Category Archives: News

Jacobs Holding to Acquire Cognita from Bregal Investments and KKR

KKR

LONDON & ZURICH–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sep. 3, 2018– Global investment firms Bregal Investments and KKR today announced the signing of a binding agreement for the sale of Cognita, the leading global schools group, to Jacobs Holding of Switzerland.

Cognita operates over 70 schools across 8 countries, educating more than 40,000 children. The organisation was established in 2004 by Bregal with the acquisition of a single school in the UK and expanded successfully into Europe, Asiaand Latin America. Cognita continued to grow rapidly and in 2013 KKR invested to become a 50% shareholder in the company, giving even greater support to Cognita’s growth across the globe and helping to build a world-class organisation. Since then, through significant additional investment, the company’s growth has accelerated in both Asia and Latin America, educating more than 20,000 children in these markets. From inception, Cognita has strived to improve the quality of education and provide genuinely inspiring environments for children to develop.

Patrick De Maeseneire, Chief Executive of Jacobs Holding, said: “We are very excited to join forces with Cognita and its management team. It has always been the aim of Jacobs Holding and the Jacobs Family to create global leaders in attractive markets, and therefore we are keen to support Cognita in its further international expansion. With this acquisition we are able to invest in education and the development of young people. These themes always played an important role for Klaus Jacobs, our founder, and are at the heart of the Jacobs Foundation, which is the sole economic beneficiary of our investments. In this sense and from the perspective of a long-term orientated investor, Cognita presents a very interesting opportunity to create value not only for Jacobs Holding but also for society.”

Chris Jansen, Chief Executive of Cognita, said: “We are extremely pleased to be entering a new and exciting phase with Jacobs Holding. We both share an ambition to help shape the future, by educating young minds to think globally, act responsibly and achieve their full potential. None of this would have been possible without Bregal and KKR. Together they have been great custodians of Cognita and have built a global and well-regarded company. We will forever be thankful for their foresight, belief and encouragement.”

Commenting on the sale to Jacobs Holding, Edmund Lazarus, formerly Managing Partner at Bregal Capital and now Managing Partner of EMK Capital, who represents Bregal Investments in relation to Cognita, said: “We founded Cognita in 2004 with the late Sir Chris Woodhead, with a single small UK school. He believed that putting educational quality first would give Cognita wings. We are very proud of the extraordinary global success story that Cognita has become and we are delighted that Cognita is led by people who are committed to our vision of educational excellence. With Jacobs, a long-term investor committed to education, the future for Cognita will be even more exceptional.”

Christian Ollig, Managing Director at KKR, said: “Cognita’s success has been built on the quality of education that it offers, both in terms of academic results and personal development of the children. We are proud to have been a partner for Cognita in bringing this model of education and care to parents and children throughout the world, and feel confident that Jacobs are the right partner for Cognita going forward.”

The transaction is expected to complete in the fourth quarter of 2018, subject to customary regulatory approvals. No financial details of the transaction have been disclosed.

Financial advisers on the transaction were Goldman Sachs International and Barclays for Bregal Investments and KKR, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch for Jacobs Holding.

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About Cognita
Launched in 2004, Cognita is an extraordinary family of diverse yet connected schools spanning eight different countries. We share one common purpose: to create an inspiring world of education that builds self-belief and empowers individuals to succeed. With some 70 schools in Europe, Latin America and Asia, we employ 7,000 teaching and support staff in the care and education of more than 40,000 students. Together, our schools provide a uniquely global education that goes beyond grades to develop all-round academic excellence – equipping young people with the confidence and resourcefulness that prepares them to grow, thrive and find their success in a fast-changing world. For further information about Cognita please visit: www.cognita.com

About Bregal Investments
Bregal Investments is a global private equity firm which has approximately US $10 billion in invested and committed capital. The firm invests through several dedicated funds including: Bregal Sagemount, a U.S. private equity fund for growth companies, Bregal Unternehmerkapital, which provides Equity Capital for mid-sized companies in German-speaking Europe, Bregal Freshstream, a UK and Benelux focused middle market private equity fund, Bregal Partners, a North American middle market private equity fund, Bregal Energy, an energy-focused private equity fund, Bregal Milestone, providing non-control capital and strategic assistance to leading growth companies in Europe and Bregal Private Equity Partners, a global investor in private equity funds and secondaries. For more info visit: www.bregal.com

About KKR
KKR is a leading global investment firm that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate and credit, with strategic manager partnerships that manage hedge funds. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns for its fund investors by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people, and driving growth and value creation with KKR portfolio companies. KKR invests its own capital alongside the capital it manages for fund investors and provides financing solutions and investment opportunities through its capital markets business. References to KKR’s investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR), please visit KKR’s website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter @KKR_Co.

About EMK Capital
EMK Capital LLP is an independent private equity firm, established to continue the investment track record of Edmund Lazarus (previously Founder and Managing Partner of Bregal Capital) and Mark Joseph (previously Founder and Partner at Oakley Capital Private Equity) and to continue to manage portfolio companies of Bregal Capital. EMK is focused on investing in businesses with unrecognised and/or hard to realise value and where EMK can support management teams in executing transformative change. The firm closed its first fund in May 2017 at its hard cap of £575 million. For further information about EMK please visit: www.emkcapital.com

About Jacobs Holding AG
Jacobs Holding AG is a global professional investment firm based in Zurich and founded in 1994 by entrepreneur Klaus J. Jacobs. Jacobs Holding AG takes an entrepreneurial approach to investing in growth, generating value by creating long-term, sustainable market leaders. Jacobs Holding AG’s sole economic beneficiary is the Jacobs Foundation, one of the world’s leading charitable foundations. Established in Zurich in 1989 by Klaus J. Jacobs and his family, the Foundation’s goal is to sustainably support future generations by improving their developmental opportunities, thus enabling them to become socially responsible members of society. The Jacobs Foundation funds research projects and intervention programs and supports scientific institutions to bring about social changes in the area of child and youth development. Over CHF 500 million in cumulative grants has been paid out since the Foundation’s establishment in 1989.

Source: KKR

Media Contacts
For Jacobs Holding
Andreas Hildenbrand
Lemongrass Communications
Phone: +41 44 202 52 38
Email: andreas.hildenbrand@lemongrass.agency
or
For Cognita
Margaret Kubicek
Cognita
Phone: +44(0)7879 802853
Email: Margaret.kubicek@cognita.com
or
For KKR
Alastair Elwen / Shiv Talwar
Finsbury
Phone: +44(0)20 7251 3801
Email: alastair.elwen@finsbury.com / shiv.talwar@finsbury.com

Categories: News

AURELIUS subisidiary GHOTEL HOTEL & LIVING expands with four more locations

Aurelius Capital

  • Add-on acquisition of new hotels in economically strong locations contributes approx. 25 percent revenue boost
  • GHOTEL hotel & living as franchisee for InterContinental Hotels Group
  • Potential for synergies with existing portfolio and further milestone in medium-term expansion strategy

Munich, 31 August 2018 – Hotel operator GHOTEL hotel & living (www.ghotel.de), a subsidiary of AURELIUS Equity Opportunities SE & Co. KGaA (ISIN DE000A0JK2A8), has acquired three hotels in Düsseldorf, Gütersloh, Salzburg (Austria) in operation, and one in Osnabrück, currently still under construction with its opening planned for spring 2019, as an add-on acquisition of Arcadia Hotelbetriebs GmbH. The hotels will be operated under franchise for the InterContinental Hotels Group with the brands Holiday Inn, and Holiday Inn Express in Gütersloh. This will boost GHOTEL hotel & living’s revenue by approximately 25 percent.

The new hotels will enable GHOTEL to expand its network with attractive locations in high-growth regions. All of the hotels have enjoyed strong growth rates in recent years and continue to show good potential, especially in the business customer segment. The hotel in Gütersloh is considered the leading hotel in its location, while the modern hotel in Düsseldorf opened recently, in 2016, and is centrally located downtown. GHOTEL expects considerable synergy potential on the basis of incorporating these new houses in its own hotel network. Cooperation with the InterContinental Hotels Group opens further potential for expansion.

“We are delighted with this further growth step as a new franchise partner of the InterContinental Hotels Group” said Jens Lehmann, CEO of GHOTEL hotel & living. “We have signed a multi-development agreement which sets joint growth targets for the coming years.”

In the first half of 2018, the GHOTEL Group had already acquired three new locations, the nestor brand hotels in Ludwigsburg and Neckarsulm and a downtown hotel in Göttingen. GHOTEL hotel & living will continue its strong growth through 2020 with the opening of five further locations.

 

About GHOTEL hotel & living

GHOTEL hotel & living is an expanding hotel and apartment building chain with 12 properties in several cities in Germany including Kiel, Hannover, Göttingen, Koblenz, Munich, Würzburg, Essen, Ludwigsburg and Neckarsulm. The business hotels with modern conference rooms are marketed under the GHOTEL hotel & living and nestor Hotels brands as well as the franchise brands Accor and InterContinental Hotels Group. Under the GHOTEL living brand, GHOTEL hotel & living also operates “temporary residence” apartment buildings in Bonn and Munich. GHOTEL hotel & living is headquartered in Bonn and belongs to AURELIUS Group since December 2006.

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Nordstjernan has divested its holding in the listed Norwegian furniture group Ekornes

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As previously announced, Nordstjernan AB (“Nordstjernan”) has confirmed, through pre-acceptance, that the company is divesting its holding in the Norwegian furniture group Ekornes ASA (“Ekornes”) to a Chinese consortium under the management of the Chinese furniture company Qumei Home Furnishings Group Co. Ltd. (“Qumei”), provided that the transaction is completed. At the end of the acceptance period, Qumei’s offer had the support of 98 percent of the shares in Ekornes. On August 29, 2018, Nordstjernan sold its entire ownership share of 17.2 percent in Ekornes to Qumei. The offer for all the shares in Ekornes was equivalent to a value of NOK 5.1 billion.

Nordstjernan initially invested in Ekornes in 2007, and has been the largest shareholder and represented on the Board of Directors since 2008. Since 2016, Nordstjernan’s Nora Förisdal Larssen has been the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ekornes. Over the past few years, Ekornes’ management and Board has enjoyed great success in terms of rationalizing costs and the acquisition of the furniture company IMG, based in Southeast Asia. A unanimous Board recommended the offer from Qumei on May 23, 2018. In order to ensure a successful ownership succession, Nordstjernan will continue to be represented on the Board of Ekornes for some time.

“Nordstjernan believes the new industrial ownership will create additional growth potential for Ekornes. We wish the company and the new owner constellation all the best in the future,” says Tomas Billing, CEO of Nordstjernan.

Tomas Billing
President and CEO
Nordstjernan AB

Questions will be answered by:

Tomas Billing, CEO of Nordstjernan
Telephone: +46 8 788 50 18
E-mail: tomas.billing@nordstjernan.se

Nordstjernan AB is a family-controlled investment company whose business concept is to be an active owner that creates long-term and positive value growth. More information about Nordstjernan can be found on www.nordstjernan.se.

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Alpega acquires wtransnet to significantly expand its freight exchange footprint in Southern and Western Europe

Castik Capital

wtransnet is the leading freight exchange in Spain and Portugal with a growing footprint in countries such as Italy, France and Germany. wtransnet is owned by Wotrant SL, founded in 1996 and headquartered in Terrassa, Spain. Wotrant has shown attractive growth in the past and created an appealing product that is used by more than 11,500 customers. wtransnet differentiates itself from its competitors with a strong focus on ensuring trust between users of the platform, for example by thoroughly screening any new carrier.

Alpega’s freight exchanges Teleroute, Bursa and 123cargo focus on other geographic areas such as France, Benelux and Romania. The combination with wtransnet promises an increase of the liquidity in terms of shipments and trucks for all freight exchanges in the Group. This will improve the value proposition to customers who will be able to access a wider market in the future. It is envisaged that all freight exchange brands in the Group, including wtransnet, continue to operate in the market with different geographical focus areas.

Alpega intends to continue its investments in innovating freight exchange products to further improve their attractiveness to customers by adding functionalities allowing for more convenience and higher efficiency in the daily use of the products.

The management of Alpega, as well its majority shareholder Castik Capital, are grateful to the founders of Wotrant SL, Jaume Esteve, Anna Esteve, Salvador Ejarque, Carmen Grau and Josép Maria Sallés about the opportunity to partner with Wotrant as this is an exciting strategic addition to the Group.

With the addition of wtransnet, Alpega is growing its carrier network to significantly more than 70,000 members across Europe, which provides for a strong value-add to its customers. Alpega was formed in 2017 as a leading global logistics software company that offers end-to-end solutions covering all transport needs, including transportation management solutions (“TMS”) and freight exchanges. Key products comprise:

  • inet – TMS solution for complex, multi-modal global transportation networks including advanced analytics and 4flow vista®, an integrated transport planning and optimization software
  • TenderEasy – Freight procurement solution allowing its customers to run tenders across verticals, geographies and modes
  • Transwide – Modular TMS solution for shippers, logistics service providers and carriers to manage the end-to-end execution of transports
  • TAS-tms – Modular TMS solution that enables carriers and freight forwarders to manage the entire transport process
  • Teleroute, Bursa and 123cargo – Pan-European freight exchanges that connect to more than 50,000 carriers to offer and allocate shipments and trucks

About Castik Capital
Castik Capital S.à r.l. (“Castik Capital”) manages investments in private equity. Castik Capital is a European multi-strategy investment manager, acquiring significant ownership positions in European private and public companies, where long-term value can be generated through active partnerships with management teams.

Castik Capital has an investment horizon of up to ten years – longer than most other private equity funds. This enables Castik Capital to focus resources on its portfolio companies and ensure sustainable, long-term value creation.

Founded in 2014, Castik Capital is based in Luxembourg and focuses on identifying and developing investment opportunities across Europe. Investments are made by the Luxembourg-based fund, EPIC I SLP, the first fund managed by Castik Capital, which had its final close at EUR 1bn in July 2015.

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KaNDy Therapeutics successfully raises £25 million in a Series C financing

Forbion

Funding to advance a breakthrough non-hormonal treatment for symptoms of the menopause, into a Phase 2b study in Q4 2018

Stevenage, UK, 29 August 2018 – KaNDy Therapeutics, a clinical-stage Women’s Health company, today announces it has successfully closed a Series C financing round, raising £25 million from new US investor Longitude Capital, and existing internationally recognised life sciences investors Advent Life Sciences, Fountain Healthcare Partners, Forbion Capital Partners and OrbiMed.

The proceeds will enable KaNDy Therapeutics to advance its breakthrough non-hormonal drug candidate, NT-814, for treatment of multiple symptoms of the menopause, through a multi-country Phase 2b dose-ranging study due to start recruiting patients in Q4 2018 with headline results expected in late 2019.

Commenting on the financing round, Mary Kerr CEO of KaNDy Therapeutics, said:”We are delighted by the level of enthusiasm and financial support we have received from our investors and would like to welcome Longitude Capital into the syndicate and the board of directors. Our investors and the KaNDy management team are united by the common belief that NT-814 has the potential to be a transformational treatment for the millions of women worldwide who suffer debilitating symptoms of the menopause.”

NT-814 is an orally administered once daily, potent and selective small molecule dual antagonist of both the neurokinin-1 and 3 receptors. It is being developed by KaNDy Therapeutics to provide a viable alternative to hormone replacement therapy. In June 2018, the Company announced positive data from the Phase Ib/IIa proof of concept clinical trial which showed that women who were treated with NT-814 once daily for two weeks at the most effective doses evaluated, experienced a rapid and profound reduction in two key symptoms of the menopause, namely frequency and severity of hot flashes and the number of night time awakenings

Josh Richardson, M.D., Managing Director of Longitude Capital said: “We were very pleased to participate in this funding round. We have been impressed with the data announced thus far, by KaNDy’s business strategy and the strong and experienced management team. We believe NT-814 has the potential to greatly improve the quality of life of millions of women worldwide and we look forward to supporting the Company as it continues to progress this potentially transformational candidate through the clinic towards commercialization.”

A Phase 2b study to further evaluate the safety and efficacy of NT-814 in women with bothersome post-menopausal symptoms, and to establish the optimum dose to take forward into Phase 3, is anticipated to start recruiting patients in the US, Canada and the UK in Q4 2018, with headline results expected in late 2019.

Press release

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SmartBear Acquiring Zephyr To Expand Its Market Leading Test Management Portfolio And Strengthen Atlassian Marketplace Alliance

Franciso Partners

The Addition of Zephyr for Jira, the No. 1 Grossing App on the Atlassian Marketplace, to the SmartBear Portfolio Will Create the Most Comprehensive Set of Test Management Solutions

SOMERVILLE, Mass. and SAN JOSE, Calif. — SmartBear, the leader in software quality tools for teams, will acquire Zephyr to create the most comprehensive set of test management solutions in the market. With this acquisition, SmartBear reinforces its commitment to provide software development teams with the most innovative tools to build, test, and monitor great software, faster. The popularity of Zephyr for Jira has catapulted it to become the No. 1 grossing app on Atlassian Marketplace with 18,000 teams using its tools to execute over 40 million tests. SmartBear will continue to extend and deepen the Zephyr product line and strengthen its relationship with Atlassian by leveraging SmartBear tools to bring more value to the users of the Atlassian Marketplace.

“We are thrilled to have Zephyr join the SmartBear team,” said Justin Teague, CEO of SmartBear. “The acquisition of Zephyr will establish SmartBear a leader in test management and broaden our portfolio of high-impact, easy-to-use tools, which includes SoapUI, TestComplete, SwaggerHub, CrossBrowserTesting, Collaborator, and AlertSite.”

Test management is a critical component of being able to develop, test, and deploy high quality software at the speed digital businesses demand. However, each software development teams’ test management requirements are unique, depending on their development methodology, organizational structure, and processes. By adding Zephyr to the portfolio, SmartBear will offer the most comprehensive set of test management offerings in the market. Zephyr for Jira supports Atlassian customers that want native test management inside Jira, Hiptest supports Agile and DevOps teams embracing Behavior Driven Development (BDD) and Continuous Testing, and Zephyr Enterprise supports enterprises looking for a modern replacement for HP Quality Center.

“We created Zephyr to help organizations continuously improve efficiencies and collaboration for their software testers and developers,” said Scott Johnson, CEO of Zephyr. “By leveraging the industry expertise and array of SmartBear solutions, our customers will continue to benefit from the tools they know and love, while now being able to solve additional software development challenges related to building, testing, and monitoring software applications across the UI and API layer.”

“The Atlassian Marketplace makes it seamless for Atlassian’s more than 125,000 customers to extend the functionality of their Atlassian tools,” said Scott Farquhar, CEO of Atlassian. “We are thrilled to work more closely with SmartBear moving forward to advance the Zephyr product line and also bring more SmartBear industry-leading software development and testing tools into the Atlassian Marketplace.”

“There is a growing need for integrated lifecycle management tools to support a variety of software development environments,” said Carl Lehmann, Principal Analyst at 451 Research. “SmartBear’s acquisition of Zephyr is representative of the accelerating trend we see in modern digital enterprises to strengthen support for diverse development and testing toolchains.”

About SmartBear Software

Supporting more than six million software professionals and over 22,000 companies in 194 countries, SmartBear is the leader in software quality tools for teams. The company’s products help deliver the highest quality and best performing software possible while helping teams ship code at nearly impossible velocities. With products for API testing, UI testing, code review and performance monitoring across mobile, web and desktop applications, http://smartbear.com equips every development, testing and operations team member with the tools to ensure quality at every stage of the software cycle. For more information, visit: http://smartbear.com, or for the SmartBear community, go to: LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook.

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The Carlyle Group to Acquire Crestview’s Outstanding Interest in NEP Group

Carlyle

Carlyle Will Partner with NEP Management to Drive Global Growth in the Outsourced Broadcast Services and Live Events Sectors

Pittsburgh, PA — NEP Group, Inc., Crestview Partners and The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) announced today that Carlyle Global Partners, Carlyle’s long-duration private equity fund, has agreed to acquire Crestview’s remaining shareholding in NEP. Carlyle initially invested in NEP alongside Crestview and Management in June 2016 and, following this transaction, will hold a majority interest in NEP. Carlyle will continue to support management’s strategy of building a diversified worldwide outsourced technical production partner supporting premier content producers of live sports and entertainment.

For over 30 years, NEP has earned the respect of the industry by raising the bar in technical management, production support and engineering. NEP provides vital technical resources and the industry know-how to help clients make, manage and show the world their content ‒ anywhere, anytime, on any platform. The company’s 3,500+ employees are driven by a passion for superior service and client-focused innovation. NEP’s global scale and local service is supported by the industry’s largest inventory of resources, including 160+ mobile units / OB vans, 40+ broadcast flypack systems, 44 studios with custom control room capabilities worldwide, 40K+ square meters of LED, 40+ live event production flypacks and innovative software-based media management solutions. NEP’s global headquarters is located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and it has operations in 24 countries and the ability to service clients worldwide.

“We’re excited to continue our partnership with Carlyle as we look to expand NEP’s global footprint and service offering. Carlyle Global Partners brings industry expertise, a global network and long-duration capital to support our business and worldwide growth strategy,” said Kevin Rabbitt, CEO of NEP. “We thank Crestview for their support and partnership over the last six years as we expanded our footprint and service offering to become a diversified, global leader.”

Carlyle launched its longer-duration private equity strategy, Carlyle Global Partners, in 2014 to pursue opportunities that leverage Carlyle’s expertise, resources and global platform in investments that benefit from longer hold periods and structural flexibility. The fund has made eight investments to date.

“The management team has grown the business significantly since our original investment. We look forward to continuing to partner with them to build NEP into a fully diversified global outsourced production services business,” said Tyler Zachem, Managing Director and Co-head of Carlyle Global Partners. “We thank Crestview for their support of the business over the last six years and have enjoyed partnering with them.”

“We want to thank CEO Kevin Rabbitt and the rest of the NEP management team for transforming the company from a primarily US-based mobile unit and studios business into the global leader in outsourced production services for live sports, entertainment and corporate events,” added Brian Cassidy, Partner and Head of Media at Crestview Partners. “Since our investment in December 2012, NEP has scaled operations from 2 countries to 24, completed 27 acquisitions, and greatly expanded its breadth of capabilities to better serve its global clients. Carlyle has been a great partner the last two years, and we wish them and the company continued success in the future.”

Jones Day served as legal advisors to NEP on the transaction. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP served as legal advisors to Crestview on the transaction. Debevoise & Plimpton LLP served as legal advisors to Carlyle on the transaction. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Barclays and Patricof Co served as financial advisors to the Company. Berenson & Company, LLC served as financial advisor to Carlyle.

The transaction is expected to close in Q4 2018.

*  *  *  *  *  *

About NEP
For over 30 years, NEP has been a worldwide outsourced technical production partner supporting premier content producers of live sports, entertainment, music and corporate events. Our services include remote production, studio production, audio visual solutions, host broadcast support, premium playout, post production and innovative software-based media management solutions. NEP’s 3,500+ employees are driven by a passion for superior service and a focus on technical innovation. Together, we have supported productions in 87 countries on all seven continents.

NEP is headquartered in the United States and has operations in 24 countries. Learn more at nepgroup.com.

About The Carlyle Group
The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) is a global alternative asset manager with $210 billion of assets under management across 335 investment vehicles as of June 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. www.carlyle.com

About Crestview Partners
Founded in 2004, Crestview Partners is a value-oriented private equity firm. The firm is based in New York and manages funds with over $8 billion of aggregate capital commitments. Crestview primarily focuses on specialty areas including media, financial services, industrials and energy. www.crestview.com

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

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Micvac expands to South Africa

Industriefonden

Swedish food tech company, Micvac, has revolutionised the ready-meal market. Key to the freshness and quality of Micvac meals are in-pack cooking and pasteurisation as well as Micvac’s patented packaging components: the Micvac tray and the unique Micvac valve. This innovative method for the production of chilled ready meals is currently utilised in almost 20 countries around the world. The South African brand “The Whistling Chef” by Clover was recently added to that list.

The South African Clover company, initially specialised in dairy products, is a leading branded food and beverages group in South Africa and selected African countries. The Whistling Chef range is Clover’s most recent offering for the ready meal market. It includes South African favourites such as Creamy Macaroni & Cheese, Cottage Pie, Creamy Alfredo, Beef Lasagne and Spaghetti Bolognese.

The collaboration between Micvac and Clover make “The Whistling Chef” range the first in South Africa to use Micvac’s innovative ready-meal production and packaging method.

 

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Cinven completes final realisation of Medpace

Cinven

Investment in US-headquartered CRO operator capitalising on Cinven’s global healthcare investment expertise

International private equity firm, Cinven, today announces that it has successfully completed the final sell down of its remaining shares in Nasdaq-listed Medpace (‘the Group’), a leading contract research organisation (‘CRO’). Following this transaction, Medpace becomes a fully realised investment for Cinven, generating highly successful returns for the Fifth Cinven Fund.

Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, Medpace is a global CRO operator providing management services to the R&D departments of pharma, biotech and medical device clients to help plan and oversee their clinical trials. Medpace focuses on small to mid-size companies and has significant expertise in numerous therapeutic areas, operating across 36 countries worldwide.

Cinven’s Healthcare team identified the CRO industry as an attractive market in which to invest. Following its detailed sector review work, Cinven acquired Medpace in February 2014 for a total consideration of US$915 million.

During Cinven’s ownership of Medpace, strong progress was made by Medpace’s industry-leading management team across a number of key pillars of Cinven’s investment thesis:

  • International expansion: Medpace continued to expand significantly outside of the US including in Europe and Asia;
  • New therapeutic areas: Medpace successfully developed its therapeutic franchises including anti-viral/anti-infective and oncology, and consolidated its position in existing therapeutic areas, such as metabolic and cardiovascular, as well as later-stage trials; and
  • Investment-led growth: Significant investment was made into Medpace’s human capital and infrastructure to position the Group for further growth. In particular, Cinven enabled the senior management to make the strategic hires necessary to grow the business. Medpace’s workforce increased by more than 55% during Cinven’s investment, with the number of employees growing from approx. 1,500 in 2014 to 2,700 today.

As a result, Medpace delivered strong financial performance under Cinven’s ownership, driven by trading growth momentum, industry-leading margins and strong cash conversion.

On the back of this strong performance, in August 2016, Medpace achieved a highly successful all-primary IPO on the Nasdaq Global Select Market at US$23 per share. Medpace’s share price has performed well in the aftermarket, and Cinven has monetised its investment in Medpace through a series of sell downs, culminating in the final sell down on 22 August 2018 at a c.138% premium to the IPO price.

Commenting on the transaction, Alex Leslie, Partner in Cinven’s New York office, said:

“Cinven’s investment in Medpace stemmed from a high conviction thesis that we developed within Cinven’s Healthcare Team, which anticipated strong growth in the CRO industry fuelled by increased R&D spending by the pharma industry and the growing complexity and number of clinical trials required to bring new molecules to market.

“We expected this would be especially pronounced in the smaller pharma and biotech segments of the market, where Medpace focuses. This thesis has played out and has resulted in Medpace delivering an excellent returns.”

John Richardson, Senior Principal in Cinven’s New York office, added:

“Cinven backed a strong management team at Medpace, led by CEO, Dr August Troendle, and invested significantly in his team and the Group’s infrastructure, including IT systems and clinical operations. Medpace is a strong example of Cinven’s successful sector / regional approach – how the Cinven Healthcare and US teams have worked closely together to grow a business and generate highly attractive returns for Cinven’s investors.”

The transaction is expected to close on or around 27 August 2018 subject to customary closing conditions.

The final realisation of Medpace follows Cinven’s recent successful exits of CeramTec, CPA Global, Viridium Group and Ufinet Group.

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Advance to acquire Stage Entertainment from CVC Fund VI and Joop Van Den Ende

Stage is one of the world’s largest theatre producers and owners

Advance Publications, Inc. (“Advance”), CVC Capital Partners (“CVC”) and Joop van den Ende are pleased to announce today that Advance has agreed to acquire 100% of the shares of Stage Entertainment.

Stage Entertainment is one of the world’s largest theatre producers and owners, operating 20 theatres and partnering with world-renowned creative talent to produce shows attended by over seven million visitors annually. The company entertains audiences in the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Leading titles include Disney’s The Lion King and Aladdin, Mamma Mia!, Mary Poppins, Anastasia and Tina: the Tina Turner Musical. Stage Entertainment employs more than 3,000 people worldwide.

Advance is a family-owned company founded in 1922 that operates and invests in a broad range of media, communications and technology businesses globally. Its European interests include Condé Nast brands such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, GQ and Wired, and Leaders, the sports conference business, as well as video programming brands Eurosport and Discoverythrough its ownership stake in Discovery.  Advance recently embarked on a multi-billion dollar capital redeployment initiative to accelerate diversification while fostering growth and transformation.

Steven Newhouse, Co-President of Advance said: “We are delighted to add Stage Entertainment and its employees to the Advance family of companies. Stage Entertainment has an outstanding track record of bringing world class musicals to audiences worldwide. With our deep roots in creative storytelling and appetite for additional investment, we believe we are the right long-term owner for Stage Entertainment. We are grateful to Joop van den Ende for his creative vision and to CVC for their operational excellence, both of which have positioned Stage Entertainment well for long-term growth. We are delighted that Joop has agreed to remain involved as a Special Advisor to us during this next chapter of the company. We look forward to working with Arthur de Bok and the management team to expand the business while remaining the definitive partner of choice to creators of musical theatre.”

Ivo Lurvink, Partner at CVC, added: “Our partnership in Stage Entertainment with Joop van den Ende has helped support the transition of the business from a founder-owned company to the leading integrated musical theatre platform that it is today. We are proud to have played a role in this journey, and wish Advance and the management team every success for the future.”

Joop van den Ende commented: “Today marks another milestone in the development of the company I founded in 1998, and it is with great pride that we transition the business to Advance, a long-term strategic shareholder that deeply understands creative businesses and has a long history of partnership with the world’s top writers, photographers, illustrators, designers and other creative talent. I strongly believe in the future of musical theatre and fully expect that Advance will ensure Stage Entertainment remains at the forefront of this industry for many years to come.”

Arthur de Bok, CEO of Stage Entertainment: “We are very pleased to have Advance as our new shareholder since they have demonstrated strong appreciation for balancing artistic excellence with solid business performance. Advance is completely aligned with our vision for the strategic direction and growth opportunities for Stage Entertainment and we are delighted by their long-term view on the business. We believe they will be a wonderful partner for the next phase of the company’s growth. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank CVC and Joop for their support, expertise and guidance in recent years and we are very much looking forward to entering this new phase with Advance.”

The transaction has no financing condition and is subject only to customary regulatory approvals, with closing anticipated in Q4 2018. The financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed. Advance was advised by Citi, CMS and EY and CVC/Joop van den Ende were advised by Goldman Sachs, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, Alvarez and Marsal, KPMG/Meijburg and ABN AMRO.

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