Category Archives: News

The Carlyle Group Closes Second Business Development Company

Carlyle

Raises More Than $1.9 Billion for U.S. Direct Lending Platform

New York, NY – Global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) today announced the final close of TCG BDC II, Inc., a private Business Development Company (BDC). The BDC, together with related investment vehicles, raised a total of $1.9 billion.   The BDC, part of Carlyle’s U.S. Direct Lending platform, lends to companies that are backed by U.S. middle market private equity firms. Carlyle’s first BDC (TCG BDC, Inc.) is publicly listed and trades on the NASDAQ as CGBD.

Since raising its first BDC in 2013, The Carlyle Group’s Direct Lending team has invested more than $6.9 billion in approximately 250 transactions across 30 industries as of September 30, 2018. Carlyle’s Direct Lending team includes nine Managing Directors who have an average of 19 years of industry experience and are supported by a team of 19 dedicated employees.

The direct lending team is part of The Carlyle Group’s Global Credit segment.  Carlyle’s Global Credit platform, with $37 billion in assets as of September 30, 2018, includes funds in Loans & Structured Credit, Direct Lending, Opportunistic Credit, Energy Credit and Distressed & Special Situations. These businesses have more than 100 investment professionals in New York, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Chicago, Hong Kong and London.

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Contact:

The Carlyle Group
Christa Zipf: +1 (212) 813-4578
christa.zipf@carlyle.com

About The Carlyle Group

The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) is a global alternative asset manager with $212 billion of assets under management across 339 investment vehicles as of September 30, 2018. Carlyle’s purpose is to invest wisely and create value on behalf of its investors, many of whom are public pensions. Carlyle invests across four segments – Corporate Private Equity, Real Assets, Global Credit and Investment Solutions – in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, North America and South America. Carlyle has expertise in various industries, including: aerospace, defense & government services, consumer & retail, energy, financial services, healthcare, industrial, real estate, technology & business services, telecommunications & media and transportation. The Carlyle Group employs more than 1,625 people in 31 offices across six continents.

Web: www.carlyle.com
Videos: www.youtube.com/onecarlyle
Tweets: www.twitter.com/onecarlyle
Podcasts: www.carlyle.com/about-carlyle/market-commentary

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AURELIUS sells part of its British HOMECARE SERVICES BUSINESS

Aurelius Capital

Munich/London, December 3, 2018 – Nestor Primecare Services Limited, which is owned by the AURELIUS Group (ISIN DE000A0JK2A8), sold part of its homecare services business in England, Scotland and Wales to the Health Care Resourcing Group (CRG), Prescot, UK.

CRG is one of the biggest British staffing services providers in the healthcare and nursing sector in Great Britain. It will combine the acquired business with its own activities, creating one of the biggest British providers of homecare services. The homecare services business in Northern Ireland and Ireland is not affected by this sale and will remain with AURELIUS. The parties agreed to keep the purchase price secret.

AURELIUS acquired the business operated under the brand names “Allied Primecare” and “Allied Healthcare” from Saga plc. in late 2015 and has restructured it extensively since that time.

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ARDIAN opens office in SOUTH KOREA

Ardian

New office complements Ardian’s increasing pan-Asian focus as part of continued global expansion • To reinforce its multi-local approach and commitment to investors

Seoul, 3 December 2018 – Ardian, a world-leading private investment house, today announces the opening of an office in Eulji-ro, Seoul, South Korea. The office is Ardian’s fourth in Asia, joining bases in Singapore, Beijing and Tokyo, which opened earlier this year. Ardian’s global network now spans 15 offices across Europe, North and South America and Asia.

Ardian is the largest private investment house in Europe with assets of US$82bn managed or advised in Europe, the Americas and Asia. Ardian’s South Korean presence forms an important part of its international strategy, particularly in the Asia Pacific region. The office will be used as a hub for Ardian to serve its growing base of leading, domestic Korean institutional investors including pension funds as well as increase private equity investment in Korean companies, particularly through its funds of funds and co-investment pillars, real estate and services for investors.

The office will be led by Won Ha, a Director at Ardian. Mr Ha has been with Ardian since 2011, working across the funds of funds and investor relations activities out of the Singapore office.

Dominique Senequier, President of Ardian, said: “The opening of this office is an important part of our global strategy to meet the evolving needs of our investors as well as representing Ardian’s strong commitment to Asia. With this office, we can now be even closer to our growing local investor base while also capitalizing on the best investment opportunities.”

Jan Philipp Schmitz, Member of the Executive Committee of Ardian and Head of Asia, added: “Our investor base in Asia continues to expand, and it is a market which we see as a major growth opportunity for Ardian. We already have a dozen Korean clients accounting for more than $1.4 billion assets under management.”

Ardian now counts pension funds, insurance companies and family offices across its LP base in Asia, which comprises 750 investors in a number of different asset classes, including Secondary, Buyout, Infrastructure, and Private Debt.

Meanwhile, Ardian now has 122 investments across Asia representing $3.5 billion in capital of which various fund and direct investments are also held in South Korea.

ABOUT ARDIAN

Ardian is a world-leading private investment house with assets of US$82bn managed or advised in Europe, the Americas and Asia. The company is majority-owned by its employees. It keeps entrepreneurship at its heart and focuses on delivering excellent investment performance to its global investor base.Through its commitment to shared outcomes for all stakeholders, Ardian’s activities fuel individual, corporate and economic growth around the world.

Holding close its core values of excellence, loyalty and entrepreneurship, Ardian maintains a truly global network, with more than 550 employees working from fifteen offices across Europe (Frankfurt, Jersey, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Zurich), the Americas (New York, San Francisco and Santiago) and Asia (Beijing, Singapore, Tokyo and Seoul). It manages funds on behalf of around 750 clients through five pillars of investment expertise: Funds of Funds, Direct Funds, Infrastructure, Real Estate and Private Debt.

Ardian on Twitter @Ardian

www.ardian.com

PRESS CONTACTS

ARDIAN
Headland
Tom James/Carl Leijonhufvud
ardian@headlandconsultancy.com
Tel: +44 020 3805 4840
Access Communications and Consulting
Carol HJ Park
cpark@accesspr.co.kr
Tel: +82 2 2036 9912
Buyong Yeon
byyeon@accesspr.co.kr
Tel: +82 2 2036 9956

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Triton completes acquisition of SKF Motion Technologies

Triton

Stockholm (Sweden), Gothenburg (Sweden) 03 December 2018 – After receiving the required approvals, funds advised by Triton (“Triton”) have successfully completed the acquisition of the business unit SKF Motion Technologies (“SMT”) from the SKF Group listed on Nasdaq Stockholm.

SMT is a global provider of electrical linear actuator components- and systems as well as linear motion products, with market leading positions and differentiated offerings in global niche markets, including high end medical and industrial actuators and roller screws. Headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, the company operates nine production sites, 13 dedicated sales units and employs approximately 1,200 employees.

With the closing Triton takes over all entities of the former business unit, as well as all staff. From now on SMT will be further developed as a standalone company under Triton’s ownership. A new brand name will be rolled out during 2019 and the company will continue to be known as “SKF Motion Technologies” and retain legal right to use the abbreviation SKF until introduction of the new brand.

“We look forward to actively supporting SMT’s management and employees by investing in and supporting the growth and development of the company. Our industry expertise from other investments in the sector and our strong network of senior industry experts, will contribute to further develop the company.” said Peder Prahl, Director of the General Partner for the Triton funds.

 

About Triton
The Triton funds invest in and support the positive development of medium-sized businesses headquartered in Europe, focusing on businesses in the Industrial, Business Services and Consumer/Health sectors.

Triton seeks to contribute to the building of better businesses for the longer term. Triton and its executives wish to be agents of positive change towards sustainable operational improvements and growth. The 37 companies currently in Triton’s portfolio have combined sales of around € 12.9 billion and around 83,000 employees.

The Triton funds are advised by dedicated teams of professionals based in Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States, China, Luxembourg and Jersey.

Press contacts:

Triton
Fredrik Hazén +46 70 948 38 10

SKF
Theo Kjellberg +46 72 577 65 76

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Reiten & Co becomes a major shareholder in Navamedic ASA

Reiten

Ingerø Reiten Investment Company AS (“IRIC”) has today acquired 2.916.667 shares in Navamedic ASA, representing an ownership of 26.84% in the company. IRIC and related parties did not own any shares in Navamedic ASA prior to this transaction, and following the transaction holds 2.916.667 shares in total.

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Blackstone Completes the Acquisition of Clarus, Establishing a New Life Sciences Investment Platform

Blackstone

New York, November 30, 2018 – Blackstone (NYSE:BX) today announced that it has closed on its previously announced acquisition of Clarus, a leading global life sciences investment firm. Going forward, the business will operate as Blackstone Life Sciences, while historical funds will retain the Clarus name.

Blackstone Life Sciences is a new private investment platform with capabilities to invest across the life-cycle of companies and products within the key life sciences sectors. The business will leverage Clarus’ significant domain expertise and record of success, and Blackstone’s investment experience, operating platform and global scale, to help advance breakthrough products to address unmet medical needs.

Blackstone Life Sciences fills a critical void in the industry, which is seeing unprecedented growth, but lacks the necessary funding to bring medicines and healthcare technologies to market.  The business will retain and build on Clarus’ hands-on approach of leveraging its scientific and clinical development expertise in adapting to an ever-changing investment landscape. This includes a focus on funding growth-stage investments, often in partnership with major biopharmaceutical companies through R&D collaborations.

Clarus is led by a team of seasoned experts who have invested in more than 50 companies in the biopharmaceutical, medical device and diagnostic sectors across multiple disease areas.

About Blackstone
Blackstone is one of the world’s leading investment firms. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our asset management businesses, with $457 billion in assets under management, include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow Blackstone on Twitter @Blackstone.

Contact:
Jennifer Friedman
+1 (212) 583-5122
Jennifer.Friedman@blackstone.com

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H.I.G. Capital Invests in Wellness Hotel in Germany

HIG Capital

LONDON – November 30, 2018 – H.I.G. Capital, LLC (“H.I.G.”), a leading global private equity investment firm with over €26 billion of equity capital under management, announced today that one of its affiliates has recently completed an investment in BollAnts Spa im Park, a 105-room wellness hotel & resort in Bad Sobernheim, Germany. BollAnts Spa im Park is one of the leading wellness resorts in Germany and has earned many awards including, most recently, the prestigious Tatler award for one of the best spas in the world (2018). Terms were not disclosed.

H.I.G. Realty continues to add to its sizeable holdings of real estate assets across Europe, consisting of both equity as well as debt investments, with a particular focus on its target market of value-added small/midcap opportunities.

Riccardo Dallolio, Managing Director and Head of H.I.G. Europe Realty Partners in London, commented: “The German real estate market represents a key part of our European value-add strategy and we continue to actively look at opportunities in the small/midcap sector across the capital structure”.

Sanjoy Chattopadhyay, Managing Director at H.I.G. Europe Realty Partners in London, added: “The transaction demonstrates our ability to leverage our strong network and track record to acquire high-quality assets with significant value-add potential. The fundamentals of the German wellness industry are attractive, and we look forward to pursuing further similar investments”.

About H.I.G. Capital
H.I.G. is a leading global private equity and alternative assets investment firm with over €26 billion of equity capital under management.* Based in Miami, and with offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Atlanta in the U.S., as well as international affiliate offices in London, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Bogotá, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, H.I.G. specializes in providing both debt and equity capital to small and mid-sized companies, utilizing a flexible and operationally focused/value-added approach:

  1. H.I.G.’s equity funds invest in management buyouts, recapitalizations and corporate carve-outs of both profitable as well as underperforming manufacturing and service businesses.
  2. H.I.G.’s debt funds invest in senior, unitranche and junior debt financing to companies across the size spectrum, both on a primary (direct origination) basis, as well as in the secondary markets. H.I.G. is also a leading CLO manager, through its WhiteHorse family of vehicles, and manages a publicly traded BDC, WhiteHorse Finance.
  3. H.I.G.’s real estate funds invest in value-added properties, which can benefit from improved asset management practices.

Since its founding in 1993, H.I.G. has invested in and managed more than 300 companies worldwide. The firm’s current portfolio includes more than 100 companies with combined sales in excess of €28 billion. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at www.higcapital.com.

* Based on total capital commitments managed by H.I.G. Capital and affiliates.

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Thoma Bravo Announces Strategic Growth Investment with Acquisition of PEC Safety

Thomas Bravo

SAN FRANCISCO, CA. and MANDEVILLE, LA., November 30, 2018 – Thoma Bravo, a leading private equity investment firm focused on software and technology-enabled services, announced that it has agreed to acquire PEC Safety, a rapidly growing contractor management software and safety learning content provider that helps both hiring clients and contractors manage risk, safety, and compliance. The investment recognizes PEC’s strong momentum and is expected to help the company broaden its software and content offerings. As part of the agreement, the company’s management team and founders will retain a minority stake in the business.

Founded in 1993, PEC Safety is one of the largest contractor management networks in the world, enabling clients to hire and manage safe and qualified contractors through a centralized cloud-based software system. In addition, PEC provides licensed proprietary safety learning content to a network of more than 3,000 authorized instructors who conduct over 235,000 training sessions per year. PEC, with its unique combination of a contractor management software platform and proprietary training content, has distinguished itself as a rapidly growing, market leader within the energy industry. PEC currently serves over 110 operators and 15,000 contractors in its mission to bring workers home safely from high-hazard jobs through prioritizing training and contractor management.

“PEC Safety’s partnership with Thoma Bravo will enable us to deepen our core capabilities and expand into other verticals, advancing PEC’s mission to reduce risks and increase safety for workers in hazardous jobs,” said Colby Lane, CEO of PEC Safety. “PEC Safety will benefit enormously from Thoma Bravo’s expertise at implementing operating best practices and investing in new product functionality and features that will continue to scale the network.”

Contractor risk exposure is increasingly being recognized as a top concern in PEC’s core market, the energy industry, as well as other verticals such as construction, manufacturing, transportation and facilities management. PEC is positioned to capitalize on the compelling industry tailwinds by offering mission-critical software and learning solutions that help companies save time, hire confidently, and most importantly improve safety conditions for their workers.

“Thoma Bravo believes there is tremendous growth potential for the innovative risk, compliance and safety solutions developed by the talented team at PEC, led by Colby Lane,” said Hudson Smith, a Partner at Thoma Bravo. “Operators are increasingly realizing that they cannot simply outsource risk management to their contractors and instead need to put in place robust technology and learning solutions that provide assurance they are working with highly-trained, well-qualified and responsible contractors.”

Thoma Bravo has provided equity and strategic support to experienced management teams of growing companies for nearly thirty-five years. The firm has extensive expertise investing in risk, compliance, safety and supply chain management software companies, including Riskonnect, Sparta Systems, Global Healthcare Exchange and iPipeline, as well as energy-focused software companies such as Quorum Software.

PEC Safety was advised by William Blair & Company and Goodwin Procter LLP. Thoma Bravo was advised by Raymond James & Associates and Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

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happytal raises €23 million to revolutionize hospital inpatient experience

AXA

Paris, November 29, 2018 – happytal, French startup specializing in enhancing inpatient experience, announces it
has closed a €20 million equity fundraising led by AXA Venture Partners (AVP) and backed by existing shareholders
Partech and Compagnie d’Anjou and new shareholder Alliance Entreprendre, together with a €3 million loan from
Bpifrance.

Funds raised will allow happytal to step up its roll-out in hospitals, medical centres and retirement homes in France
and abroad. As Pass French Tech prize-winner last July, happytal will also draw on funds raised to enhance its hightech platform, which is blazing a trail in making online patient procedures user-friendly and easy.
To support its growth, 200 new top-class staff will be hired in 2019, primarily for business development, tech and
operations.

happytal was founded in 2013 by health industry-savvy founders and strives to revolutionize patients’ quality of life
throughout their healthcare journey from pre-admission until they return home. Patients and their loved ones can
carry out pre-admission procedures online, request a private room, instantly give a satisfaction rating and enjoy a
broad concierge services offering to smooth and improve their inpatient stay, including wellbeing, delicacies,
flowers, health products and home help. To provide such services, happytal engages personally selected artisans
and carers from nearby the health establishment, thereby contributing to local economies.
Five years since it was founded, happytal is now present in over 70 healthcare establishments in France and
Belgium, and has so far created over 300 jobs in the regions and at its Paris head office. Over 25,000 patients, their
loved ones and hospital staff have been won over by happytal and use it every month with a 95+ per cent
satisfaction score!

Pierre Lassarat, happytal co-founder and CEO, said: “Our rapid growth testifies that our people-focused and techbased services are very popular with healthcare establishments, which increasingly need user-friendly and nimble
systems. Our vibrant and dynamic people and the trust our users have in us mean we can expand our offering, take
on more staff and continue to invest”.

Romain Revellat, happytal joint founder and chairman, exclaimed: “We are thrilled to welcome new investors – AXA
Venture Partners (AVP) & Alliance Entreprendre – while pursuing our new business venture with our existing
shareholders – Partech and Compagnie d’Anjou. Their trust in us and this additional big equity investment are
testimony to our success while also reflecting our determination to maintain growth and make happytal a partner
of choice for patients and their loved ones”.

About happytal
The startup Happytal seeks to revolutionize hospital inpatient experience end-to-end by helping patients through all procedures right from
pre-admission to returning home, while providing concierge services, which smooth their stay and make it easier for their loved ones to help
them remotely. happytal’s solution also extends to a broad range of hospital services designed to enhance hospitals’ appeal and put patient procedures online – online pre-admission, online private room request, discharge lounges, real-time satisfaction measures etc.
happytal was set up in 2013 by healthcare industry-savvy founders and is now present in over 70 healthcare establishments in France and Belgium and every month attracts 25,000-plus patients, loved ones and hospital staff users. To learn more go to www.happytal.com
happytal is a Silver Alliance member. Silver Alliance, comprising 18 companies engaged in old people care, was formed in 2018 to bring about teamwork among entrepreneurs in ways that will benefit society at large, stimulate the economy and create local jobs. To learn more go to www.silveralliance.fr

About AXA Ventures Partners
AXA Venture Partners (AVP) is a venture capital fund investing in high-growth, technology-enabled companies. AVP manages $450m broken down between $275m direct investments and $175m for its Fund of Funds business. To date, AVP has invested in some forty seed and growth equity deals. AVP teams operate globally backed by offices in San Francisco, New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong.
To learn more go to www.axavp.com. Contact: François Robinet (francois@axavp.com) / Sébastien Loubry (sebastien@axavp.com)

About Partech
Partech is a big private equity investor in grand-breaking businesses from its offices in San Francisco, Paris, Berlin and Dakar. The firm’s people provide funds, operational experience and strategic advice to entrepreneurs at all stages of development including seed, venture and growth investments. The firm’s investment capacity exceeds €1 billion. Equity investments range from €200,000 to €50m and cover a broad range of technologies, goods and corporate and consumer services including IT systems, online brands, services, hardware and deep tech. To date,
Partech-backed companies have completed 20-plus IPOs and the firm has sold over 50 $100m-plus strategic investments. Partech’s current portfolio: https://partechpartners.com/companies/

Press Contact
Agence Ballou PR
Mickaël Barreteau & Isabelle Renard

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GILDE BUY OUT PARTNERS and management acquire Gundlach Automotive Corporation

Gilde Buy Out

Raubach – Funds advised by Gilde Buy Out Partners (“Gilde”) are pleased to announce the acquisition of Gundlach Automotive Corporation (“GAC” or the “Group”) together with management from companies controlled by Pon Holdings B.V. (“Pon”). The terms of the agreement have not been disclosed. GAC is a leading aftermarket distributor of tires, rims, completely fitted wheels and related services to car dealerships and wholesalers in Germany as well as wheel assembly services to blue-chip car OEMs in Europe. The Group was formed under the successful leadership of the senior management team of Reifen Gundlach to form a leading European platform in 2017. GAC now encompasses Reifen Gundlach (a leading brand for premium tire and wheel distribution for over 45 years), PTG Automotive Solutions and Services (just-in-sequence wheel assembly for car OEM production), RG Automotive Solutions (winter wheel assembly services for OEM brands) as well as Euro Tyre (global tire purchasing organization) and Goodwheel (eCommerce tire platform). Operations are based in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Slovak Republic, Sweden and the Netherlands. Commenting on the transaction Gebhard Jansen, CEO of GAC, says: “We thank Pon for the fruitful cooperation under their period of ownership and we are proud of the over 650 employees to be part of our Group and with whom we look forward to jointly enter a new chapter in our success story. With Gilde we found a strong partner to continue and accelerate our growth strategy to become the leading player in the tire and wheel distribution market.” Rogier Engelsma, Partner at Gilde, added: “GAC represents a very attractive opportunity for us to invest in a leading player in the European tire and wheel distribution market. We are impressed with the Group’s track record of consistent growth and its unique set up to serve multiple levels within the supply chain. GAC is in an excellent position to further build on this solid foundation and to become the number 1 integrated player in the European tire and wheel distribution business. We are excited to support GAC during this next phase of development.” Read more at: http://gilde.com/news/2018/gilde-buy-out-partners-and-management-acquire-gundlach-automotive-corporation

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