DACH
GERMANY/UK - Wellington closes EUR 265m fund and opens London office
Venture capital firm Wellington Partners has made two announcements that show a shift towards pan-European venture. The VC has closed a EUR 265m fund, Wellington Partners IV Technology, surpassing its target of EUR 250m in just over six months. The fund...
GERMANY - Heidelberg Innovation leads 4.6m series-c round for IonGate
Lead investor Heidelberg Innovation and KfW (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau) have closed the third funding round for biotechnology company IonGate Biosciences GmbH which has raised a total of EUR 4.6m. Previous investments included a seed financing in...
AUSTRIA - The Entrepreneurs Fund invests EUR 1.35m in ProtAffin Biotechnologie
The Entrepreneurs Fund BV has invested EUR 1.35m in the second closing of a series-A funding round for biotechnology company ProtAffin Biotechnologie AG. Previously, Aescap Venture Management BV and Z-Cube Srl invested EUR 2.65m in the first series-A...
GERMANY - KfW joins other VCs in backing Protagen AG
Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) has joined existing lead investors MIG AG and Co KG Beteiligungsfonds 3 and S-Venture Capital Dortmund GmbH in raising EUR 1m in interim financing for protein research company Protagen AG. This is the third round...
GERMANY - EQUITA exits AKT Altmärker Kunststofftechnik
Equita Management GmbH’s Equita Fonds 2 has sold its minority stake in plastic components manufacturer AKT Altmärker Kunststofftechnik GmbH back to the founding management, which is the majority shareholder of the company. The company is headquartered...
GERMANY - DLA Piper bolsters German team
DLA Piper has appointed M&A partner Dr Christoph Papenheim to its German Corporate and M&A practice. Papenheim joined DLA Piper in mid-January 2008 from the Frankfurt office of White & Case, together with associate Sven Friedrich. Papenheim has 12 years’...
SWITZERLAND – HBM BioVentures to apply for a listing on the SWX
Venture capital company HBM BioVentures Ltd plans to expand its shareholder base through an IPO. The company intends to issue a limited number of new shares and list all shares on the SWX Swiss Exchange shortly. HBM BioVentures invests globally in emerging...
GERMANY – b-to-v leads investment in Carsablanca
b-to-v has led a funding round for old-timer internet platform carsablanca.de, raising an undisclosed sum for Hamburg-based Carsablanca GmbH, the company which runs the website. The company plans to boost the platform’s capacity and increase functions...
SWITZERLAND – Consortium of investors raise CHF 17m for Vivendy
BioMedInvest AG I, LSP Life Sciences Partners and TVM Capital closed a CHF 17m series-A round for Vivendy Therapeutics Ltd., a bio-pharmaceutical company located in Basel, Switzerland. Vivendy is a pharmaceutical start-up company that is developing an...
GERMANY - L-EA and SEED fund Trivid with EUR 2-5m
L-EigenkapitalAgentur and SEED have invested a total of EUR 2-5m in Trivid GmbH, a provider of online video and content solutions in a Series A round. L-EigenkapitalAgentur has acquired the bigger stake in the company, with the total of equity held by...
A Year of two halves
Daniel Morland of Close Brothers Corporate Finance assesses the state of the debt market at the end of what turned out to be a turbulent year
UK/SPAIN - LCA invests £2.5m into Classical Renaissance
Low Carbon Accelerator Ltd (LCA) has completed an investment of £2.5m, provided in the form of a profit participating loan, into Classical Renaissance España SL. As part of the deal, LCA will recieve an equity stake in Classical Renaissance Ltd, the...
GERMANY – EquiVest acquires REGE Motorenteile
EquiVest, managed by CBR Management GmbH, has acquired REGE Motorenteile GmbH & Co KG from parent company Schaeffler AG. REGE manufactures parts for the automotive industry and is based in Herzogenaurach. The company has two manufacturing plants in Eisenach...
GERMANY - Hasso Plattner Ventures invests in family networking site
Hasso Plattner Ventures has provided OSN GmbH, the company behind family networking site verwandt.de, with a second round of funding. This marks the investor’s largest investment to date. Existing investor, Neuhaus Partners, also participated in this...
UK/FRANCE - Platina announces EUR 75m close of fourth fund
Platina Finance Ltd has announced an intermediary close of its fourth fund, the European Renewable Energy Fund 1 LP (EREF), on EUR 75m. The fund was launched in October 2007 and is targeting a final close of EUR 250m by the end of 2008.
GERMANY - Creathor Venture provides seed financing to aka-aki
Creathor Venture Fund and a business angel have invested in aka-aki GmbH, which provides a social networking tool for mobile phones. Berlin-based aka-aki was founded in 2007 by eight founders who merge mobile internet and social networking in their product....
GERMANY - Dresden Fonds GmbH sells stake in nAmbition GmbH
Dresden Fonds GmbH, jointly managed by CFH GmbH and SIB GmbH, has sold all stakes of nAmbition GmbH to strategic investor JPK Instruments AG, for an undisclosed sum. Dresden Fonds realised a double digit IRR from the sale. nAmbition develops solutions...
GERMANY - Cognetas acquires Gebrüder Gienanth-Eisenberg
Cognetas has acquired engineering business Gebrüder Gienanth-Eisenberg GmbH from Fink Holding, a family holding company, for an undisclosed sum. The transaction is expected to complete in early 2008. Gienanth was founded in 1735, is headquartered in...
SWITZERLAND - BV Group’s completes sale of Precimed
BV Group has completed the sale of its stake in orthopaedic supplier Precimed Group to US company Greatbatch Inc. The deal was announced at the end of November 2007. BV Group sold its stake of 11.63% for CHF 9.68m. At the same time, the stake held by...
GERMANY - CFH joins DZ Equity Partner in CleanCar investment
CFH GmbH has acquired a minority stake in Clean Car AG. The new investor joins existing investor DZ Equity Partner which provided Clean Car with growth capital funding to the value of between EUR 50-100m in late 2007. Dusseldorf-based CleanCar is a...
GERMANY - Halder acquires VAG-Armaturen GmbH
Halder has acquired VAG Armaturen through a management buyout from Equita Beteiligungen Fonds 2 KG, Bad Homburg. The financial details of the deal were not disclosed. VAG-Armaturen designs, produces and distributes industrial valves and fittings for...
AUSTRIA - Adcuram cancels sale of Battenfeld to OOD Private Equity
According to the Austrian press, Adcuram Group AG has announced that it will cancel the sale of Battenfeld Kunststoffmaschinen GmbH to OOD Private Equity Ltd. The reason was cited as being 'the doubts voiced about the purchaser'. Adcuram plans to 'counteract...
GERMANY – BAVARIA Idustriekapital buys Elcoteq
BAVARIA Industriekapital AG has acquired Elcoteq Communications Technology GmbH, based in Offenburg, for an undisclosed sum. Finnish Elcoteq Group, a supplier of electronic goods, has divested the business due to its changed role in Elcoteq’s global...
SWITZERLAND - Invision and Vinci take majority stake in RSD
Invision Private Equity AG and Vinci Capital SA have together acquired a majority stake in software company RSD SA, based in Geneva. This is apart of a succession plan. Founder and CEO of the company, Louis-Pierre Roger, remains a stakeholder. RSD SA...