Austria
Posted Tue, 31/08/2010 - 22:53
A recent notice received by Unternehmens Invest AG (UIAG), pursuant to Austrian law, indicates that swisspartners Versicherung AG has reduced its holding in the Austrian private equity company. The notice references two transactions which caused the 5% threshold for voting rights to be exceeded. The first transaction, dated in February of last year, shows swisspartners owning 322,077 shares, or 8.05%. The second transaction shows a reduction in swisspartners shares to 5.802% as of June 2010.
Posted Sun, 16/05/2010 - 12:17
ODLO Sports Group, the Norwegian manufacturer of sports-related clothing, has a new majority shareholder in Herkules Private Equity Fund III. The fund takes over the majority position after acquiring the stake previously held by American PE firm TowerBrook Capital Partners. ODLO chairman Odd Roar Lofterød will remain on the board and will be a minority owner. He is expected to continue to reinvest in the company his father founded more than sixty years ago.
Posted Sat, 15/05/2010 - 20:52
gamma Capital Partners (gcp), the Austrian VC technology investor, has divested itself from Fatfoogoo through a sale to Digital River. gcp first invested in the e-commerce platform with the initial round of institutional investing in 2007. The deal has Digital River paying about USD 10 million in cash while providing Fatfoogoo shareholders a performance-based earn-out option. For now, Fatfoogoo will continue to operate at its current Austrian location.
Posted Sat, 15/05/2010 - 20:34
Germany's BayWa AG has divested itself from Austrian potato processor Frisch & Frost in a move to get back to its core business of trading and logistics. The Munich-based agricultural trader sold its shares to Lamb Weston/Meijer, a Dutch food producer. Lamb Weston now owns 74% of Frisch & Frost but Austria's Raiffeisen Ware Austria AG (RWA) and will have a blocking minority position. RWA is owned by BayWa. The deal must still gain regulatory approval before it can be completed.
Posted Fri, 30/04/2010 - 10:04
German yacht customizing company Sinnex Holding GmbH has been acquired by Afinum Management, a German private investment fund. The deal includes two Sinnex facilities located in Steinheim an der Murr, Germany and Griffen, Austria. Afinum apparently looked into acquiring a Sinnex competitor about five years ago but decided the timing wasn't right.
Posted Wed, 14/04/2010 - 21:22
Austria's Biocrates Life Sciences AG, a leading international biotechnology company, recently announced the completion of the first tranche of a new round of fund raising which has garnered €1.2 million. The financing round was led by Arax Capital Partners and joined by others, MIG being among them. The company expects another infusion of financing later this year in an amount at least equal to the current package. Biocrates plans to use the financing to further invest in its biomarker research projects.
Posted Fri, 02/04/2010 - 19:40
France's PagesJaunes, an online and print-based yellow pages provider, has announced the finalization of an agreement to acquire 100% ownership of 123people. The addition of the Austrian real-time people search engine instantly expands PagesJaunes' internet audience and gives increased opportunities for advertisers. The company also stands to benefit from 123people’s SEO capability which should help their internet properties across the board.
Posted Sat, 06/03/2010 - 18:54
The Siesta Group of Vienna has reached a deal to sell its Somnolyzer 24x7 business to Royal Phillips Electronics. The company is active in the sleep disorder testing market, making a good fit for a Phillips portfolio that has been increasing its holdings in home health care and sleep diagnostics. The industry is expected to enjoy continued growth in the coming years as global awareness of disorders such as Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) increases. Two similar Siesta companies involved in research and clinical services will be retained.
Posted Sat, 06/03/2010 - 18:25
Austria's EK Mittelstandsfinanzierungs AG (EK Fin) has acquired a 15% stake in Transfer Industries Ltd., a holding company which owns the majority share of Global Hydro Energy GmbH. EK Fin cited the booming renewable energy market in Europe, as well as Global Hydro's recent growth, as reasons to add the company to its portfolio.
Posted Fri, 26/02/2010 - 19:25
Buy-Out Central Europe II Beteiligungs-Invest AG (BCE) has acquired a majority stake in Austrian manufacturer, Austria Email, from UIAG. The deal gives BCE a 63.4% stake at a price of almost €21 million while the remaining shares are split between B&C Holding GmbH (20.6%) and free float (16%).
Posted Thu, 18/02/2010 - 21:55
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has approved a €50 million investment for Mezzanine Management Central Europe Limited's new eastern European fund, Accession Mezzanine Capital III. The two have a well-established relationship having worked together on the earlier AMC I & II funds. The EBRD's commitment to the corporate sector in the CEE region has been demonstrated over the years through total investments in excess of €2.5 billion.
Posted Thu, 04/02/2010 - 12:25
After three years as majority shareholder in Austrian internet company adverServe Digital Advertising Services, CEE private equity firm 3TS Capital Partners has exited the portfolio company via a sale to founder Boris Schärf. Mr. Schärf completed the buy-out with financial support from an undisclosed Austrian bank.
Posted Tue, 26/01/2010 - 11:42
Vienna-based CRG Capital is joining forces with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to establish a new CEE fund to invest in distressed assets. The CEE Special Situations Fund has a target size of €200 million with the three initial investors providing a combined €36 million.
Posted Mon, 11/01/2010 - 01:15
The 3TS Cisco Growth Fund has reached a deal with Brain Force Holding AG, allowing the fund to invest in Brain Foce subsidiary SolveDirect Service Management GmbH. The deal will result in the spin-off of SolveDirect, with Brain Force remaining as majority shareholder, while 3TS Cisco will team up with SolveDirect management to invest up to €6 million in the company.
Posted Sun, 20/12/2009 - 22:07
Almost a year after the final close of its first fund, European private equity firm Syntaxis Capital has announced the first close on its second fund, SMF II. At € 140 million, the close is more than half of the fund's target value of € 250 million. Anchoring the fund was the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, who also anchored the previous fund. Others contributing to SMF II include the European Investment Fund, unnamed limited partners from Fund I, and a handful of new investors.
Posted Mon, 07/12/2009 - 19:55
Austrian car rental company LaudaMotion has said goodbye to its namesake, former F1 champion Niki Lauda, after the majority owner decided to sell his stake in the company. The 51% share was acquired by Lauda'a partner, Stefan Miklauz, under an amicable agreement reached earlier this year.
Posted Thu, 12/11/2009 - 13:38
Austrian pharmaceutical company PDC Biotech GmbH (PDC) recently announced the close of Series A financing, topping the €4 million mark. Co-leading the round were France's Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners and Germany's MIG Verwaltungs AG. Combined with earlier seed funding of €1 million and a grant of €517,000, PDC's total funding is now more than €5.56 million. The recent investments will be used to continue development of PDC's inaugural product which it hopes to have in Phase I testing by next year.
Posted Thu, 05/11/2009 - 12:19
Nabriva Therapeutics, the Austrian biotechnology company based in Vienna, has announced the successful close of its second round of financing with €15 million in new funding. The two rounds combined for a total of €57.4 million for the company since its inception in 2006. The first round of funding consisted of a group of international life science investors and was led by global investor Nomura Phase 4 Ventures.
Posted Wed, 04/11/2009 - 22:55
German private equity firm Deutsche Beteiligungs AG (DBAG) has divested itself from Austria's MCE Group through a sale of its stake to Bilfinger Berger AG. Upon approval of government regulators, Bilfinger Berger will pay € 350 million for MCE through a capital increase, exceeding Deutsche Beteiligungs' valuation of the company by as much as €15 million.
Posted Wed, 21/10/2009 - 23:17
Unternehmens Invest AG (UIAG), the industrial holding company of Austria's Cross Industries AG, was preparing for a takeover by fellow Austrian private equity firm Buy-Out Central Europe since an announcement of the proposed deal was made last month. The deal is now off as UIAG has been informed that Buy-Out Central Europe is backing out. The original plan was for Buy-Out Central Europe to purchase all UIAG shares held by Cross Industries, then announce a takeover bid and purchase the remaining shares to take 100% ownership. There is speculation that Buy-Out Central's reversal was based on a 2006 legal decision relating to UIAG and Libro AG, but no official statement has been released explaining the decision.
