Tag Archives: Services

KPMG Sweden sells Business Accounting Services division to IK Investment Partners

ik-investment-partners

IK Investment Partners (“IK”), a leading Pan-European private equity firm, is pleased to announce that the IK VIII Fund has reached an agreement with KPMG Sweden (“KPMG”) to acquire its division for accounting, payroll and related advisory services (“Business Accounting Services”). 

Business Accounting Services is a leading provider of accounting, payroll and related advisory services with approximately 300 employees across Sweden. The transaction represents an attractive opportunity for both employees in accounting and payroll administration and for KPMG as a whole.

In February 2018, IK announced the acquisition of Aspia, which operated as a separate division within PwC, supporting over 27,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Aspia is one of the leading companies in accounting, payroll and related advisory services with 71 offices and approximately 1,100 employees across Sweden. The transaction is expected to close 2nd July 2018.

The plan is to integrate Aspia and Business Accounting Services, and the combined entity will operate under the brand name of Aspia. Together, the two businesses had a turnover of more than SEK 1.25 billion.

“Aspia and Business Accounting Services share similar expertise, service offering, customer base and presence as well as cultural heritage. Both companies have a vision to innovate and create new ways of working for SME businesses, especially through our strong digital service offering, and we can’t wait to welcome our new colleagues,” said Magnus Eriksson, Service Line Leader at PwC and Incoming CEO of Aspia.

“The acquisition of Business Accounting Services marks an important milestone for Aspia, and we at IK are incredibly proud to be part of this combination of two great businesses,” said Alireza Etemad, Partner at IK Investment Partners.

“Aspia will give our employees in Business Accounting Services a new home where their expertise is a core skill, with good opportunities to be competitive as well as resources to develop staff skills and drive technology development in the sector. At the same time, KPMG will strengthen its audit agenda and free up resources for strategic efforts in the digital arena and recruiting key employees,” said Magnus Fagerstedt, CEO of KPMG Sweden.

The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction is subject to customary approvals.

For further questions, please contact:

IK Investment Partners
Alireza Etemad, Partner
Phone: +46 8 678 95 24

Mikaela Hedborg, Director Communications & ESG
Phone: +44 77 87 573 566
mikaela.hedborg@ikinvest.com

KPMG
Magnus Fagerstedt, CEO
magnus.fagerstedt@kpmg.se
Phone: +46 8 723 91 00

Björn Bergman, Head of Communications
bjorn.bergman@kpmg.se
Phone: +46 708 76 24 53

Aspia
Magnus Eriksson, Service Line Leader at PwC and Incoming CEO of Aspia
Phone: +46 709 29 11 25

About IK Investment Partners
IK Investment Partners (“IK”) is a Pan-European private equity firm focused on investments in the Nordics, DACH region, France, and Benelux. Since 1989, IK has raised more than €9.5 billion of capital and invested in over 115 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

About KPMG
At KPMG we work with our clients to inspire confidence and empower change. What drives us is a desire to pass on business insights and provide expert audit, tax and advisory services tailored to specific industries. Our global network of 197,000 specialists in 154 countries makes us one of the world’s leading knowledge companies. In Sweden we have a strong local presence with 1,700 employees at around 50 locations. Read more at www.kpmg.se

 

 

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CapMan Buyout to sell The North Alliance to Norvestor

Funds managed by CapMan Buyout have agreed to sell their holdings in The North Alliance to funds managed by Norwegian private equity company Norvestor.

CapMan Buyout funds continue to deliver successful exits of portfolio companies with The North Alliance (“NoA”) as the fifth transaction within the last eight months.

Pan-Scandinavian NoA offers an integrated range of services within design, communications, and technology. NoA consists of leading agencies in Sweden, Denmark and Norway with offices in Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo, Krakow, Chicago and Los Angeles. In 2017 the net sales of NoA was approximately MEUR 80 in agency fee and it employed approximately 730 persons. Funds managed by CapMan acquired NoA in 2014 and both growth and profitability of the company has developed favourably during the ownership period of CapMan.

“During the last four years since NoA was formed, it has grown into one of the most successful agency networks in Scandinavia and achieved global recognition for its creativity and innovation capabilities. Our strategy under CapMan’s ownership to create a Nordic leader has been achieved through establishment of offices in Scandinavian capitals and through key strategic acquisitions. By working extensively with the right type of integration of these agencies, NoA has managed to come to the market with a unique offering, benefiting from cross selling, operational best practice, centralized back office and PMO functions while increasing the quality in its creative output as demonstrated by the many awards in Scandinavia and internationally. This was of course only possible by having a very skilled and dedicated management team supporting the CEO Thomas Høgebøl, who came to us with this vision in 2013,” says Tobias Karte, Investment Director at CapMan Buyout and responsible for the investment in NoA.

“We have achieved a lot during these four years and the story of NoA is still in its beginning. CapMan has supported me in realizing the vision I had for NoA in a very good way, contributing with expertise and support in how to build a company of this size and realizing the strategic agenda we have had. I am happy that the development of NoA can continue with a new strong owner who is willing to support us further in realizing our vision,” says Thomas Høgebøl, CEO and founder of The North Alliance.

The completion of the transaction is pending certain conditions including approval from competition authorities.

The CapMan Buyout team comprises 12 investment professionals working in Helsinki and Stockholm. The funds managed by CapMan Buyout invest in medium-sized, unlisted companies in the Nordic countries.


For more information, please contact:
Tobias Karte, Investment Director, CapMan Buyout, tel. +46 733 442 896
Thomas Høgebøl, CEO, the North Alliance, tel. +47 950 92 000

CapMan
www.capman.com
@CapManPE

 

CapMan is a leading Nordic private asset expert with an active approach to value-creation in its target companies and assets. We offer a wide selection of investment products and services. As one of the Nordic private equity pioneers we have developed hundreds of companies and real estate and created substantial value in these businesses and assets over the last 28 years. CapMan has today approximately 120 private equity professionals and manages approximately €2.8 billion in assets under management. We mainly manage the assets of our customers, the investors, but also make investments from our own balance sheet. Our objective is to provide attractive returns and innovative solutions to investors. Our current investment strategies cover Real Estate, Buyout, Russia, Credit, Growth Equity and Infrastructure. We also have a growing service business that currently includes procurement services (CaPS), fundraising advisory (Scala Fund Advisory), and fund management services.

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Ardian arranges unitranche financing for Naxicap Partners’ acquisition of ECS

Ardian

Paris, June 12th 2018 – Ardian, a world-leading private investment house, today announces the arrangement of a Unitranche financing facility to support Naxicap Partners’ acquisition of European Cargo Services (“ECS”), a world leading Global General Sales Agent, managing 900k tonnes of air cargo on behalf of airlines, representing an annual sales volume of over €1bn. The Unitranche package will also include a dedicated committed acquisition facility to support the growth of the Company and finance future build ups.

Founded in 1998 in Paris, ECS Group has built an efficient worldwide network of 137 offices across 47 countries, with over 1,000 staff working as a fully integrated organisation. ECS is a strategic partner for airlines and as their exclusive representative, markets and manages even their most complex cargo requirements.
Its global footprint is the product of both organic and external growth, resulting in a dense global network, with major recent acquisitions such as AVS in Asia (2016) and ExpAir in Canada (2017) strengthening ECS’s position in markets with strong growth potential.

In a market ripe for consolidation, offering a strong pool of build-up opportunities, the Company intends to pursue an active strategy of acquisitions, generating significant commercial synergies, while continuing to extend the range of services offered to clients, providing global and innovative solutions.

Backed by Alpha Private Equity since 2013, the management team selected Naxicap Partners for the next phase of growth, supported by a Unitranche facility provided by Ardian. “With ECS’ clear ambition of selectively penetrating and reinforcing its positions in key areas of its already broad network, the Unitranche alternative stood out as a compelling solution to accelerate the Company’s growth in the next few years” commented Grégory Pernot, Director of Private Debt at Ardian France.

Angèle Faugier, Partner at Naxicap Partners, added: “ECS has demonstrated an amazing growth trajectory under the leadership of Bertrand Schmoll and Adrien Thominet who have succeeded in both developing and structuring the Group around solid fundamentals (high-quality client portfolio, an integrated global network, efficient local teams, premium services). We are convinced that the Group has what it takes to establish itself as the major consolidation platform in the market and to be a driving force for innovation in the cargo industry. We want to provide its management team with the means to put their ambitious development plans into action, and are convinced that the expertise of Ardian, through this Unitranche financing, which grants us flexibility and speed of execution, will enable us to rapidly achieve our goals.”

“We are proud to have convinced Naxicap and ECS’ management team of the merits of our offer, and are delighted to be a key partner of the Group going forward. We have been very impressed by the Company’s historical development and by the quality and loyalty of the management team for over twenty years“ said Guillaume Chinardet, Head of Private Debt France and Managing Director at Ardian. “This is our 108th transaction since the creation of Ardian’s Private Debt activity, reflecting the longstanding track-record of the team since 2005, as well as our capacity to underwrite Unitranches of significant size.”

ABOUT ARDIAN

Ardian is a world-leading private investment house with assets of US$71bn managed or advised in Europe, North America 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 500 employees working from thirteen offices across Europe (Frankfurt, Jersey, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Zurich), North America (New York, San Francisco) and Asia (Beijing, Singapore, Tokyo). It manages funds on behalf of 700 clients through five pillars of investment expertise: Private Debt, Fund of Funds, Direct Funds, Infrastructure and Real Estate.

Follow Ardian on Twitter @Ardian

www.ardian.com

ABOUT NAXICAP PARTNERS

Naxicap Partners is one of France’s leading private equity companies, and an affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers, totaling nearly €3bn of capital under management.
As a committed and responsible investor, Naxicap Partners builds solid and constructive partnerships with entrepreneurs for the success of their projects. The company has 40 investment professionals and 4 offices in France: Paris, Lyon, Toulouse and Nantes.
www.naxicap.fr

LIST OF PARTIES INVOLVED

ECS: Bertrand Schmoll (Chairman), Adrien Thominet (CEO), Raphaël Kokougan (CFO).
Naxicap Partners: Angèle Faugier, Caroline Lachaud, Sarra El Mghari Tabib, Michel Abi Fadel.
Ardian Private Debt: Guillaume Chinardet, Grégory Pernot, Clément Chidiac.
Financing Legal Advisor (Ardian): Willkie Farr & Gallagher – Paul Lombard, Ralph Unger.
PRESS CONTACTS
ARDIAN
Headland
CARL LEIJONHUFVUD
CLeijonhufvud@headlandconsultancy.com
Tel: +44 20 3805 4827

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Ufenau has acquired Kruppert Group

Ufenau

we are pleased to announce that Ufenau has acquired Kruppert Group via the newly founded platform company  Lavatio GmbH.

Kruppert is a well-established textile service company, offering rental textiles and laundry services for its customers consisting predominately of hotels and restaurants. Since its foundation in 1974, the still family-run company has emerged in to a full-service provider due to one of the most modern and state-of-the-art industrial laundry facilities in Germany. Kruppert employs 115 employees and has – besides Its headquarter in Hünfeld (Hesse) a subsidiary in Switzerland.  As a one -stop-shop supplier Kruppert offers a highly efficient portfolio of rental and laundry as well as consulting services for hotel s, restaurants and catering companies (HoReCa). Together with its more than 50 independent laundry partners, the company serves a diversified portfolio of more than 600 customers throughout Germany and Switzerland , including many renowned hotel chains.

“I am very delighted to have found an experienced and financially sound partner for our fast-growing family – run company to further support the future growth. I feel certain that in combination with strategically important add-on acquisitions, we will be able to establish a market-leading Group in the HoReCa segment”, comments Frank Kruppert, the owner and CEO of the Group.

“Kruppert serves as ideal platform in a growing hotel market with an increasing outsourcing and consolidation trend for Ufenau’s Buy-and-Build strategy. Together with Frank Kruppert we aim to deploy the know-how and expertise of the team to strengthen the growth of the Group”, adds Ralf Flore, Managing Partner at Ufenau.

Sincerely, your Ufenau Team

 

About Ufenau Capital Partners

Ufenau Capital Partners is a privately owned Swiss Investor Group headquartered at the Lake Zurich which advises private  investors, family offices and institutional investors with their investments in private equity. Ufenau Capital Partners is focused on investments in service companies in German-speaking Europe and invests in the Education & Lifestyle, Business Services, Health Care and Financial Services sectors. Through a renowned Group of experienced Industry Partners (Owners, CEOs, CFOs), Ufenau Capital Partners pursues an active value-adding investment approach on eye-level with entrepreneurs and managers.

 

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FSN Capital III has sold its holding in Green Landscaping

Fsn Capital

FSN Capital III has sold its holding of 9,281,788 shares (corresponding to 26.15% of the total shares) in Green Landscaping Holding AB (“Green” or the “Company”) through a block sale to Byggmästare Anders J Ahlström Fastighets AB and the Salén family. The sale was made at a price of SEK 21.25 per share, a total of approximately SEK 197 million. Following the sale, FSN Capital III no longer holds any shares in Green, a company it formed in 2009 together with a group of entrepreneurs.

Green was listed on NASDAQ First North on 26 March 2018. Following on from the IPO, there has been significant interest in Green from the market. In particular, Byggmästare Anders J Ahlström Fastighets AB and the Salén family have recently expressed the desire to acquire FSN Capital III’s remaining ownership. Given the long term supportive nature of these investors, that they are buying the shares above the IPO price, that they will enter into a customary lock up agreement for the remaining part of FSN Capital III’s lock up period, and FSN Capital III’s existing long term ownership of Green Landscaping, Pareto Securities considers it is in the best interests to allow this sale before the end of FSN Capital III’s original lock-up period.

Andreas Bruzelius, Principal at FSN Capital Partners (investment advisor to FSN Capital III) says: “The transaction concludes a journey initiated 10 years ago when we first met Green’s original founders. Our shared vision was to create a leading landscaping company with SEK 1bn in sales – an objective achieved in 2017 under the capable stewardship of Green’s management team. Having reached our targets, we are pleased to hand over to a group of highly active and professional owners to fulfil Green’s high ambitions for the future.”

About Green
Green Landscaping is a leading supplier of services within the Swedish market for maintenance of outdoor environments. The main business comprises a complete offering of maintenance services such as grounds maintenance, landscaping, sports grounds maintenance, as well as arborist services. Green Landscaping is present in the middle and south of Sweden, focusing on the metropolitan areas.

The Company began its operations in the spring of 2009 through a consolidation of four companies, which together formed the new group Green Landscaping. Since then, the Company has conducted seven more acquisitions and achieved total revenues of SEK 1,016 million in 2017, including full-year revenues from companies acquired in 2017. In 2015, Johan Nordström started working as CEO of Green Landscaping. Since then, the Company has established a platform for profitable growth through the implementation of multiple operational efficiency improvements and efficient steering processes. These have also contributed to an increase in the Company’s adjusted EBITDA margin from 4.2 percent in 2014 to 9.4 percent in 2017, including full-year earnings from companies acquired in 2017. The Company intends to grow through both organic growth and acquisitions, and has established a structured acquisition strategy for the future.

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IK Investment Partners to acquire A-Katsastus Group’s operations in Sweden, Poland and the Baltics

ik-investment-partners

IK Investment Partners (“IK”) is pleased to announce that the IK Small Cap II Fund has reached an agreement to acquire Carspect AB, SIA Scantest, Autotest Polska Sp. Z.o.o and A-Ülevaatus OÜ (“the Group”), from A-Katsastus Group Oy, a leading provider of vehicle inspection services in Northern Europe.

With a network of 375 employees and 106 stations, the Group is a leading provider of vehicle inspection services in Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Poland.
Its service offering includes Periodic Technical Inspections (PTI), registration inspections, voluntary checks and related services for passenger cars, light trucks, buses and lorries.

“We are delighted to announce the sale of our non-Finnish activities. A-Katsastus Group, a Bridgepoint portfolio company, was the first company to introduce a customer-oriented service concept in the Swedish vehicle inspection market. We see exciting opportunities in our core Finnish market and developing our presence in both Finnish inspection and damage repair,” said Kari Kivikoski, CEO of A-Katsastus Group.

“IK shares our commitment to providing our customers with the best possible service. Their support allows us to better serve our existing customers while also enhancing our ability to increase the availability of our services geographically,” said Lars Selenius, CEO of Carspect.

“The market for vehicle inspection services is expected to continue to develop over the coming years. The Group has a superior concept with central locations, clean facilities, mobile-friendly websites and strong focus on customer service. By leveraging its strong brands, we believe that we can further strengthen the Group’s position in its chosen markets,” said Kristian Carlsson Kemppinen, Partner at IK Investment Partners.

Financial terms of the transaction are not disclosed.

For further questions, please contact:

A-Katsastus Group
Kari Kivikoski, CEO
Phone: +358 500 434 912

IK Investment Partners
Kristian Carlsson Kemppinen, Partner
Phone: +46 8 678 9500

Mikaela Hedborg,
Director Communications & ESG
Phone: +44 77 87 573 566
mikaela.hedborg@ikinvest.com

About A-Katsastus Group
A-Katsastus Group is the leading vehicle inspection company in Northern Europe with 273 stations in Finland, Sweden, Poland, Estonia and Latvia. Its main activity is the provision of compulsory vehicle inspections and certifications for all light and heavy motor vehicles over three years of age. It is also licensed to offer statutory drivers’ examinations and is the market leader in vehicle registrations as well as providing related services such as vehicle insurance. For more information, visit www.a-katsastus.com

About IK Investment Partners
IK Investment Partners (“IK”) is a Pan-European private equity firm focused on investments in the Nordics, DACH region, France, and Benelux. Since 1989, IK has raised more than €9.5 billion of capital and invested in over 115 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

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CapMan Growth Equity to invest in nationwide earthmoving equipment company RealMachinery

Capman

CapMan Growth Equity to invest in nationwide earthmoving equipment company RealMachinery

CapMan Growth Equity has made a significant minority investment in RealMachinery, a nationwide earthmoving equipment company. The investment into RealMachinery is CapMan Growth Equity’s second new investment completed during the first half of the year from the fund focusing on growth investments with a total of eight portfolio companies.

RealMachinery Ltd, founded in 2010, is a nation-wide full-service house specialised in machinery, that sells, rents, maintains and equips earthmoving machinery for each purpose. In addition to RealMachinery, a part of the machinery house is Dae-Tek Ltd which has over 25 years of experience in machinery sales and importation. In 2017, the net sales of new RealMachinery Group were EUR 65 million and it employs approximately 100 persons in total.

With the help of CapMan Growth Equity investment, the company aims to strengthen its position in the leasing and financing market, broaden its service portfolio and enter new customer segments. The operations shall also be expanded to the Nordics by using the current brand portfolio.

“I am very pleased to enter into this agreement with RealMachinery. The company has a great culture of entrepreneurship with the courage to try and do new things which supports our vision to grow RealMachinery to a leading earthmoving equipment company in the Nordics,” says Antti Kummu, Partner of CapMan Growth Equity.

The objective of the Growth Equity investment activities is to find unlisted target companies with strong growth potential, to make significant minority investments worth more than one million in them and, as an active investor, to develop their value so as to achieve returns in excess of the market average. CapMan’s Growth Equity portfolio consists of eight unlisted Nordic companies at the moment.

For further information, please contact:
Antti Kummu, Partner, Growth Equity, CapMan Plc, tel. +358 50 432 4486

CapMan
www.capman.com
@CapManPE

CapMan is a leading Nordic private asset expert with an active approach to value-creation in its target companies and assets. We offer a wide selection of investment products and services. As one of the Nordic private equity pioneers we have developed hundreds of companies and real estate and created substantial value in these businesses and assets over the last 28 years. CapMan has today 115 private equity professionals and manages approximately €2.8 billion in assets under management. We mainly manage the assets of our customers, the investors, but also make investments from our own balance sheet. Our objective is to provide attractive returns and innovative solutions to investors. Our current investment strategies cover Real Estate, Buyout, Russia, Credit, Growth Equity and Infrastructure. We also have a growing service business that currently includes procurement services (CaPS), fundraising advisory (Scala Fund Advisory), and fund management services.

 

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Activa Capital and Bpifrnance invest in leading French insurance broker Activa Assurances

Activa Capital

Activa Capital and Bpifrance announce the acquisition of a stake in Active Assurances, a French insurance broker specialised in the digital distribution of insurance products.
Thanks to its use of digital technology, Active Assurances has become, in under five years, the leading independent partner of insurance comparison websites in France.
Working in partnership and yet totally autonomously with leading insurance companies, Active Assurances develops products, distributes them on-line, manages the policies, cash flows, and sometimes handles claims.
Since 2016, Active Assurances has extended its expertise to the distribution and management of white-label insurance policies for large brokers, insurers, and mutual insurance companies.
With headquarters in Boulogne-Billancourt, the company also has an offshore management centre with 100 employees, which allows it to maintain a sustained level of efficient service.
By joining the founding shareholders in Active Assurances, Activa Capital and Bpifrance will help support the company during its strong transformation and development stage.
This is the 7th transaction for Activa Capital Fund III.
“We are pleased to welcome Activa Capital, whose expertise will allow us to carry out external growth operations and accompany our fast development,” said Didier Naccache, President of Active Assurances. “With Activa Capital and Bpifrance, we will continue to grow our historic activity while launching new products and distribution channels.”
“This acquisition is in perfect keeping with Activa Capital’s strategy, which is to invest in companies that have reached a turning point in their growth in order to help them transform their businesses,” added Alexandre Masson and Christophe Parier, Partners at Activa Capital.
“Active Assurance’s position as a pure digital player, its commercial dynamism and operational rigor, as well as the determination of management to pursue growth with new products and build-up transactions, were all factors in our decision to back the company,” said Ménelé Chesnot and Matthieu Rabeisen, Bpifrance.

Deal Participants
Founders
Active Assurances: Didier Naccache, Thomas Riottot, Denis Salmoiraghi
M&A: Cambon Partners (Guillaume Eymar, Vincent Ruffat)
Corporate Lawyer: Linklaters (Marc Petitier, Maud Fillon)
Tax Lawyer: Arsène Taxand

Investors
Activa Capital: Christophe Parier, Alexandre Masson, David Quatrepoint, Timothée Héron
Bpifrance: Ménelé Chesnot, Matthieu Rabeisen
Financial Due Diligence: 8 Advisory (Christian Berling, Clément Evain)
Strategic Due Diligence: Monitor Deloitte (Cyril Gay Belan, Samuel Galbois, Adrien Lafargue)
Legal, Fiscal, and Financing Advisors: McDermott Will & Emery (Henri Pieyre de Mandiargues, Félix Huon, Herschel Guez, Anne Febvre, Antoine Vergnat, Pierre-Arnoux Mayoly), Lamartine Conseil (Thierry Filippi, Bérengère Coussolle)
Senior financing
Senior debt: co-arrangers BNP Paribas (Anne-Laure Herbinet) and Banque Populaire Rives de Paris (Olivier Grisard, Chekib Ben Salah)

About Active Assurances
Active Assurances is an insurance broker specialised in the on-line sale of automotive insurance policies. Based in Boulogne-Billancourt, in autonomous partnership with leading insurance companies, Active Assurances develops, distributes, and manages automotive insurance policies. For further information, visit www.activeassurances.fr .

About Activa Capital
Activa Capital is a leading French mid-market private equity firm. Activa Capital manages over €500m of private equity funds on behalf of a wide range of institutional investors. Activa Capital partners with ambitious mid-sized French companies, valued at €20m to €200m, seeking to accelerate their growth and their international footprint. Learn more about Activa Capital at activacapital.com or on Twitter @activacapital.

About Bpifrance
Equity investments are operated by Bpifrance Investissement. Bpifrance, a subsidiary of the French state and the Caisse des Dépôts and the entrepreneurs’ trusted partner, finances businesses from the seed phase to IPO, through loans, guarantees and equity investments. Bpifrance also provides operational services and strong support for innovation, export, and external growth in partnership with Business France. Bpifrance offers to businesses a large range of financing opportunities at each key step of their development, including offers adapted to regional specificities. With its 48 regional offices (90% of decisions are made locally)

Bpifrance represents a strategic tool for economic competitiveness dedicated to entrepreneurs. Bpifrance acts as a back-up for initiatives driven by the French State and the Regions to tackle 3 goals:
• Contributing to SME’s growth
• Preparing tomorrow’s competitiveness
• Contributing to the development of a positive entrepreneur ecosystem.
With Bpifrance, businesses benefit from a powerful, efficient and close representative, to answer all their needs in terms of financing, innovation and investment.

http://www.bpifrance.fr Twitter: @bpifrance / @bpifrancepresse

Activa Capital Media Contacts Steele & Holt Media Contacts
Alexandre Masson Daphné Claude
Partner
+33 1 43 12 50 12 +33 6 66 58 81 92 alexandre.masson@activacapital.com daphne@steeleandholt.com
Christelle Piatto Claire Guermond
Communications Manager
+33 1 43 12 50 12 +33 6 31 92 22 82
christelle.piatto@activacapital.com claire@steeleandholt.com
Bpifrance Media Contact
Nicolas Jelhy
+33 1 41 79 95 12
nicolas.jehly@bpifrance.fr

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Cinven to acquire JLA

Cinven

Investment in critical asset solutions business in the UK

International private equity firm, Cinven, today announces that it has agreed to acquire JLA (‘the Group’), a leading critical asset supply and services business for laundry, catering and heating in the UK, for an undisclosed consideration.

Headquartered in Ripponden, West Yorkshire, JLA provides commercial laundry, catering and heating solutions to more than 25,000 small and medium-sized enterprise (‘SME’) customers. JLA offers a unique ‘Total Care’ proposition, which combines equipment supply with guaranteed service response times for a contracted monthly fee, providing peace of mind and value for money to a range of customers including care homes, hotels, education providers and housing associations. Founded in 1973, JLA employs around 900 people, including around 300 engineers.

Cinven’s Business Services team identified JLA as an attractive investment opportunity given its:

  • Resilient business model: JLA provides critical services at attractive value for money to a stable and loyal customer base. It also benefits from recurring revenue through long-term contracts;
  • Attractive markets: JLA services markets with attractive growth prospects including care homes, hospitality, and student accommodation;
  • Strong positioning: JLA’s leading position allows it to offer national coverage with leading response times to its customers;
  • Significant growth opportunity: JLA has significant potential for organic growth both in its existing businesses and though expansion into new services. It also has a proven track record of successful acquisitions, having acquired 16 companies in the past five years;
  • Strong financial performance: JLA has delivered double-digit annual revenue and EBITDA growth organically and through acquisition since 2013; and
  • Strong leadership team, led by Stephen Baxter, CEO, which has overseen JLA’s highly successful growth to date.

Rory Neeson, Partner at Cinven, said:

“Under the leadership of its strong management team, JLA is a well-run, defensive business with a diversified and loyal customer base. We believe JLA has an excellent platform to support its further growth ambitions, including its national engineering platform and sales and marketing capabilities.

“Cinven’s strategy is to invest in JLA to support the Group’s organic growth – both in its existing core products of laundry and catering solutions and in new areas, including heating and fire safety. We also see a great opportunity for continued growth through buy and build.”

Daniel Tanase, Principal at Cinven, added:

“JLA’s business model shares key characteristics with many of Cinven’s highly successful Business Services investments, for example CPA Global. Both companies provide mission-critical services to a diverse customer base and in growing markets, and benefit from long-term recurring revenue streams. Cinven invested significantly in CPA Global, particularly to develop its service offering which helped underpin its successful growth. JLA is a great opportunity to replicate this strategy.”

Stephen Baxter, CEO of JLA, commented:

“Our focus as a company is on investing in innovative product offerings and expanding our business through both organic growth and acquisitions. We are delighted that Cinven is investing in JLA to support the next phase of our growth. The Cinven team has significant experience of investing in and building businesses in the UK and internationally and I am certain they will be instrumental in our future successes.

“JLA is proud of the strength and longevity of its customer and supplier relationships which have underpinned the growth of our business so far. We work hard to keep critical areas of our customers’ businesses running smoothly, safely and effectively – whether it’s in the laundry, kitchen or boiler room. Cinven has a reputation for its responsible approach to investment which I am confident will be a further positive for our business including our employees, customers and other stakeholders.”

JLA is the ninth investment from the Sixth Cinven Fund. This transaction follows Cinven’s most recent Business Services investments in Tinsa, a provider of property valuation, analysis and real estate advisory (in August 2016); and Hotelbeds, a global business to business bedbank (in September 2016). Both of these businesses are performing strongly and have undertaken successful buy and build strategies.

In the UK, Cinven’s current investments include NewDay, the UK consumer finance company (acquired in January 2017), and Kurt Geiger, the retailer of footwear and accessories in Europe (acquired in January 2016).

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The Apax Digital Fund leads $43 million funding round in Wizeline

Funding will drive international expansion and M&A 

Wizeline to continue to support the transformation of the consulting industry with its technology-driven approach

March 26, 2018 — SAN FRANCISCO and NEW YORK— Wizeline, a Silicon Valley-based outsourced product development and technology company, today announced that the company has closed a $43M Series B funding round, led by the Apax Digital Fund, a growth equity fund advised by global private equity advisory firm Apax Partners.

Wizeline builds technology platforms and offers software consulting services to provide transformative technology solutions to its customers. The company was founded in 2014 and has quickly grown to nearly 500 employees globally with year-on-year revenue growth of over 200%. The new funds will be used to accelerate growth through the scaling of development teams, sales & marketing functions, international expansion, and M&A.

Bismarck Lepe, CEO and co-founder of Wizeline, said, “Wizeline has always been focused on helping companies to innovate and to deliver better products to market faster. Software is the new frontier for all businesses, and Wizeline’s approach of marrying global talent with technology platforms allows us to deliver transformative solutions to the largest companies in the world. Tens of millions of people use a Wizeline-designed and developed product every single day.”

“We are very excited to partner with Wizeline, supporting Bismarck and his team to continue to deliver impressive growth,” said Marcelo Gigliani, Managing Partner of Apax Digital. “Wizeline has earned an enviable position in the high-end digital transformation consulting space, through its differentiated product-focused offering, its world-class engineering team, and its growing international roster of blue-chip customers. We aim to leverage Apax’s deep experience investing in leading global IT Services companies to accelerate Wizeline’s growth ambitions.”

The investment in Wizeline is the Apax Funds’ ninth IT Services investment. Notable recent investments include GlobalLogic, ThoughtWorks, EVRY, Engineering, and Zensar. Marcelo Gigliani as well as Bryan Gartner, Principal at Apax Digital, will be joining Wizeline’s Board of Directors as part of this funding.

“Apax brings decades of experience in the consulting services industry, and we believe that they are the right partner to support the organic and inorganic growth of the business,” added Lepe. “In addition to continuing to invest in our core platforms and teams, we will be focused on acquiring API/SDK-driven technologies that can accelerate the development and delivery of solutions for our customers.”

In the last year, Wizeline has doubled headcount and developed a proprietary platform that uses automation and artificial intelligence to make the traditionally complex process of software development more efficient and reliable.

The Apax Digital Fund leads $43 million funding round in Wizeline

About Wizeline
Wizeline is an intelligent software delivery and product company that employs a global network of over 5000 developers and non-technical talent to build engaging customer experiences. Headquartered in San Francisco, Wizeline is committed to collaboration without borders by sharing Silicon Valley innovation with the rest of the world. The company has offices in Guadalajara and Mexico City, Mexico, as well as in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

About Apax Digital
The Apax Digital Fund specializes in growth equity and buyout investments in high-growth enterprise software, internet, and technology-enabled services companies worldwide. Apax Digital leverages Apax’s deep tech investing expertise, global platform, and specialized operating experts, to enable technology companies and their management teams to accelerate the achievement of their full potential. For further information, please visit http://digital.apax.com.

Over its more than 35-year history, Apax Partners has raised and advised funds with aggregate commitments of over $50 billion. These funds provide long-term equity financing to build and strengthen world-class companies. For further information about Apax Partners, please visit http://apax.com.

Press contacts:  

Wizeline
Caroline Buck | press@wizeline.com

Apax Partners
Global Media: Andrew Kenny, Apax | +44 20 7 872 6371 | andrew.kenny@apax.com
USA Media: Todd Fogarty, Kekst | +1 212-521 4854 | todd.fogarty@kekst.com
UK Media: Matthew Goodman / James Madsen, Greenbrook | +44 20 7952 2000 | apax@greenbrookpr.com

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