets. MePIN dynamically authenticates a user with a tap, PIN, fingerprint or face recognition, depending on the service provider. It runs on all major operating systems and is flexible to serve small to very large customers. The MePIN solution is provided as an on-premise deployment or as a cloud-based service with customers paying on a subscription or “pay-per-use” basis.

Meontrust’s authentication capability is vital in serving the strong demand seen from banks to meet the more stringent authentication requirements for all online payments imposed by the European Union by 2018. These include PSD2 (Payment Services Directive) and GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). This acquisition is a significant step in accelerating the deployment of Inside Secure strategy.

For more information

Indside Secure Press Release

Vendep Capital

Vendep Capital Fund invests primarily in Finnish startups offering software to B2B customers. In April 2017, Vendep Capital launched a new €40 million fund aimed at SaaS startups. The fund was raised from Finnish private and institutional investors such as Tesi (Finnish Industry Investment Ltd) and The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra. The fund may make investments alone or as part of a syndicate.

www.vendep.com

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Sweco expands in Belgian building consultancy market

SwecoSweco is acquiring Snoeck & Partners, a Belgian building consultancy with a well-established market position in western Belgium.“Snoeck & Partners is a good complement to Sweco’s Belgian offering. This acquisition strengthens our presence in western Belgium and supports the continuous ambition to be the most approachable and committed partner with recognized expertise,” says Tomas Carlsson, President and CEO of Sweco.Snoeck & Partners was established in 1958 and offers services in architecture, structural engineering, and infrastructure. It has a well-established position in the West-Flemish region of Belgium, 24 employees, and an office in Kortrijk. Net sales in 2016 were EUR 3.3 million.

“Joining Sweco is the right next step for our company, from aspects such as our shared view on operations and customer focus, as well as Sweco’s international presence. We look forward to work together with our new colleagues, solve our customers’ challenges, and plan and design the cities and communities of the future,” says Hugo Snoeck, Managing Director of Snoeck & Partners.

“We are happy to welcome our new colleagues at Snoeck & Partners to Sweco. Our companies are well-matched in areas of customer offerings and culture. This acquisition strengthens our ability to further serve customers with local presence and global expertise,” says Erwin Malcorps, Managing Director of Sweco Belgium.

For additional information, please contact:Tomas Carlsson, President and CEO, Sweco, tomas.carlsson@sweco.se, +46 8 695 66 60Erwin Malcorps, Managing Director, Sweco Belgium, erwin.malcorps@swecobelgium.be, +32 473 888 202Per Holmlund, Head of Public Relations, Sweco, p.holmlund@sweco.se, +46 73 156 03 12

Sweco plans and designs tomorrow’s communities and cities. Our work produces sustainable buildings, efficient infrastructure and access to electricity and clean water. With 14,500 employees in Europe, we offer our customers the right expertise for every situation. We carry out projects in 70 countries annually throughout the world. Sweco is Europe’s leading engineering and architecture consultancy, with sales of approximately SEK 16.5 billion (EUR 1.7 billion). The company is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm. www.swecogroup.com

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