Family Fortune Family Businesses in CEE Present Golden Opportunities for PE Managers

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INSIDE GP WOrkshop How to prepare for a successful IPO. CEE focus 25.2.21/478/realdeals.eu.com Insights on the CEE region from Abris Capital, Enterprise Investors, EY, Innova Capital, Mid Europa Partners and more! PEA Shortlist The Private Equity Awards’ House of the Year shortlists. Venture views In conversation with Dawn Capital’s Haakon Overli.

Family Fortune Family businesses in CEE present golden opportunities for PE managers. Helping you make the right decisions now for the future

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Contents 16 Mid Europa Partners Editorial Successful dealmaking 4 and CEE’s convergence Leader Talya Misiri towards Western Europe. Alphabites The BVCA’s diversity blueprint, four fundraises and a shift towards management fees. 17 Secondaries: GP-led The stock exchange: GP-led deals surge despite wider 6 secondaries dip. Friend or foe Family fortune Family businesses While stock exchanges can be a telling in CEE present opportunities for PE managers. 20 illustration of the state of economies across PEA Shortlist The Private Equity Awards’ the world, private equiteers’ attention is House of the Year shortlists. being drawn to these for different reasons. 24 Corporate Commenting on this, Enterprise Investors finance corner president Jacek Siwicki told Real Deals: “One ARX Corporate Finance on digitalisation and data in PE. interesting development in Warsaw, Poland, is the developments in the stock market. The stock market was revived in the second half of the year [2020], and we saw the flagship floatation of Allegro, the private equity-backed business that 10 went public, and then at the end of last year/early GP Workshop 26 2021 Advent took InPost public in Amsterdam. How to prepare for Transformation These were the paradigm shift events on the a successful IPO. of the European Warsaw Stock Exchange as they were very large investor base transactions at a couple of billion euros, both were The evolution of LPs and substantially oversubscribed…” what this means for managers. Indeed, the stock exchange, which will celebrate its 30th birthday in April, recorded the second- 11 largest initial public offering (IPO) in Europe and a Abris Capital record number of listings for gaming companies. Attractive sectors In times of economic crisis and uncertainty, all eyes In addition, the WSE’s NewConnect, a in CEE and Abris’ 27 turn to the stock market as share prices of listed multilateral trading facility, established in 2007, decarbonisation ambitions. Venture views businesses continuously fluctuate. This time round, In conversation with allows smaller and newer companies to be listed in it is no different. The turmoil caused by the a way that is much less burdensome and much Dawn Capital’s Haakon Overli. Covid-19 pandemic sent exchanges across the world cheaper than a traditional stock exchange IPO. For into a frenzy that was largely caused by world NewConnect, which currently lists 373 companies, leaders’ decisions to shut down significant parts of 2020 was a landmark year for turnover. And, in 12 their economies. November, total equity turnover grew 926 per cent EY: Overlooked While stock exchanges can be a telling year-on-year to 1.5 billion Polish zloty (c.€327.6m). opportunities 28 illustration of the state of economies across the However, with the Polish stock market’s success, in CEE DIBS world, private equiteers’ attention is being drawn to the question at hand is: Is the strength of the WSE a Advantages and disadvantages A round up of deals these for different reasons. threat to PE in the CEE? And, can PE work with the of investing in the region. from the last few weeks. In the UK, private equity firms are keen to stock exchange or is there a continuous battle increase their pursuit of listed businesses that have between PE backing and IPOs? fallen on the London Stock Exchange, with Pub Enterprise Investors’ Siwicki is not so convinced chain Marston’s, private jet services group Signature that a booming stock exchange and private equity Aviation and power supplier Aggreko among those can coexist in perfect harmony. He says: “I’m less 13 30 recently bought by buyout houses. happy with the IPO renewal, because people have Enterprise People Indeed as the LSE continues to struggle, thought, for the last few years, that taking a Investors New appointments at approaches from PE managers this year have company public in Warsaw was not really an option, Expansion financing and the Kester Capital, Piper and more. continued. The FT recently revealed that six Warsaw Stock Exchange’s especially if you had a smaller business. But now, it approaches of this kind have taken place in 2021 so looks like you can try to do it and the valuation impact on PE. far, compared to 14 in the whole of last year, multiples are exciting enough to make people according to data provider Dealogic. scratch their heads and think twice.” Dealmakers across the CEE region considered 31 Warsaw and beyond these IPOs and flotations of smaller companies as a Vulture This issue, our magazine largely focuses on Central and notable trend. However, despite some concerns 14 All the cool GPs; Family drama Eastern Europe [pages 6 to 15] and it is in this region regarding the stock exchange as a barrier to Innova Capital and Breaking records. that some dealmakers are contemplating the impact dealmaking for private equiteers, the CEE region The firm’s succession process of the stock market on their investment activity. continues to prosper. and key deals in 2020. In contrast to the UK, the Warsaw Stock Exchange, Each of the firms included in our CEE focus the largest capital market in emerging Europe, enjoyed highlight both their firm’s and the region’s resilience considerable growth in 2020, being the second stock over the last year and the sectors and strategies that exchange in Europe in terms of liquidity growth. have come out on top in private equity. ●

3 25.2.21/478 realdeals.eu.com Alphabites Genesis growth fund hits €40m BVCA publishes BRIEFS hard cap Fundraising new D&I blueprint boutique Genesis Growth Equity has raised €40m for its Genesis Growth Equity Ermitage Partners Fund I, reaching its hard cap in Venture capital and private equity investors have is launched December 2020. The fund will invest equity tickets of joined forces to publish a next-generation blueprint Ermitage Partners, a Nordic- up to €4m into established companies based fundraising boutique, with significant growth potential for achieving greater diversity and inclusion. has been launched. Ermitage mainly in the Czech Republic and advises managers on raising Slovakia, which plan on expanding their capital from institutional operations, growing internationally or investors and large family investing into innovations. offices in Europe and South The GGEF I team sees a large Korea. The firm works number of opportunities in this alongside global fund managers market segment and will provide as their local collaboration entrepreneurs and companies with partner. Ermitage also serves additional capital and support to back as an advisor for emerging their business expansion. managers to help broaden During 2020, the fund already their investor base, both within completed its first two investments, acquiring majority stakes in R2B2, a and outside of their region. provider of programmatic advertising services in the Czech Republic, and Home Care Promedica, a provider of IPEM to professional home healthcare services reveal Covid-19 mainly in the Prague area. documentary Additional commitments to the fund were made by SPM Capital and Private equity event business Sirius Investments. ● IPEM is set to release its private equity documentary on 3 March 2021. The short film, titled Rebooted: Private equity Palico launches and the great Covid reset, features a series of interviews video-based with private equity heavyweights across the UK fundraising and Europe. The documentary, which will also be split into Private equity digital marketplace three short parts will illustrate Palico has launched Palicalls, a video the private equity industry over service integrated into a digital fundraising platform. the last year and how the asset The new function enables LPs and class reacted to the Covid-19 fund managers to book video meetings pandemic. Two trailers have via a fully integrated dashboard that been released so far. collates all relevant fundraising materials, communications and information into one space. Flashpoint This video solution will launches complement Palico’s current later-stage fundraising tools, which include an enture capital and private equity education, culture and policy; Outreach, access to dealflow, encrypted virtual data room and investors have joined forces to publish a and unconscious investment bias; and Influence, external secondary fund messaging module, a statistical report blueprint for achieving greater diversity guidance and portfolio management. Flashpoint has launched its and a newsroom where fund managers and inclusion. The document, Guidance It comes two years after The Rose Review was secondary fund, targeting provide updates on milestones and and best practice examples for VCs, private published. Penned by Natwest Group CEO Alison Rose, $200m after completing a first achievements. equity and institutional investors, has been the review found that just 1 per cent of UK venture close of $70m. Aimed at later- “Technology is here to make virtual published by The British Venture Capital Association funding goes to all-female founders. The review was stage tech companies, the meetings seamless, and now is an (BVCA)V as a resource to offer practical advice and best launched to identify the disparities between male and ideal moment to add a powerful video practice to increase investment in under-represented female entrepreneurs when starting and scaling fund will provide liquidity for function to our fundraising services,” founders and drive diversity and returns across the businesses. Within a year of publication, the UK early-stage shareholders and said Palico’s CEO, Julien Gervaz. “One investment sector. Enterprise Fund was launched to promote diversity add value through the of the lessons of this bleak Covid-19 A wide range of investors and professionals came amongst entrepreneurs. expertise of the Flashpoint crisis is that a lot of fundraising can be together to write these guidelines, including; Atomico, Research in 2019, conducted by MVision Private Equity team. The secondary fund is done online. By humanising digital Pollen Street Capital, Ada Ventures, Adelpha, Astia, KPMG, Advisors and French business school HEC, also found that anchored by the Scheinberg relationships, Palico should Diversity VC and Diversio. PE investment committees that included women would family office, the founders and significantly boost the popularity of The report draws attention to four main areas of focus: produce higher returns and have a lower risk of failure former owners of Pokerstars. virtual private equity fundraising.”● Talent acquisition; retention and development; Internal overall. ●

4 25.2.21/478 realdeals.eu.com Alphabites HUMATICA Golding buyout CORNER fund closes Picking the right org effectiveness consultant – Don’t hire a dentist to cut your hair on €375m One of the consequences of more competitive deal markets and more money in private equity is the Golding Capital Partners has held increased use of consultants – not only pre-deal during the final close on Golding Buyout 2018 due diligence, but also post-deal, bringing-in expertise or at €375m, its largest buyout fund to date. manpower to accelerate performance improvements. For the Golding Buyout 2018 In general, private equity has a rigorous vetting programme, the asset manager will work approach to hiring specialist advisors for clearly with established, mostly invitation-only scoped projects. To be engaged, a consultant must fund managers in Europe and North first get approval from the fund, and then by the America to exploit the return potential company management. These hurdles are high. In of small and mid-cap buyouts. addition, many mid-market buy-out managers have A total of 29 investors have not previously used consultants, or if they did, they committed to the new fund, mostly were one-man-bands, often without international insurance companies, pension funds, experience. The price for quality can be a barrier. Also, banks and foundations from German- unlike most corporates with consulting budgets, speaking countries. The majority of cash-conscious PE doesn’t leave much for consultants. LPs (76 per cent) are existing And, if so, every project needs to be justified on its investors, some of whom have also stand-alone cash return. It’s a harsh environment for invested with Golding in private debt consultants - but invigorating. Things happen. or infrastructure programmes. Despite PE’s rigor, we often see mistakes being made Golding Buyout 2018 has a with regards to consultant selection – in particular for particular focus on growth strategies organisational effectiveness topics in the portfolio. in the software and technology sector. The big international blue-chip consultancies deliver deep Around 80 per cent of the investment industry experience, market and strategy competence, and programme has already been allocated the pedigree needed to give lenders confidence. They play to 17 target funds and will be largely a key role. However, their internal structures and invested from 2021 onwards. ● management processes make general management consultants unsuitable for addressing organisational aspects, where real-world leadership experience is essential. In addition, they are constrained from Eurazeo raises addressing key leadership topics by not wanting to bite the hand that feeds them. General management consultants €80m for are clearly not fit-for-purpose for organisational topics. Executive search firms are also frequently engaged Smart City II to go beyond the search remit, and consult on broader Listed PE firms shift organisational and cultural topics. This brings-up Venture Fund different challenges. They have an inherent conflict of interest with their core search, selection and Eurazeo has reached a first close focus to management placement businesses. At a minimum, this rightfully on its Smart City II Venture Fund at brings into question recommendations that have an €80m. The fund will invest in energy, impact on leadership in general, or specific leaders. mobility proptech and logistics fees over carry There are also a large number of soft-factor, culture start-ups worldwide. and coaching consultants active in private equity. With Eurazeo’s Smart City Venture team their backgrounds in psychology and social sciences, they invests into innovative digital The five largest publicly traded PE firms have serve an essential purpose in helping to nudge leadership companies that are transforming cities behaviour. But, they lack a deep understanding of the with a focus on sustainable energy. shifted their focus to management fees over mechanics of strategy, business processes and value growth. The new fund’s investor base Each of these established consulting disciplines is a includes existing partners of Smart performance fees to boost their overall earnings. valuable specialisation. However, none of them brings City II Venture Fund, as well as new the holistic understanding of management processes partners in Europe and Asia including: needed to drive organisational effectiveness (OE). French, German and Asian groups ccording to PitchBook, In terms of fundraising, the five firms For this reason, many tricky OE projects, like operating (carmaker Stellantis, electric utilities recent earnings reports from underwent a healthy fundraising year as LPs model redesign and implementation, often fail to EDF and Mainova, public Apollo Global Management, focused on large funds and existing deliver the desired results. transportation operator RATP, energy Ares Management, Blackstone, relationships amidst uncertainty in the The right answer is to select a specialist consultant major Total, logistics champion The Carlyle Group and KKR macroeconomy. In particular, KKR amassed that has deep, line-management transformation Duisport and Thaï real estate indicate that these firms have more capital in 2020 than ever before, and expertise combined with blue-chip strategy experience. developer Sansiri), institutional been more focused than ever on management Blackstone raised nearly $100bn without One which has a deep appreciation for the critical investors as PRO BTP and family feesA from their LPs. flagship funds in the market. soft-factors, but is unencumbered by any potential offices. Eurazeo’s previous fund, All five firms posted YoY fee-related earnings “FRE continues to be a driving factor in the conflicts-of interest with leadership. Only then, will the Smart City I Venture Fund, has already (FRE) growth. public firms’ actions. KKR adjusted its sponsor and portfolio management get the needed made nearly 25 investments across PitchBook’s analyst note: “Analysis of Public compensation formula to give shareholders objectivity, credibility and collaboration to ensure buy-in Europe, Asia and North America. PE Firm Earnings: Q4 2020” also found that better insight into the firm’s FRE margins, and accelerate organisational change. The success of both funds perpetual capital vehicles have become a highlighting how important this metric is to this demonstrates the growing demand for popular tool for helping firms boost their AUM cohort of public GPs. In terms of annual digital companies that are supporting and collect more management fees. financials, four of the five firms managed to lift rapid transformations of cities for the Furthermore, large insurance transactions FRE as a proportion of their overall distributable benefit of residents.● have been particularly useful for Apollo and KKR. earnings (DE),” a PitchBook analyst noted. ●

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Family Fortune Family succession investments and buyouts have become a crowning opportunity, attracting PE investments to the CEE region. While Covid uncertainty intensifies first generation founders’ questions over what to do with their family business, it is also forcing major opportunities in disrupted markets. Simon Thompson reports

6 hree decades after the collapse of communism set off an explosion of CEE entrepreneurialism, founder managers of what have become leading CEE businesses, are today planning how to best pass on the “family fortune”. While succession buyouts and investments have long been among cornerstone investment strategies for CEE- focused PE firms, the Covid-19 pandemic’s rapid Tdigitisation of industries and complete upending of markets, are recasting them into even more illustrious PE investments. A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY While companies weakened in the wake of Covid, and opportunities for market consolidation are widespread, Michał Kędzia partner at Enterprise Investors says they are even more acute in CEE countries where markets haven’t been as long standing and a larger proportion of companies are founder led. “We are seeing more healthy companies deciding to take advantage of the situation, push the pedal to metal, to accelerate development and consolidate markets.” To do it, they are looking for experienced partners that know how to acquire companies, enter into neighbouring countries and professionalise teams and founder-led businesses.

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According to Krzysztof Kulig, senior partner at successful entrepreneur and the PE world. Innova Capital, Covid consolidation opportunities Someone who can explain the legal construct, are bringing first generation companies to the It makes them and market standard provisions of the M&A table that weren’t there before. “It is much easier world, demystify, and provide simple explanation for founders to accept financial investors that nervous from the and comfort on the standard contract would take majority stakes, if it facilitates building provisions,” Rodwell suggests. a much larger pie.” CEE- focused firms are also outset. Founder targeting investment into companies with capacity GROWING UP to bridle Covid-19’s rapid and large scale sellers want certainty While the CEE includes Romania and Bulgaria, digitalisation occurring in a spread of different Marek Malík, partner at Jet Investment argues that industry sectors. of what they are going more significant market maturation and However, founders’ increased interest in selling sophistication in the Visegrád countries (Czech their businesses might be as much about hedging to walk away with. Republic, Poland and Slovakia) have put them in a against its uncertainty, explains Gregor separate class when it comes entrepreneurialism, Piechowiak, managing partner at transaction industry and investment opportunities. advisory JP Weber, co founder of a global Eight carefully drafted business professionalisation plan “These nations are accessing the EU standards International advisory. “Founders’ readiness to sell and a strategy to significantly increase the scale of and Western European standards quite quickly now is much higher than it was before the business and finally a joint exit through a sale in 3-5 and they are economically closer to Germany and pandemic. It has shown that things can happen in years time. Austria.” Malík adds that that internationalisation the market that are totally beyond their control. is increasingly becoming a key value driver of the Many are looking to de-risk and take some of their ALL THAT GLITTERS succession opportunities Jet Investment is money out.” Instability of current market conditions might be pursuing in these countries. The CEE abbreviation bringing more founders to market, but this is also might be becoming a greater symbol of a shared GETTING IN WITH THE FAMILY further complicating the success of CEE communist past than any modern regional Family Business Institute (Instytut Biznesu succession deals. economic parity. Rodzinnego IBR) reveals just how big of an PE firms are increasingly turning to earn outs to Moreover, advancing beyond the first generation opportunity the lack of succession planning in the hedge against the uncertainty of valuations and of successions, many of the CEE founders and CEE is for PE investors. For instance, while 74 per the unreliability of future cash flow modelling. oligarchs that have sold off the family jewels are cent of founders in Poland would like to hand over Helen Rodwell, managing partner of law firm, CMS returning to the M&A market as investors. Many companies to the younger generation, only 8 per says earnout arrangements might be commonplace are starting their own family offices. cent of second-generation successors are actually in the M&A world, but they are notoriously Rodwell says she often sees family offices interested in taking over family businesses. difficult to negotiate with first generation competing on deals against PE firms. While CEE But, that doesn’t mean succession deals are founders, especially in the CEE. founders were skeptical of PE in the past, PE’s coming easy for PE firms looking to step in. In fact, “It makes them nervous from the outset. Founder credibility and rapport has come a long way over without a longstanding corporate finance sellers want certainty of what they are going to walk the last 10 years. Compared with counterparts in community like the rest of Europe, most firms have away with,” Rodwell says. Earnouts can also present the rest of Europe, GPs are finding that CEE to depend largely on internal proprietary deal a major upside for founders, if agreed targets are founders place an even higher priority on sale/cash sourcing. “These are not first dates. We know these exceeded, but Rodwell maintains that that is of value than any other, mitigating legacy issues or people for years before investing and we marginal comfort or value for this generation of CEE concerns over how the company will be managed consistently chat with them over the years and founders. “The profile of someone who is 65-70 years once they have exited. observe how their companies are developing”, old, who is selling the family business from that The quantity of Covid-enhanced opportunities Kędzia explains. generation; they want certainty and to be rewarded simultaneously unfolding in the CEE is a golden Succession buyouts can be also elongated and for building up their prize asset of their life. Earnout opportunity for PE to fortify itself as the go to are often most effectively executed as an negotiations tend not to go down very well.” capital source for succession exits in the region. incremental play, claims Wojciech Jezierski, Whether or not first generation succession While the first generation of business successions partner at Abris Capital Partners. A partnership deals get over the line, or not, often comes down are often the most difficult to put in place, those with PE is usually a bridge to a full succession. to the performance of the corporate finance taking place have the potential to set PE in stone as Jezierski reveals that they often propose an advisors on the sell side. “You need an advisor the standard for family succession exits, for acquisition of c.50 per cent, combined with a who can hedge or bridge the gap between a generations to come. ●

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RD_events_calendar-full_page_house_ad-285x380mm.indd 19 19/02/2021 15:27 25.2.21/478 realdeals.eu.com GP WORKSHOP

How to successfully prepare a business for IPO As IPO activity spikes, Manish Madhvani, managing partner at GP Bullhound, and Tomasz Ciborowski, partner at Enterprise Investors, discuss how to plan and execute a successful IPO process. QUOTES:

When we work with companies to IPO we will start preparing at least a year ahead. All the way through this strategy, you need to be able to keep investors informed of it and make sure that the management team is there to deliver it. The better you do that, the better the share price and valuation you will achieve. You will probably see a few new faces around the board too and they will be key in the company’s strategy so they need to be brought into the loop early on and not left to the end. Going through an IPO is a huge change for its staff, you are suddenly very visible Manish Madhvani, Tomasz Ciborowski, on the stock market and it can managing partner, GP Bullhound partner, Enterprise Investors feel like a new world, so it’s important that the strategy is We deal in technology and there has been a huge wave of flotations A successful IPO needs a compelling equity story that will attract many communicated throughout the recently. While each company is different, there are a number of key investors and make them want to own shares in the company being whole business. strategies we’ve seen work very well for these companies. sold. When we exited Dino, which at that time was a regional food NEIL MITCHELL retailer little known to investors, we positioned it as the best candidate partner, Rickitt Mitchell Acquisition growth to expand its chain across the whole of Poland. A large part of the growth strategy leading up to the IPO has been acquisitions and often that is through cash and equity. This means Building a credible equity story At the heart of any successful when companies list, it gives them a much more tradeable currency to We changed Dino’s stores to the convenience supermarket format and post-IPO growth strategy is attract many more potential companies. As a result, what we tend to differentiated them from hypermarkets and food discounters. The new making sure you have the see is that these companies have lined up a number of acquisitions and format had a narrower product offering the big box stores, yet one that correct management structure the floatation allowed them to execute on that much faster than they was broad enough to meet most customers' needs. What is more is it in place. You might want to have been doing when they were a private company. This is one of the required a smaller catchment area than food discounters, which hire an M&A director if you key growth strategies we see being executed really well by a lot of the typically have twice as much retail space as convenience supermarkets. want to do acquisitions or you tech companies. All this made Dino the perfect candidate to grow in small and mid- may need more central sized towns and villages, a market segment that had not yet been management because the CEO Creating a buzz penetrated by any other food retailer. The positioning was supported by and CFO are going to have to We work with a lot of consumer brands like Spotify and Farfetch, and some solid KPIs, like the number of new stores to be opened in the do more work on the public part of their growth strategy when floating is to use it as a PR initiative coming years and profitability improvement, which illustrated the front and spend more time to create a lot of press coverage that can then be used to drive into new growth potential. managing their investor base. It territories and realise gains. For example, when Farfetch was floating, We achieved a 7.6x money return on our investment in Dino when often surprises people how they then started to raise a lot of money from Asian investors and that we floated it in 2017, and since then its stock price has soared, much time is taken away from allowed them to drive really hard into Asia, and that’s been one of the increasing sevenfold. This demonstrates that the growth potential the business once you go biggest markets for them. They often use this as an opportunity to bring presented during the IPO was no mere promise, for Dino has exceeded public so getting your board on some really heavyweight industry people who have been very it handsomely. At the IPO, Dino was valued without a discount to its structure right is key. We see a successful with other companies and can bring on a wealth of peers, while now, after a few years of systematically delivering the lot of companies leave it to the experience; this helps them drive into new sectors and products. promised results, it is one of the most expensive food retailers in the last minute and don't bring the Warren Buffet, for example, invested a huge amount into world. From the perspective of a firm that has a track record of 35 right people on board because Snowflake, which generated a huge following and created a big buzz for flotations on NYC, Nasdaq, WSE and other stock exchanges in CEE it’s not seen as a priority. But the company. This is why it’s so important for businesses to work out countries, I can confirm that building an attractive and credible equity the world isn’t linear and it’s their announcements for the next three of four quarters before going story is critical for a successful IPO. not perfect and sometimes public, so they can maintain that momentum. you find there’s an opportunity The right team to IPO and companies move Long-term vision GPs should look to recruit an IR manager with a strong background quite quickly. Therefore, we A mistake we often see is that some tech companies struggle to ahead of an IPO. This person should participate in pilot fishing and encourage clients to start maintain a long-term perspective after they float. These companies are roadshow meetings and will be the first contact for investors after the thinking about who they want used to burning a lot of cash to invest heavily in new products and flotation. Good access to a listed company helps equity analysts and on their board at least nine expanding into new markets, but when they make the shift to the public fund managers get a better sense of what is going on, regardless of months before the IPO. market, they have to adapt to quarterly reports. We see a lot of whether the news issued by the company is positive or negative. PHIL ADAMS companies react to quarterly numbers and the temptation to let this Companies with a strong IR function are typically valued higher. A CEO, GCA Altium dictate plans can seriously harm growth and innovation. What makes a successful IPO also requires careful selection of joint bookrunners. You fantastic tech company is being a visionary and we’ve seen some tech need a good mix of banks with equity analysts who understand the companies fail to keep that long-term horizon because they are too sector in which a given company operates, as well as banks with good focused on numbers, because public markets want to see quarterly access to the investors’ universe. These two do not always go hand in numbers. hand.

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CEE

S U C Q &A F O ABRIS CAPITAL Pawel Gierynski, managing partner at Abris Capital Partners, reveals how the firm maintained deal activity in 2020, attractive sectors in CEE and the firm's decarbonisation ambitions.

By Sam Birchall

Despite the pandemic, Abris being a provider of assets to being a large as Poland, for some businesses completed two new investments provider of solutions. The business you don’t have to become last year. How did these became an infrastructure business with internationally competitive early on. opportunities come about? long-term contracts, providing the If you are running a business in a Despite the uncertainty of the owners with long-term cash flows. We smaller market, you must expand pandemic, 2020 was a very successful came to the view that on one hand it is overseas almost immediately because year for Abris. Of course, the a complicated business, but on the there will not be enough customers in beginning was difficult because no other hand, if we provide a well- your domestic market. At that point you one knew what would happen next structured due diligence package, most are then faced with much stronger with the pandemic. potential buyers would feel comfortable competition from regional businesses However, we were able to making an offer. that are doing exactly the same thing. successfully acquire two new The sale process was much more Operating in a larger market like businesses during this period and we competitive than we expected. If Poland gives you a safety net for are very happy about it. The first anything, that really surprised us. We expanding locally and developing the investment was in a company called were also impressed with how muscle needed before international Apaczka, a technical platform that disciplined and professional all the expansion. This is certainly an provides logistics services for bidders were, despite the very advantage that Polish businesses have. e-commerce players. Clearly the challenging environment. Because of Poland, as well as most of the region, is e-commerce industry has exploded that we were able to run on a tight also very entrepreneurial and a visible since the pandemic, but another timetable and complete the transaction drive to build and run business is crucial element at play here is the quickly. generating hundreds of new companies impulse for technological change. We every year. With easy access to were able to secure exclusivity at a What is the investment professional resources, consulting and very early stage, which gave us the appetite like in CEE right now? financial services, as well as generally time to build an ambitious business Now is a fantastic time to be investing in high standard of business plan with the founder and Central Europe. It's not just the number sector for us is recycling. This theme infrastructure, these companies are management. of opportunities that are increasing, but of wanting to live on a better planet is maturing much faster and their owners The second investment was in the quality of the businesses too. The drastically changing local economies. are more willing to partner with Scanmed, the largest healthcare majority of these opportunities continue We run a Romanian company, Green financial investors to accelerate this network operator in Poland. We are to come from local entrepreneurs who Group, that is the largest recycling growth. seeing many healthcare businesses started their businesses some time after company in Europe. Benefiting from coming of age in Central Europe and the Iron Curtain fell, have built them to the global trends of circular economy, What are the firm’s priorities we’ve been looking for potential a good size and are now looking to sell. this is a dynamically changing and and goals for the rest of 2021 targets in this space for some time as Trade buyers, who are very fast-growing market, and we are and beyond? a way to consolidate the market. acquisitive in the region, often have deepening our involvement in this area. At Abris, we see ourselves as a There has been a huge shift in trouble understanding these businesses Lastly, while we have always been navigator. We guide businesses and consumer awareness around health in because they were not built to be sold. interested in logistics, we have recently entrepreneurs towards success, Central Europe and this has created Quite often they are run by a refocused our attention on the discover opportunities for our opportunities in the sector. What’s charismatic founder, but they don’t technological side of this industry. We investors and act as an expert within more, healthcare themes are broadly have professional management or are seeing a number of very interesting the wide ecosystem we operate in. present in sustainable global trends clear reporting and controls in place. Central European tech companies that One of our key priorities this year is and the UN SDGs, which are part of At Abris, we have the advantage of a are quickly becoming global. further developing our ESG practice. the foundation of our strategy to local presence and a deep familiarity In addition, our portfolio companies We are now very seriously preparing invest responsibly. with local markets so we are able to require a depth of understanding on the all of our portfolio companies for the identify interesting businesses that tech side that they have not had in the decarbonisation process and we want Abris also exited Cargounit last founders want to sell and help to past, so for this reason we hired a to achieve a net-zero portfolio year. How did you find this exit professionalise them so that they can technology director last year, which will balancing model by 2025, making us process in the uncertain then be sold to trade buyers four or allow us to operate effectively in this the first private equity house in the economic environment? five years later. area. This approach results from our region to commit to this goal. Also, it It’s an interesting question. We were philosophy of building portfolio value is not just about putting policies in asking ourselves for some time if it was What sectors is Abris looking through improving access to professional place, it is about measuring our the right decision to sell during the at, and have these areas evolved know-how and best practice. actions, so we can demonstrate that pandemic. or changed since the pandemic? change is taking place. As part of this Cargounit is the largest provider of We’ve been actively involved in a In CEE, Poland was the initiative, we launched our proprietary locomotives in Poland. When we first number of transactions in food standout market in terms of ESG Scoring Application in 2020, invested, it was very small, but we were manufacturing. This is an area that is deal numbers and values last which includes more than 500 inputs quickly able to consolidate the market experiencing rapid change, so we year. What is it about Poland that evaluate specific risks and help to become a dominant player. In this anticipate there will be some interesting that is attractive? measure value created within each time, we transformed the business from opportunities here. Another exciting Size is important and with a market as portfolio company. ●

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COMMENT Central and Eastern Europe – overlooked opportunities for private equity investors? EY Luxembourg associate partner, private equity, Anca Lungu-Negoita explores the advantages and disadvantages of investing in CEE, as well as the region’s road to recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Time for another look are also not encouraged by the lower Republic. In addition, the green Although the region has seen a lot of number of quality deals fitting the initiatives have further developed in CEE growth in PE-backed companies, it investment profile and the lower the region with Poland in the lead. still remains underfunded, as value of investment. investment levels are not sufficient to The mix of advantages that CEE Has Covid-19 changed the S maintain the size of the capital stock provides can overcome the above- direction of growth? U ooking back at relative to the GDP and too low mentioned downsides. The four main The Covid-19 pandemic is taking a C theL past 30 compared to a long-term advantages are: sizeable toll on the outlook for CEE. O F years of post- macroeconomic equilibrium. The region is expected to contract by communist growth, So why is the region still under Lower cost: CEE traditionally close to 5.5 per cent in 2020, we can safely say that the radar of large Western fund requires less spend to deliver according to IMF, erasing almost the countries in Central and managers? The pivotal changes post- products and services, consequently three years of economic progress. Eastern Europe (CEE) had offered the 1989 continue to reverberate into the providing a low entry cost for With the virus comeback during the world a wide range of opportunities present, still offering a picture of General Partners (GPs). Part of the end of 2020, CEE is likely to delay its and challenges: they have passed economic and political instability to reason is a majority of their deals are recovery by mid to end 2021. through several waves of legal, a lower or higher degree, depending purchases from the original business However, investors still have regulatory and judicial reforms, they on the country. Furthermore, many founders. Secondly, the market is not reasons to keep their confidence in have discovered the controversial Western PE houses still lack the mature enough to offer the same level the market, mainly because the freedom of privatization and required local expertise that of competitiveness as the Western Covid-19 related financial crisis is capitalism in a relatively short period understand the difference in culture region. expected to create a buyer’s market. of time, and most of them have and the specificity of the local CEE will still offer plenty of succeeded to achieve EU integration. market and have not built a network Scalability and growth: GPs and opportunities for fund managers As CEE continues its economic to access the deals. Large PE players LPs active in CEE confirm that the from their already well-developed integration, the region’s advantages region’s comparative advantages industries that have proven resilient will contribute to its increased mean CEE can continue to deliver during Covid-19 and will continue to attractiveness for investors. attractive returns: economic growth be engines of growth for the future of through continued convergence, the region. CEE at a glance maturing entrepreneurs willing to The rise of ESG policies has only In 2019, private equity investments in sell their companies, seasoned GPs begun in the region, but it will be a the region reached its second highest with strong in-region local key differentiating factor between annual result in value at €2.95bn, experience, relatively low reliance on long-term winners and losers. To funding a record of 464 companies. debt for return generation. support the recovery and improve However, this represents only 3.1 per living standards, CEE countries could cent of the European total, similar to Unicorns: More than 10 unicorns consider spending more on prior years. have emerged out of CEE, with a infrastructure, green initiatives, Poland is taking by far the lead for combined value of €30bn. Flagship health and social investments and PE investments, followed by successes like TransferWise and digital connectivity. This will Romania, Estonia, Czech Republic Allegro create a precedent for certain increase the confidence not only of and Hungary. 93 per cent of countries, reassuring investors, potential investors but also of the investments at value are generated paving a way for other projects and necessary talent pool to sustain the by 4 sectors: Information and importantly, inspiring other local entrepreneurial environment. communication technology (ICT), founders. Convergence with Europe’s financial services, consumer culture, regulatory and governance goods and services and business A winning portfolio offer: ICT environment will be a driving force products and services. and financial services are already for growth, but CEE should be careful Overall, the investment leading industry categories. in holding onto its legacy and keeping activity in CEE over the years has Talent is abundant: there are its best competitive advantage. been dominated by funds about one million CEE While the progress might not be established specifically for the CEE developers, 50 per cent of whom linear, the maturity of the market region together with local family are concentrated in Poland, continues to increase and now might offices. Romania and the Czech be the right time to jump onboard. ●

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S U C Q &A F O ENTERPRISE INVESTORS Enterprise Investors’ chairman and president Jacek Siwicki discusses the rise in expansion financing, the impact of the Warsaw Stock Exchange’s recent revival and dealmaking in CEE.

By Talya Misiri

Private equity firms across the a half, he decided to quasi-retire with We travelled throughout 2020, so CEE region and globally cash from the buyout. none of our deals was closed reassessed their portfolios As for the fuel business, we had a completely virtually. In all of them, we when the pandemic hit. How large minority stake. The founder had initially had two or three video did you assess your private hoped for a family succession, but two conferences remotely and were then equity portfolio? years after our initial investment he invited by the founders to visit the We initially reacted the same as realised the family were not prepared company (in line with social everyone else and experienced shock to take over the business, so he distancing rules, of course). On the in mid-March when the lockdowns decided to sell another large stake. We sellers’ side, it seems that even though started. For the first month or two, we then took control and the founder we cannot shake hands, they are keen focused on assessing what problems moved to a non-executive role, and to meet in person and discuss the deal our portfolio was going to face and remained involved in overseeing the directly. whether the businesses would survive. business with us. We keep meeting people who are But all in all, when we look back at In terms of our involvement with considering selling out, but for now 2020, half of our ten portfolio the businesses, I don’t think much has these are binary cases – we’ll either companies exceeded 2019 results, changed other than the shift in focus conclude the transactions or the their Ebitda grew from between from the founder to us at EI as the founders will change their mind, in 10%–20% to up to 50% in some cases. largest shareholder. which case we will keep in touch and The remaining companies, which have come back later. So it can be very hard a more consumer facing and retail EI also completed a handful of to predict how much money we will profile, suffered because of the exits last year. What is the deploy in any given year. And now, pandemic. But all of them have a market environment like for things are definitely taking longer than sound financial standing and we did exits and have any of your exit 2020 we completed a public to private we’d like when it comes to securing not have to inject any additional plans been delayed due to the transaction and are currently delisting transactions. That’s why I’m glad equity financing. pandemic? a company in which we own a large about the growing interest in We managed to extend some We were quite lucky last year, because majority stake. expansion financing, because it gives credit lines and improve working the total value of exits in 2020 was us slightly greater certainty that a capital management, and as of May, it higher than in 2019 and 2018. This is What other developments transaction is likely to happen. has been more or less smooth sailing purely coincidental and the figure for have you seen in private equity I’m less happy with the stock in all ten companies. Since then, we last year will definitely be higher than in CEE? market’s rebound, because for the last have also managed some travel. I this year, as we’ll probably complete Another interesting phenomenon that few years people thought that taking a visited Croatia twice, as well as France just one exit in 2021 as opposed to one we’ve seen in the last year or so is company public in Warsaw was not and Italy, to assist our portfolio partial and three full exits last year. rapidly rising interest in expansion really an option, especially if you had companies. So for us, the last six I would not say that the exit financing. PEF VIII, which is a 2017 a smaller business. Now it looks like months have been business as usual environment has changed substantially vintage, has six portfolio companies you can try to do it and the valuation and there have been no major shocks in the CEE region. However, one and every transaction has a growth multiples are exciting enough to make for the portfolio either. interesting development in Warsaw, capital component. people scratch their heads and think Poland, is related to the stock market, In PEF VII (vintage of 2012/13), by twice. In 2020, Enterprise Investors which picked up in the second half of contrast, only a third were expansion increased its stake in two of its the year. We saw the flagship floatation and two thirds were buyouts. So What are EI's goals and portfolio companies. What of Allegro, the private equity–backed people are now much more keen to priorities for the year ahead? companies were these and business that went public, and then at look for equity growth financing in We expect to complete one exit. We what led to the increased the end of last year/early 2021 Advent addition to buyouts. are in the process of selling our holding? took InPost public in Amsterdam. This change has been driven to alternative energy company, which Both were follow-on investments in These transactions caused a paradigm some extent by the fact that the develops wind and photovoltaic farms existing portfolio companies. One is a shift on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, companies which were performing in Poland, and we have already bakery producer and retailer in Croatia as both were very large, at a couple of well are performing even better, so shortlisted bidders for this, so we from our PEF VII fund, and the other billion euros each, and substantially they want additional fuel to finance hope to complete this transaction in – from PEF VIII – is a Polish fuel oversubscribed. their expansion, while founders are the next two months. This should be importer and operator of the country’s The two deals attracted a lot of thinking about selling out. Growing the only exit this year, as none of the largest independent network of gas attention, also from foreign investors. businesses are also looking to take other portfolio companies are ripe stations. Both were transactions driven Polish financial institutions were money to fund buy and builds. enough just yet. by the owners’ lifestyle changes. relatively minor players. These IPOs In addition, the deal teams are In the case of the bakery business, were followed by a couple of What about the CEE active and new relationships are we bought a 65% stake in the company flotations of smaller companies, investment market today? Are slowly brewing. I hope we can deploy three years ago. A year later, the which is a new market trend. deals being done in the region? somewhere between €50m and founder stepped down from his role In contrast, we are going against And how comfortable are €100m of equity in the course of 2021, of CEO and became a non-executive the current. Instead of floating, which dealmakers with completing but this is mostly in the hands of God board member. After another year and we have done almost every year, in deals virtually? and the entrepreneurs! ●

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S U C Q &A F O INNOVA CAPITAL Innova Capital’s senior partners Andrzej Bartos, Krzysztof Kulig and Leszek Muzyczyszyn speak with Real Deals about the firm’s recently concluded succession process, the continued economic health of the CEE region and key deals from the past year.

By Talya Misiri

Innova Capital had a very What types of deals did deal was for a company based in the succession? Can you tell successful and busy year in Innova enter into in 2020? Romania, which offers services to us more about this process? 2020, despite the global And, is there an investment merchants connected to different Kulig: 2020 was also very significant pandemic. What was the that you were most proud of? types of cash and electronic for us as we completed the loop of secret to your success? Leszek Muzyczyszyn: I think we’re payments. Looking forward, we want succession within our business. It’s Krzysztof Kulig: 2020 was a really immensely proud of all of them. We to build a larger scale business been a very well-planned process; we strange year for all of us, but contrary are quite careful about how we focused on small merchants. This started in 2006, when we first had to what was happening in general, it construct our portfolio and, for us, transaction is awaiting AMO approvals meetings to discuss how to make sure was quite a successful year for Innova diversification is very important. As and will hopefully be completed by that Innova would survive as a franchise Capital. We completed three exits mentioned, our portfolio has the end of March 2021. beyond the original founders and how it from Innova/5 and we also completed withstood the crisis quite well and this will continue to exceed the three of us. three new transactions. We cannot was in large part possible because it Bartos: The strategy that we’ve had forget that private equity is a business has been well-diversified. over the last five years has proven to that rewards continuity, so a lot of The three recent deals be the right one, and we will continue work we finalised in 2020 was a result complemented the existing portfolio with the two main pillars of our of our efforts and work in 2019 and diversification even further, in that business: founder succession and many years before that, especially they’re all very different. One of the consolidation, and industry sector when it comes to making companies three, Bielenda Cosmetics, was in the specialisation. All three deals that we ready for exits. consumer goods sector in skincare did in 2020 were in sectors where we All three businesses that we exited cosmetics. This was a consolidation had a lot of earlier experience. We had been in our portfolio for four to play coupled with a founder have completed six deals in the five years and we had done an succession, which is a signature electronic payments space and several enormous amount of work to improve transaction type for us in Poland. It is in technology and consumer goods in the Ebitda of each. It was very a typical example of a family-owned previous years. These are the sectors rewarding for us that these companies business that has very successfully that we know extremely well and it were able to complete successful exits gone through 30 years to the point gave us a lot of confidence in deal in 2020, despite the fact that there where the founders were ready to making. Especially in times of was so much uncertainty globally and expand and consolidate the sector, uncertainty, our objective was to do in the M&A market. and to share the business with us as what we are best at, and this was partners. As part of the transaction, achieved through continuing with the Andrzej Bartos: Looking at our we also funded the acquisition of types of transactions and sectors that portfolio overall, before governments another complementary business to we have a lot of experience in. started introducing formal lockdowns, add on to Bielenda, to build in some we had already instructed all of our early synergies. While we are still in uncertain companies to put together times, how will you manage/ contingency plans, introduce weekly Bartos: Another of the three navigate fundraising going reporting of both actions and investments was in a company called forward? performance, and as a result, by the STX Next, which is a next generation Kulig: We have almost completely summer, our portfolio companies software house, exporting IT deployed our sixth fund, so we will were fairly stable. The quick reaction contractors to the US and UK. Its have to start fundraising soon for our of Innova, combined with the quality operating model was not challenged by seventh fund. It’s hard to say how the of the management teams, were Covid, and after a slowdown in the fundraising process is going to play critical factors to ensure that despite spring, the business still managed to out. It’s definitely going to be a new these challenging times, we were able conclude the year with robust growth experience, with less travel and more to achieve the majority of our and strong prospects for the year ahead. online meetings, and at this point, we portfolio objectives for last year. This transaction is another founder don’t know how efficient that will be. The three exit transactions that we succession deal and, in this case, we On the one hand, it can be much signed were in building materials, bought a significant majority stake, with harder to sell your fund when you’re logistics and the financial services/ the founder retaining minority equity not physically in front of the investors, fintech sector. The first two sectors and continuing in his role as a CEO. but on the other hand, it could be could be viewed as cyclical in nature, more efficient as you can save time on but in reality, our companies managed Kulig: The final business of the three travel and have more meetings. to face market challenges well thanks is from the transaction processing/ to the strength of their business fintech sector. We wanted to remain The last stage of Innova’s models and also an excellent response investors in this sector following the succession took place in 2020. by their management teams. successes of our previous deals. The What changed at Innova after

14 It was a gradual process and it Where firms are scared to act, they processes. In fact, if you look at our the adoption of new consumer meant that the Polish partners initially still have the founders owning the Innova/6 portfolio, none of the behaviours. Consumers have started had 50 per cent of the business and economics of the firm, while they no businesses were acquired via a direct looking into healthcare much more, the founders were gradually increasing longer hold critical roles for the competitive auction process. Many of focusing increasingly on things like our stake and involvement in the business. Our succession structure our transactions achieved exclusivity education and professional services, company. We actually started running has meant that the carry and the from the get go and this can usually as well as leisure. This has all been the business operationally much economic interest in the GP lies with lead to reasonable pricing. driven by the one fundamental earlier than in 2020. The original the people who actually work in the The third reason why we’re very underlying factor – growth in founders haven’t done deals for company every day. optimistic about private equity in the purchasing power – which should around 10 years. The year 2020 was CEE is because this region is continue for years to come. the completion year, where the Muzyczyszyn: This strategy is also extremely well positioned to take remaining stakes of the founders were supplemented by the belief we have advantage of the growth in Bartos: In the industrial sector, transferred to the three of us, giving us that it’s better to hire people into the digitalisation. We have a very growth has mainly been driven by 100 per cent ownership of the organisation at mid-level and then well-educated workforce, we have exports. After initially catching up company. Both founders have help them grow within the firm. This relatively modern digital with local demand, many companies remained on the investment builds cohesion, coherence, shared infrastructure, as it was built relatively now also focus mostly on export committee, because we believe that values and perspectives. Over time, all late compared to other markets, so we markets, taking advantage of we should maintain the benefit of of this makes the succession much have been able to leapfrog a stage or comparable technological their experience and insights; but more manageable, as there isn’t much two in digital development. For competences with more attractive 2020 was the year of the finalisation concern about an unexpected clash of example, in payments, CEE moved labour costs. At the same time, a very of the agreement. values, or fundamental views, later on. straight from cash to digital payments, well-educated workforce has enabled completely bypassing paper cheques, CEE companies to compete on Muzyczyszyn: It’s a process that’s How does the PE sector in the which were omnipresent in Western Western European markets. never quite over because we want to CEE region differ from the Europe for many years. have an evergreen structure, so rest of Europe? Finally, what are Innova’s sometime down the road, I’m sure Bartos: There are a number of Where are significant areas of goals for the year and going that the next generation will start features that distinguish CEE from growth and markets to watch forward? knocking on our doors to make room other regions. Firstly, our economies this year? What is your Kulig: A priority for us this year and for themselves. Credit goes to the have continuously enjoyed premium perspective on prospects in next year will be fundraising for initial architects of this structure who growth and across the cycle, regional Poland and beyond? Innova/7. We will also spend a lot of enabled the rolling ownership GDP has exceeded “old” Europe’s Muzyczyszyn: For some time now, time on our existing portfolio of eight adjustment process. GDP growth. Moreover, over the last we have held the belief that companies and we plan to add at least 15 years, the region has more than purchasing power is going to go up in another two new investments to Kulig: The succession point has been trebled its GDP, which is an the region as consumers continue to Innova/6. This will be our main focus quite a challenge for many GPs and outstanding result. So, while we are get richer. This has driven a number of for at least the next two years. lots of firms do not survive that. We not growing as fast as some of the sectors and business models that are We plan to continue our focus on are one of the very few in Central more exotic emerging markets, we ultimately underpinned by the ESG, which has been a very important Europe that successfully underwent definitely enjoy premium growth purchasing power of households. area for us – we always seek to align this process, and there are still some versus Europe overall. Growth in consumer goods and our practices and portfolio processes firms that have it ahead of them. The second feature is that this services is an obvious direct effect, to best reflect our firm’s values. We Ultimately, you can deal with the market is much less penetrated by but this has also contributed to believe this will also be an important succession challenge in two ways – private equity, with fewer players, e-commerce, to explosive growth in factor by which LPs will evaluate GPs. you can start dealing with it meaning that we are still able to buy payments, etc. Additionally, in terms We strive to be “thought and action proactively or you don’t do anything. good companies in non-competitive of consumer services, there has been leaders” in ESG in our region. ●

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S U C Q &A F O MID EUROPA PARTNERS Mid Europa Partners’ partner and CEO Robert Knorr discusses CEE’s convergence towards Western Europe and successful dealmaking in the region over the last year.

By Talya Misiri

The CEE deal landscape has largest initial public offering on the continued to thrive, even with Warsaw Stock Exchange to date. the turbulence in the macroeconomy last year, why What sectors are most is this? How did it continue to attractive for dealmakers in operate successfully? CEE now? How has this While some sectors have thrived, evolved? others have found it more difficult. We have seen e-commerce For example, in e-commerce and experience a significant boost due to logistics, most companies have consumers shopping from the safety managed to achieve significant of their homes during lockdown, and organic growth because of the as a result, sectors such as logistics acceleration of the offline to online and technology have also prospered shift caused by the pandemic. in this environment. These sectors Conversely, sectors relying on were already attractive and growing, customer footfall, and face to face but the effect has been accelerated by interaction have been negatively the crisis. Mid Europa consistently impacted, due to the continued focuses on its core sectors: consumer restrictions being imposed by the & retail, healthcare, business services governments and a certain reluctance and technology. The more traditional by consumers to venture outside of sectors are seeing an increased level their homes. This is more visible in of digitisation, while all our sectors sectors not categorised as providing continue to see significant levels of ‘essential services’. deal activity and the outlook remains For some companies, presented strong. with a difficult environment to achieve organic growth, their In terms of the private equity response has been an increased landscape, how does CEE reliance on M&A to achieve growth compare to the rest of plans. The number of growing Europe? companies of sufficient scale to CEE continues its path of attract PE interest is increasing in convergence towards Western CEE, while other companies and Europe, with growing wealth and their owners turn to private equity working from home, impact on travel to remote/virtual working, our disposable incomes, the for support to weather the impacts of and more broadly, the economic portfolio management and professionalisation of governance the crisis or as a way to monetise effects of the pandemic on various origination activities were not structures and company their business interests. sectors. We saw relatively early that significantly affected. While we saw management, and consolidation of In respect of Mid Europa, we were the pandemic will serve to accelerate deal activity drop in H1 because of fragmented markets. The region within the “right” sectors. Our several existing trends, such as online the uncertainty at the time, we did continues to benefit from the portfolio across our active funds is shift and digitalisation, as well as to see a reversal in Q3, despite ongoing lower-cost yet highly skilled invested in four main segments: food accelerate the disruption of certain restrictions of varying levels. Travel workforce. Private equity brings retail and production, services, legacy industries. As a result, our first and meetings continued to be enormous investment into the healthcare and tech. We were, objective was to develop an challenging, but given our local region, with €19bn invested into CEE therefore, able to weather the storm understanding of the magnitude and presence, we were able to maintain companies between 2010 and 2019 well throughout the pandemic, and duration of dislocations across meaningful connectivity with our (according to Invest Europe). have seen strong growth, particularly different sectors. In addition, our counterparties. This said, CEE still represents a in our healthcare and e-commerce operating team worked closely with As a result, we announced two very small percentage of investment driven investments. the management teams of our new investments: Displate, a leading activity in Europe, demonstrating portfolio companies to understand online global marketplace for further opportunity for growth. What challenges did you face both the potential opportunities, as artwork, and Sage Poland, a leader in With regards to the Covid-19 in deal making during the well as the challenges that the ERP software in Poland. In addition, pandemic, both Western Europe and pandemic? And, how has this pandemic brought. in October 2020, alongside our Central Eastern Europe experienced a changed the way you operate In terms of deal making, Mid consortium partners, Cinven and significantly worse “Second Wave” of as a private equity firm? What Europa has developed and Permira, we successfully listed Covid, but given the strong macro practices have you maintained a strong local presence Allegro, a global top ten e-commerce fundamentals of the CEE region, maintained? within the target countries, limiting player and the leading and most including low levels of public debt In the initial months of the the impact of restrictions on recognised internet brand in Poland. and resilient economies, we expect to pandemic, we worked to rapidly international travel. As a result of The transaction, completed almost see uninterrupted convergence trends address issues around the switch to this, and a relatively seamless switch entirely virtually, represents the with more developed markets. ●

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Analysis GP-leds surge despite wider secondaries slowdown Secondaries deal flow saw predictable declines through the pandemic period, but GP-led restructurings continued to account for an ever larger proportion of activity and fundraising has continued apace.

By Nicholas Neveling

he last 12 months have been The decline in activity was heavily unsurprisingly challenging concentrated in spring, when stock markets and for the secondaries industry, private equity portfolio company net asset values with Covid-19 dislocation (NAV) fell. As lockdowns first came into force bringing the market to an and the S&P 500 shed as much as 35 per cent at almost complete standstill. one point, there were knock-on effects on private According to Greenhill & equity NAVs, which fell to 80 per cent of par Co, the boutique investment across the market, according to Greenhill analysis. bank, overall secondaries deal value dropped by The volatile backdrop saw secondaries deal value almost a third (32 per cent) in 2020, falling from come in at only $18bn in H1 2020, less than half T$88bn in 2019 to $60bn. the $46bn posted over the prior six month period.

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Signs of recovery… bringing the market back into sync in 2021. market, GP-led deals have come into their own From the summer onwards, as secondaries “We view the market as being relatively like never before. dealmakers adjusted to remote working and balanced between supply and demand. The GP-led transactions have proved a perfect stock markets, deal activity rebounded strongly, capital overhang multiple will likely drop with vehicle for managers running funds approaching boding well for a better year in 2021. the growth in both GP-led and LP portfolio the end of term to provide liquidity for LPs who H2 2020 secondaries deal value came in at supply we expect in 2021,” Bernhard Engelien, require it, without having to offload prized assets $42bn according to Greenhill, only 9 per cent co-head of Greenhill’s European Private Capital in sketchy markets that might not deliver on down on figures for H2 2019. Pricing has also Advisory team, said as Greenhill released its valuation expectations. improved since the summer, with the average 2020 secondaries figures. High-profile GP-led deals secured over the last high bid across all strategies in 2020 coming in According to fund adviser Triago, attractive 12 months include Coller Capital and Permira at 87 per cent, only one per cent lower than 2019 pricing in desirable strategies will also support partnering in a $829m deal that enabled Permira averages. It is hoped that this momentum will appetite. Triago notes that large leveraged to roll the last four assets in its Permira IV fund carry into this year. buyout funds, for example, are now pricing at 96 into a new vehicle, while Summit Partners is said A record year for secondaries fundraising per cent of NAV, two per cent cheaper than to be lining up a multi-fund deal that could despite Covid dislocation will provide another five-year annual average of 98 per cent. involve $1bn of assets or more. spur for a pick-up in deal flow. Triago says the slowdown in capital Deals like these have demonstrated the According to Secondaries Investor, distributions, as a result of the weaker market for optionality offered by GP-led structures and secondaries fundraising totalled $59.7bn during M&A exits, will also spark a surge in secondaries have seen these deals gain tractions like never the first nine months of 2020, which already deal activity. For the first time since 2011 fund before. LP appetite for GP-leds is also rising, as exceed all prior full-year totals. calls outpaced distributions in 2020, leaving they offer lower risk deals and shorter A number of secondaries managers were able many private equity programs cash negative. investment periods. According to Triago, the to close large secondaries war chests in excess of Triago said this would “provide impetus for deal value of GP-led processes actually $10bn. portfolio clean-ups using the secondary market”. increased by just under a quarter (23%) in 2020, In January, Lexington Partners closed its ninth despite the drop in overall secondary activity. secondaries vintage on $14bn, a total matched in ...but the market has shifted This meant that for the first time ever, GP-led July by pan-European private markets manager But although all indications point to a positive deals accounted for the majority (52%) of Ardian, which raised $14bn for its Ardian year for secondaries transaction activity, the overall secondaries activity. In 2019 only 36% of Secondary Fund VIII, as well as a locking in a market is unlikely to slip back into the same activity involved GP-led deals. further $5bn of co-investment for the vehicle. patterns as pre-pandemic. Alongside the rising prominence of GP-led Goldman Sachs, Harbourvest and AlpInvest “The regain in market confidence has not deals, the market has also seen an uptick in enjoyed similarly fruitful outings to the fundraising been broad based,” Greenhill’s Engelien said. single-asset secondaries, which serves as another market, raising $8bn, $9bn and $10.3bn for their “We have seen buyers focus primarily on assets sign of how the market is adapting to provide secondaries programs respectively. in ‘Covid-proof’ sectors, newer vintage funds GPs and LPs with a suite of liquidity options, According to Greenhill, the combination of and more concentrated exposures, which are tailored to their specific situations. strong fundraising and a dip in deal activity has seen easier to diligence and underwrite.” “One of the main features of the current the capital overhang in the secondaries space rise to The pandemic also appears to have seen a market is increased buyer selectivity. As a result, a multiple of 2.9x, a ratio not seen since 2016. As huge shift towards GP-led deals as a source of we observed a significant increase in mosaic secondaries players move to deploy their capital deal flow for secondaries deals. During the last solutions, in which several buyers buy subsets of piles, demand for new deals is expected to realign year, with many managers reluctant to bring a portfolio, in order to maximize pricing for with supply after the 2020 Covid disconnect, assets into M&A auction processes in a volatile sellers,” Engelien said. ●

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THE PRIVATE EQUITY AWARDS 2021

HOUSE OF THE YEAR AWARDS Real Deals is pleased to announce the House of the Year shortlists for the 2021 Private Equity Awards. The shortlists recognise the private equity houses that excelled in fundraising, new deals and exits, as well as the overall evolution of the firm. Finalists for the House of the Year awards are established through research undertaken by Real Deals, in association with Preqin. Congratulations to all the finalists!

20 The SHORTLIST

Continental Regional Pan European UK House of the Year House of the Year House of the Year CBPE Bridgepoint Development Aquiline Capital Partners Capital ECI Partners ArchiMed Elysian Capital Capza Eurazeo Inflexion Private Equity Deutsche Beteiligungs H.I.G. Europe Livingbridge Deutsche Private Equity IK Investment Partners Tenzing Investindustrial Stirling Square Capital Latour Capital Partners Main Capital Partners Vitruvian Partners Venture Capital House of the Year Priveq Investment Waterland Private Equity Earlybird Global House of the Year Special Situations Forbion House of the Year Kennet Partners Apax Octopus Ventures Aurelius Ardian Certior EQT Endless MML Capital Partners Rutland Partners Nordic Capital Sun European Partners Searchlight Capital Partners

21 25.2.21/478 realdeals.eu.com

Organic Growth

Often an overlooked aspect of value creation, organic growth is essential for materially improving companies’ professionalism, geographical reach and product and service offering. Real Deals' Jennifer Forrest presents examples of organic growth success. Grayce LITERACY CAPITAL Richard Pindar, chief investment officer

We invested in Grayce in July 2018. It reasonably small, and were businesses was set up in 2012 by a husband and a that were probably not able to scale wife team. At the point we invested, into large accounts. The business had a £15m they had grown the business to high number of clients but many Revenue trebled approximately £5.5m of revenue, £1.5m weren’t big enough, with analysts often since Literacy’s of EBITDA and analyst headcount of being placed in ones and twos. This investment. 100. The Grayce business model is to meant it would be difficult to manage recruit high calibre graduates from these accounts and the business, if we leading universities, place them on a continued with this approach. structured training programme and One of the focuses we had and the X2 Sandbäckens deploy them into their blue-chip client business has been very good at is Ebitda base, predominantly on business targeting bigger clients, that have the more than SEGULAH change and transformation projects. potential to grow into larger accounts. doubled since Marcus Planting-Bergloo, managing partner Graduates stay for at least three years It is far easier to manage an account investment. and are fully paid during all their with 20 analysts than ten clients with training. They typically work for two or two analysts each. We acquired Sandbäckens in May seasoned industrialists (including a three different clients across that When we invested, two or three of 2016. It was a founder-led business, chairman and a couple of non- period, providing them with a variety Grayce’s top ten clients were in retail, 300+ which we acquired from a group of five executives) on the board of the 30 of experiences, with clients benefitting which then was already in a difficult Analyst owner entrepreneurs. Sandbäckens is company that clearly knew the industry Greenfield from a flexible graduate talent pool. place and were unlikely to ever be large headcount a Swedish business focusing on inside out and that was very helpful. sites grew accounts. Today, the largest clients are grew from 100 heating and sanitation, like a from 17 to 30. AUGMENTING THE now in pharmaceuticals, financial in 2018 to over traditional plumbing business. It had SERVICE AND REGIONAL MANAGEMENT TEAM services, insurance, legal services or 300 this year. 17 locations across Sweden when we EXPANSION Enhancing the management team was energy. acquired it, as well as 400 employees We also had a few, more specific, one of the things that the founders Overall, the level of confidence and and a turnover of about 650m Swedish things we wanted to focus on. One was X2 wanted to address as part of the ambition in Grayce has certainly Krona. We acquired a majority and the to increase the sprinkler business. As I Workforce transaction, given one of the two increased. I think that’s been the founders stayed on and continued to said, it was a traditional heating and numbers founders wanted to leave completely. biggest change and biggest help in develop the business with us. plumbing business, but we also had a doubled from The already lean management team of creating value in the business. If they We had a few ideas about what we sprinkler business that we thought was 400 to 800 two was to become a management team had been worried to spend more on wanted to do with the business; one quite interesting, so we wanted to grow employees. of one. To supplement the team, we rent or hire an extra salesperson, we’ve was to continue to drive organic and develop that division. added a chairman at completion, we said “look, we need to make those growth in existing companies, but also Ultimately, we have developed a very added a new CFO and we also hired a investments if the business is going to make greenfield establishments in new strong sprinkler business that is now % new sales director who joined a few grow”. I think that’s been the biggest cities across Sweden. number 1 or 2 in Sweden. And, in addition 15 months after completion. We change and mindshift change within to that, we also introduced a number The business effectively created a senior the business since we invested. ● WORKFORCE IMPROVEMENT of new initiatives for the business. This recorded 15% management team of four people rather The founders are still part of the includes medical gases for hospitals yearly organic than one, to allow the business to scale. business, but we also worked to bring and a broader fire safety offering. growth. About a year after our investment, in a completely new management In terms of the greenfield the remaining founder was looking to team, with a new CEO, a new CFO, a establishments, we were present in 17 step down, and so we also brought in a new HR manager and a cities when we acquired the business and new CEO. The CEO joined the communications manager. In addition, we are now in 30 cities, close to double business in January 2020. we also hired a lot of people to join as the number of branches. In order to All of the new recruits had experience more general employees. We started move a business into a new city, we had to in growing and running much bigger with 400 employees in 2016 and we find suitable people and the right branch businesses and had grown them at a now have 800 employees, therefore manager. We worked very closely with faster rate than Grayce had previously doubling the workforce. the management team to increase been able to. Crucially, we felt they What we also put quite a lot of brand awareness across the new regions. would also help to retain the unique emphasis on is finding the right We also made a number of add-on culture that the founders had built. industrial advisors to bring on to the acquisitions, but organic growth is board of the company. This is a super important to us. In the case of SCALING CLIENT BASE fundamental part of our business Sankbäckens we recorded 15 per cent At the time we invested, a lot of the model. In this case, we had some very organic growth yearly. ● clients that Grayce had were

Sortera SUMMA EQUITY Reynir Indahl, managing partner Hannah Jacobsen, investment director and head of IR

Sortera is a complete environmental embed ESG thinking, as well as other service provider, and one of the largest new positions to support the and leading niche providers of company’s evolving needs. % construction and industrial waste Sebastian Wessman was also 15 solutions in Sweden and Finland. We brought in as new CEO during our Sortera has acquired the business in 2016 and have ownership of Sortera to succeed the reported 15 per Nurseplus worked to develop its reach and founder Conny Ryk. with extensive cent organic offering both organically and through experience from the recycling industry. growth since it SOVEREIGN CAPITAL 10 add-ons acquisitions. The two of them developed a really was acquired by Dominic Dalli, managing partner positive working relationship and Summa Equity, GEOGRAPHICAL AND managed the transition seamlessly. supplemented Nurseplus offers ongoing recruitment Additionally, we created a PRODUCT EXPANSION The new CEO has brought a level of by 10 add-ons. opportunities for nurses, care centralised recruitment support hub in When we acquired Sortera, it was professionalism to how the business is assistants, support workers and Liverpool. It’s the second biggest predominantly focused on Recycling run, while also retaining the unique community care staff. We first met operation outside of the head office. £80m in Stockholm and had recently culture, entrepreneurialism, skills and Nurseplus in 2011, when the business This is where a lot of the initial Nurseplus’ expanded to Gothenburg. It has also mindset that has made Sortera 1.4bn was being sold by its founders to Key recruitment effort starts, whether that revenue mainly been growing organically. successful. Revenue Capital Partners. We thought it was a be managing job boards, SEO or increased from However, we saw an opportunity to The founder remains on the board, increased from really interesting business, and we general candidate attraction. We front- £45m at further expand the business and also providing valuable advice and support ca SEK 200m tracked its growth for four years before end the recruitment process, so when investment to set up a new site in Malmö which to the management team, while also when we we invested in 2015. What we really a candidate applies, we make sure we over £80m. enabled us to cover 75% of the Swedish working in an M&A capacity with the invested to SEK liked about Nurseplus was the fact that get on the phones straight away and do population. In addition to this, we company. 1.4bn in 2020 PF. it was supplying to a very specific some of the initial checks before that recently expanded the business market and a market we knew very application is passed on to the branch. % through an add-on acquisition, SUSTAINABILITY well, care homes and into private 14 establishing presence in Finland, On the sustainability side, we have % hospitals. And we were particularly TECHNOLOGY Margins Helsinki. worked very closely with the Sortera 14 impressed with the quality of what In the last couple of years, we’ve increased from We invested in add-ons in these team to develop their approach. With EBITA margin they were doing as well. Their levels of invested in what we call the Candidate c.10% to mid- cities to provide us a base for growing our expansion of the business into new 14% in 2020 PF. compliance were high and that’s not Interface - so we have an app whereby teens. Sortera, before building additional sites, we invested heavily in both always the case in recruitment or a candidate can monitor the shifts that divisions and operations. To grow machinery and physical infrastructure. healthcare recruitment businesses. are not just allocated to them, but are traction in these regions, the company We’ve also renewed the fleet to be the coming available, often at the last % invested in to marketing to lift brand most eco-friendly in the region. REGIONAL GROWTH minute. We enable the candidate to 50 recognition, for example, through Sortera was placed 11th in a ranking of Over the four years we were upload their time records and time Number of branded builder bags and fleets across the most sustainable B2B companies monitoring the business, it opened sheets remotely so they don’t have to workers on Sweden. in Sweden. new offices around the south of be physically present in a branch on a Nurseplus’ The company succeeded in Sortera is taking recycling and England and the south-west. In the Friday - particularly relevant at the books increased replicating its business model in sustainability very seriously, through conversations we were having with the moment. by 50% during Gothenburg and Malmö and has comprehensive reporting of its carbon management team, even before we We’ve just appointed a head of investment. rapidly increased the volumes being footprint and its measures to reduce invested, we were developing our technology with the expectation that processed in both locations. Organic CO2. We have seen other companies understanding of how they were later this year we’ll actually have growth rates have been above double fold due to a lack of focus on assessing new areas - where did they candidates do what’s called self- digits in new geographies for several sustainability, so we believe that perceive there would be demand for appointing - i.e. book themselves on to years through focused sales and making this a priority has been key to their services, and specifically, areas a shift rather than having to do that marketing efforts and Sortera quickly increasing awareness, reputation, and with a high elderly population and the through the branch. This will enable a establishing itself as a quality service market share, fuelling organic growth. right demographics for their service to candidate to review their shifts, book provider via a combination of organic Sortera was Summa’s second be relevant. themselves onto one later that day, if that growth and selected add-on investment and this will be the fourth We thought this service could be is what they are looking for, and be paid acquisitions, we have achieved 15% year that we report on its growth and rolled out nationally, and that was the for having worked that shift the next day. organic growth to date. This has been progress in driving sustainability. It is strategy that we put in place. When we We had started this before Covid achieved through focused sales efforts, also one of the pilot companies in invested in January 2015, the business but, like the rest of the world, the ensuring a high quality offering Harvard Business School’s Impact had 32 branches, predominantly pandemic has accelerated the need for enabling customer wins and price Weighted Accounting initiative, which around the south-east, but also technology and technology optimizations, as well as offering we are supporting, so we will soon be developing around the south and investments. customers high recycling rates key for able to report its ESG footprint in south-west. It currently has over 50 Nurseplus is one of our businesses improving customers sustainable monetary terms, which is a very branches and is now a national that has somewhat benefitted from the footprints.. exciting development. ● business throughout England. We did pandemic. We have a Covid testing considerable demographic analysis service, we have a vaccination service - MANAGEMENT before we invested in the company to so Nurseplus, for example, is helping The core management team has been gauge where a Nurseplus service schools and sports clubs with their part of the whole journey since we would thrive and we identified more Covid testing needs. They’ve been able invested. However, the team has than 50 areas around England. We to be pretty nimble about what they expanded alongside the business, have looked into opening in Scotland offer to support the whole pandemic through both acquired teams and and Wales, there’s no reason why we effort. And we’ve launched a privately- external hires. In particular, we can’t establish there also. funded home care service also. ● brought in a sustainability manager to

23 25.2.21/478 realdeals.eu.com Q &A

CORPORATE FINANCE CORNER DIGITALISATION AND DATA IN THE M&A AND PE INDUSTRY ARX Corporate Finance partner Julien Belon discusses how digital systems and data management tools are transforming PE and M&A deal processes.

By Talya Misiri What changes that have taken Where are AI tools being place when it comes to data in incorporated into the the M&A and PE industry? industry? Ten years ago, data in the industry was The industry is starting to use just made up of databases with no AI-powered tools with the view that it direct or guided intelligence to assist will likely complement databases that its users. Looking forward, are already being used. Since the 2000s, M&A and private Where AI is being used includes equity firms used databases that were digitalisation will assist the origination process. Where linked to publications such as Merger previously a key word would be Market and Thomson Reuters. At the firms with their profitability, entered into a database and it will give time, it was a useful tool for those a small selection of targets in that working in the industry because it as well as accuracy and space. Now, thanks to machine helped dealmakers to identify learning, dealmakers have the ability counterparties, buyers, targets or efficiency...CRMs will to identify new targets and buyers, in intelligence and to identify the best addition to what the database would players in Europe and globally. become a commodity and have provided them with previously. Ten years later, more intelligence These systems will automatically was introduced to the data, meaning data held by firms will be update with the latest, real-time that dealmakers could use databases information to ensure that dealmakers daily in valuation or counterparty extremely more organised can target the newest opportunities as issues. Like a lot of industries, the or before they become available, as private equity industry came to and streamlined, so this will well as identifying buyers. understand that data is central to daily At the moment, the most active work and not just secondary, so they assist with improving deal investors who are using AI tools are began to use it more and more, both on venture capital investors because tech public databases and with the use of processes overall. is already a daily working component their own CRM platforms to improve for them and they have a lot of their potential dealflow. information to manage in terms of CRM tools have allowed firms to dealflow and opportunities. link their own deal flow data to data coming from the broader industry. Going forward, how will And, this information can be both past data, will be a commodity, thanks to this area because before this, data and digital tools and present, which is invaluable. the CRM tools. In addition, to make professionals in the small cap space transform the deal full use of data, links have been used to put in the same work as those origination and execution How have digital data tools created to and from the CRM with in the large or mid cap space, but it is processes? improved transaction external information on the industry not the same profitability and in some Prior to the introduction of digital process? or sectors of interest to assist with cases, small cap can be more tools and data management systems, Digitalisation has essentially made processes and intelligence. complicated, so without digitalisation firms could only focus on transactions M&A and private equity firms' And, the CRM can also be used to it could take a lot of time and precious on a deal by deal basis, due to the processes more efficient. As create industry trends and overview resources. intensity of the deal process. Now, professionals become busier, reports; to contact and source buyers It’s really important, therefore, for digitally assisted investment firms are digitalisation has enabled firms to and to contact counterparties. This the small cap industry to embrace able to look at more than one deal at a save time, for data collection can also be of assistance when digitalisation. Banks are also asking us time and have a steady stream of employees and analysts, and make meeting deal counterparties to give to work with them on this for their portfolio and potential target transactions much quicker and managers a data-overview beforehand. small cap businesses because it’s information coming through. smoother. simple but necessary. A lot of retail Looking forward, digitalisation Digitalisation has also assisted What are the benefits of banks in particular want to use digital will assist firms with their with the accuracy of information and digitalising the deal process? tools to manage connections between profitability, as well as accuracy and allows investors and advisors' go to How does this help buyers and small businesses and M&A bankers. efficiency of daily work. CRMs will market to be much quicker. In the sellers? Furthermore, for large deals, become a commodity and data held next five years, being digitalised in I used to work at SocGen where I digitalisation is important to aid the deal by firms will be extremely more terms of the management of firms’ managed the digitalisation of a large process in terms of data monitoring, organised and streamlined, so this information, including having a good part of the small cap industry. Q&A sessions, KYC information and the will also assist with improving deal view on your dealflow and internal Digitalisation is largely beneficial in management of data overall. processes overall. ●

24 VIRTUAL EVENT 18th MARCH 2021 Take a deep dive into Environmental, Social and Governance trends, and the evolving role that impact investing is taking within the industry at the Real Deals ESG and Impact Management event.

WE WILL DISCUSS AND DEBATE TOPICS INCLUDING: • Regulatory update: Optimizing data and reporting post-SFDR • Brace for Impact: What Does the Future of Impact Investing Hold? • Creating sustainable value throughout the investment lifecycle • Futureproofing Due Diligence and Investor Relations in an ESG era • Effectively Measuring ESG Compliance

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WEBINAR THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE EUROPEAN INVESTOR BASE In a recent webinar hosted by Real Deals in association with TMF, a panel of experts shared their thoughts on the evolution of the European LP base, how regulation had reshaped the landscape and what this meant for managers and investors targeting the region.

broaden out their offerings to include What institutional investors ON THE PANEL: depositary and fund manager services want to see alongside administration work. In answer to an audience question, Peter Flynn Managers raising capital in Europe, asking if AIFMD-lite managers who chief executive and founder, therefore, needed to be aware of the were below the threshold were at any Candela Capital regulatory requirements for disadvantage when approaching administration, depositary and European institutions, Dietrich said Anja Grenner alternative investment fund manager that on the whole, European head of sales, (AIFM) services, and options to institutions did not face any hurdles Funds Services bundle these services together into a when it came to backing managers Luxembourg, TMF Group single “one-stop shop” solution versus who were below the threshold separating out these functions. requiring a full AIFMD licence. Manfred Dietrich “In general, it should not be a head of investment funds AIFMD: help or hindrance? problem. In my experience bigger and asset management, Although the introduction of AIFMD institutions and the development Norton Rose Fulbright saw the formation of the fundraising banks have not raised any concerns,” passport, which allowed managers to Dietrich said. ver the last three raise capital from all countries in the Grenner added that when working decades the EU, Flynn argued that AIFMD had with sub-threshold funds, the European investor been a “barrier” for third-country regulators had still ensured that these universe has areas of added value as their US managers trying to raise capital from funds were closely monitored. evolved from local counterparts. It’s probably fair to say European LPs and “added costs”. “We have a couple of these pockets of LPs that the US market is still a bit deeper “There are methods whereby the sub-threshold funds that we work supporting domestic managers into a in terms of opportunities, and the best managers, and the best overseas with. There is no official AIFMD, but Odiverse mix of investors with different number of both GPs and LPs, but managers, can get access to European the regulators have pretty much made objectives, priorities, and manager Europe has very significantly closed investors, but essentially it has been a sure that what an AIFM actually selection criteria. that gap,” Flynn said. He added that in drag and it’s added inefficiency,” performs from a risk, portfolio How, then, should GPs approach some areas, such as assessing Flynn said. management services and risk control this diverse set of potential investors, managers against ESG criteria, Europe Norton Rose Fulbright’s Manfred function is then also put on the and how can managers direct their was leading global markets. Dietrich, however, said that given the shoulders of the general partners,” fundraising efforts to the pockets of TMF Group’s Anja Grenner said fact that when AIFMD was implemented Grenner said. “It is not the case investors where their offering is most that European institutions had it was a “new directive in a new field” anymore that just because a fund is likely to gain traction? undertaken a significant shift in their it had functioned “quite well”. sub-threshold it isn’t doing what In a recent Real Deals webinar, hosted asset allocations during the last two Dietrich said the EU had learned AIFM would do. It has just shifted to in association with TMF, a panel of fund decades, and had embraced higher from the implementation of the another entity that is performing the experts discussed the reasons behind the yielding alternative assets. This meant UCITS directive in the 1980s (which same services as the AIFM.” ● transformation of the LP universe and Europe presented attractive pools of allowed for the sale of cross-Europe what this meant for managers. Here capital for managers globally. mutual funds) and that AIFMD had are some of the highlights: proven “a relatively good framework The mechanics of running from the beginning”. The evolution of the European funds Grenner added that although European LP base Grenner explained that the mechanics AIFMD had not being “the most Candela Capital’s Peter Flynn said for raising capital from European beloved piece of legislation when it was that although the US LP community investors had evolved, with the introduced”, the directive had its merits had been “light years” ahead of their introduction of the alternative and had supported “a certain European counterparts 20 years ago, investment fund managers directive harmonisation” in Europe around the gap had “very significantly (AIFMD) by the EU contributing to that. processes and controls. She said the narrowed”. AIFMD’s implementation from AIFMD II, the next iteration of the “The most sophisticated European 2013 onwards ushered in a period directive, was looking at ways to achieve investors are as sensitive to latest where service providers started to harmonisation on an even deeper basis.

26 25.2.21/478 realdeals.eu.com Venture Views

IN CONVERSATION WITH DAWN CAPITAL’S HAKON OVERLI Dawn Capital’s Hakon Overli discusses the B2B software investor’s latest fund, emerging sectors and the wave of VC-backed tech business exiting to PE firms.

By Sam Birchall

Dawn closed its latest $400m We continue to see a strong fund to focus on B2B software appetite for B2B software companies. last year. Has the appetite for In particular, we focus on supporting B2B software investment early-stage SaaS and FinTech increased? companies in Europe, a segment we Our new fund is our largest yet and also continue to see vast opportunity in. We are at the start of an Europe’s largest early-stage B2B Ultimately, venture is about lasting focussed fund. We launched in March value creation. This is important enormous FinTech revolution last year, just as the first lockdown because it’s impossible to time the happened, and managed to reach a final market, so you have to just make sure that is going to completely close in June. We did 85 per cent of the to have a number of high quality due diligence on zoom, which worked assets - that’s how you make change the future of payment surprisingly well. It was also incredibly consistently high returns. Where we time efficient, as we could have calls see a lot of opportunity, and where we and processes. with Asian LPs early in the morning, as hope to deploy our new fund is in well as US LPs in the evening. We only data analytics, security and FinTech. had one large investor who wanted to Another very interesting area is see the whites of our eyes and so “future of work”. wasn’t able to invest, everyone else was happy to do it online. What key trends in B2B We have a B2B mentality in that we software are you keeping your rapidly evolving environments. For VC-backed businesses exiting like to build things over time and we’ve eye on? example, we have invested in the to private equity firms? been doing this for over a decade. This Communication is going through a secure chat app Element, which Yes, private equity is becoming an meant fundraising wasn’t very difficult huge revolution at the moment. The allows people to run their own increasingly good source of exits for for us because our track record is very younger generation has very different communication infrastructure. VC-backed businesses. What we are good and we’ve built a strong network expectations about social interaction Businesses or individuals use it to talk starting to see is these businesses of global investors. Our first three online and this has led to much more to everyone through the open global grow to a certain stage and need funds are also ranked in the top 10 per awareness around data. We are Matrix network and their more operational enhancement and cent globally for performance and were backing the entrepreneurs who have conversations are protected by proper that’s not quite what VC does, VC is all oversubscribed. the vision to take advantage of these end-to-end encryption. It’s a really more about growing the business. interesting company because it’s Thomas Bravo and Vista have been about democratising communication doing this for a while in the US and and ‘sticking it to the man’. Google now we are starting to see it happen Play temporarily shut it down because in Europe. It’s good for the founders it competes directly with Google because they get another set of Meet, so we felt that was quite an expertise and can keep building their achievement. They eventually business, and it works well for VC apologised and put it back up; it was firms too because we get to recycle very exciting. capital. This is a very recent trend, It has a huge and growing range of it’s only been happening in the last 18 customers too, including the French, months but I expect it will continue German, UK and US governments, as to grow. well as universities, thousands of businesses and millions of people What is driving this trend? across the world. There is an increased dependence on In terms of other trends, we are at technology and the VCs that are able the start of an enormous FinTech to accelerate the creation of new revolution that is going to completely companies. There is potentially a change the future of payment and generational factor at play here. There processes. We are really just at the used to be a perception that software beginning of this. Quantum was too risky, but people have Computing is going to be huge too but overcome their initial hesitancy it’s really just in its infancy. It will be because software doesn’t break in the interesting to see how this impacts the same way it used to. People have got venture landscape. over this skepticism and realised that the recurring revenues are perfect for As technology start ups scale private equity because they can at an exceptional rate and seek operationalise the product. There are further operational support now so many tech companies valued to grow, do you see more at $1bn or more. ●

27 25.2.21/478 realdeals.eu.com Deals in brief

HEALTHCARE, FRANCE company in 2012, Macrolibros’ strategy Target Qoventia and focus has been on meeting In Careventures, UNEXO increasingly specialised demand and fitting out the company with machinery Healthcare private equity firm that sets it apart from its competitors. Careventures has invested in French Gráficas CEYDE, which was acquired veterinary group Qovetia, alongside by Gold Tower Investments in 2019, is a UNEXO, an investment fund of the generalist printer. The transaction is part Crédit Agricole Group. of the consolidation process that the Qovetia was established in March printing sector is undergoing. The 2020 with the aim to become the first group will continue to be led by the French group of practicing veterinarians current management teams. with a European ambition. The group As part of the transaction, Baker is made up of 80 veterinarians who Tilly served as financial advisor. DLA are collectively the main investors of served as legal advisor to Sherpa the group, alongside Careventures Capital and Mavens as legal advisor to and UNEXO. Gráficas Ceyde. In the last 20 years, the Careventures team has contributed over €1bn to the HEALTHCARE, UK financing of various consolidation projects Target IVC Evidensia in the European healthcare sector. In Silver Lake Together Careventures and Unexo will bring European experience in Silver Lake has partnered with Nestlé build-ups and the management of to make a €3.5bn investment into IVC medical groups to support Qovetia’s Evidensia, a European vet group. EQT rapid growth and the further will remain its largest shareholder. development of quality services. The deal values the company at €12.3bn and sees EQT scrap plans to list FINANCE, UK the business on the London stock market. Target Nucleus Plc It is the latest in a spate of deals In Epiris that see private equity firms sell CF Shore Capital, Craven Street Capital companies to themselves as opposed Bain Capital and Cinven acquire to listing them on the stock markets Epiris-backed James Hay, a specialist or selling them to other buyers. pensions provider, is taking Nucleus Lonza Specialty Ingredients Under the deal, EQT will sell the Plc private. majority of its stake in IVC and its This acquisition values the share Bain Capital and Cinven will acquire Swiss-based specialty chemicals most recent €14.75bn fund will buy in. capital of Nucleus at c.£144.62m. Silver Lake will take a minority stake Nucleus is an adviser-led, financial manufacturer, Lonza Specialty Ingredients (LSI). Working together as a and Nestlé will increase the size of its planning and investment platform for 2019 stake. small to medium-sized adviser firms. consortium, Bain Capital and Cinven, will acquire the company for a total The IVC deal demonstrates the Following the acquisition, Epiris high valuations that petcare deals intends to merge the operations of enterprise value of CHF 4.2bn. LSI, a division of Lonza AG, is a provider increasingly command and private Nucleus to create a financial planning and equity’s continued appetite for them. retirement-focused adviser platform with of specialty chemicals for microbial control solutions, used to eliminate or c£45bn of AUA and scale. The move will MANUFACTURING, UK enable greater investment in technology, control harmful and unwanted microorganisms. LSI products are used for Target Collingwood Lighting products and services to meet the needs In Ambienta of advisers and their clients. a variety of products, including disinfectants and sanitisers. Bain Capital Out Baird Capital As part of the deal, James Hay A Raymond James Holdings will acquire the entire and Cinven will enhance the R&D capabilities of LSI, consolidate market L Taylor Wessing issued and to be issued share capital of Nucleus. James Hay’s offer price share through buy-and-build opportunities and invest in its production Ambienta has acquired Collingwood for the acquisition is 188 pence per Lighting Technology Group from Nucleus share. facility in Visp, Switzerland. The transaction is expected to close in H2 Baird Capital. Nucleus is being advised by Shore Ambienta’s investment will help Capital and Craven Street Capital. 2021, subject to customary closing conditions. Collingwood to scale in the The deal comes amidst broader fragmented pan-European LED consolidation of the UK platform lighting market, which is reported to space, driven by private equity. IMA. Founded in 1961 in Bologna, experience to support IMA as it investment in Macrolibros, selling the be valued at over £1.3bn. Italy, IMA Group specialises in the continues to evolve and cement a children’s and educational book Collingwood is a UK manufacturer MANUFACTURING, ITALY design and manufacturing of global position in the sector. printing company to Gold Tower- of LED integrated lighting fixtures, Target IMA Group automatic machines for the backed Gráficas Ceyde. which emit less CO2 emissions in In BC Partners processing and packaging of EDUCATION, SPAIN Based in Valladolid, Spain, and comparison to other alternate lighting. pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, foods Target Macrolibros founded more than 40 years ago, The company was one of the first BC Partners, alongside the Vacchi and beverages. In Gold Tower Macrolibros operates in the in the UK to supply a range of family, has completed the take private The acquisition – negotiated and Out Sherpa Capital educational book sector, with a strong purpose-built LED lighting products of IMA Group. The business has been finalised amidst the Covid-19 pandemic A Baker Tilly footprint in the international market. for the UK electrical wholesale market fully delisted from the Milan stock is one of the largest take-private deals L DLA, Mavens The company generates more than 70 and now has a growing presence in exchange. BC Partners and the Vacchi on a European stock exchange. per cent of its sales abroad. other international markets. family now control 100 per cent of BC Partners will leverage its Sherpa Capital has exited its Since Sherpa Capital backed the The acquisition marks an exit for

28 KEY: D Debt MZ MEZZANINE NC Newco B Broker CF Corporate finance L Legal A Accounting C Commercial T Technical MG Management I Insurance P Property A round-up of deals from the past few weeks. EV Environmental

Baird Capital, which invested in expanding its customer base and and offering greater opportunities from Rothschild & Co and legal diligence, RP Advisory provided Collingwood in 2018 as part of its further developing its range of through its dedicated Acquisitions advice from CMS Cameron McKenna commercial due diligence, Grant energy efficiency investment thesis. services available to existing clients. Director support system. Nabarro Olswang LL. Thornton led technical due diligence. During Baird Capital’s two and a half BGF also grew the business’s team Justin Randall will continue as Organisational due diligence was years of ownership, Collingwood saw with significant appointments. Jeffreys Henry managing partner. LOGISTICS, UK handled by Stratton HR; insurance over 11 per cent CAGR and doubled The business consolidates and Alantra acted as advisor to Tenzing Target Ligentia due diligence by Aon, and VCT Philip its adjusted Ebitda. manages networks and services for on the deal. In Equistone Partners Hare & Associates. Baird Capital was advised by more than 7,000 businesses across A PwC, KPMG The company was advised by Raymond James (financial) and the UK, providing customers with a CONSTRUCTION, SWEDEN C Roland Berger Lester Aldridge. Taylor Wessing (legal). single, unified IT & communications Target Sandbäckens CF DC, Rothschild infrastructure. In Segula D Santander TECHNOLOGY, UK AGRICULTURE, UK Onecom’s acquisition of Olive was Out KLAR Partners L Addleshaw Goddard, Target Herjavec Group Target Hedges Direct supported with follow-on funding Squire Patton Boggs In Apax Partners Out Foresight from LDC, which invested in Onecom Segula has entered into an agreement T Crosslake in a £100m deal in July 2019. to fully divest and sell Sandbäckens Apax Partners has acquired a majority Foresight Group has sold its UK Onecom was advised by Goodwin Invest Group to KLAR Partners. Equistone Partners Europe has stake in Herjavec Group (HG), a horticultural ecommerce business Procter LLP, while George Green Founded in Linköping 1993, invested in global supply chain global Managed Security Services Hedges Direct Group, generating a Solicitors acted for Olive. Sandbäckens is a Swedish provider of management provider, Ligentia. Provider (MSSP) and cyber operations 5.6x return to investors. heating & sanitation installations as Founded in 1996, Ligentia manages group. The exit marks the end of a four FINANCE, SWITZERLAND well as sprinkler solutions and fire international freight and supply Founded in 2003, HG has a wide year hold, with Foresight having Target Fundbase protection systems. chains for leading retailers, consumer range of cyber services, which acquired Hedges in 2016. In Sovereign Segulah acquired a majority stake brands and healthcare providers. include cybersecurity advisory During this time, Foresight has A James Cowper Kreston in Sandbäckens in May 2016. During Last year, Ligentia recorded services, architecture & supported the company’s growth L Schellenberg Wittmer, Pinsents, Wolf Segulah’s ownership, Sandbäckens’ revenues of c.£300m. implementation of best of breed while creating new jobs and Theiss revenues more than doubled, while Equistone’s backing will support technologies, identity & access opportunities in Lancashire. Ebitda increased threefold. Ligentia as they deliver ambitious management, 24/7 managed security Hedges is the second exit from Sovereign-backed provider of regulatory The firm’s strategy was delivered growth plans through strategic services, threat management and Foresight Regional Investment LP, and cross-border fund distribution through strong organic growth, in acquisitions and further enhance the incident response. following the sale of Clubhouse Golf services ACOLIN has acquired addition to eight add-on acquisitions. development of Ligentix; Ligentia’s The founder and CEO, Robert in March 2020 which generated a Fundbase, a digital fund distribution KLAR Partners is a UK based mid- proprietary customer technology Herjavec, will remain as a significant return of 6.1x. and data management business. market private equity firm, focused platform. stakeholder. Foresight’s regional buyout strategy This is the first acquisition for on the business services and Ligentia will continue to be led by Apax will partner with HG’s targets small and medium-sized growth ACOLIN since its investment from industrial sectors. The transaction is CEO Nick Jones, who will also invest management team to build on the companies in the North West of England, Sovereign in last year. Fundbase will expected to close in Q1 2021. in the business. Equistone was company’s growth rate by focusing on North Wales and South Yorkshire. help to further develop its client base advised by DC Advisory, Addleshaw international expansion, team and service offering, through a Goddard and PwC. enhancement and further investment ENGINEERING, UK strategy of organic and acquisitive Ligentia was advised by in the company’s cyber platforms. Target BES growth. For information Rothschild, Squire Patton Boggs, The Apax tech team have previous In Inflexion Fundbase provides asset managers on every private KPMG, Roland Berger and Crosslake. experience investing in the market, with access to professional investors Santander is providing revolving having acquired cybersecurity advisor Inflexion has re-invested in the British through a digital marketing and equity firm’s credit facilities to Ligentia as part of business Sophos in 2019. Engineering Services Group (BES) to communications portal. portfolio, the transaction. support its next phase of growth. The business now has nine CONSTRUCTION, UK Inflexion originally carved out the locations across Europe, including; please visit: TMT, UK Target Premier Modular engineering testing, inspection and Zurich, Geneva, London, Frankfurt realdeals.eu.com Target Outpost VFX In Cabot Square Capital consultancy services specialist from and Belgrade. In YFMg Equity Partners RSA plc in October 2015. Sovereign was advised by James A HMT Cabot Square Capital has acquired a In that time Inflexion has transformed Cowper Kreston (financial DD), C RP Advisory majority shareholding in Premier BES, scaled the business, strengthened Schellenberg Wittmer (legal), I Aon, VCT Phillip Hare Modular, an offsite construction its team, invested in technological Pinsents (legal) and Wolf Theiss FINANCE, CZECH REPUBLIC L TLT, Lester Aldridge specialist in the UK. development and implemented a fully (legal). Target Equa Bank MG Stratton HR The firm will partner with the integrated back office. Out AnaCap T Grant Thornton Premier Modular management team Inflexion also supported a number of TMT, UK A Rothschild & Co to support the business in the next acquisitions to expand BES’s offering. Target Jeffreys Henry L CMS YFM has made an investment in phase of its growth, including sector In Tenzing Outpost VFX, a UK-headquartered and geographical expansion. TMT, UK CF Alantra AnaCap Financial Partners has sold film and TV visual effects company. During its three year investment, Target Olive Communications Equa bank to Raiffeisen Bank Headquartered in Bournemouth, Carbot Square hopes to increase In LDC Tenzing has invested in tech-enabled International. Outpost VFX partners with global company turnover to £100m. Out BGF provider of essential business services The Czech challenger bank focuses streaming platforms such as Netflix, Premier Modular specialises in the L Goodwin Procter, George Green for UK SMEs, Jeffreys Henry. on consumer lending and serves Amazon, and Apple, and with major construction of temporary and Solicitors Jeffreys Henry has spent 15 years 480,000 customers. It was acquired Hollywood studios including permanent buildings. The business developing its technology, including by AnaCap in 2011. Universal. provided modular buildings for BGF has exited its investment in Olive the use of workflow management and Under AnaCap’s ownership, Equa The company was set up in 2013 Nightingale Hospital, as well as many Communications, a Buckinghamshire- client interaction software. bank’s deposit base and loan book and now has operations in Montréal, of the UK’s biggest construction based cloud communications provider. The business provides its services increased by more than 12x. London and Los Angeles. projects such as the Olympics and The business has been acquired by to over 2,000 fast-growth businesses, During this time, Anacap also The investment will be used to The Shard. competitor Onecom, the portfolio international companies and high net introduced fully digital onboarding develop the company’s infrastructure, London-based Cabot Square company of LDC. worth individuals. for new-to-bank customers, which led proprietary platforms and pursue targets European companies with a BGF invested £10m into Olive in Tenzing’s backing will support to more than 36x growth in revenues, further international growth. particular focus in the financial 2016, helping the business grow to Jeffreys Henry through investing more the firm said. TLT provided legal advice and due services, property and infrastructure more than £31m in annual revenue, by heavily in sales and digital marketing, AnaCap received financial advice diligence, HMT LLP led financial due sectors. ●

29 25.2.21/478 realdeals.eu.com PEOPLE

CATHAY CAPITAL (MHRA), where she was providing corporate finance Santana (Madrid), Federico Before joining Unipetrol Rajesh Sennik as leader of its responsible for leading the legal advice on mid-market M&A Quitadamo (Milan) and Jörg Group, Frankiewicz worked for growing value creation practice. Cathay Capital has appointed team, advising the secretary of transactions. Williams will be Kinberger (Munich) to PwC and Philip Morris, where Sennik has joined KPMG Arthur Yeung as executive state for health and social care, responsible for sourcing and partner. he was responsible for audits from FTI Consulting. At FTI, president. and the MHRA board. evaluating new investment Santana joined EQT in 2018 and finance, and led projects in Sennik took responsibility in In his new position, Yeung opportunities, as well as and was previously managing Portugal, Holland, Belgium and leading and developing the will work to boost Cathay’s KESTER CAPITAL supporting the investment and director. Quitadamo joined Germany. firm’s TMT practice across global knowledge-sharing due diligence process. EQT in 2017 and recently made EMEA and worked with leading platform, for mutual benefit and Kester Capital has hired three The appointments follow the move to the Milan location TIKEHAU CAPITAL corporates and private equity growth. associates: David Fernie, Jack the promotion last year of Peter from Zurich, where he is head funds on transactions, Yeung joined Cathay Capital Murphy and Conor Kemp-Welch to joint managing of Italy. Tikehau Capital has appointed operations and strategy. in February 2020 to launch its O’Gorman. partner. Kemp-Welch joined the Kinberger has been with Hakan Karimi as a senior Sennik has advised on Entrepreneur and Connect and Fernie was most recently at company in 2000 and has led EQT since 2009 and has been a advisor. transactions including Alliance Consult Platform, which PwC, where he joined the the Piper investment team as a partner of the PE financing Based in Dubai, United Arab Boots, Eurofibre and GTT’s provided executive coaching, healthcare M&A team, advising partner for the last seven years. team. Emirates, Hassan will work European fibre businesses. networking, accessing unique on transactions across a range It is understood that Piper is The three private equity closely with Frederic At KPMG, Sennik will lead a industry and market insights of healthcare subsectors. preparing to start fundraising partner promotions are part of Giovansili, Deputy CEO of commercial and operational and ecosystem-wide Murphy spent five years at for its seventh fund. The GP, 12 partner promotions across Tikehau Investment strategy team to maximise deal collaboration. KPMG working in the M&A which invests in consumer the company. Management and global head value for the firm’s broad client Yeung has over 20 years of team focussing on business branded businesses, closed its There has also been three of sales, marketing and base. experience, with corporations services and technology sectors. latest fund, PPE VI, on £125m in promotions to partner in the business development, to including; Tencent Holdings, O’Gorman joins Kester from October 2016. venture team, including: strengthen the firm’s long- GK STRATEGY Acer Group, China Resources Investec, where he worked as an Henrik Landgren standing relationships with Group and Philips. investment banking analyst. HAMPLETON PARTNERS (Stockholm), Ashley regional investors, as well as GK Strategy has appointed Yeung will continue in his Lunström (Stockholm) and developing new partnerships in Scott Dodsworth as a position as senior management PIPER Hampleton Partners has Laura Yao (San Francisco). the region. He will also be director. He joins the senior advisor of Tencent Holdings. appointed David Bell as responsible for providing management team and senior Piper has made a number of director in its London office. JET INVESTMENT insights on allocation trends as advisers, to strengthen the BRITISH BUSINESS BANK changes to its senior team as it Bell has over 15 years’ Tikehau Capital con tinues to agency’s integrated strategic gears up to raise its seventh experience providing Jet Investment has bolstered its meet the growing demand communications and specialist The British Business Bank has fund. investment banking advice to team with the appointment of from institutional investors. political due diligence team. appointed Elizabeth O’Neill Dan Stern, who led on the technology companies and Artur Frankiewicz. Karimi brings 15 years of In his new role, Dodsworth as general counsel and recent sale of PROPER and on entrepreneurs, including M&A, As part of his new role as experience investing in the will work alongside other senior company secretary, effective investments such as Neom, minority sales and fundraising director of investment projects, region and co-founded Dubai- advisors such as former February 2021. Wattbike and The Thinking transactions. Most recently, Bell he will be in charge of finding based asset management firm ministers David Laws, Phil O’Neill has over 20 years’ Traveller, has been promoted to advised on the sale of investment opportunities and KHK & Partners, where he will Hope and Alistair Burt to experience advising on EU partner. Stern joined Piper in Thoughtonomy to Blue Prism, managing subsequent projects continue to serve as managing support clients, as well as competition law, international 2013 from 3i as an investment and Dictate.IT to Clanwilliam. in Poland. director. contributing to the agency’s law and corporate governance. director. Frankiewicz, previously served new business and growth Most recently, O’Neill was The firm has also welcomed EQT as director of sales and logistics KPMG efforts. He joins GK Strategy head legal adviser for the Harry Williams to the team. Control with Unipetrol Group, with 15 years’ experience in Medicines and Healthcare He joins from Oakley Advisory, EQT has promoted three senior CFO of Benzina, and CFO of KPMG’s deal advisory practice public affairs and government products Regulatory Agency where he spent three years members of staffCarlos Neeco Global ICT Services. in the UK has appointed relations. ●

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Real Deals is published by Real Deals Media Limited. All rights reserved. The views expressed by contributors and correspondents are their own. Reproduction in whole or in part without All the cool GPs written permission is strictly prohibited. Colour transparencies, manuscripts or disks submitted to are doing it the magazine are sent at the owner’s risk; neither the company nor its agents accept any responsibility Family Drama Vulture has always been intrigued by the stories of for loss or damage. Unsolicited material should be accompanied by a stamped addressed envelope. A general partner recently related how he was how private equity firms are named. This week Print, reprographics and production managed by pleased to see a healthy spike in divorces and the old bird had the pleasure of speaking to the Full Spectrum Print Media. ISSN 2049-6567. Breaking records family feuds as a result of the pandemic. European VC firm Dawn Capital. After enquiring A new record may have just been set for the Apparently, too much time spent in close confines as to the origin of the firm’s name, founder greatest number of video calls in one day. Sounding has led to a serious uptick in the number of partner Haakon Overli said he was advised by a rather frazzled, the CEO of one advisory firm founders having second thoughts about keeping close friend that “all the cool companies are revealed to Vulture that he’d had eleven back to the business in the family. named after natural phenomenons.” back, hour long video calls in a single working day. The GP could hardly suppress his glee while If that’s the case, Vulture can’t help but “I’m so sick of looking at myself in the video chatting to Vulture about a business that was wonder as to how long it will be until the industry camera,” he complained. Ever the optimist, the recently acquired in this vein. “All this family gets its first ‘Covid Capital’. Only the coolest GP CEO was quick to add: “At least business is good.” drama is giving us new business!” he exclaimed. could pull that off…

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