Q1 Barometer reveals growth capital successes

Buyouts have been few and far between in the last six months. Indeed the first quarter of this year saw a meagre five buyouts completed in the region (see table) with value halving from that recorded during the last quarter of 2008. "In the Benelux market, strategy is the same but approach to the market has changed since lack in liquidity has significantly reduced the dealflow. So where a year ago deals would still go through tightly organised processes by corporate financiers, today auctions rarely happen - with the exception perhaps of online book retailer Bol.com (see story below)," observed Joost Verbeek of Rabo Private Equity.

Just as the rest of the Continent, the region has been affected by debt issues, thus making buyouts a rarity. However, this overshadows the success story, which is the growth capital segment. Such are the findings by the unquote" Private Equity Barometer, produced in association with Candover, which announced optimistic statistics for the Benelux expansion market. Indeed, ^Q1 figures show the region generated five of the top 10 expansion deals in Europe, attracting interest from major European sector players - such as CVC's De Poste/La Poste deal - and smaller ones alike (see page 16).

This issue features nine deals: one buyout, five expansion transactions and three early-stage investments. Of the five expansion or growth capital transactions, three were closed by the same operator, Gimv, which acquired rights to a part of the shares of Demonstrate SA, also investing undisclosed amounts into Bananas BC and Amphion, all marketing companies situated in Belgium.

As for the early-stage segment, ^Q1 2009 activity has seen a drop in activity from the previous quarter, but the results are also higher than those recorded in the same period last year (see graph). The early-stage investments covered in this issue were all in the software sector. Gimv was again present, investing EU^R2m as part of a EU^R3m series-A funding round for Belgian software business Eclipse International NV. Meanwhile, PPM Oost also closed two deals: Parmaps, with an investment of less than EU^R1m, and Optisense.

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