DACH
GERMANY - Decision on IWKA packaging division expected
The board of the IWKA group is deciding today whether its packaging division will be sold to a financial or a strategic investor. The most promising candidate to acquire the division is Berlin-based financial investor Odewald & Compagnie. The investor...
GERMANY - New partners at Willkie Farr & Gallagher in Frankfurt
Willkie Farr & Gallagher has announced that Dr Andreas Hautkappe, Rolf Hünermann and Dr Stefan Jörgens join the firm as national partners in the Frankfurt office. Additionally Ole Oldenburg and Ingo Bednarz join the team as associates. All five new members...
GERMANY - Neuhaus Partners exits Gentleware
Neuhaus Partners GmbH has sold Gentleware AG to software house b+m Informatik AG. The transaction value has not been disclosed, but company founder Dr Marko Boger remains invested with a 25% stake.
GERMANY - CVC sells ista to Charterhouse for EUR 2.4bn
CVC Capital Partners has sold its stake in energy metering and billing company ista to Charterhouse Capital Partners for a total transaction value, including debt, of EUR 2.4bn. CVC acquired ista in a management buyout in June 2003.
AUSTRIA - Holding at gamma capital partners changes its name
gamma capital partners has announced that the name of its GES gcp Enterprise Software Group GmbH has changed to Infoniqa Holding GmbH. The Infoniqa Holding GmbH is the managing and leading entity of the Infoniqa group.
GERMANY - 3i acquires EDS
3i announced it has agreed to back a management buyout of Passau-headquartered Euro-Druckservice AG from Verlagsgruppe Passau GmbH. The transaction value has not been disclosed.
GERMANY - EUR 6m financing round for inge AG
inge AG has received a EUR 6m round of financing from a consortium including previous investors Siemens Venture Capital and Emerald Technology Ventures. Additionally, first-time investors the Belgian Stonefund VN and the Dutch Entrepreneurs Fund also...
GERMANY - bmp takes over CEEV
bmp AG has wholly acquired the Central Eastern Europe Venture GmbH, a parallel endowment fund set up out of DEG (Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH) resources in 2000 and managed by bmp. Since 2000, CEEV had been investing parallel...
GERMANY - Steadfast Capital buys Kautex Maschinenbau
Steadfast Capital has wholly acquired German blow molding machines manufacturer Kautex Maschinenbau in a management buyout from Adcuram AG. The value of the transaction has not been disclosed.
EUROPE - Covenant-lite loans stoke heavy fears
Reports of banks accepting тcovenant-liteт loans to win deals has worried industry professionals. тIt is due to an oversupply of capital and a very clear sign of an overheated market,т one banker said. тIt is a bad structure and will come unstuck т we...
AUSTRIA - CVC Capital Partners eyes up Böhler Uddeholm
CVC Capital Partners has confirmed that it is considering a takeover of the listed Austrian steel group Böhler Uddeholm. Rumours suggested that the financial investor was already in negotiations to purchase the near 21 per cent strategic holding owned...
GERMANY - Equita acquires Stromag group
Equita Management GmbH has acquired the Stromag Group in a management buyout for an undisclosed amount. This represents the fifth investment for the Equita Fonds 3 that closed in November 2005.
SWITZERLAND - LSP and BiomedInvest lead EUR 7.2m financing round
In a first round of funding, Life Sciences Partners III, BiomedInvest AG and Novartis Venture Fund have invested EUR 7.2m in Okairos AG. The financing will enable the company to demonstrate proof of concept of its adenovirus-based technology in several...
GERMANY - SAP founders say no to private equity
According to German press reports, the founders of German-listed business solutions provider SAP have no intention of selling their stakes to private equity investors. The comment comes on the back of speculations that US investor Silver Lake is looking...
GERMANY - HgCapital invests in German Biogas
HgCapital has invested more than EUR 50m in German company Aufwind Schmack GmbH Neue Energien. The financing will allow Aufwind Schmack to accelerate its project development activities and finance its biogas and wind project construction and operation....
GERMANY - Emerald Technology Ventures makes two exits
Emerald Technology Ventures, formerly SAM Private Equity, has exited two separate investments in German clean technology companies. The financial investor recently divested its remaining holding in Schmack Biogas, nine months after the company’s IPO on...
GERMANY - Vita 34 to float end of March
SHS Gesellschaft für Beteiligungsmanagement mbH, has announced it will float its portfolio company Vita 34 International AG on the Prime Standard in Frankfurt on 27 March. Concord Effekten has been appointed as lead manager and Deutsche Apotheker – und...
SWITZERLAND - NEXThink received CHF 6m
Auriga Partners alongside Venture Incubator have invested CHF 6m in Swiss software developer NEXThink.
GERMANY - Cogentas portfolio company acquires gkk DialogGroup
Scholz & Friends Group, a Cognetas portfolio company, has acquired Frankfurt-based gkk DialogGroup (gkk), a provider of communication services. Scholz & Friends, an advertising and marketing group, established a joint venture with gkk in early 2005 called...
EUROPE - No overhang, but concerns regarding returns say LPs
'There is no capital overhang,' according to Urs Wietlisbach at Partners Group, speaking at the EVCA Investors' Forum in Geneva on Wednesday. As Thomson revealed that nearly EUR 90bn was raised for investment last year, panelists were quick to point out...
GLOBAL - S&P launches industry index
In a move that underlines the increasing significance of private equity, ratings agency Standard & Poorтs has launched a new index to track the industryтs performance. The tracker will follow the 25 most liquid private equity firms around the globe.
GERMANY - HSH N Kapital acquires Siemens division
HSH N Kapital GmbH has announced the acquisition of Siemens Building Technologies electronic GmbH from Siemens Building Technologies for an undisclosed amount. Mühlhausen-based Siemens Building Technologies electronic GmbH, develops and produces energy...
GERMANY - Veronis Suhler Stevenson sells Berliner Verlag
US private equity house Veronis Suhler Stevenson has sold its stake in Berliner Verlag to minority shareholder Mecom Group plc for reportedly EUR 320m. The financial investor had acquired majority holding alongside Mecom in October 2005 from the Stuttgart-based...
GERMANY - 3i strengthens Frankfurt buyout team
3i announced the appointment of Dr Thorsten Grenz verstärkt as operating partner to its pan-European buyout team in Frankfurt. Together with fellow partners Tim Harrison and Iain McRitchie in London, Jerome Girzsyn in Paris and Frederik Roth in Frankfurt,...