How private equity is helping fight the Covid-19 outbreak

Many private equity firms have announced efforts to fight against the ongoing coronavirus emergency. While some are in a position to use the expertise of portfolio companies to fight the pandemic, others have offered donations of food and medical supplies, financed research into testing and treatment, and launched relief funds to help staff at their portfolio companies and the wider community.

Notable examples over recent days include:

Relief funds
Advent International has launched a $25m Advent Relief Fund to help healthcare professionals, first-responders, front-line workers, employees of its portfolio companies, and others in the community impacted by the outbreak. Senior team members of the PE house contributed individually to the fund.

Partners Group co-CEOs David Layton and Andre Frei, and other executive members of the board, decided to forego 100% of their salaries and make the funds available to various hardship initiatives at their portfolio companies via a Portfolio Support Fund. The fund will also see voluntary contribution from other employees in the PE firm. 

Eurazeo decided to set up a €10m solidarity fund financed from its cash holdings and donations from the supervisory board, the executive board and the executive committee members. The executive board members will contribute 10% of their annual bonuses for 2019 to the solidarity plan.

Leveraging portfolio expertise
Healthcare-focused GP ArchiMed's portfolio company Diesse Diagnostica Senese in Italy has developed a blood test capable of tracking Covid-19 antibodies. It will be distributed in late April, following a final evaluation of its performance.

Czech pharmaceutical company Zentiva, backed by Advent International, has started manufacturing hand sanitiser to help reduce the spread of the virus.

Caixa Capital Risc-backed Spanish mental health startup Psious is using its virtual reality platform to provide free psychological help sessions for citizens and other healthcare workers, to cope with the emotional stress brought on by the Covid-19 outbreak.

Eurazeo-backed Doctolib is offering free remote consultations and has increased the number of doctors providing consultations from 3,500 to 63,000.

Kibo Ventures-backed digital library platform Odilo has opened access to its service for schools and institutions, and is also providing educational material for remote work.

Inflexion-backed PharmaSpectra, a developer of scientific dissemination data and analytics software, is providing its coronavirus database free of charge.

Landon-back Sercotel and Meridia Capital-owned Hotel Barcelona 1882 are providing free accommodation for healthcare workers. 

Umbra Capital-backed Hastee is letting all staff deemed essential during this outbreak to access their wages ahead of pay day free of charge – including employees of the NHS, police and fire services. The app's services will also be free for all users across the UK for the next three months.

Donations
Inflexion Private Equity Partners, via the Inflexion Foundation, has made donations totalling £2.5m for various causes. It is donating £2m to the National Emergencies Trust, which is raising funds for local organisations providing vital support to people in the quickest way possible. The GP also donated £250,000 to Turn2Us, a national charity providing financial support to people, and £125,000 each to the Roundhouse and The British Exploring Society, two charities with which Inflexion has longstanding relationships, to help support them through this period. 

Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) is donating £250,000 to the Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund for the World Health Organisation (WHO) and City Harvest, a London-based charity turning surplus food into meals for the vulnerable.

Italian GP Aksia Group and its portfolio companies have contributed €100,000 to various local hospitals and Civil Protection Departments across Italy.

In Spain, Miura Private Equity and Suma Capital have made donations to the Hospital Clinic in Barcelona to finance ventilators and other medical equipment, as well as fund research into the coronavirus.

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• Advent International
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• Miura Private Equity
• Suma Capital