Shifts in technology transform consumers’ online behavior and habits, requiring companies to rethink how they communicate with and deliver targeted messages to customers. As more B2C interactions now take place in digital channels, customers tend to favor companies that break through the “digital clutter” by delivering relevant, consistent and personalized experiences.

With a platform that combines content management, commerce and customer analytics with sophisticated machine learning and AI, EQT portfolio company Sitecore helps companies make the most of every online interaction with every customer. Following the add-on acquisition of Stylelabs, Sitecore expands its product platform and further strengthens its digital capabilities.

Founded in 2001 and headquartered in San Francisco, California, USA, Sitecore is a leading digital experience platform that offers natively-integrated content, commerce, customer analytics, marketing operations, and always-on personalization capabilities. The Company’s products enable companies to deliver the best possible experience to any customer or potential customer in any channel of engagement, ensuring highly-targeted messaging that enables companies to drive increased conversion. Sitecore primarily targets enterprise and mid-market companies across industry verticals, including brands such as American Express, Kimberly-Clark, and L’Oréal, which have put their trust in Sitecore’s solutions.

Since being acquired by EQT VII in 2016, Sitecore has grown to become one of the leading global players of web content management and digital experience software. The Company’s position as a leader in both markets has been repeatedly confirmed by prominent industry analysts such as Gartner® and Forrester®, as well as the trust placed in Sitecore by thousands of blue-chip customers.

Advanced personalization across the content marketing lifecycle

In November 2018, Sitecore announced the acquisition of Stylelabs, an innovative vendor of digital asset management, marketing resource management, and product information management software. Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, Stylelabs created the Marketing Content Hub®, which is an online platform that allows companies to easily create, manage, and publish marketing content across different channels. Stylelabs’ solutions allow CMOs and their teams to own the entire content lifecycle and understand the impact of specific content assets on individual customers’ behavior, empowering them to deliver even more engaging digital experiences.

Mark Frost, CEO of Sitecore, commented: “The addition of the Stylelabs Content Hub to the Sitecore Experience Cloud creates a unified platform that enable marketing departments to easily define, create, manage, and deliver highly personalized content across any digital channel, at every stage of the customer journey. We believe that this will provide our customers with a distinct advantage in the marketplace and enable them to build life-long customer relationships.”

The combination of Sitecore and Stylelabs further integrates Sitecore into the marketer’s workflow, which strengthens Sitecore’s footprint in its existing customer base and opens substantial additional growth potential for Sitecore in its attractive end-markets. Leading brands such as Microsoft and General Mills are already capturing the value of the combined solution.

The add-on of Stylelabs will immediately accelerate Sitecore’s revenue growth rate and is expected to be accretive to its margin profile in the mid-term.

Preparing Sitecore for continued growth

During the ownership period, one of EQT’s main objectives was to transform Sitecore’s offering from a perpetual license model deployed on-premise, to a cloud-based subscription model. The completion of this transformation and the launch of Sitecore’s fully-managed cloud offering will allow Sitecore to continue its strong growth by delivering state-of-the-art solutions through its digital experience platform. At the same time, this shift has allowed Sitecore to considerably enhance the share of recurring revenue from its large customer base that has seen continuous high growth.

Sitecore has also continued to strengthen its partner program and the Company added award-winning global digital agencies such as WPP and IBM iX to its more than 500 service delivery partners. In addition, Sitecore teamed up with Salesforce to integrate its experience platform solutions with Salesforce Marketing Cloud. This broad set of partnerships provides a considerable benefit to Sitecore customers, who gain the ability to easily complement and expand the Sitecore platform with market-leading solutions and services that offer maximum value for their business.

Dominik Stein, Partner and Head of EQT’s TMT Sector Team, concluded “Consumers today demand smooth, more relevant and personalized interactions with businesses, which places an increasing demand on marketers to deliver seamless and engaging digital experiences. Sitecore has been a leader in the industry for a long time and the Company continues to evolve at an impressive pace. The management team around Mark Frost has done an incredible job at driving both innovation and growth which we are expecting to continue in the years to come. We are also very glad that we have been able to establish such a strong board with prominent industry representatives such as Jonas Persson, Craig Conway, and Carsten Thoma, which provides great testimony for the excitement around Sitecore as a leader in its space.”

Read more about Sitecore here.

• i&u TV has outstanding production expertise in show business, entertainment and infotainment
• Günther Jauch to remain show moderator and advisor for i&u TV in the coming years
• Strong addition for Tele München Gruppe and Universum Film to build independent German content house

Cologne, 29 March 2019 – KKR, a leading global investment firm, today announced the acquisition of i&u TV (“i&u“) with the participation of Atwater Capital, LLC. i&u is an award-winning German television production company that combines information and entertainment in a unique way. The company produces TV shows such as “stern TV“, “Klein gegen Groß“, “Die Ultimative Chartshow“ and “Menschen, Bilder, Emotionen“ that have become defining parts of the German TV experience. i&u works closely with Germany´s most popular TV channels as well as with well-known show moderators such as Barbara Schöneberger, Thomas Gottschalk, Kai Pflaume, Jörg Pilawa, and Oliver Pocher.

“After i&u’s almost 20 years of success, I am grateful to the employees. Andreas Zaik will ensure continuity at the company as Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief. I will also continue to support the company both in front of and behind the camera for several more years. I am delighted that i&u will now become part of this large media company. I have known Fred Kogel for almost 40 years and respect him and his work. With Fred spearheading this powerful platform and a strong owner like KKR, i&u will benefit from new opportunities in the TV market and beyond,“ said Günther Jauch.

Strengthened TV production
“We are very happy to welcome Günther Jauch, Andreas Zaik and the great i&u team to our group. i&u creates unique TV shows and has been setting standards in journalistic entertainment for years. We want to build on this exceptional expertise. Infotainment is a key part of any future TV programming. The genre is becoming more and more important for our customers to differentiate their profile to appeal to viewers. I am looking forward to joining forces with the i&u team. Together, we will take the company to the next level,“ said Fred Kogel, CEO of the new media company.

Next stage of development
Philipp Freise, Member and Head of the European Technology, Media and Telecommunications Industry team at KKR, added: “With i&u, a first-class production company and a great team are joining our media company. We continue to realize our ambitious plans and are making great advances in reaching our goal of building a powerful content house in the German film and television industry.“
Following the closing of this transaction, the independent audio-visual content platform will include Tele München Gruppe, Universum Film and i&u. Together, the companies cover all parts of the value chain in the TV and film industry: they buy and produce feature films, series as well as TV shows and distribute this content to cinemas, TV channels, digital services, and home entertainment. At the same time, the companies own market-leading license libraries. Being independent furthermore allows the companies to provide premium content to all customers – from digital streaming providers such as Netflix or Amazon Prime to public and private TV channels. The management team around CEO Fred Kogel is currently preparing the operational start and further expansion of the media company.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. It is expected to close in May 2019. KKR is making its investment from its European Fund IV. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Further information on the new media company of Fred Kogel and KKR can be found in the press release of 21 February 2019 (link) and 25 February 2019 (link).

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Media Contacts

KKR

i&u TV
Torben Richter
i&u TV
Phone: +49 221 951 599-967

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 partners 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 i&u TV 
i&u TV represents information and entertainment. Combining these was and is the idea that’s behind the German TV production company i&u TV having the intention to develop and produce high quality prime time entertainment, weekly magazines, reports, and docu soaps. Founded in the year 2000 the company is located in Cologne, Germany. Every year about 140 employees produce far more than 100 premiere broadcasts with more than 160 hours of program on German TV.
Some of the most known and frequent shows are: „stern TV“, RTL’s annual review show, „Menschen, Bilder, Emotionen“, „Denn sie wissen nicht, was passiert – Die Jauch-Gottschalk-Schöneberger Show“, „Die Ultimative Chartshow“, „Nachsitzen! Promis zurück auf die Schulbank“, „5 gegen Jauch“ (all RTL), „Klein gegen Groß – Das unglaubliche Duell“, „Ich weiß alles“, „Zeig mir Deine Welt“, the annual review „Das Quiz“ (all ARD). In addition, i&u TV also produces all kinds of shows for other major German broadcasters.
Productions of i&u TV have won numerous awards like: Deutscher Fernsehpreis, Bayerischer Fernsehpreis, Goldene Kamera, CNN Journalist Award, Bobby, Deutscher Comedypreis, RIAS-Preis, Felix Burda Award, Medienpreis der Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung and others.

Photobox Acquires Greetz to Create European Leader in Online Greetings Cards and Personal Gifting

Photobox Group, Europe’s leading personalisation business, has snapped up Dutch online cards and giftingretailer Greetz. The acquisition makes Photobox Group the European market leader in online greetings cards and personal gifting through the Greetz and Moonpig brands.

Founded in 2001 as an online greetings cards retailer – in which it is the undisputed market leader with over 7.5 million cards sold in the Netherlands in 2017 – Greetz has now established itself as Holland’s number one brand in personal gifting, with strong positions in categories like online flowers, chocolate, beverages and balloons. In 2017 the company sold almost 1 million gifts. Growing at 25% year on year, the business is on course to double its 2015 revenues in 2018.

Greetz now joins Photobox Group’s family of brands which include Moonpig – the UK leader in online cards, gifts & flowers – as well as Photobox (Europe-wide leader in photo-personalised gifts), Hofmann (Spanish leader in photo-personalised gifts) and PosterXXL (a leading player in the German photo-personalised market).

“We’re delighted to welcome Greetz to our family of gifting and personalisation businesses”, said Jody Ford, CEO Photobox Group. “Much like Moonpig in the UK, Greetz is a loved, household brand, offering customers a highly emotive, personal and convenient way to share special moments and occasions together, and a vibrant, dynamic alternative to generic, off the shelf cards, gifts and flowers. The UK and Netherlands are the two main greetings card markets in Europe and we now have leadership positions in both”, said Ford.

Joining Photobox Group gives us access to a Europe-wide pool of talent, expertise and creativity as we build the next stage of Greetz story”, said Niek Veendrick, CEO Greetz. “Our vision is to be the number one destination for personal gifting and greeting, enabling consumers to surprise and support people close to them. This is a 100% match with the Photobox ambitions and in Moonpig they have a very similar business that we can grow with.”

Photobox Group’s brands and products enable over 10 million customers across 15 countries to share memories, celebrate great moments and inject personal expression into their everyday lives every year. The Group generated revenues of £325m in the fiscal year ending 30 April 2017 and is owned by Exponent Private Equity and Electra Private Equity.

London, 20 August 2018: Volpi Capital (“Volpi”), a specialist European lower mid-market private equity firm, today announces the fourth deal from its first fund – Volpi Capital Fund I – with the management buyout of CycloMedia, a leading global B2B geospatial data and information business headquartered in the Netherlands.

CycloMedia provides intelligent geospatial data and information services by virtualising large cities for B2B governmental and commercial use cases, such as tax assessment, remote infrastructure monitoring, asset inspection for insurance underwriters and visual support for control rooms. Founded in the Netherlands in 1980, CycloMedia operates across Europe and the US with the majority of customers buying a repeat service.

CycloMedia is a highly innovative business that through its Research & Development team has developed proprietary technology providing advanced camera and processing techniques. Its technology is currently used in government, public safety and security markets, as well as in construction, infrastructure management and insurance.

The company, which has over 140 employees, has a track record of strong growth with high margins and had revenues of c.€30m in 2017.

The deal will see Volpi acquiring a majority stake. Working closely with CycloMedia’s management, Volpi plans to add value to the business through continued international expansion, particularly in the US. In addition, Volpi will support management with a buy and build strategy, whilst also enhancing the business’ governance and operations.

Volpi’s average ticket size across its four deals to date has been c.€60m, with the investment in CycloMedia consistent with this.

Commenting on the transaction, Crevan O’Grady from Volpi Capital, said: “CycloMedia matches perfectly with our investment thesis of backing businesses harnessing technologies to improve productivity and efficiency within B2B value chains. I am confident that we can support management in driving transformative growth for CycloMedia through further internationalisation, with a particular focus on the US.”

Frank Pauli, CEO of CycloMedia added: “We have been very impressed by Volpi’s deep industrial knowledge and their ability to truly understand our business and the market opportunity. Having developed a relationship with Volpi over the last year, we are confident that they are the right partner to help us take the business to next level.”

This is Volpi’s first deal since closing its maiden fund – Volpi Capital Fund I – at its €185m hard cap in April 2018.

Volpi was advised by Allen & Overy and PwC.

About Volpi Capital

Volpi Capital is a specialist European lower mid-market private equity firm. Volpi has a thesis-driven approach targeting ambitious businesses using enabling technologies to disrupt traditional B2B value chains. Volpi typically invests €25-75 million of equity in businesses with enterprise values between €50 million and €200 million and seeks to drive transformative growth through international expansion and consolidation. The firm, which was founded in 2016 by Crevan O’Grady and Marco Sodi, closed its first fund (Volpi Capital Fund I) in April 2018 with commitments of €185 million.

http://www.volpicapital.com

For all media enquiries, please contact:

Instinctif Partners

Nick Woods/Ambrose Fullalove

+44 20 7457 2020

volpi@instinctif.com

About CycloMedia

Founded in 1980 CycloMedia is a leading international provider of data and software solutions virtualising the outside world accurately on-screen. CycloMedia’s customers derive actionable insights from the geo-data platform to power day-to-day decisions remotely and with more accuracy, delivering exceptional ROI. CycloMedia focuses its solutions on tax assessment, asset management, public safety, construction & engineering, utility & transportation and insurance & real estate. CycloMedia employs 140 people and is based in Zaltbommel, the Netherlands, with operations in the US, Germany, and Scandinavia.

http://www.cyclomedia.com

AlpInvest Becomes the First Outside Investor in the Marketing Group Since Its Launch by Mark Penn and Steve Ballmer

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Stagwell Group and AlpInvest Partners today announced the completion of a $260 million capital raise by Stagwell Media LLC from investment funds managed by AlpInvest Partners, a global private equity investor. Since its founding in 2015, Stagwell Group has completed seventeen investments and is on track for more than $400 million in consolidated net revenue this year. The new investment will support Stagwell’s strategy of building a network of innovative marketing and research companies.

“The marketing landscape is in the midst of a dramatic transformation and we are excited to have AlpInvest support our mission in creating a network of strategists and tacticians that is nimble and digital-centric, building a go-to resource for brands looking to succeed in today’s complex marketplace,” said Mark Penn, Managing Partner of the Stagwell Group. “We created Stagwell as a meaningful alternative to the holding companies, aptly named, since they have long been holding brands back from delivering on their full potential in a digital-first world.”

“Stagwell has demonstrated a superior operating model. Over the past three years, Mark and his team have built a highly attractive portfolio of world class digital-first marketing companies that drive significant results for brands,” said Michael Hacker, Managing Director, AlpInvest Partners.

“We are thrilled to support Stagwell through this secondary transaction at a key a moment in their development, as their portfolio continues to expand rapidly with exciting new capabilities and geographic reach that will allow Stagwell to compete on a global basis,” said Julian Rampelmann, Managing Director, AlpInvest Partners.

Management of the Stagwell Group remains the same. Further details of the transaction were not announced.

Mercury Capital Advisors served as the exclusive financial advisor to the Stagwell Group.

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About The Stagwell Group

The Stagwell Group LLC (the “Stagwell Group”) is a registered investment advisory company formed by Mark Penn. The Stagwell Group manages a private equity fund whose portfolio includes more than a dozen collaborative, digital-first agencies. Stagwell’s portfolio of high growth companies include digital marketing agency Forward 3D Group, media innovator MMI Agency, healthcare and consumer experts SCOUT, research leader Harris Insights & Analytics, performance marketing firm PMX Agency, creative digital leader Code and Theory, strategic communications agency SKDKnickerbocker, entertainment research innovator National Research Group (NRG), public relations firm Finn Partners, communications agency Wye Communications, digital advocacy shop Targeted Victory, creative advertising consultancy Wolfgang, online reputation management firm Reputation Defender and technology innovator Stagwell Technologies. Online at www.stagwellgroup.com.

About AlpInvest Partners
AlpInvest is a leading global private equity investor, with more than $45 billion of assets under management as of June 30, 2018 and more than 150 employees across offices in New York, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, San Francisco and Indianapolis. Since its inception, AlpInvest has invested with over 350 managers and committed $62 billion across over 640 primary commitments to private equity funds, more than 125 secondary transactions and in excess of 230 equity co-investments. AlpInvest offers customized private equity investment solutions to investors through separately managed accounts and commingled funds. AlpInvest operates as a subsidiary of The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG), a global alternative asset manager with $210 billion of assets under management as of June 30, 2018. For more information, please visit www.alpinvest.com.

Media Contact for the Stagwell Group
Beth Lester Sidhu
Phone: +1 (202)423-4414
beth@stagwellgroup.com

Media Contact for AlpInvest Partners
Maaike van der Schoot
Phone: +31 (0) 20 540 7628
maaike.van.der.schoot@alpinvest.com

LANDOVER, Md. & NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)– KKR, a leading global investment firm, and RBmedia, a leading digital audiobook and related spoken content producer, today announced the signing of a definitive agreement under which KKR will acquire RBmedia from Shamrock Capital. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

RBmedia is the largest independent publisher of audiobooks in the world with a catalogue of more than 35,000 titles spanning all genres – from romance to business to sci-fi – with thousands of works being added each year. RBmedia’s collection spans best-sellers to award winners to emerging works from up-and-coming authors. The company also distributes content to consumers directly through two divisions: Audiobooks.com, a leading audiobooks subscription service, and RBDigital, a state-of-the-art cloud-based digital media platform for libraries and library patrons. RBmedia reaches consumers through distribution agreements with an array of platform partners such as Audible, Google, and Rakuten.

“This is an exciting time for RBmedia as audiobooks are the fastest growing segment in the digital publishing industry today. We are delighted to partner with KKR to build on that momentum and to expand upon the growth we’ve achieved in the space thus far in partnership with Shamrock,” said Tom MacIsaac, President and CEO of RBmedia.

“The proliferation of mobile devices and voice-enabled ecosystems has created an always-on consumer who increasingly seeks out new content to enjoy,” said Richard Sarnoff, Chairman of Media, Entertainment, and Education for KKR. “This trend has made audiobooks the most growthful segment of the publishing industry. RBmedia is very well positioned to capitalize on these dynamics with the industry’s largest independent catalogue of premier audio content that can be flexibly delivered across platforms, worldwide.”

“We are thrilled to partner with Tom MacIsaac and the talented team at RBmedia,” said Ted Oberwager, Director at KKR. “We look forward to continuing the company’s history of innovation and to growing RBmedia for the years to come.”

KKR has a long history of successfully investing in market-leading businesses in the digital media and content sectors. KKR’s recent and related investments include WebMD, UFC, Sonos, BMG Rights Management, Next Issue Media, Fotolia, Emerald Media, and Nielsen, among others.

KKR is making the investment in RBmedia primarily from its KKR Americas XII Fund.

“Shamrock is extremely grateful to the RBmedia team for their partnership, entrepreneurial spirit and ability to lead the business over the past three years,” said Mike LaSalle, Partner at Shamrock. “KKR’s resources and expertise will enable the company to continue to capitalize on the tremendous opportunity this market represents.”

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC is serving as financial advisor to KKR on the transaction, with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP serving as legal advisor. LionTree is serving as financial advisor to RBmedia on the transaction, with Cooley LLP serving as legal advisor.

About RBmedia

RBmedia is a global leader in spoken audio content and digital media distribution technology that reaches millions of consumers—at home, in the car, and wherever their mobile devices take them. RBmedia produces exclusive titles and delivers the finest digital content—including audiobooks, streaming video, educational courses, entertainment titles, and much more. Headquartered in Landover, Maryland, RBmedia comprises an ever-expanding group of the best brands in spoken audio content and digital media distribution technology. Find out more at www.rbmediaglobal.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 Shamrock Capital

Shamrock is a Los Angeles-based investment firm with approximately $1.9 billion of assets under management, investing exclusively in the media, entertainment and communications sectors. Shamrock was originally founded in 1978 as the family investment company of the late Roy E. Disney and has since evolved into an institutional money manager with a leading group of investors including endowment and pension funds. Shamrock partners with strong management teams and takes an active, collaborative approach to creating value in each investment. Shamrock’s current investments include Appetize, Branded Cities, BTI Studios, FanDuel, Giant Creative, Isolation Network, Maple Media, Mobilitie, Omega Wireless, Questex, RBmedia, Screenvision Media, Silvergate Media, Wazee Digital, and Wpromote. For more information, visit: www.shamrockcap.com.

KKR:
Kristi Huller or Cara Major
212-750-8300
media@kkr.com
or
Shamrock Capital:
Mickey Mandelbaum or Jaimee Pavia
212-279-3115
mmandelbaum@prosek.com
jpavia@prosek.com

Source: KKR