Year: 2018

Frank­furt am Main — Fina­tem, a leading inde­pen­dent invest­ment company focu­sing on German medium-sized compa­nies, sells SCHOLLENBERGER Kampf­mit­tel­ber­gung GmbH (“Schol­len­ber­ger” or “Schol­len­ber­ger Group”) to SOCOTEC Group, Guyan­court, France (“SOCOTEC” or “SOCOTEC Group”). The SOCOTEC Group is one of the leading Euro­pean service provi­ders in the field of measu­re­ment, test­ing and certi­fi­ca­tion of cons­truc­tion and infra­struc­ture projects. SOCOTEC gene­ra­tes annual sales of EUR 700 million in 25 count­ries with 200,000 custo­mers and employs around 7,000 people. Dr. Boris Töller and Klaus Löhle will conti­nue to be respon­si­ble for the manage­ment of the Schol­len­ber­ger Group after the take­over by SOCOTEC.

The Schol­len­ber­ger Group, with around 400 employees at its head­quar­ters in Celle and 8 other loca­ti­ons, is the market leader in Germany and Austria in the field of civi­lian explo­sive ordnance dispo­sal. The group offers its custo­mers all services rela­ted to the tech­ni­cal explo­ra­tion and unco­ve­ring of warfare agents in endan­ge­red areas. In Germany and Austria, it is a compul­sory legal obli­ga­tion for the deve­lo­per to ensure that the soil is free of explo­sive ordnance before any work is carried out.

In 2016, the Schol­len­ber­ger Group was acqui­red by Fina­tem and the mana­ging direc­tors of the Schol­len­ber­ger Group Klaus Löhle and Dr. Boris Töller, as part of a manage­ment buy-out from the Celler Brun­nen­bau Group, and was supple­men­ted in 2018 by GeoFact GmbH, Bonn, which specia­li­zes in geophy­si­cal analy­sis services. “Our common goal was to deve­lop Schol­len­ber­ger into the clear market and, above all, quality leader in the field of explo­sive ordnance dispo­sal,” Fina­tem part­ner Eric Jung­blut points out. “Toge­ther with Fina­tem, we at Schol­len­ber­ger have intro­du­ced indus­trial stan­dards in the areas of sales and resource manage­ment and control­ling that are leading and trend-setting in the explo­sive ordnance dispo­sal indus­try,” elabo­ra­tes Dr. Boris Töller, mana­ging part­ner of the Schol­len­ber­ger Group.

“The posi­tive deve­lo­p­ment of the Schol­len­ber­ger Group is another exam­ple of our successful invest­ment and value enhance­ment stra­tegy. We focus our invest­ments on compa­nies with unique selling propo­si­ti­ons and abso­lute quality stan­dards in growing markets, where we see deve­lo­p­ment poten­tial that we can leverage toge­ther,” explains Fina­tem Mana­ging Direc­tor Dr. Robert Hennigs .

The parties have agreed not to disc­lose the details of the transaction.

Company Profile Finatem
As an inde­pen­dent part­ner-mana­ged invest­ment company based in Frank­furt, Fina­tem invests in compa­nies with busi­ness acti­vi­ties or know-how, parti­cu­larly in Germany, Austria and Switz­er­land, through majo­rity share­hol­dings. The focus is on medium-sized compa­nies from tradi­tio­nal indus­tries with a sales volume of between EUR 25 million and EUR 125 million and a clear growth poten­tial. With its exis­ting exten­sive natio­nal and inter­na­tio­nal expe­ri­ence in private equity and indus­try, Fina­tem is a relia­ble part­ner for its port­fo­lio compa­nies and supports them in the chal­lenges of market globalization.

Albdruck/ Zug (CH) — INVISION has acqui­red a majo­rity stake in the German family-owned company ABC Design GmbH as part of a succes­sion plan. The members of the foun­ding Fischer family remain invol­ved and conti­nue to play key opera­tio­nal roles.

ABC Design is the leading manu­fac­tu­rer of strol­lers and access­ories in the German market. The company, based in Albbruck DE, sells station wagons, sports strol­lers, car seats, high chairs and access­ories, cove­ring a wide range of needs for young fami­lies. Thanks to the strong team in Albbruck and with the help of long-stan­ding and stable supplier rela­ti­onships, ABC Design can offer high-quality strol­lers at fair prices. In-house quality manage­ment enables ABC Design to guaran­tee the highest stan­dards of safety and quality, which are appre­cia­ted by specia­list dealers and end custo­mers alike. This is confirmed by the good custo­mer response as well as by Stif­tung Waren­test, which places ABC Design strol­lers in the top ranks as a price-perfor­mance leader.

The foun­ders Eva & Diet­mar Fischer built up the successful company from 1989 to 2011 and mana­ged it both opera­tio­nally and stra­te­gi­cally. In 2011, their son Bernd Fischer joined the manage­ment team, while Eva Fischer contin­ued to help shape the company in the area of design and Diet­mar Fischer as an advi­sory board member.

The foun­ding family will conti­nue to hold a stake in the company along­side INVISION and will conti­nue to perform all opera­tio­nal roles as before. Under the leader­ship of the two mana­ging direc­tors Bernd Fischer and Jörg Zehe, the focus conti­nues to be on the conti­nuous streng­thening of the market leader­ship in Germany and the expan­sion into promi­sing inter­na­tio­nal markets.

Eva & Diet­mar Fischer, foun­ders and co-part­ners of ABC Design, comment: “We are happy to have found a relia­ble and strong part­ner in INVISION, who is moti­va­ted to successfully conti­nue the company in the same style and with the same culture.”

Bernd Fischer, mana­ging part­ner of ABC Design, adds: “INVISION is a part­ner who is just as convin­ced of ABC Design’s busi­ness model as we are and who is looking to the future with joy and verve. The focus of further deve­lo­p­ment is on conti­nuous growth with an uncom­pro­mi­sing focus on quality and price, but now with a strong co-part­ner at our side.”

Martin Spirig, Part­ner at INVISION (Photo) says: “We are thril­led that with ABC Design we are once again able to parti­ci­pate in a leading medium-sized company in Baden-Würt­tem­berg. We parti­cu­larly appre­ciate the Fischer family’s contin­ued active role as co-part­ners and in the opera­tio­nal manage­ment of the company. For INVISION, the focus is always on ensu­ring that the company succes­sion is a good solu­tion for the foun­ding family, manage­ment, employees, custo­mers and suppli­ers. Toge­ther with the Fischer family, we have succee­ded in doing this with ABC Design.”

About ABC Design
ABC Design (www.abc-design.de) designs, deve­lops, sources, markets and sells strol­lers in a variety of styles. Foun­ded in 1989, the family-owned company has estab­lished itself as the market leader in Germany thanks to its strikin­gly good price-perfor­mance ratio. ABC Design is active on a variety of commu­ni­ca­tion chan­nels and can thus address and serve whole­sa­lers, retail­ers and end custo­mers alike. The company employs around 40 people, most of whom are active at the head­quar­ters in Albbruck DE.

About Invi­sion
Since its foun­da­tion in 1997, Invi­sion has successfully deve­lo­ped into one of the leading invest­ment compa­nies for corpo­rate succes­sion and growth finan­cing in Europe. Invi­sion has inves­ted more than EUR 750 million of equity in over 50 compa­nies during this time, achie­ving sustainable value growth. Invi­sion sees itself as an entre­pre­neu­rial part­ner for foun­ders, entre­pre­neurs and manage­ment teams. In its enga­ge­ments, Invi­sion places parti­cu­lar empha­sis on under­stan­ding the speci­fic needs of compa­nies and entre­pre­neurs and deve­lo­ping custo­mi­zed solu­ti­ons. Invi­sion invests in estab­lished medium-sized compa­nies, espe­ci­ally in succes­sion constel­la­ti­ons. www.invision.ch.

Frank­furt — Jones Day advi­sed Aurora Resur­gence on the sale of Alltub Group (“Alltub”) to One Equity Part­ners. Terms of the tran­sac­tion were not disc­lo­sed. Aurora Resur­gence is a subsi­diary of Aurora Capi­tal Group, a Los Ange­les-based private equity firm that mana­ges over $3 billion in assets,

Foun­ded in 2005 as a spin-off of alumi­num produ­cer Alcan, Alltub is a market leader in specialty alumi­num and lami­nate pack­a­ging for the cosme­tics, phar­maceu­ti­cal, food and indus­trial markets. Head­quar­te­red in Amster­dam, the group opera­tes a global manu­fac­tu­ring and distri­bu­tion plat­form with loca­ti­ons in the Czech Repu­blic, France, Germany, Italy and Mexico, serving major custo­mers around the globe. With sales of over 150 million euros in 2017 and more than 1,400 employees, the group has grown steadily in recent years.

“It has been a great expe­ri­ence working with Alltub and insti­tu­ting a number of successful initia­ti­ves that have resul­ted in growth and profit expan­sion,” said Andrew Fohrer, Prin­ci­pal at Aurora Resur­gence. “We are plea­sed to have parti­ci­pa­ted in Alltub’s tremen­dous success and appre­ciate the efforts of Oliver Hoell and his team in deli­ve­ring a great result for our inves­tors. Today’s tran­sac­tion repres­ents a terri­fic outcome for the busi­ness and we wish the team all the best as they enter an exci­ting new chap­ter of growth.”

“It has been a privi­lege to part­ner with Aurora, and we are grateful for the opera­tio­nal exper­tise and stra­te­gic guidance they have provi­ded us over the past seven years,” said Oliver Hoell, CEO of Alltub. “The dedi­ca­tion of our skil­led work­force will allow us to conti­nue expan­ding into new markets and deli­ve­ring custo­mer satis­fac­tion. We look forward to working with One Equity Part­ners as we enter this new phase in our deve­lo­p­ment and put our ambi­tious growth plans into action.”

“One Equity Part­ners has signi­fi­cant expe­ri­ence in the pack­a­ging indus­try and a nota­ble track record of buil­ding successful compa­nies,” said Johann-Melchior von Peter, Senior Mana­ging Direc­tor at One Equity Part­ners. “Alltub fits perfectly into our port­fo­lio. With a resi­li­ent busi­ness model and the clear poten­tial to become a world-leading tube and aero­sol player, Alltub is an ideal plat­form for buy-and-build oppor­tu­ni­ties in a conso­li­da­ting market.”

Lincoln Inter­na­tio­nal acted as exclu­sive finan­cial advi­sor and Jones Day acted as legal advi­sor to Aurora and Alltub.

The Jones Day team was led by My Linh Vu-Grégo­ire, photo (Part­ner, M&A, Frankfurt/ Amsterdam/ Paris). The follo­wing addi­tio­nal Jones Day attor­neys were invol­ved in the tran­sac­tion: Dr. Sascha H. Schmidt (Of Coun­sel, Banking, Finance & Secu­ri­ties, Frank­furt), Dr. Holger Neumann (Part­ner, Public Law and Regu­la­tion, Frank­furt), Chris­tian A. Krebs (Part­ner, M&A, Frank­furt), Dr. Johan­nes Zöttl (Part­ner, Anti­trust, Düssel­dorf), Markus Hamann (Of Coun­sel, Public Law and Regu­la­tion, Frank­furt), Bastiaan Kout (Asso­ciate, M&A, Amster­dam), Menno Geusens (Asso­ciate, M&A, Amster­dam) as well as lawy­ers from Jones Day’s offices in London, Milan, Mexico City, Munich, Paris, Pitts­burgh and Washington.

About Jones Day
Jones Day is a global law firm with more than 2,500 lawy­ers in 43 offices on 5 conti­nents. Our firm philo­so­phy is charac­te­ri­zed by a focus on long-term, sustainable client service, mutual respect and seam­less colla­bo­ra­tion among the attor­neys in our part­ner­ship, outstan­ding legal exper­tise in all prac­tice areas and juris­dic­tions, and shared values that put our clients’ inte­rests first.

London - IK Invest­ment Part­ners is acqui­ring a majo­rity stake in Dort­mund-based Infra­data Group through IK VIII Funds from Water­land Private Equity Fund V (“Water­land”).

Foun­ded in 2004 in the Nether­lands, Infra­data is a leading Euro­pean provi­der of cyber­se­cu­rity and secure network solu­ti­ons. Beyond the Nether­lands, the company is repre­sen­ted in Germany, the UK, France, Belgium, Poland and the USA and is pursuing ambi­tious growth plans. Infra­data is bene­fiting from two mega­trends, the rising volume of data and the increase in cyber secu­rity thre­ats. The parties have agreed not to disc­lose the finan­cial details of the transaction.

As part of the tran­sac­tion, Infradata’s foun­der and CEO, Leon de Keij­zer will tran­si­tion to the Board of Direc­tors. Nino Tomov­ski, curr­ently Inter­na­tio­nal Vice Presi­dent, will be appoin­ted CEO of Infra­data as of Janu­ary 1, 2019.

Norman Bremer (foto), Part­ner at IK Invest­ment Part­ners said: “Our decis­ion to back Infra­data was driven by two promi­nent mega­trends, namely the increase of cyber­se­cu­rity thre­ats in recent years, and rising data consump­tion. We are exci­ted to be back­ing a manage­ment team with a fanta­stic track record and a highly inno­va­tive service offe­ring. We are espe­ci­ally impres­sed with the company’s multi-coun­try foot­print and its outstan­ding people. We look forward to helping expand Infradata’s capa­bi­li­ties both through orga­nic and acqui­si­tive growth oppor­tu­ni­ties and buil­ding it into a truly Euro­pean leader.”

About Infra­data
Foun­ded by Leon de Keij­zer in 2004, Infra­data is a leading pan-Euro­pean provi­der of secure networ­king and cyber­se­cu­rity solu­ti­ons. The company is head­quar­te­red in Leiden, the Nether­lands. For more infor­ma­tion, visit www.infradata.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 116 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.

About Water­land Private Equity
Water­land is an inde­pen­dent private equity invest­ment group that acts as an active share­hol­der in its port­fo­lio compa­nies, play­ing a key role in their stra­te­gic and opera­tio­nal deve­lo­p­ment, growth and perfor­mance. Water­land has offices in Belgium (Antwerp), the Nether­lands (Bussum), UK (Manches­ter), Germany (Munich and Hamburg), Denmark (Copen­ha­gen), Switz­er­land (Zurich) and Poland (Warsaw) and curr­ently mana­ges €6 billion of inves­tor commit­ments. To date, Water­land has made invest­ments in over 470 companies.

Munich — Reed Smith has advi­sed Munich-based MIG Fonds, one of the leading VC inves­tors, as well as other share­hol­ders such as GA Asset Fund on the sale of all shares in Dres­den-based Siltec­tra GmbH to Infi­neon Tech­no­lo­gies AG. The purchase price was appro­xi­m­ately EUR 124 million.

Siltec­tra GmbH is an inno­va­tive company foun­ded in 2010 in the field of deve­lo­p­ment of wafe­ring tech­no­lo­gies and rela­ted process equip­ment for the cleavage of semi­con­duc­tor mate­ri­als. With a patent port­fo­lio of more than 50 patent fami­lies, Siltec­tra has deve­lo­ped a process that allows crystal­line mate­ri­als to be sepa­ra­ted with mini­mal mate­rial loss compared to stan­dard sawing tech­no­logy (“cold split tech­no­logy”). Infi­neon will use cold split tech­no­logy to split sili­con carbide (SiC) wafers, doubling the number of chips from one wafer.

MIG Verwal­tungs AG (MIG AG) is one of Germany’s leading VC inves­tors with over EUR 1 billion in capi­tal under manage­ment. The MIG funds provide young compa­nies with the finan­cial resour­ces they need to start up and finance growth in the high-tech and life science sectors. Curr­ently, MIG AG’s invest­ment port­fo­lio consists of 24 companies.

Advi­sor to MIG Fonds / consor­tium of sellers: Reed Smith
Led by Florian Hirsch­mann (photo ) and Silvio McMi­ken (Private Equity/Venture Capi­tal), Thomas Gierath (M&A/Tax), Tilman Siebert (Anti­trust), Dr. Alex­an­der Klett (IP) (all Munich), Dr. Anette Gaert­ner (IP, Frank­furt), Tobias Schulz and Siling Zhong-Ganga (M&A/Corporate), Vikto­ria Ritter (M&A/Tax), and Dr. Chris­toph Mikyska (IP) (all Munich).
Bardehle Pagen­berg: Prof. Dr. Peter Chro­c­ziel, Michael Kobler, Joachim Mader and Tobias Kauf­mann. Invest­ment Bank: Cowen & Company LLC (New York)
Advi­sors to Infi­neon Tech­no­lo­gies AG: Dr. Horst Meyer, Corpo­rate Legal Coun­sel, Vice Presi­dent (Lead Legal); Julia Halasz, Senior Direc­tor, Mergers & Acqui­si­ti­ons; Michael Frie­din­ger, Vice Presi­dent Infi­neon Tech­no­lo­gies AG (Finance); Gleiss Lutz (Legal, Munich and Frankfurt).

About Reed Smith
Reed Smith is one of the leading inter­na­tio­nal law firms with more than 1,700 lawy­ers in 28 offices in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia.

Frank­furt am Main — The private equity inves­tor One Equity Part­ners (“OEP”) has acqui­red the ALLTUB Group (“ALLTUB”) from Aurora Resur­genceacqui­red. Allen & Overy LLP advi­sed One Equity Part­ners (“OEP”) in connec­tion with the finan­cing of the acqui­si­tion of ALLTUB Group (“ALLTUB”). Jones Day has Advi­sedAurora Resur­gence, an affi­liate of Aurora Capi­tal Group, a Los Ange­les-based private equity firm mana­ging over $3 billion in assets, on the sale of Alltub Group (“Alltub”) to One Equity Part­ners. — The parties have agreed not to disc­lose the terms of the transaction.

ALLTUB is the world leader in flexi­ble alumi­num tubes for pack­a­ging products in the phar­maceu­ti­cal, cosme­tics and food sectors, as well as for indus­try. The company has six produc­tion sites in France, Germany, Italy, the Czech Repu­blic and Mexico, employs 1,400 people world­wide and gene­ra­tes annual sales of more than 150 million euros.

OEP is a private equity inves­tor with offices in New York, Chicago and Frank­furt and over $7 billion in assets under manage­ment, inves­t­ing prima­rily in successful middle-market compa­nies in North America and Europe active in the indus­trial, health­care and tech­no­logy sectors.

The inter­na­tio­nal Allen & Overy team advi­sed on the complex finan­cing struc­ture of the tran­sac­tion, consis­ting of a unitran­che finan­cing in the form of bonds, provi­ded by Part­ners Group.

Advi­sors to One Equity Part­ners: Allen Overy
The inter­na­tio­nal Allen & Overy team advi­sed on the complex finan­cing struc­ture of the tran­sac­tion, consis­ting of a unitran­che finan­cing in the form of bonds provi­ded by Part­ners Group.
The Allen & Overy team was led by part­ner Thomas Neubaum and coun­sel Bianca Engel­mann and also included senior asso­ciate David J. Schmidt, asso­ciate Enda Jordan and tran­sac­tion support lawy­ers Anasta­siya-Evan­ge­lina Wiegand (all Frank­furt) and Ange­lika Pikulska (Munich, all banking and finance). The inter­na­tio­nal team included: Part­ner Jean-Chris­to­phe David, Senior Asso­ciate ;Asha Sinha and Asso­ciate Dorian Le (all Banking and Finance), Part­ners Dan Lauder (Inter­na­tio­nal Capi­tal Markets), Mathieu Vignon (Tax, all Paris) and Stefano Senn­hau­ser (Milan), Coun­sel Silvie Horack­ova (Prague, both Banking and Finance), Senior Asso­ciate Lorraine Mira­mond (Paris, Inter­na­tio­nal Capi­tal Markets), Asso­cia­tes Gijs Kerst­jens (Amster­dam), David Bujgl (Prague, both Banking and Finance), Virgi­nie Chatté (Paris), Char­lotte Hoff (Amster­dam, both Tax), Juriste Thibault Debrai-Malot (Paris, Corpo­rate) and Peer­point Consul­tants Jacque­line Bell and Caro­lijn Ulmer (both Amster­dam, both Banking and Finance).

Advi­sorAu­rora Resur­gence: Jones Day
The Jones Day team was led by My Linh Vu-Grégo­ire (Part­ner, M&A, Frankfurt/Amsterdam/Paris). The follo­wing addi­tio­nal Jones Day attor­neys were invol­ved in the tran­sac­tion: Dr. Sascha H. Schmidt (Of Coun­sel, Banking, Finance & Secu­ri­ties, Frank­furt), Dr. Holger Neumann (Part­ner, Public Law and Regu­la­tion, Frank­furt), Chris­tian A. Krebs (Part­ner, M&A, Frank­furt), Dr. Johan­nes Zöttl (Part­ner, Anti­trust, Düssel­dorf), Markus Hamann (Of Coun­sel, Public Law and Regu­la­tion, Frank­furt), Bastiaan Kout (Asso­ciate, M&A, Amster­dam), Menno Geusens (Asso­ciate, M&A, Amster­dam) as well as lawy­ers from Jones Day’s offices in London, Milan, Mexico City, Munich, Paris, Pitts­burgh and Washington.

 

Frank­furt am Main — Allen & Overy LLP has advi­sed private equity inves­tor One Equity Part­ners (“OEP”) in connec­tion with the finan­cing of the acqui­si­tion of ALLTUB Group (“ALLTUB”), the global market leader in alumi­num packaging.

The inter­na­tio­nal Allen & Overy team advi­sed on the complex finan­cing struc­ture of the tran­sac­tion, consis­ting of a unitran­che finan­cing in the form of bonds, provi­ded by Part­ners Group.

ALLTUB is the world leader in flexi­ble alumi­num tubes for pack­a­ging products in the phar­maceu­ti­cal, cosme­tics and food sectors, as well as for indus­try. The company has six produc­tion sites in France, Germany, Italy, the Czech Repu­blic and Mexico, employs 1,400 people world­wide and gene­ra­tes annual sales of more than 150 million euros.

OEP is a private equity inves­tor with offices in New York, Chicago and Frank­furt and over $7 billion in assets under manage­ment, inves­t­ing prima­rily in successful middle-market compa­nies in North America and Europe active in the indus­trial, health­care and tech­no­logy sectors.

The Allen & Overy team was led by part­ner Thomas Neubaum and coun­sel Bianca Engel­mann and also included senior asso­ciate David J. Schmidt, asso­ciate Enda Jordan and tran­sac­tion support lawy­ers Anasta­siya-Evan­ge­lina Wiegand (all Frank­furt) and Ange­lika Pikulska (Munich, all banking and finance). The inter­na­tio­nal team included: Part­ner Jean-Chris­to­phe David, Senior Asso­ciate Asha Sinha and Asso­ciate Dorian Le (all Banking and Finance), Part­ners Dan Lauder (Inter­na­tio­nal Capi­tal Markets), Mathieu Vignon (Tax, all Paris) and Stefano Senn­hau­ser (Milan), Coun­sel Silvie Horack­ova (Prague, both Banking and Finance), Senior Asso­ciate Lorraine Mira­mond (Paris, Inter­na­tio­nal Capi­tal Markets), Asso­cia­tes Gijs Kerst­jens (Amster­dam), David Bujgl (Prague, both Banking and Finance), Virgi­nie Chatté (Paris), Char­lotte Hoff (Amster­dam, both Tax), Juriste Thibault Debrai-Malot (Paris, Corpo­rate) and Peer­point Consul­tants Jacque­line Bell and Caro­lijn Ulmer (both Amster­dam, both Banking and Finance).

Frankfurt/Main — The funds advi­sed by PREMIUM Equity Part­ners, Frankfurt/Main, have sold all shares in the weka Group to the Dutch Outdoor Life Group (OLG). Based in Neubran­den­burg, weka employs around 140 people and gene­ra­tes sales of more than 30 million euros. The group opera­tes in two concept worlds: The garden world area includes garden houses, patio covers, children’s play equip­ment, swim­ming pools and carports. With high-quality saunas and infrared heat cabins weka serves the well­ness sector. The parties have agreed not to disc­lose the purchase price. The tran­sac­tion is still subject to appr­oval by the rele­vant anti­trust autho­ri­ties. PREMIUM Equity Part­ners was advi­sed by Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek.

PREMIUM Equity Part­ners had acqui­red weka in 2016 and focu­sed on imple­men­ting new stra­te­gic initia­ti­ves. This included in parti­cu­lar the deve­lo­p­ment of new sales chan­nels and custo­mer groups, and the expan­sion of the product range to include alter­na­tive mate­ri­als such as wood-based mate­ri­als and metal. In the future, the new owner OLG and weka want to use syner­gies to become a Euro­pean market leader.

PREMIUM Equity Part­ners is an invest­ment company foun­ded in 2011, which invests in strong niche compa­nies in the DACH region with a turno­ver between 10 and 50 million euros. PREMIUM Equity Part­ners provi­des capi­tal to compa­nies for growth finan­cing, company succes­sion and spin-offs.

Duhnkrack’s team has been advi­sing PREMIUM Equity Part­ners for some time, most recently on the majo­rity invest­ment in the Dres­den-based mecha­ni­cal engi­nee­ring company KAMA GmbH.

Advi­sors to PREMIUM Equity Part­ners GmbH: Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek
Dr. Stefan Duhn­krack (Lead Part­ner, M&A), Hamburg
Dr. Katha­rina Pras­uhn (Corpo­rate, M&A),
Dr. Hans Henning Hoff (DD, Corporate),
Tim Peter­mann (DD, Commercial),
Dr. Kai Erhardt (Finan­cing),
Dr. Chris­tina Etzel (Public Law),
Carlo Schmidt (Labor Law),
Fabian G. Gaffron (Taxes), all Hamburg
Dr. Anton Horn (IP), Düsseldorf
Dr. Thomas K. W. Schrell, LL.M. (Finan­cing), Frankfurt/M.

Munich — With the support of invest­ment bank Bryan, Garnier & Co, Munich-based smart ther­mo­stat provi­der tado has raised $50 million (€43 million) in a new round of funding, attrac­ting inter­net giant Amazon and energy company E.ON, among others, as new inves­tors. This makes it the largest private finan­cing round to date in the German IoT (Inter­net of Things) sector and the largest in Europe in the Inter­net of Things for private households.

Foun­ded in 2011, the flag­ship Inter­net of Things company has raised a total of over USD 100 million (EUR 89 million) in capi­tal to date. This also makes tado one of the three best-funded provi­ders of energy effi­ci­ency solu­ti­ons in Germany (after Sonnen with 147 million euros and Helia­tek with 138 million euros). In addi­tion to Amazon, the new inves­tors in the provi­der of smart ther­mo­stats and home climate manage­ment services include energy compa­nies E.ON and Total, as well as U.S. VC inves­tor Energy Inno­va­tion Capi­tal, WS Capi­tal and the Euro­pean Invest­ment Bank (EIB). Previous backers include German venture capi­ta­lists Target Part­ners, Short­cut Ventures and BayBG, as well as the Siemens Group. Bryan Garnier has supported all four finan­cing rounds since 2014.

Up to 31 percent heating cost savings / Apple as exclu­sive retail partner
The smart ther­mo­stats from tado connect heating and air condi­tio­ning systems to the Inter­net and help save up to 31% on heating costs. The smart­phone-connec­ted devices detect, for exam­ple, when resi­dents leave the house or windows are opened, allo­wing them to auto­ma­ti­cally adjust tempe­ra­tures effi­ci­ently. Since its foun­ding, the company, which curr­ently has 180 employees, has doubled its user base annu­ally to around 400,000 users. The tado retail part­ners include Amazon, Saturn and also Apple, which exclu­si­vely sells the Munich-based company’s ther­mo­stats in 111 Euro­pean Apple stores. For its 34 so-called Solu­tion Part­ners, such as the German E.ON or the Austrian Verbund, tado°’s SaaS offe­ring enables them to inten­sify custo­mer loyalty.

The market for smart ther­mo­stats is expec­ted to grow by 54% annu­ally until the end of 2022, when it will be worth USD 6.8 billion (EUR 5.9 billion). A key driver here is also the rise of home assistants such as the Apple Home, Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. “We are convin­ced that soon every buil­ding will be intel­li­gently heated and cooled. Now is exactly the right time to raise addi­tio­nal capi­tal and leverage it to estab­lish tado as number one in this growing market,” says Toon Bouten, CEO of tado.

Serious compe­ti­tor to Google Nest
With the newly raised funds, tado intends to expand its service offe­ring and further pene­trate the Euro­pean market. Unlike its U.S. compe­ti­tor Nest, which was bought by Inter­net company Google in 2014 for $3.2 billion, tado ther­mo­stats are easy to inte­grate into stan­dard smart home systems and work with virtually all heating systems commonly used in Europe.

“tado has grown rapidly since its foun­ding and is a serious compe­ti­tor to Google Nest. This has convin­ced Amazon as well as E.ON, Total and other leading inves­tors,” empha­si­zes Falk Müller-Veerse (photo), Part­ner and Head of Germany respon­si­ble for Bryan Garnier’s German busi­ness. “This is one of the largest private finan­cing rounds in 2018 in Germany and the largest in the IoT sector — and with top inves­tors. We are very proud to have been able to accom­pany this German flag­ship growth story for years.”

About Bryan, Garnier & Co
Bryan, Garnier & Co, foun­ded in 1996 in Paris and London, is an invest­ment bank focu­sed on Euro­pean growth compa­nies with offices in London, Paris, Munich, Zurich and New York. As an inde­pen­dent “full service” invest­ment bank, it offers compre­hen­sive finan­cing advice and support along the entire life cycle of its clients — from initial finan­cing rounds to a poten­tial sale or IPO with subse­quent follow-up finan­cing. The range of services includes equity analy­sis, equity sales and trading, private and public capi­tal raising, and M&A services for growth compa­nies and their inves­tors. The focus is on key growth sectors of the economy such as tech­no­logy (TMT) and health­care, but also smart indus­tries & energy, brand and consu­mer goods, and busi­ness services. Bryan Garnier is a regis­tered broker and licen­sed with the FCA in Europe and FINRA in the US. The company is a part­ner of the London Stock Exch­ange and Euronext.

Frank­furt am Main/ Heiken­dorf — Bird & Bird LLP advi­sed DBAG Expan­sion Capi­tal Fund, advi­sed by Deut­sche Betei­li­gungs AG (DBAG), on the acqui­si­tion of shares in FLS GmbH (FLS), based in Heiken­dorf near Kiel. FLS is a company that offers soft­ware for real-time sche­du­ling of appoint­ments and tours in service and logi­stics and is a leader in this market niche with its cloud-based SaaS solution.

In the course of a manage­ment buyout, DBAG Expan­sion Capi­tal Fund will acquire a majo­rity stake in FLS. The company’s foun­der as well as the previous manage­ment and employees conti­nue to hold a signi­fi­cant stake in the company through an inno­va­tive reverse share­hol­ding struc­ture. The tran­sac­tion has alre­ady been comple­ted. The parties have agreed not to disc­lose the purchase price.

DBAG Expan­sion Capi­tal Fund was advi­sed by the follo­wing Bird & Bird attorneys:
Part­ner Dr. Hans Peter Leube, LL.M., Lead Part­ner (Corporate/M&A, Frank­furt), Asso­cia­tes Mari­anne Nawroth (Corporate/M&A, Frank­furt), Laura Müller (Corporate/M&A, Düssel­dorf), Chyn­gyz Timur (Corporate/M&A, Frank­furt), Part­ner Dr. Barbara Geck and Asso­cia­tes Daniela Gudat, (both Labor Law, Frank­furt) and Florian Keßenich (Labor Law, Hamburg) as well as Part­ner Dr. Fabian Niemann, Coun­sel Lea Mackert, LL.M. (both Düssel­dorf), Asso­cia­tes Dr. Miriam Ball­hau­sen (Hamburg) and Dr. Juliana Kliesch (Düssel­dorf) all Commercial.

Attor­ney Florian Döring led the tran­sac­tion DBAG intern­ally; tax advice and advice to DBAG on Luxem­bourg law was provi­ded by a Link­la­ters team led by Munich-based part­ner Dr. Jann Jetter.tt

Back­ground:
This tran­sac­tion demons­tra­tes that Bird & Bird’s well-known tech­no­logy focus is also being widely accepted in the legal market for M&A matters. This is because the firm’s private equity advi­sory services also focus on invest­ments in compa­nies that focus on digi­tiza­tion topics and ther­eby achieve a signi­fi­cant inno­va­tion boost for the respec­tive indus­try. Peter Leube has alre­ady been on DBAG’s side in seve­ral tran­sac­tions and refi­nan­cings in the tele­com­mu­ni­ca­ti­ons sector (most recently in the acqui­si­tion of the vitro­net Group and the Netz­kon­tor-Nord Group). In this case, DBAG once again relies on Bird & Bird’s know-how and exper­tise in the area of inno­va­tive, digi­tal busi­ness models as well as tech­no­logy-focu­sed indus­try exper­tise, such as here in the soft­ware provi­der segment with one of the first cloud-based SaaS solutions.

Frank­furt / London — Gene­ra­tion Invest­ment Manage­ment LLP (“GIM”) has fully acqui­red FNZ Group from finan­cial inves­tors H.I.G. Capi­tal and Gene­ral Atlan­tic. The acqui­si­tion was made by the company CDPQ-Gene­ra­tion and repres­ents the first tran­sac­tion of this new joint venture estab­lished by GIM and the Cana­dian pension fund La Caisse de dépôt et place­ment du Québec (“CDPQ”). For the tran­sac­tion, the FNZ Group was paid approx. EUR 1.9 billion rated The acqui­si­tion, one of the world’s largest FinTech tran­sac­tions in 2018, is still subject to regu­la­tory appr­oval. GIM was advi­sed on this tran­sac­tion by the inter­na­tio­nal law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.

FNZ is a global FinTech company head­quar­te­red in London and provi­des estab­lished finan­cial insti­tu­ti­ons with modern and highly scaled plat­form solu­ti­ons for the entire value chain in the invest­ment busi­ness (Plat­form as a Service). This complete B2B plat­form offe­ring combi­nes the elements of tech­no­logy (SaaS) and back-office services (BPO), allo­wing it to offer end custo­mers better invest­ment solu­ti­ons at a low cost. FNZ’s custo­mers include banks, insu­r­ers, asset mana­gers and provi­ders in the field of company pension schemes.

GIM is an invest­ment manage­ment company foun­ded in 2004, which invests in sustainable compa­nies and curr­ently has assets of approx. USD 20 billion under management.

The Weil tran­sac­tion team consis­ted of Corpo­rate Part­ners Jona­than Wood (London) and Dr. Uwe Hart­mann, Foto (Frank­furt) and was supported by Part­ner Stephen Fox (Corpo­rate, London) and Asso­cia­tes Ellie Fialho and Marc Schu­bert (Corpo­rate, London) and Dr. Jan Harm­janz (Corpo­rate, Frankfurt).Note to Editors:

About Weil
Weil, Gotshal & Manges is an inter­na­tio­nal law firm with more than 1,100 lawy­ers, inclu­ding appro­xi­m­ately 300 part­ners. Weil is head­quar­te­red in New York and has offices in Boston, Dallas, Frank­furt, Hong Kong, Hous­ton, London, Miami, Munich, Paris, Beijing, Prague, Prince­ton, Shang­hai, Sili­con Valley, Warsaw and Washing­ton, D.C.

Antwerp/Munich/Mannheim/Isenbüttel — The Euro­pean invest­ment company Gimv has agreed with the respec­tive owners of the Medi-Markt Home­care-Service GmbH, based in Mann­heim, and the Isen­büt­tel-based Medi Markt Service Nord Ost GmbH and the respec­tive asso­cia­ted compa­nies concluded an agree­ment to take over the majo­rity of the shares in the company. This is a succes­sion situa­tion forboth compa­nies. — Gimv is thus expan­ding its Health & Care port­fo­lio to include a leading supplier of medi­cal aids in Germany, which is expec­ted to grow further in the coming years. The remai­ning shares will be acqui­red by the desi­gna­ted CEO of the Medi Markt Group, Markus Reichel. The tran­sac­tion is still subject to the usual regu­la­tory appr­oval and is expec­ted to be comple­ted in a few weeks.

The two compa­nies and their affi­lia­ted compa­nies, which toge­ther have around 225 employees, have previously opera­ted with diffe­rent regio­nal focu­ses. In the future, they are to operate as a group and uniformly under the Medi-Markt brand; Mann­heim will become the head­quar­ters. Markus Reichel, who was previously Mana­ging Direc­tor of Medi-Markt Home­care-Service GmbH, will become Mana­ging Direc­tor of the over­all group and, as part of the tran­sac­tion, also a co-part­ner. The compa­nies specia­lize in the mail order busi­ness with auxi­liary and care aids for home consump­tion; a parti­cu­lar focus is on consul­ting and regu­lar supply of products in the area of absor­bent incon­ti­nence aids. In addi­tion, the 12,000-item port­fo­lio also includes areas such as drai­ning incon­ti­nence aids, diabe­tes control, ostomy care, ente­ral nutri­tion, home care (disin­fec­tion and protec­tion) and perso­nal care, inclu­ding private labels. Medi-Markt is one of the most important suppli­ers of incon­ti­nence aids and ostomy care in the coun­try. The entire group turns over more than 50 million euros a year.

Medi-Markt supplies around 150,000 end consu­mers every year. A large propor­tion of the products are prescri­bed by doctors and hospi­tals on the basis of prescrip­ti­ons and billed to health and long-term care insu­r­ers, for whom Medi-Markt has been a relia­ble part­ner for many years.

“Toge­ther with our new growth part­ner Gimv, we want to further expand our range of services and also move into adja­cent segments. In addi­tion, acqui­si­ti­ons of suita­ble compa­nies are being conside­red,” explains Markus Reichel, Mana­ging Direc­tor of Medi-Markt Home­care-Service GmbH and future CEO of the Group. The main driver here is demo­gra­phic deve­lo­p­ment, which is expec­ted to lead to a further increase in demand for Medi-Markt products — the propor­tion of the popu­la­tion with incon­ti­nence problems alone, curr­ently esti­ma­ted at seven million, is expec­ted to rise to nine million within the next 20 years.

“The compa­nies of the Medi-Markt Group enable many people to live a more self-deter­mi­ned ever­y­day life and have achie­ved a strong market posi­tion with high quality and great commit­ment. At the same time, as effi­ci­ent provi­ders, they contri­bute to the cost-effec­ti­ve­ness of care,” says Phil­ipp v. Hammer­stein (photo), Part­ner at Gimv in the Health & Care divi­sion at the Munich office. “We look forward to vigo­rously conti­nuing the success story of these two leading specia­lists, inclu­ding lever­aging the poten­tial from the merger. Toge­ther with the expe­ri­en­ced manage­ment, we will focus on orga­nic growth as well as on a buy-and-build strategy.”

Thenew invest­ment marks Gimv’s seventh invest­ment in the German-spea­king health­care market. This means that Gimv curr­ently has 20 invest­ments in compa­nies from the health­care and life scien­ces sectors — the 16-strong, pan-Euro­pean team of the Gimv invest­ment plat­form Health & Care is thus one of the most active Euro­pean inves­tors in the health­care indus­try. The port­fo­lio also includes seve­ral hospi­tal and prac­tice groups, medi­cal tech­no­logy and biotech compa­nies, among others.

Berlin (ots) — The tech­no­logy-supported real estate broker Home­day, one of the fastest-growing inter­me­dia­ries in the German real estate market, announ­ces the conclu­sion of a new finan­cing round. Project A, Axel Sprin­ger and Purple­bricks, a British real estate plat­form, are inves­t­ing 20 million euros in Home­day . With the funding provi­ded, Home­day intends to invest in the further scaling of its busi­ness model. The closing of the tran­sac­tion is still subject to anti­trust clearance.

Since its foun­ding in 2015, the Berlin-based company has successfully broke­red real estate worth more than one billion euros across Germany. As one of the leading real estate brokers in Germany, Home­day relies on expe­ri­en­ced local agents who are supported tech­no­lo­gi­cally and orga­niza­tio­nally by a central team of experts, allo­wing them to spend more time on perso­nal custo­mer cont­act. Home­day offers this service both exclu­si­vely and non-exclu­si­vely to brokers.

With Purple­bricks, the leading UK tran­sac­tion-based digi­tal real estate plat­form, which is also active in the USA, Canada and Austra­lia, will also invest in the further deve­lo­p­ment of Home­day. Through the coope­ra­tion, Home­day will bene­fit from the know­ledge and expe­ri­ence of the British market leader in the expan­sion of its own busi­ness model.

Stef­fen Wicker, foun­der and CEO of Home­day (photo from left: Phil­ipp Reichle (CTO), Frie­de­rike Hesse (COO), Stef­fen Wicker (CEO) and Dmitri Uvarov­ski (CMO): “Through our strong growth in recent years, Home­day has estab­lished a leading posi­tion in the real estate market. We are very plea­sed with the inves­tors’ confi­dence in our model and our work. The finan­cing round and the exch­ange of expe­ri­ence with Purple­bricks put us in a posi­tion to acce­le­rate our growth once again. Our goal is to make Home­day the first stop for owners looking to sell their property.”

Uwe Horst­mann, Gene­ral Part­ner at Project A: “We are deligh­ted about the commit­ment of Axel Sprin­ger and Purple­bricks, and at the same time the invest­ment round for further scaling is a logi­cal step for us. Home­day has proven that brin­ging toge­ther inno­va­tive tech­no­logy with perso­nal on-site service by expe­ri­en­ced brokers provi­des grea­ter trans­pa­rency and trust for all parties invol­ved. With Homeday’s support, brokers, buyers and sellers can achieve the desi­red result quickly and conve­ni­ently. This win-win-win scena­rio of Home­day has estab­lished itself in the market and we conti­nue to see great poten­tial for growth.”

Home­day will invest the fresh capi­tal in further staff expan­sion, marke­ting as well as further deve­lo­p­ment of the product, combi­ned with the goal of crea­ting a unique custo­mer expe­ri­ence throug­hout the entire real estate tran­sac­tion process.

About Home­day
Home­day is a tech­no­logy-enab­led brokerage crea­ting an unpre­ce­den­ted custo­mer expe­ri­ence for sellers and buyers. Home­day agents assist real estate sellers and buyers nati­on­wide. Home­day combi­nes inno­va­tive tech­no­logy with effi­ci­ent proces­ses and expe­ri­en­ced local brokers. In 2015 Home­day was foun­ded by Stef­fen Wicker, Dmitri Uvarov­ski and Phil­ipp Reichle. Since its foun­ding, the brokerage firm has successfully broke­red over one billion euros in real estate volume.

About Project A
Project A is the opera­ting VC that offers not only capi­tal but also a large network and exclu­sive access to a wide range of services. The Berlin-based inves­tor mana­ges 260 million euros with which it finan­ces tech­no­logy start­ups. The core of Project A is the team of 100 expe­ri­en­ced experts who provide opera­tio­nal support to the port­fo­lio compa­nies in areas such as soft­ware engi­nee­ring, digi­tal marke­ting, design, commu­ni­ca­ti­ons, busi­ness intel­li­gence, sales and recrui­ting. The port­fo­lio includes compa­nies such as Arti­sense, Cata­wiki, Horizn Studios, KRY, LIQID, Spry­ker, uber­all and World­Re­mit. Learn more at www.project‑a.com and on the insights.project‑a.com blog.

About Purple­bricks
Purple­bricks is the UK’s leading next gene­ra­tion real estate brokerage with offices in Austra­lia, the US and Canada. Purple­bricks combi­nes expe­ri­en­ced, local real estate experts with the inno­va­tive use of tech­no­logy to make buying, selling and renting proper­ties more conve­ni­ent, trans­pa­rent and cost-effec­tive. Purple­bricks is chan­ging the way real estate agents and brokerage firms are perceived.

Frank­furt a. M./ Rohr­bach — Shear­man & Ster­ling advi­sed Deut­sche Betei­li­gungs AG (DBAG) and DBAG Fund VII, which it advi­sed, on the acqui­si­tion of a majo­rity stake in SERO Schrö­der Elek­tro­nik Rohr­bach GmbH (Sero) in a manage­ment buy-out (MBO). Sero is the sixth invest­ment of DBAG Fund VII, which focu­ses, among other things, on succes­sion plan­ning in family busi­nesses in the context of MBOs. The closing of the tran­sac­tion is still subject to the appr­oval of the rele­vant anti­trust autho­ri­ties and is expec­ted to take place in Novem­ber 2018.

Sero, head­quar­te­red in Rohr­bach, is a deve­lo­p­ment part­ner and manu­fac­tu­ring service provi­der for elec­tro­nic compon­ents. Sero’s main sales are in the auto­mo­tive indus­try, but it also opera­tes in other sectors. Sero offers its custo­mers indus­tria­liza­tion exper­tise and a high level of auto­ma­tion with machi­nery that enables inno­va­tive manu­fac­tu­ring proces­ses and deli­vers cost-effi­ci­ent products of the highest quality.

Advi­sor DBAG: Shear­man & Sterling
Lead part­ner Dr. Thomas König, photo (Frank­furt-Mergers & Acqui­si­ti­ons), part­ner Dr. Esther Jansen (Frank­furt-Finance), coun­sel Dr. Anders Kraft (Frank­furt-Tax); asso­cia­tes Dr. Aliresa Fatemi, Denise Tayler, Sven Opper­mann, Dr. Phil­ipp Jaspers, Evelin Moini (all Frank­furt-Mergers & Acqui­si­ti­ons), Marion von Grön­heim (Frank­furt-Finance) and Dr. Astrid Ruppelt (Frank­furt-Tax).

About Shear­man & Sterling
Shear­man & Ster­ling is an inter­na­tio­nal law firm with 22 offices in 13 count­ries and appro­xi­m­ately 850 lawy­ers. In Germany, Shear­man & Ster­ling is repre­sen­ted at the Frank­furt office. The firm is one of the inter­na­tio­nal market leaders in advi­sing on complex cross-border tran­sac­tions. World­wide, Shear­man & Ster­ling prima­rily advi­ses inter­na­tio­nal corpo­ra­ti­ons and large natio­nal compa­nies, finan­cial insti­tu­ti­ons, and large mid-sized compa­nies. For more infor­ma­tion, visit www.shearman.com.

Paris — Ardian, one of the world’s leading inde­pen­dent invest­ment firms, today announ­ced the acqui­si­tion of a majo­rity stake in the insu­rance company Opteven, which specia­li­zes in insu­rance coverage against tech­ni­cal defects on vehic­les, main­ten­ance contracts and mobile services in the event of vehicle break­downs. Ardian Expan­sion Fund IV has acqui­red the shares of Aviva, a multi­na­tio­nal insu­rance company, and Capza­nine.

Capza­nine, a Euro­pean private invest­ment fund, is reinves­t­ing in the company toge­ther with the manage­ment, offe­ring the more than 150 employees the oppor­tu­nity to acquire shares in Opteven.

The tran­sac­tion will enable the company to conti­nue its orga­nic growth and also incre­asingly pursue an exter­nal growth strategy.

Opteven was foun­ded in 1985 and is head­quar­te­red in Lyon. The company is a leader in vehicle service and mobi­lity contracts in France and Europe. Opteven specia­li­zes in poli­cies cove­ring coverage for tech­ni­cal defects and mobile services. In addi­tion, Opteven offers services in the areas of buil­ding and busi­ness insu­rance, health­care and other services.

Over the past ten years, the company has grown stron­gly and curr­ently gene­ra­tes sales of around 150 million euros with more than 450 employees.

Opteven is known for high service quality and enjoys the trust of its custo­mers, which include compa­nies from the insu­rance and finan­cial sectors as well as commer­cial custo­mers from the auto­mo­tive indus­try such as manu­fac­tu­r­ers, dealers, rental compa­nies and fleet operators.

In order to pick up on and anti­ci­pate chan­ges in the market, the company has pushed ahead with its digi­tal trans­for­ma­tion. A dedi­ca­ted inter­nal depart­ment, Opteven Lab, iden­ti­fies and analy­zes new trends in areas such as mobi­lity, services and the envi­ron­ment. From this, Opteven deve­lops and tests inno­va­tive solu­ti­ons incor­po­ra­ting the latest tech­no­lo­gies and taking into account contem­po­rary forms of mobility.

Opteven curr­ently opera­tes in seven count­ries across Europe and has estab­lished subsi­dia­ries in Italy, the UK and Spain to conti­nue its growth across Europe.

Jean-Matthieu Biseau, CEO at Opteven, said, “Opteven’s posi­tio­ning in both the tech­ni­cal defects and mobile services segments makes the company unique. Opteven opera­tes in a growing market that is under­go­ing a conso­li­da­tion phase. That’s why it was important for us to find a part­ner who could support us in our ambi­tious growth stra­tegy in Europe, espe­ci­ally in acquisitions.”

Marie Arnaud-Batt­an­dier (photo), Mana­ging Direc­tor at Ardian Expan­sion, added: “We look forward to working with Opteven’s skil­led manage­ment team, which has an outstan­ding track record. In parti­cu­lar, we will use our Euro­pean network to help Opteven acce­le­rate growth, open new loca­ti­ons and iden­tify compa­nies for poten­tial acquisition.”

Benoit Chop­pin, Asso­ciate Direc­tor at Capza­nine, added: “The company has perfor­med extre­mely well over the past five years and we have greatly appre­cia­ted working with the excel­lent manage­ment team led by Jean-Matthieu Biseau. Opteven has all the prere­qui­si­tes to conti­nue its successful course. That’s why we deci­ded to reinvest as a mino­rity shareholder.”

The tran­sac­tion was appro­ved by ACPR, the French banking and insu­rance regulator.

About Opteven
Opteven is one of the leading provi­ders of mobi­lity poli­cies and services in France and Europe.
Opteven is an inde­pen­dent group head­quar­te­red in Lyon, opera­ting in seven count­ries in Europe and with subsi­dia­ries in Italy, the United King­dom and Spain. The company’s growth over the past ten years has shown that the quality of its services is highly appre­cia­ted by commer­cial custo­mers from the auto­mo­tive indus­try (manu­fac­tu­r­ers, dealers, lessors), insu­rance compa­nies and banks. Opteven will gene­rate sales of 150 million euros in the current year and manage nearly 500,000 claims. With a port­fo­lio of more than 1,000,000 auto­mo­tive service contracts and nearly 3,000,000 roadside assis­tance contracts, Opteven has a unique posi­tio­ning in its markets.

About Capza­nine
Capza­nine was foun­ded in 2004 and is a Euro­pean private invest­ment fund. Capza­nine supports compa­nies in their growth and contri­bu­tes to their success in growth and trans­for­ma­tion phases through its finan­cial and indus­trial exper­tise. Capza­nine offers flexi­ble long-term finan­cing solu­ti­ons for SMEs and mid-cap compa­nies. Depen­ding on the situa­tion, Capza­nine invests as a majo­rity or mino­rity share­hol­der and/or as a private debt provi­der (mezza­nine, unitran­che, senior debt) in unlis­ted small and mid-cap compa­nies with an enter­prise value of 30 to 400 million euros. While Capza­nine is flexi­bly posi­tio­ned, the company speci­fi­cally supports strong value-added compa­nies in the health­care, tech­no­logy, food and services sectors. Capza­nine is based in Paris and curr­ently mana­ges around 2.5 billion euros. Recent invest­ments include Hori­zon Soft­ware, Goiko Grill, Recom­merce, MBA and Monviso.

About Ardian
Ardian is one of the world’s leading inde­pen­dent invest­ment firms, mana­ging appro­xi­m­ately US$72 billion in assets on behalf of its inves­tors from Europe, South and North America and Asia. The company is majo­rity-owned by its employees and gene­ra­tes sustainable, attrac­tive returns for its investors.

With the objec­tive of achie­ving posi­tive results for all stake­hol­ders, Ardian’s acti­vi­ties promote indi­vi­du­als, compa­nies and econo­mies world­wide. Ardian’s invest­ment philo­so­phy is aligned with the three guiding prin­ci­ples of excel­lence, loyalty and entrepreneurship.

The company has a global network of more than 530 employees and 14 offices in Europe (Frank­furt, Jersey, London, Luxem­bourg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Zurich), South America (Sant­iago de Chile), North America (New York and San Fran­cisco) and Asia (Beijing, Singa­pore and Tokyo). Ardian mana­ges the assets of its appro­xi­m­ately 750 inves­tors in five invest­ment areas: Direct Funds, Funds of Funds, Infra­struc­ture, Private Debt and Real Estate.

Advi­sor of the transaction

Acqui­rer: Ardian Expansion
Marie Arnaud-Batt­an­dier, Maxime Séquier, Claire d’Esquerre

Advi­sors to the acqui­rer: Nati­xis Part­ners (Valé­rie Pelle­reau, Patrice Raulin), Goetz­part­ners CF (Guil­laume Piette)

Legal, Fiscal and Social Advi­sor: Weil, Gotshal & Manges (Frédé­ric Cazals, Alex­an­dra Stoicescu, Lise Laplaud, Cassandre Porges, Kalish Mullen)

Stra­te­gic Advi­sor: Oliver Wyman (Olivier De Deman­dolx, Tarik Ouahmed)

Finan­cial, Actua­rial, Fiscal, Social and Legal Advi­sor: Ernst & Young (Cyril de Beco, Pauline Fabre)

Finan­cing: BNP (Guil­laume Redaud), LCL (Emilie Bosselut)

Seller: Capza­nine
David Hoppenot, Benoit Chop­pin, Bruno Bonnin

A Plus Finance: Olivier Gillot

Advi­sors to the seller: Tran­sac­tion R — Roth­schild (Pierre Sader, Raphaël Fassier)

Manage­ment Advi­sor: Scotto (Nico­las Menard-Durand)

Legal Advi­sor: Good­win (Jérôme Jouhan­neaud, David Diamant)

Stra­te­gic VDD: Indefi (Julien Berger)

Finan­cial VDD: Deloitte (Vincent Rapiau, Cyril Chalin, Davide Artigiani)

Finan­cial, Actua­rial, Fiscal and Legal Advi­sor: Deloitte

Social Advi­sor: Aguerra et Associés