DACH
GERMANY - White & Case strengthens Frankfurt team
White & Case has appointed Dr Benedikt Gillessen as partner to join its Capital Markets team in Frankfurt from March 2007. Gillessen joins from Freshfield Bruckhaus Deringer where during his eight year tenure he focused on equity capital markets and especially...
GERMANY - Springer Science to float
It is rumoured that Cinven and Candover are looking to float Springer Science & Business Media with a valuation of more than EUR 2bn. Investment banks Goldman Sachs, ABN AMRO and UBS are said to have been appointed to prepare the company for a stock market...
GERMANY - GEP acquires VARTA Microbattery
Global Equity Partners has acquired VARTA Microbattery GmbH from VARTA AG for EUR 30m. Two new managing directors will support the company’s management to further expand and promote its current strength.
GERMANY - EQT acquires German fashion group from Apax and Cinven
EQT V has agreed to buy 100% of German fashion group CBR Holding GmbH (CBR) from Apax and Cinven.
GERMANY - Earlybird strengthens technology team
Earlybird has appointed Gayathri Radhakrishnan as an associate focusing on technology investments. In addition, the venture capital firm has brought the total number of partners to six by promoting Wolfgang Seibold and Thom Rasche.
GERMANY - APCOA changes hands for EUR 885m
Investcorp has sold pan-European manager of parking services APCOA to Eurazeo for an enterprise value of EUR 885m. In the summer of 2004, Investcorp acquired 98.26% of APCOA Parking AG from Salamander AG, a subsidiary of EnBW Energie Baden Württemberg...
GLOBAL - Bear Stearns acquires private equity placement agent
Bear Stearns has strengthened its private equity fundraising services with the acquisition of Crane Capital Associates’s fund placement business.
GERMANY - Doughty Hanson sells Maximilianhöfe for EUR 270m
Doughty Hanson & Co Real Estate, a European real estate fund manager, has sold Maximilianhöfe, a flagship property on Munich’s Maximilianstrasse, for €270m to Quinlan Private. The site was acquired in March 2000 from the Free State of Bavaria by...
US - Blackstone buys Equity Office for $39bn in world's largest buyout
The Blackstone Group has secured the world’s largest leveraged buyout, agreeing a $39bn price (£20.2bn) for Equity Office, the biggest office landlord in the US. Blackstone won the deal after fending off competition from real estate investment trust...
GERMANY - immatics receives EUR 40m
Biopharmaceutical company immatics biotechnologies GmbH has received EUR 40m in a second round of financing from a consortium of investors. This includes previous investors Wellington Partners and 3i, but also new investors National Technology Enterprises...
GERMANY - 25% stake in Hochtief up so sale
Rothschild is reported to have been mandated with the sale the 25% holding of billionaire August von Finck in international construction group Hochtief. Strategic as well as financial investors are said to have already approached the French investment...
GERMANY - Strong interest in Landesbank Berlin
It is reported that 19 parties have declared an interest in bidding for the city of Berlin’s 81% stake in Landesbank Berlin. The city has not identified potential bidders but it is said that they include German and foreign banks, as well as private...
EUROPE - Return expectations of private equity investors reach record levels
The return expectations of private equity investors have strengthened significantly over the last 12 months – almost half of LPs are now forecasting medium-term returns of 16%+, according to Coller Capital’s latest Global Private Equity Barometer,...
GERMANY - Rademacher Group changes hands in secondary transaction
In a secondary buyout, NORD Holding Unternehmensbeteiligungsgesellschaft has acquired the Rademacher Group from ARCADIA. Management also invested and will hold a minority stake. The transaction value has not been disclosed.
GERMANY - Advent International portfolio company makes acquisition
Advent International’s portfolio company CASA REHA Holding GmbH has announced that it has acquired fellow nursing home group Unternehmensgruppe Sozialkonzept GmbH. The transaction value has not been disclosed.
GERMANY - DZ Equity Partners buys Bader Group
DZ Equity Partner GmbH and company management have acquired the Senden-based Bader Group. The transaction was supported by a senior debt package provided by IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG.
GERMANY - Venture capitalists exit Xignal Technologies
Benchmark Capital Europe, Atila Ventures, BayTech Venture Capital and STAR Ventures have exited their stakes in German data converter developer Xignal Technologies via a sale to US-based National Semiconductor Corporation. The venture capitalists had...
GERMANY - New investment analyst at Waterland
Waterland Private Equity Investments has appointed Michael Krall as investment analyst in order to support the German activities. Krall finished his studies in business management in 2006, specialising in corporate finance and strategic management at...
GERMANY -Techem takeover bid fails
Australian financial investor Macquarie Bank and BC Partners have failed to win shareholder support for their bid to buy German utility billing specialist Techem. On 11 January the two financial bidders combined their offers for EUR 55 per Techem share,...
GERMANY - KKR and Permira launch public offer for ProSiebenSat.1
A consortium comprising Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co and Permira has made a public cash offer for the remainder of the publicly traded shares of German broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG. The financial investors are paying EUR 22.45 for each preferred...
GERMANY - P21 receives series-C funding round
Target Partners has participated in a series-C financing round of fuel-cell technology company P21 GmbH. Other investors include Conduit Ventures Ltd and Goldman Sachs. The financing will be used to fund the company’s growth and international product...
GERMANY - HgCapital sells Hirschmann Automation and Control
HgCapital has sold two subsidiaries of the Hirschmann Group, Hirschmann Automation and Control GmbH, to US company Belden for EUR 245m. The transaction is expected to close in mid-March.
GERMANY - Blackstone and Carlyle court Merck
The Blackstone Group and the Carlyle Group are said to be interested in acquiring Merck’s generic business. Both financial investors are believed to be in advanced talks with Indian pharmaceutical companies Ranbaxy and Cipla in order to partner up for...
GERMANY - Triangle invests in iPharro
Triangle has invested EUR 4m in iPharro Media GmbH, a spin-off from the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics located in Darmstadt. The funding will enable the company, which has developed software to identify videos much faster than in real time,...