LONDON – September 16, 2020 – H.I.G. Capital (“H.I.G.”), a leading global alternative investment firm with $40 billion of equity capital under management, announced today that it has hired Andrew Liau to co-lead its infrastructure team alongside Ed Pallesen. Andrew will be based in London, with primary day-to-day responsibility for the infrastructure teams’ activity in Europe, while Ed will continue to be based in New York with primary focus on the Americas.

Andrew has over 20 years of experience in private equity and investment banking. Before joining H.I.G., he was a Senior Managing Director in the infrastructure group at Ardian, a leading Paris based private equity firm, where he led a number of successful core plus investments. Prior to Ardian, he was a founding member of First State Investments’ European infrastructure team. He began his career at RBC, where he worked on infrastructure financings.

H.I.G.’s infrastructure investments are focused on mid-market opportunities and target mostly operating companies that can benefit from H.I.G.’s value added operating expertise. H.I.G. has previously completed more than a dozen such investments.

Sami Mnaymneh and Tony Tamer, founders and co-CEOs of H.I.G. commented: “We are excited to welcome Andrew to the team. His impressive background and experience will be instrumental in growing our infrastructure business”.

Ed Pallesen added: “I am looking forward to working with Andrew as we build on H.I.G.’s unique capabilities and track record. The market opportunity for value-added, middle market infrastructure investments globally has never been more attractive”.

About H.I.G. Capital
H.I.G. is a leading global private equity and alternative assets investment firm with $40 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 $30 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.

AXA Venture Partners (AVP) accelerates onthe development of itsgrowth strategy and is pleased to announce the appointment of a new General Partner in Paris. Benoit Fosseprez, who was Deputy CEOand CEO Franceof Veepee,will be joining the team as General Partner and will be managing the Growth Fund together with François Robinet, Imran Akram,and Alex Scherbakovsky. Benoit is an experienced leaderwith a very inspiring background combining deep knowledge of the techindustry and strong operational experience in a leading digital company.

Benoit has successfully been CFO and then Deputy CEO, focusingon France, of Veepee, a digital-native e-retailer in 14 marketswith over €4bn in sales. Benoit started his career inthe year 2000, by helpingthe first generation of French tech entrepreneurs as an investment banker focused on Technology, Media and Telecommunicationsat CACIB. He then led the development of the investment banking platform of this bank in the USA, based in NewYork, for five years. As CFO of Veepee.com, Benoit invested in several growth tech companies. Benoit brings a strong knowledge of the European tech ecosystem, combining more than 12 years of investment banking in France,and strong operational experience at Veepee.com as a C-level executive.“On behalf of the AVP team, I am extremely happy and proud to welcome Benoit as a General Partner of ourGrowth Fund. Benoit will reinforce our leadership team and will bring a solid knowledge of the tech ecosystem but even more a strong operational background in a period of acceleration of ourGrowth strategy. We also believe that the AVP team,after 5 years of successfullyworking together, isready to welcome a new member. This is a healthy development for our platform” commented François Robinet,AVP Managing Partner.

Paris –London-New York–San Francisco –Hong Kong Benoit reinforces the existing global growth team led by Francois Robinet (Paris), Imran Akram (London),and Alex Scherbakovsky (NewYork) for its new Growth Fund, AVP Capital II. The team willalsobe further strengthened shortly by the recruitment of several additional senior level individuals. “With a differentiating true transatlantic presence and a proven multi-stage trackrecord in the tech industry, AVP is an impressive independent investment platform to accompany entrepreneurs in their growth. The quality and complementarity of the teams, together with the support of a committed global financial institution, AXA, are two pillars that support the ambitious objective of AVP to become a leading Ventureand GrowthCapital firm in Europe and in the USA. I strongly believe in the value that AVP can bring to both investors and tech entrepreneurs, especially in the growth segment,whichwill benefit from very strong tailwindsin Europe”, commented BenoitFosseprez, AVP General Partner.

ABOUT AVP

AXA Venture Partners (AVP) is a global venture capital firm investing in high-growth, technology-enabled companies. AVP has built, in less than five years, a unique investment platform specialized in tech investments with $800 million of assets under management through three pillars of investment expertise: early stage, growth stage, and fund of funds. To date, AVP has invested in more than 45 companies and more than 20funds. The AVP team operates globally with offices in San Francisco, New York, London, Paris, and Hong Kong. Beyond investments, AVP provides unique access to business development opportunities helping portfolio companies to scale globally and accelerate their growth.

More details here: www.axavp.com

For further information, please contact: Sébastien LOUBRY Partner, Business Development Sebastien@axavp.com06.15.31.61.68

Olof Svensson has been appointed Head of Shareholder Relations at EQT AB. Olof Svensson comes most recently from J.P. Morgan’s Equity Capital Markets team in London where he spent more than 15 years. Olof brings vast experience from the capital markets and knows EQT and our business model extremely well following his role as advisor to EQT during the IPO-process last year.

“We are thrilled to welcome Olof to EQT. His extensive expertise from the international equity capital markets combined with his deep knowledge about EQT, our differentiators, and not the least our values and ways of working, will make him well positioned to continue building our shareholder relations function. We look forward to working closely together with Olof and developing the relations with EQT AB’s shareholders further,” said Christian Sinding, CEO of EQT AB.

Olof Svensson will assume his position as Head of Shareholder Relations at EQT during September and will report to CFO Kim Henriksson. The Shareholder Relations team is based in Stockholm and Olof is preparing to move from London with his family.

The EQT Foundation today announced the appointment of Cilia Holmes Indahl, currently CEO of Katapult Group, as Head of the EQT Foundation, effective August 2020. In her new role, Cilia will be responsible for developing and executing on the Foundation’s strategic agenda.

The EQT Foundation was founded in June 2019 by a core group of Partners at EQT with the purpose of hosting and driving EQT’s global philanthropic activities, and furthering the firm’s ambitions of making a positive impact with everything it does. The EQT Foundation aligns its activities with EQT’s vision of being the most reputable investor and owner. It has a mission of creating a more inclusive tomorrow and pushing the frontiers of societal impact as well as ensuring the successful long-term development of EQT and maintaining EQT’s strong corporate culture and values. The EQT Foundation also has a right to appoint a member to the nomination committee of EQT AB according to the principles for appointing a nomination committee.

Cilia’s experience from her previous role as Sustainability Director of Aker BioMarine and from the Norwegian Permanent Mission to the United Nations, where she negotiated the Sustainable Development Goals, matches perfectly with the EQT Foundation’s mission. Cilia has a genuine passion for driving long-lasting positive change and engaging others in making a difference.

Conni Jonsson, Chairperson of the EQT Foundation, said: “We are very happy that Cilia is joining the EQT Foundation. Our ambition is that the work and efforts we pursue through the EQT Foundation will inspire others to contribute to positive long-term change and, with Cilia onboard, we are confident that we will be able to drive our positive impact agenda further and become a change catalyst in the industry.”

Christian Sinding, CEO and Managing Partner at EQT, continued: “The EQT Foundation shares the same objective as EQT, to make a positive impact with everything we do, and Cilia’s energy, engagement and experience fit this in an exceptional manner. We want every investment EQT makes to contribute to a better and cleaner tomorrow, and we see the EQT Foundation as an important pillar in achieving this.”

Cilia Holmes Indahl commented: “For me, driving the EQT Foundation is a dream job! With EQT’s culture, values and impressive portfolio of great companies, there are so many opportunities to push the sustainability agenda forward. I look forward to exploring new ways of accelerating industry transformations, leveraging the thematic expertise from the entire EQT system and driving positive impact in close collaboration with all EQT colleagues.”

In April, the EQT Foundation announced its first donation of EUR 1 million to the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator (launched by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust and Mastercard) as a response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Further information about the EQT Foundation’s strategy, focus areas and initiatives will be communicated once Cilia has assumed her role.

Contact
Nina Nornholm, Head of Communications, +46 708 550 356
EQT Press Office, press@eqtpartners.com, +46 8 506 55 334

About the EQT Foundation
EQT Foundation was founded in June 2019 by a company owned by a core group of Partners at EQT. It holds around one percent of the shares in EQT AB and will be a long-term shareholder. EQT Foundation is structurally independent from EQT. The purpose of EQT Foundation is to use the proceeds generated from the dividends it receives from EQT AB shares, as well as other assets and donations, for the furtherance of the mission of creating a more inclusive tomorrow and pushing the frontiers of societal impact. EQT Foundation is a foundation under Swedish law (Sw. stiftelse). 

Alongside a total of 30 promotions, the appointments support the evolution of the firm, further reinforcing Hg as the largest technology team in Europe

Hg, Europe’s leading software investor, today announces four new Partner appointments as part of a number of senior promotions across the firm.

The promotions continue to strengthen the executive leadership team and further support the evolution of the firm, having now grown to over 200 employees. Today the team is made up of over 140 investors, more than 30 operational experts and several other transaction support teams, together comprising the largest technology investor in the region.

Hg has promoted four long-standing colleagues to Partner: Martina Sanow (Deputy COO), Luke Finch (Client Services), Joris van Gool and Stefan Margolis (Investment team). The average tenure of these four individuals at Hg is close to a decade, during which time they have all made a material individual contribution to the firm’s achievements as well as helping to build and shape the firm over that period.

Hg is also pleased to promote several colleagues to Director: Yasemin Arik, Viviana Kane, Manuela Thomys, Richard Earnshaw, Hector Guinness, Benedikt Joeris and Carlo Pohlhausen.   Each of these colleagues has made a strong contribution to developing and leading investment activity at Hg over many years.

Matthew Brockman, Managing Partner at Hg, commented: “I am delighted to announce these positive developments, as we recognise individuals whose commitment and performance has stood out over years.  We are hugely committed to the long-term development of our people.  Each of these new Partners joined the firm as a junior team member nearly 10 years ago and since then have worked tirelessly across investments, deepening our client relationships and improving our business. They also share our values and each have supported several areas of the business during that time.  We are delighted to now have them as Partners.”

Martina Sanow joined the Client Services team in 2009 and has worked on all Hg fundraisings since then.  She was promoted to the role of Deputy Chief Operating Officer in 2019. Today Martina has responsibility for the firm’s operations including talent, finance, technology and ESG. She also leads the firm’s work on Diversity & Inclusion and has been leading the work in establishing the Hg Foundation. Most recently Martina was recognised in the ‘Future 40’ list of PE operators on course for stand-out roles in private markets.

Luke Finch joined Hg’s Client Services team in 2010 and has led this team for the last 18 months. Over the last decade he has worked on several fundraisings including Hg Mercury 1, Hg Genesis 7 (2012/13 vintage funds) and Hg Mercury 2, Hg Genesis 8, Hg Saturn 1 (2017 vintage funds), as well as the current fundraising activities.

Joris Van Gool joined in 2013 having previously interned with Hg when at Harvard Business School.  Joris has worked on, led and originated numerous deals on behalf of Hg. He is currently a board director of team.blue and Citation. His other investments at Hg have included Zenith, Parts Alliance, Raet/Visma (and the Benelux consolidation including Roxit, ProActive), JLA, Kinapse and A-Plan. Joris was recognised as a ‘Rising Star of Private Equity’ back in 2017.

Stefan Margolis joined in 2013 from Warburg Pincus. Stefan works from the Munich office and led current Hg investments into Transporeon and Medifox and in addition is also a Board Director of STP.  He has also been a strong contributor to a series of other successful investments including e-conomic, Speedledger, P&I, Eucon, Visma and Teufel.

IK Investment Partners (“IK”), a leading Pan-European private equity firm, is pleased to announce that Tom Salmon has joined the Small Cap team as a Partner. Tom will be based in IK’s London office, primarily focusing on the origination of investment opportunities in the UK with an Enterprise Value of up to c. €100m.

Tom joins IK from Duke Street Private Equity where he was a Partner. Prior to Duke Street, he was a Partner at 3i where he co-managed the UK team and spent 13 years covering origination, execution and portfolio management. Tom has substantial investment experience and has been involved in numerous transactions, including Great Rail Journeys, Audley Travel, JMJ and NCP. He studied at Oxford University and is a Chartered Accountant.

“The past twelve months represent yet another strong period of growth for IK. We have expanded the breadth and depth of our firm with over 30 new hires, employing a team of more than 75 investment professionals and a total of 130 staff across eight offices. The appointment of Tom will allow us to begin building a presence in the UK, benefitting from his wealth of investment experience combined with our pan-European platform,” said Christopher Masek, CEO at IK.

“I am thrilled to join IK as their first UK-based Partner focusing on the Small Cap segment. IK has a 30-year track record of creating value and a well-established platform across Europe. The size of the UK Small Cap market and entrepreneurial nature of its businesses provide a compelling investment opportunity. I believe IK’s local investment teams across six European countries as well as the firm’s successful sector focus will bring a clear differentiated approach to the UK’s burgeoning Small Cap market,” said Tom Salmon.

IK’s Small Cap team partners with management teams who are looking for support to help them achieve the next stage of their growth and development, across IK’s four core sectors: Business Services, Consumer/Food, Engineered Products and Healthcare.

For enquiries, please contact:

Maitland/AMO
James McFarlane
Phone: +44 207 379 5151
jmcfarlane@maitland.co.uk

About IK Investment Partners
IK Investment Partners (“IK”) is a Pan-European private equity firm focused on investments in the Nordics, DACH region, France, Benelux and the UK. Since 1989, IK has raised more than €10 billion of capital and invested in over 130 European companies. IK funds support companies with strong underlying potential, partnering with management teams and investors to create robust, well-positioned businesses with excellent long-term prospects. For more information, visit www.ikinvest.com