Czech Republic

AVAST Software has a new minority shareholder in Summit Partners, after the Boston-based private equity investor pumped USD $100 million into the company. The growth of AVAST has been spurred by the exponential increase of computer security risks over the last decade. Summit Partners believes AVAST is in a unique position to continue growing in the security software marketplace.

Just over a month after Rhiag Group agreed to a takeover of Czech car parts dealer Auto Kelly, anti-monopoly officials have given approval for the deal. Rhiag already owns Prague-based Elit Group, one of the largest auto parts suppliers in the region, so the addition of Auto Kelly stands to make Rhiag the dominant player in the CEE region.

The recent announcement by the Polish government of its intention to sell a majority stake of state-owned power company Energa SA has brought out some of the industry's heavy hitters in what could shape up to be a very interesting bidding war. The Treasury Ministry has received initial bids for 83% of the utility from eight groups, including the Czech Republic's Penta Investments and CEZ, and PGE SA and Kulczyk Investments from Poland.

Czech billionaire and PPF co-owner Petr Kellner let it be known in early April he was interested in increasing PPF's stake in Italy's Generali to near 2%. Kellner had already acquired a 0.3% stake at a cost of CZK 2.12 billion and was prepared to spend billions more to raise PPF's stake in Europe's third largest insurance company. With an announcement on 13 April, Kellner and PPF revealed they had succeeded in purchasing 31,448,841 Generali shares, via PPF subsidiary Anthiarose Ltd., to raise their stake to 2.02%.

Penta Investments, the CE investment group based in Prague, has reached an agreement to acquire the PR Market chain in the Czech Republic. Penta will acquire 100% of PR Market, which operates under the Koruna brand name, with completion of the deal expected to come within the next two months. The acquisition is expected to help strengthen Zabka, the convenience store chain also owned by Penta. Neither party has commented on the value of the acquisition as they wait for regulatory approval from the Czech Antimonopoly Office.

Upon acquiring Czech opthalmology company Lexum Group last year, ARX Equity Partners pledged to work with Lexum founder Marc Filipec to expand the company within Central and Eastern Europe. Holding to that pledge Lexum recently announced the acquisition of Intermedica, a leading player in Poland's opthalmology clinic market, for an undisclosed price.

American-based Piper Aircraft recently announced plans to enter the market for light sport aircraft after reaching a deal with Slavia Capital to purchase Czech Sport Aircraft. The deal allows Piper it to produce the popular SportCruiser model for distribution worldwide. Though neither party has officially commented on the deal, estimates place the purchase price near USD 30 million.

London's AnaCap Financial Partners has agreed to acquire Banco Popolare Ceská Republika a.s. The Czech bank is a subsidiary of Verona-based Banco Popolare. AnaCap finds the transaction attractive due to the potential growth and expansion of financial service in the country. Household debt in the Czech Republic is very low as is the amount of consumer credit being utilized. Upon completion of the deal AnaCap plans an expansion of the banks services and asset management improvements.

Polish auto parking operator COOL AR has been acquired by Royalton Partners in a move that significantly increases the private equity firm's holdings in the CEE parking zone industry. Royalton purchased 93% of COOL AR shares for an unknown amount, via ACTIV Parking Holdings which it acquired this past January. The move doubles the number of parking spaces ACTIV now controls in Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.

PPF Group has announced an agreement to sell its 13.8% stake in ArcelorMittal Ostrava (AMO) for CZK 6.8 billion. The PPF stake in the Czech steel producer will go to AMO's parent company, ArcelorMittal Group, increasing ArcelorMittal’s ownership to just over 96%. The acquisition will allow ArcelorMittal to force out minority shareholders despite their opposition, a move supported by PPF. Minority shareholders attempted to thwart the squeeze-out with a criminal complaint in early summer but were unsuccessful. They maintain their position and are ready to go to court if necessary.