Tag Archives: Services

FSN Capital III has sold its holding in Green Landscaping

Fsn Capital

FSN Capital III has sold its holding of 9,281,788 shares (corresponding to 26.15% of the total shares) in Green Landscaping Holding AB (“Green” or the “Company”) through a block sale to Byggmästare Anders J Ahlström Fastighets AB and the Salén family. The sale was made at a price of SEK 21.25 per share, a total of approximately SEK 197 million. Following the sale, FSN Capital III no longer holds any shares in Green, a company it formed in 2009 together with a group of entrepreneurs.

Green was listed on NASDAQ First North on 26 March 2018. Following on from the IPO, there has been significant interest in Green from the market. In particular, Byggmästare Anders J Ahlström Fastighets AB and the Salén family have recently expressed the desire to acquire FSN Capital III’s remaining ownership. Given the long term supportive nature of these investors, that they are buying the shares above the IPO price, that they will enter into a customary lock up agreement for the remaining part of FSN Capital III’s lock up period, and FSN Capital III’s existing long term ownership of Green Landscaping, Pareto Securities considers it is in the best interests to allow this sale before the end of FSN Capital III’s original lock-up period.

Andreas Bruzelius, Principal at FSN Capital Partners (investment advisor to FSN Capital III) says: “The transaction concludes a journey initiated 10 years ago when we first met Green’s original founders. Our shared vision was to create a leading landscaping company with SEK 1bn in sales – an objective achieved in 2017 under the capable stewardship of Green’s management team. Having reached our targets, we are pleased to hand over to a group of highly active and professional owners to fulfil Green’s high ambitions for the future.”

About Green
Green Landscaping is a leading supplier of services within the Swedish market for maintenance of outdoor environments. The main business comprises a complete offering of maintenance services such as grounds maintenance, landscaping, sports grounds maintenance, as well as arborist services. Green Landscaping is present in the middle and south of Sweden, focusing on the metropolitan areas.

The Company began its operations in the spring of 2009 through a consolidation of four companies, which together formed the new group Green Landscaping. Since then, the Company has conducted seven more acquisitions and achieved total revenues of SEK 1,016 million in 2017, including full-year revenues from companies acquired in 2017. In 2015, Johan Nordström started working as CEO of Green Landscaping. Since then, the Company has established a platform for profitable growth through the implementation of multiple operational efficiency improvements and efficient steering processes. These have also contributed to an increase in the Company’s adjusted EBITDA margin from 4.2 percent in 2014 to 9.4 percent in 2017, including full-year earnings from companies acquired in 2017. The Company intends to grow through both organic growth and acquisitions, and has established a structured acquisition strategy for the future.

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IK Investment Partners to acquire A-Katsastus Group’s operations in Sweden, Poland and the Baltics

ik-investment-partners

IK Investment Partners (“IK”) is pleased to announce that the IK Small Cap II Fund has reached an agreement to acquire Carspect AB, SIA Scantest, Autotest Polska Sp. Z.o.o and A-Ülevaatus OÜ (“the Group”), from A-Katsastus Group Oy, a leading provider of vehicle inspection services in Northern Europe.

With a network of 375 employees and 106 stations, the Group is a leading provider of vehicle inspection services in Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Poland.
Its service offering includes Periodic Technical Inspections (PTI), registration inspections, voluntary checks and related services for passenger cars, light trucks, buses and lorries.

“We are delighted to announce the sale of our non-Finnish activities. A-Katsastus Group, a Bridgepoint portfolio company, was the first company to introduce a customer-oriented service concept in the Swedish vehicle inspection market. We see exciting opportunities in our core Finnish market and developing our presence in both Finnish inspection and damage repair,” said Kari Kivikoski, CEO of A-Katsastus Group.

“IK shares our commitment to providing our customers with the best possible service. Their support allows us to better serve our existing customers while also enhancing our ability to increase the availability of our services geographically,” said Lars Selenius, CEO of Carspect.

“The market for vehicle inspection services is expected to continue to develop over the coming years. The Group has a superior concept with central locations, clean facilities, mobile-friendly websites and strong focus on customer service. By leveraging its strong brands, we believe that we can further strengthen the Group’s position in its chosen markets,” said Kristian Carlsson Kemppinen, Partner at IK Investment Partners.

Financial terms of the transaction are not disclosed.

For further questions, please contact:

A-Katsastus Group
Kari Kivikoski, CEO
Phone: +358 500 434 912

IK Investment Partners
Kristian Carlsson Kemppinen, Partner
Phone: +46 8 678 9500

Mikaela Hedborg,
Director Communications & ESG
Phone: +44 77 87 573 566
mikaela.hedborg@ikinvest.com

About A-Katsastus Group
A-Katsastus Group is the leading vehicle inspection company in Northern Europe with 273 stations in Finland, Sweden, Poland, Estonia and Latvia. Its main activity is the provision of compulsory vehicle inspections and certifications for all light and heavy motor vehicles over three years of age. It is also licensed to offer statutory drivers’ examinations and is the market leader in vehicle registrations as well as providing related services such as vehicle insurance. For more information, visit www.a-katsastus.com

About IK Investment Partners
IK Investment Partners (“IK”) is a Pan-European private equity firm focused on investments in the Nordics, DACH region, France, and Benelux. Since 1989, IK has raised more than €9.5 billion of capital and invested in over 115 European companies. IK funds support companies with strong underlying potential, partnering with management teams and investors to create robust, well-positioned businesses with excellent long-term prospects. For more information, visit www.ikinvest.com

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CapMan Growth Equity to invest in nationwide earthmoving equipment company RealMachinery

Capman

CapMan Growth Equity to invest in nationwide earthmoving equipment company RealMachinery

CapMan Growth Equity has made a significant minority investment in RealMachinery, a nationwide earthmoving equipment company. The investment into RealMachinery is CapMan Growth Equity’s second new investment completed during the first half of the year from the fund focusing on growth investments with a total of eight portfolio companies.

RealMachinery Ltd, founded in 2010, is a nation-wide full-service house specialised in machinery, that sells, rents, maintains and equips earthmoving machinery for each purpose. In addition to RealMachinery, a part of the machinery house is Dae-Tek Ltd which has over 25 years of experience in machinery sales and importation. In 2017, the net sales of new RealMachinery Group were EUR 65 million and it employs approximately 100 persons in total.

With the help of CapMan Growth Equity investment, the company aims to strengthen its position in the leasing and financing market, broaden its service portfolio and enter new customer segments. The operations shall also be expanded to the Nordics by using the current brand portfolio.

“I am very pleased to enter into this agreement with RealMachinery. The company has a great culture of entrepreneurship with the courage to try and do new things which supports our vision to grow RealMachinery to a leading earthmoving equipment company in the Nordics,” says Antti Kummu, Partner of CapMan Growth Equity.

The objective of the Growth Equity investment activities is to find unlisted target companies with strong growth potential, to make significant minority investments worth more than one million in them and, as an active investor, to develop their value so as to achieve returns in excess of the market average. CapMan’s Growth Equity portfolio consists of eight unlisted Nordic companies at the moment.

For further information, please contact:
Antti Kummu, Partner, Growth Equity, CapMan Plc, tel. +358 50 432 4486

CapMan
www.capman.com
@CapManPE

CapMan is a leading Nordic private asset expert with an active approach to value-creation in its target companies and assets. We offer a wide selection of investment products and services. As one of the Nordic private equity pioneers we have developed hundreds of companies and real estate and created substantial value in these businesses and assets over the last 28 years. CapMan has today 115 private equity professionals and manages approximately €2.8 billion in assets under management. We mainly manage the assets of our customers, the investors, but also make investments from our own balance sheet. Our objective is to provide attractive returns and innovative solutions to investors. Our current investment strategies cover Real Estate, Buyout, Russia, Credit, Growth Equity and Infrastructure. We also have a growing service business that currently includes procurement services (CaPS), fundraising advisory (Scala Fund Advisory), and fund management services.

 

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Activa Capital and Bpifrnance invest in leading French insurance broker Activa Assurances

Activa Capital

Activa Capital and Bpifrance announce the acquisition of a stake in Active Assurances, a French insurance broker specialised in the digital distribution of insurance products.
Thanks to its use of digital technology, Active Assurances has become, in under five years, the leading independent partner of insurance comparison websites in France.
Working in partnership and yet totally autonomously with leading insurance companies, Active Assurances develops products, distributes them on-line, manages the policies, cash flows, and sometimes handles claims.
Since 2016, Active Assurances has extended its expertise to the distribution and management of white-label insurance policies for large brokers, insurers, and mutual insurance companies.
With headquarters in Boulogne-Billancourt, the company also has an offshore management centre with 100 employees, which allows it to maintain a sustained level of efficient service.
By joining the founding shareholders in Active Assurances, Activa Capital and Bpifrance will help support the company during its strong transformation and development stage.
This is the 7th transaction for Activa Capital Fund III.
“We are pleased to welcome Activa Capital, whose expertise will allow us to carry out external growth operations and accompany our fast development,” said Didier Naccache, President of Active Assurances. “With Activa Capital and Bpifrance, we will continue to grow our historic activity while launching new products and distribution channels.”
“This acquisition is in perfect keeping with Activa Capital’s strategy, which is to invest in companies that have reached a turning point in their growth in order to help them transform their businesses,” added Alexandre Masson and Christophe Parier, Partners at Activa Capital.
“Active Assurance’s position as a pure digital player, its commercial dynamism and operational rigor, as well as the determination of management to pursue growth with new products and build-up transactions, were all factors in our decision to back the company,” said Ménelé Chesnot and Matthieu Rabeisen, Bpifrance.

Deal Participants
Founders
Active Assurances: Didier Naccache, Thomas Riottot, Denis Salmoiraghi
M&A: Cambon Partners (Guillaume Eymar, Vincent Ruffat)
Corporate Lawyer: Linklaters (Marc Petitier, Maud Fillon)
Tax Lawyer: Arsène Taxand

Investors
Activa Capital: Christophe Parier, Alexandre Masson, David Quatrepoint, Timothée Héron
Bpifrance: Ménelé Chesnot, Matthieu Rabeisen
Financial Due Diligence: 8 Advisory (Christian Berling, Clément Evain)
Strategic Due Diligence: Monitor Deloitte (Cyril Gay Belan, Samuel Galbois, Adrien Lafargue)
Legal, Fiscal, and Financing Advisors: McDermott Will & Emery (Henri Pieyre de Mandiargues, Félix Huon, Herschel Guez, Anne Febvre, Antoine Vergnat, Pierre-Arnoux Mayoly), Lamartine Conseil (Thierry Filippi, Bérengère Coussolle)
Senior financing
Senior debt: co-arrangers BNP Paribas (Anne-Laure Herbinet) and Banque Populaire Rives de Paris (Olivier Grisard, Chekib Ben Salah)

About Active Assurances
Active Assurances is an insurance broker specialised in the on-line sale of automotive insurance policies. Based in Boulogne-Billancourt, in autonomous partnership with leading insurance companies, Active Assurances develops, distributes, and manages automotive insurance policies. For further information, visit www.activeassurances.fr .

About Activa Capital
Activa Capital is a leading French mid-market private equity firm. Activa Capital manages over €500m of private equity funds on behalf of a wide range of institutional investors. Activa Capital partners with ambitious mid-sized French companies, valued at €20m to €200m, seeking to accelerate their growth and their international footprint. Learn more about Activa Capital at activacapital.com or on Twitter @activacapital.

About Bpifrance
Equity investments are operated by Bpifrance Investissement. Bpifrance, a subsidiary of the French state and the Caisse des Dépôts and the entrepreneurs’ trusted partner, finances businesses from the seed phase to IPO, through loans, guarantees and equity investments. Bpifrance also provides operational services and strong support for innovation, export, and external growth in partnership with Business France. Bpifrance offers to businesses a large range of financing opportunities at each key step of their development, including offers adapted to regional specificities. With its 48 regional offices (90% of decisions are made locally)

Bpifrance represents a strategic tool for economic competitiveness dedicated to entrepreneurs. Bpifrance acts as a back-up for initiatives driven by the French State and the Regions to tackle 3 goals:
• Contributing to SME’s growth
• Preparing tomorrow’s competitiveness
• Contributing to the development of a positive entrepreneur ecosystem.
With Bpifrance, businesses benefit from a powerful, efficient and close representative, to answer all their needs in terms of financing, innovation and investment.

http://www.bpifrance.fr Twitter: @bpifrance / @bpifrancepresse

Activa Capital Media Contacts Steele & Holt Media Contacts
Alexandre Masson Daphné Claude
Partner
+33 1 43 12 50 12 +33 6 66 58 81 92 alexandre.masson@activacapital.com daphne@steeleandholt.com
Christelle Piatto Claire Guermond
Communications Manager
+33 1 43 12 50 12 +33 6 31 92 22 82
christelle.piatto@activacapital.com claire@steeleandholt.com
Bpifrance Media Contact
Nicolas Jelhy
+33 1 41 79 95 12
nicolas.jehly@bpifrance.fr

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Cinven to acquire JLA

Cinven

Investment in critical asset solutions business in the UK

International private equity firm, Cinven, today announces that it has agreed to acquire JLA (‘the Group’), a leading critical asset supply and services business for laundry, catering and heating in the UK, for an undisclosed consideration.

Headquartered in Ripponden, West Yorkshire, JLA provides commercial laundry, catering and heating solutions to more than 25,000 small and medium-sized enterprise (‘SME’) customers. JLA offers a unique ‘Total Care’ proposition, which combines equipment supply with guaranteed service response times for a contracted monthly fee, providing peace of mind and value for money to a range of customers including care homes, hotels, education providers and housing associations. Founded in 1973, JLA employs around 900 people, including around 300 engineers.

Cinven’s Business Services team identified JLA as an attractive investment opportunity given its:

  • Resilient business model: JLA provides critical services at attractive value for money to a stable and loyal customer base. It also benefits from recurring revenue through long-term contracts;
  • Attractive markets: JLA services markets with attractive growth prospects including care homes, hospitality, and student accommodation;
  • Strong positioning: JLA’s leading position allows it to offer national coverage with leading response times to its customers;
  • Significant growth opportunity: JLA has significant potential for organic growth both in its existing businesses and though expansion into new services. It also has a proven track record of successful acquisitions, having acquired 16 companies in the past five years;
  • Strong financial performance: JLA has delivered double-digit annual revenue and EBITDA growth organically and through acquisition since 2013; and
  • Strong leadership team, led by Stephen Baxter, CEO, which has overseen JLA’s highly successful growth to date.

Rory Neeson, Partner at Cinven, said:

“Under the leadership of its strong management team, JLA is a well-run, defensive business with a diversified and loyal customer base. We believe JLA has an excellent platform to support its further growth ambitions, including its national engineering platform and sales and marketing capabilities.

“Cinven’s strategy is to invest in JLA to support the Group’s organic growth – both in its existing core products of laundry and catering solutions and in new areas, including heating and fire safety. We also see a great opportunity for continued growth through buy and build.”

Daniel Tanase, Principal at Cinven, added:

“JLA’s business model shares key characteristics with many of Cinven’s highly successful Business Services investments, for example CPA Global. Both companies provide mission-critical services to a diverse customer base and in growing markets, and benefit from long-term recurring revenue streams. Cinven invested significantly in CPA Global, particularly to develop its service offering which helped underpin its successful growth. JLA is a great opportunity to replicate this strategy.”

Stephen Baxter, CEO of JLA, commented:

“Our focus as a company is on investing in innovative product offerings and expanding our business through both organic growth and acquisitions. We are delighted that Cinven is investing in JLA to support the next phase of our growth. The Cinven team has significant experience of investing in and building businesses in the UK and internationally and I am certain they will be instrumental in our future successes.

“JLA is proud of the strength and longevity of its customer and supplier relationships which have underpinned the growth of our business so far. We work hard to keep critical areas of our customers’ businesses running smoothly, safely and effectively – whether it’s in the laundry, kitchen or boiler room. Cinven has a reputation for its responsible approach to investment which I am confident will be a further positive for our business including our employees, customers and other stakeholders.”

JLA is the ninth investment from the Sixth Cinven Fund. This transaction follows Cinven’s most recent Business Services investments in Tinsa, a provider of property valuation, analysis and real estate advisory (in August 2016); and Hotelbeds, a global business to business bedbank (in September 2016). Both of these businesses are performing strongly and have undertaken successful buy and build strategies.

In the UK, Cinven’s current investments include NewDay, the UK consumer finance company (acquired in January 2017), and Kurt Geiger, the retailer of footwear and accessories in Europe (acquired in January 2016).

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The Apax Digital Fund leads $43 million funding round in Wizeline

Funding will drive international expansion and M&A 

Wizeline to continue to support the transformation of the consulting industry with its technology-driven approach

March 26, 2018 — SAN FRANCISCO and NEW YORK— Wizeline, a Silicon Valley-based outsourced product development and technology company, today announced that the company has closed a $43M Series B funding round, led by the Apax Digital Fund, a growth equity fund advised by global private equity advisory firm Apax Partners.

Wizeline builds technology platforms and offers software consulting services to provide transformative technology solutions to its customers. The company was founded in 2014 and has quickly grown to nearly 500 employees globally with year-on-year revenue growth of over 200%. The new funds will be used to accelerate growth through the scaling of development teams, sales & marketing functions, international expansion, and M&A.

Bismarck Lepe, CEO and co-founder of Wizeline, said, “Wizeline has always been focused on helping companies to innovate and to deliver better products to market faster. Software is the new frontier for all businesses, and Wizeline’s approach of marrying global talent with technology platforms allows us to deliver transformative solutions to the largest companies in the world. Tens of millions of people use a Wizeline-designed and developed product every single day.”

“We are very excited to partner with Wizeline, supporting Bismarck and his team to continue to deliver impressive growth,” said Marcelo Gigliani, Managing Partner of Apax Digital. “Wizeline has earned an enviable position in the high-end digital transformation consulting space, through its differentiated product-focused offering, its world-class engineering team, and its growing international roster of blue-chip customers. We aim to leverage Apax’s deep experience investing in leading global IT Services companies to accelerate Wizeline’s growth ambitions.”

The investment in Wizeline is the Apax Funds’ ninth IT Services investment. Notable recent investments include GlobalLogic, ThoughtWorks, EVRY, Engineering, and Zensar. Marcelo Gigliani as well as Bryan Gartner, Principal at Apax Digital, will be joining Wizeline’s Board of Directors as part of this funding.

“Apax brings decades of experience in the consulting services industry, and we believe that they are the right partner to support the organic and inorganic growth of the business,” added Lepe. “In addition to continuing to invest in our core platforms and teams, we will be focused on acquiring API/SDK-driven technologies that can accelerate the development and delivery of solutions for our customers.”

In the last year, Wizeline has doubled headcount and developed a proprietary platform that uses automation and artificial intelligence to make the traditionally complex process of software development more efficient and reliable.

The Apax Digital Fund leads $43 million funding round in Wizeline

About Wizeline
Wizeline is an intelligent software delivery and product company that employs a global network of over 5000 developers and non-technical talent to build engaging customer experiences. Headquartered in San Francisco, Wizeline is committed to collaboration without borders by sharing Silicon Valley innovation with the rest of the world. The company has offices in Guadalajara and Mexico City, Mexico, as well as in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

About Apax Digital
The Apax Digital Fund specializes in growth equity and buyout investments in high-growth enterprise software, internet, and technology-enabled services companies worldwide. Apax Digital leverages Apax’s deep tech investing expertise, global platform, and specialized operating experts, to enable technology companies and their management teams to accelerate the achievement of their full potential. For further information, please visit http://digital.apax.com.

Over its more than 35-year history, Apax Partners has raised and advised funds with aggregate commitments of over $50 billion. These funds provide long-term equity financing to build and strengthen world-class companies. For further information about Apax Partners, please visit http://apax.com.

Press contacts:  

Wizeline
Caroline Buck | press@wizeline.com

Apax Partners
Global Media: Andrew Kenny, Apax | +44 20 7 872 6371 | andrew.kenny@apax.com
USA Media: Todd Fogarty, Kekst | +1 212-521 4854 | todd.fogarty@kekst.com
UK Media: Matthew Goodman / James Madsen, Greenbrook | +44 20 7952 2000 | apax@greenbrookpr.com

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Nordic Capital acquires Trustly, the leading next-generation direct payment provider

Nordic Capital

Nordic Capital Fund IX (“Nordic Capital”) today announced the acquisition of Trustly AB (“Trustly”). Trustly is the leading next-generation direct payment provider, enabling fast, simple and secure account-to-account payments, present in 29 European countries with connections to more than 3,000 banks. Nordic Capital will support management in its plan to establish Trustly as the leading global online banking payments provider.

Founded in 2008, Trustly is an online payment provider that enables direct account-to-account payments, in partnership with merchants across Europe. Trustly has ~200 employees and is headquartered in Stockholm, with regional offices in Spain, Malta, Germany and the UK. The Company processes more than 3.5 million payments with payment volumes of ~SEK 6 billion each month.

Nordic Capital sees significant potential in supporting management to accelerate Trustly’s growth agenda in current and new geographies, as well as expand the product portfolio. Nordic Capital will also support Trustly by investing in its large bank network and technology platform, in order to drive payment innovation and leverage their first mover advantage to become a leading global account-to-account payment champion. Together with Nordic Capital, Alfvén & Didrikson, the Company founders, and management will remain as significant shareholders.

“The shift towards online banking based payment solutions is only in its infancy. We are looking forward to continuing to innovate and execute so as to make it easier, safer and quicker for both consumers and merchants to make payments online. We are delighted to partner with Nordic Capital whose expert support will be of great value as we grow across merchant verticals, products and geographies,” says Oscar Berglund, CEO of Trustly.

“Direct bank payments are the future of payments, and Trustly is leading this transition. This investment is at the core of Nordic Capital’s payment investment strategy, a sector where we have significant experience and excellent results. Having followed the Company for many years, we have developed strong conviction in the business and are impressed by what the founders and management have built over the last 10 years. Nordic Capital views Trustly as a highly strategic payment platform with unique capabilities. We intend to support the management team and founders in the journey to become the leading global online banking payment champion, by providing capital and experience from previous successful investments in payments.” says Fredrik Näslund, Partner, Advisor to the Nordic Capital Funds.

The Nordic Capital Funds have a long history and proven track record of investing into the payments industry. In 2017, Nordic Capital Fund VIII sold Swedish payment platform Bambora after three years of ownership, having in that time completed 12 material add-ons and transformed the company into a global payment market leader. The investment in Point, a Swedish payment terminal and software company, by Nordic Capital Fund V, is another success story in the sector.

The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and approval by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority. The parties have agreed to not disclose any financial details.

 

Media contacts:

Katarina Janerud, Communications Manager
Advisor to the Nordic Capital Funds
Tel: +46 8 440 50 50
E-mail: katarina.janerud@nordiccapital.com

About Trustly

Founded in 2008, Trustly is an online payment provider that enables fast, simple and secure account-to-account payments. The company offers cross-border payments to and from consumer bank accounts at over 3,000 banks in 29 European markets and connects businesses and consumers within e-commerce, travel, gaming and financial services. In 2017, the Financial Times ranked Trustly as one of the fastest growing companies in Europe on the FT1000 list and the London Stock Exchange recognized Trustly as one of Europe’s most inspiring, fast-growing companies. Trustly has ~200 employees and is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, with regional offices in Spain, Malta, Germany and the UK. Trustly is a licensed Payment Institution under the supervision of the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority. Read more at www.trustly.com

About Nordic Capital

Nordic Capital is a leading private equity investor in the Nordic region with a resolute commitment to creating stronger, sustainable businesses through operational improvement and transformative growth. Nordic Capital focuses on selected regions and sectors where it has deep experience and a proven track record. Core sectors are Healthcare, Technology & Payments, Financial Services, Industrial Goods & Services and Consumer & Retail, and key regions are the Nordics, Northern Europe, and globally for Healthcare. Since inception in 1989, Nordic Capital has invested EUR 12 billion in close to 100 investments. The Nordic Capital Funds are based in Jersey and are advised by advisory entities, which are based in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Germany and the UK. For further information about Nordic Capital, please visit www.nordiccapital.com

 

 

 

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Semantix acquires Amesto’s translations division

Segula

On Friday 2 March 2018, Semantix and Amesto’s translations division officially agreed to join forces. Semantix has signed an agreement to acquire all shares of Amesto Translations Holding AS, including its subsidiaries in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the UK. Together the new combined company will be the market leader in the Nordics.

The executive leaders of both companies confirm the significance of the agreement in the current landscape of the language industry.

“Overthe last years, Amesto’s translations division has done great progress and created a good platform for future growth”, explains Arild Spandow, CEO of Amesto Group, and continues, “At the same time, the translation and interpretation industry is experiencing rapid changes, thus requiring extensive consolidation and major investments. As such, we’re convinced that Semantix is the perfect future owner of our translations division as Semantix can offer increased focus, stellar competences and the necessary resources”.

Today’s language services are technology and data-driven, and both Amesto’s translations division and Semantix have been investing heavily in multilingual communication solutions supporting high-quality linguistic services. The organisation, solutions and capabilities of Amesto’s translations division are complementing Semantix perfectly to accelerate growth and support both the short and long-term strategic goals.

Manuel Lindberg, CEO of Amesto Translations, confirms the operational and strategic fit: “This is a perfect match and perfect timing, and I’m confident that our customers, partners and my colleagues will benefit greatly from this important step forward.”

CEO of Semantix, Patrik Attemark, who joined the company in 2017, has built a strong organisational team and is prepared to execute on an aspirational strategic roadmap. He emphasizes: “Semantix has the ambition to take the leadership in our changing industry and create more value for our customers, employees and partners. We have the people and the power to ensure a sustainable future business in the highly competitive global market where technology and multilingual data will dominate the agenda. The joint company will establish Semantix as the indisputable industry leader in the Nordics.”

—

Amesto Translationsis the leading language company in Norway, one of the major players in Sweden, has a growing presence in Denmark and a new office in London. Amesto Translations has a turnover of ~NOK 140 million and ~70 employees. The translations division is part of Amesto Group, a Norwegian family-owned business. The Group comprises over 600 business professionals delivering software, analytics, IT infrastructure, staffing, translation and interpretation services, payroll and accounting. In addition, Amesto Top Temp has 800 external consultants. Amesto has a global reach in over fifty countries, concentrating on payroll and accounting, secretarial, domiciliation and other administrative services catering for both SMEs and large multinationals to allow them to focus on their core business operations. For more information, please visit www.amesto.com.

Semantix is the largest language company in the Nordics, providing interpreting, translation and advanced language solutions to the public sector and private corporations for more than 50 years. Semantix has a turnover of approximately SEK 900 million and operates in accordance with ISO 9001:2015. The group has offices in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland and representations in China, Chile and Spain. Semantix has some 400 employees and manages a network of thousands of language specialists across the globe. Semantix is majority-owned by the private equity fund Segulah V L.P. For more information, please visit www.semantix.eu.

 

For more information

Patrik Attemark, CEO, patrik.attemark@semantix.se ,+46 (0)70 166 56 01

Britta Aagaard, Head of Translation, britta.aagaard@semantix.dk ,+45 29 43 71 70

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Mercer Advisors Acquires Traust Sollus Wealth Management

Largest RIA Acquisition Expands Mercer’s Presence in the Northeast And Deepens Firm’s Tax Expertise

DENVER, March 5, 2018 – Mercer Advisors Inc. (“Mercer Advisors”), a national Registered Investment Advisor (RIA), today announced its largest RIA firm integration to date with the acquisition of Traust Sollus Wealth Management (“TS”), a boutique wealth management firm emphasizing sophisticated financial planning, investment management and tax planning strategies for high net worth individuals.

The addition of Traust Sollus’ New York City and Princeton, NJ offices deepens Mercer’s footprint in the Northeast, brings Mercer’s total offices to 29 and, with $420 million of Assets Under Management (AUM), increases Mercer’s AUM to over $12 billion.

Traust Sollus was founded in 1982 as a CPA firm before transitioning to a RIA by Al Zdenek, Jr., TS’s President and Chief Executive Officer.  TS today provides a family office suite of services to its high net worth and ultra-high net worth clientele, and prepares over 650 tax returns each year on behalf of clients.  In addition to Mr. Zdenek, the senior management team consists of Richard Weyers, COO & CCO, and Brian Picariello, Head of Wealth Management, and their 26-person staff, will join Mercer.

Dave Welling Chief Executive Officer of Mercer Advisors, said, “This acquisition not only deepens our footprint in the Northeast but more importantly allows us to greatly expand key components of our family office suite of services.  The addition of the consequential executive talents that Al, Rick, and Brian bring to Mercer further deepens our executive bench and adds decades of wealth management experience to our organization.” Added Welling, “We are also thrilled to be expanding the scale and expertise of our tax practice through the addition of Traust Sollus’ tax team.”

Commenting on the transaction, Mr. Zdenek, said, “For more than 35 years Traust Sollus Wealth Management has partnered with clients to ensure they are always making the best financial decisions and living the life they want now and in the future – we take pride in positively transforming lives! In Mercer Advisors, we have found a partner that is as passionate and dedicated in delivering top-notch service and ensuring clients achieve their personal and financial goals.  With a deeply talented staff, a high-touch service and can-do attitude in work, along with shared values and culture, it was an easy decision to partner with Mercer.  We are thrilled to bring two leaders in the wealth management industry together and enthusiastically look forward to working together to create the premiere wealth advisory company in the nation.”

Mercer Vice Chairman David Barton, who leads the company’s M&A activity, said, “There are only a few RIA’s in the U.S. that have a footprint like ours, and we are going deeper in markets where we already are, particularly in strategic locations like New York.  Our high touch, high service, Family Office business model requires both a local presence and multi-disciplinary professionals to service the complex needs of our HNW and UHNW clients.  You cannot deliver Mayo Clinic style financial care from a single location to clients located far away just as a hospital in Columbus, OH cannot treat a patient in Princeton, NJ.”

Silver Lane Advisors LLC served as financial advisor to Traust Sollus Wealth Management.

About Mercer Advisors

Established in 1985, Mercer Advisors Inc. is a total wealth management firm that provides comprehensive, fee-only investment management, financial planning, family office services, retirement benefits and distribution planning, estate and tax planning, asset protection expertise, and corporate trustee and trust administration services. Mercer Advisors is the parent company of Mercer Global Advisors, one of the largest Registered Investment Advisors and financial planning firms in the U.S. with over $12 billion in client assets and approximately 8,000 clients. Headquartered in Denver, Mercer Advisors is privately held, has over 200 employees, and operates nationally through 29 branch offices across the country. For more information, visit www.merceradvisors.com.

Data as of February 1, 2018. AUM includes affiliates and wholly owned subsidiaries.

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PwC Sweden sells Business Services division to IK Investment Partners – Creating exciting opportunities for developed services to small and medium-sized enterprises

ik-investment-partners

IK Investment Partners (“IK”), a leading Pan-European private equity firm, is pleased to announce that the IK VIII Fund has reached an agreement with PwC Sweden (“PwC”) to acquire its business services division for accounting, payroll and related advisory services (“Business Services”). Business Services will continue to operate under a new brand which will be developed during the upcoming months.

Business Services is the market leader in accounting, payroll and related advisory services with 71 offices and approximately 1,100 employees across Sweden. Business Services, which operates as a separate division within PwC, supports over 27,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Business Services had a turnover of more than SEK 950 million in 2017, and has shown annual growth of 8% the last three years.

“We are impressed by Business Services’s digital offering through the business platform MyBusiness, the strong corporate culture and customer focus as well as the experienced management team. Operating on a market characterised by growth and high fragmentation, Business Services, with its leading position, is in a strong position to capitalise on the market opportunities presented. Together with Business Services’s partner group, which are also participating in the acquisition as shareholders, we believe that through our active ownership model, we can help the organisation to further strengthen its long-term prospects,” says Alireza Etemad, Partner at IK Investment Partners.

“We have taken the strategic decision to focus on our audit, tax and advisory activities and will make a major investment in the segment for small and medium-sized customers. For these customers, we will provide a much broader portfolio of audit, tax and advisory services. At the same time, we look forward to a continued close collaboration with Business Services through their developed market offering to the benefit of our joint customers. It was very important for us to find a buyer with the right ambition, skills and financial strength, all of which we found in IK Investment Partners,” says Peter Nyllinge, CEO of PwC Sweden.

“Our passion is to help Swedish small and medium-sized enterprises grow by letting them focus entirely on their core business. The separation from PwC means that we can offer a wider selection of services to many more companies, that for regulatory reasons we were prevented from assisting earlier. Our focus on the development of digital services, including a new version of MyBusiness which will be launched later this year, together with IK’s solid experience to support growing companies and continued close collaboration with PwC, creates exciting opportunities for us and our customers alike,” explains Magnus Eriksson, CEO of Business Services.

The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction is subject to customary approvals, including concluded negotiations with relevant trade unions

For further questions, please contact:

IK Investment Partners
Alireza Etemad, Partner
Phone: +46 8 678 95 24

Mikaela Hedborg, Director Communications & ESG
Phone: +44 77 87 573 566
mikaela.hedborg@ikinvest.com

PwC
Peter Nyllinge, CEO PwC Sweden
Phone: +46 709 29 30 60

Magnus Eriksson, CEO, Business Services
Phone: +46 709 29 11 25

About IK Investment Partners
IK Investment Partners (“IK”) is a Pan-European private equity firm focused on investments in the Nordics, DACH region, France, and Benelux. Since 1989, IK has raised more than €9 billion of capital and invested in over 115 European companies. IK funds support companies with strong underlying potential, partnering with management teams and investors to create robust, well-positioned businesses with excellent long-term prospects. For more information, visit www.ikinvest.com

About PwC Sweden
At PwC, our purpose is to build trust in society and solve important problems. In Sweden, we are market leading in assurance, accounting, advisory and tax services. After the divestment of Business Services, we will be approximately 3,000 employees at offices all around Sweden. We’re part of a network of firms in 158 countries with more than 236,000 people who are committed to delivering quality in assurance, advisory and tax services. For more information, visit www.pwc.se/en

 

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