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Daily Review is our daily roundup of M&A news. Announcements, rumors, insights, and data before your morning coffee. Subscribe and never miss a beat with MergerLinks.
7 February 2019

Polaris Capital acquired HITOWA Group from CVC.

Daily Review

Financial Sponsors

EMEA

Activa Capital acquired France-based B2B solutions provider Explore.

Apex closed its acquisition of Ipes Group.

TCV invested $200m in RELEX Solutions.
 
EQT to sell a €1bn stake in Stockholm IPO.
 
Cevian Capital acquired a stake in CRH.

German State to take stakes in strategic national companies.

Elliott Management to raise stake in Uniper.
 

AMERICAS

Flexpoint Ford made a significant investment in YPrime.

Accel-KKR backed the merger between Pegasus and Travel Tripper.

VERTU Capital and BDC Capital acquired Firmex from Novacap.

Z Capital acquired Techniks Tool Group.
 
Elliott Management to take part in Avianca’s $75m capitalization.
 
Blackstone formed Waterfield Midstream.
 
Hidden Harbor Capital closed its debut fund at $265m.
 
Engage3 obtained financing from Wells Fargo Strategic Capital.
 
Andreessen Horowitz leads Series E $250m round for Databricks.
 
Personal Capital obtained $50m in IGM-led Series F financing round.
 

APAC

Polaris Capital acquired HITOWA Group from CVC.

SoftBank unveiled a $5.5bn share buyback plan.

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EMEA

 
Activa Capital acquired France-based B2B solutions provider Explore.

Activa Capital acquired France-based Explore, a leading player in the development of B2B business intelligence solutions. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Alexandre Masson and Christophe Parier, Partners at Activa Capital, said: "Explore offers a unique value proposition to its customers. We are very proud to support them in their future developments. This investment is in line with Activa Capital’s strategy of investing alongside ambitious founders at a turning point in their growth, in order to help them to accelerate their development."

EY and Hogan Lovells advised Activa Capital. Bryan Garnier, Fidal and Eight Advisory advised Explore. LCL and CIC provided debt financing.
 
Apex closed its acquisition of Ipes Group.

Apex closed its acquisition of Ipes Group, a leading provider of fund administration and other services to the private equity sector, from Silverfleet Capital Partners. Financial terms were not disclosed.
 
Peter Hughes, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Apex Fund Services, said:
"This deal marks another momentous milestone for Apex, positioning us as the fifth largest fund administrator in the world—a goal we set out to achieve over a five-year period but have achieved in just under a year. Our focused growth strategy is designed to build out the global Apex portfolio of services and increase our expert resources across key markets. Throughout this growth we remained steadfast and committed to upholding the hallmarks of the Apex brand—offering flexibility in the solutions we offer, exceptional locally delivered customer service, and wrapping that framework around best-in-class technologies."

Rothschild, Duff & Phelps, Travers Smith and PwC advised Silverfleet.
 
TCV invested $200m in RELEX Solutions.

Technology Crossover Ventures invested $200m in RELEX Solutions, a leading provider of unified retail planning solutions. RELEX will use the funding to continue to fuel its successful growth. RELEX’s existing investor Summit Partners will retain an equity stake in the business and will continue to hold a seat on the RELEX board of directors.

“The development of retail and supply chain planning has been held back by siloed organizations and limitations in how technologies integrate,” commented RELEX’s CEO Mikko Kärkkäinen. “Our vision is to change how the field works by driving a more responsive unified planning process. We are already off to a good start — now we will increase our speed by accelerating our product development ambitions, hiring more tech talent and investing further into the development of our organization as well as further expanding our retail-specific machine learning and AI capabilities that complement our core data processing platform.”
 
EQT to sell a €1bn stake in Stockholm IPO.

EQT is planning a Stockholm listing as early as the second quarter and is looking to raise about €1bn ($1.1bn). The company plans to sell a 25% stake. On Wednesday partner and co-head of EQT’s equity advisory team Marcus Brennecke told Reuters that EQT could look at an IPO or “something else” this year if the market environment was right.

JP Morgan and SEB are advising EQT.
 
Cevian Capital acquired a stake in CRH.

Activist investor Cevian Capital built a stake in Ireland’s CRH to become the heavy materials and building products group’s second-largest owner. The size of the acquired stake was not disclosed however it was rumored to be around 3%, worth €600m ($684m).

“We have actively taken advantage of the recent market turbulence to make a number of new investments and add to some existing holdings,” Cevian managing partner Christer Gardell said. “The group has many strong positions in attractive markets and we are convinced that CRH’s assets could become significantly more valuable.”

German State to take stakes in strategic national companies.

Germany’s economy minister said that the government could take stakes in key domestic companies to prevent foreign takeovers. The pivot to a more defensive industrial policy is driven by German concerns about foreign - particularly Chinese - companies acquiring its know-how and eroding the manufacturing base on which much of its wealth is built.

“It can go as far as the state taking temporary stakes in companies - not to nationalize them and run them in the long run but to prevent key technologies being sold off and leaving the country,” said minister Peter Altmaier.
 
Elliott Management to raise stake in Uniper.

Activist fund Elliott will likely raise further its stake in German energy group Uniper, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

Elliott was not immediately available for comment.
 
 

AMERICAS

 
Flexpoint Ford made a significant investment in YPrime.

Chicago-based Flexpoint Ford made a significant investment in YPrime, a global leader of cloud-based eClinical solutions. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

"YPrime is an exceptional company in a fast-growing industry, and we are delighted to have the opportunity to invest behind Shawn Blackburn and his outstanding management team," said Jonathan Oka, Managing Director of Flexpoint. "YPrime has developed a strong reputation for an innovative eClinical platform and technology stack, which we believe is well-positioned to help clinical trial sponsors address current challenges, promote technology adoption and facilitate the next generation of clinical trials."

Hill Ward Henderson advised YPrime. Duane Morris and Kirkland & Ellis advised Flexpoint Ford.
 
Accel-KKR backed the merger between Pegasus and Travel Tripper.

Accel-KKR backed the merger between Pegasus and Travel Tripper, two leading hospitality technology providers. The merger brings together two companies known for their industry-leading reservations, distribution, business intelligence, and e-commerce platforms that empower hotel groups large and small to directly own end-customer relationships and maximize bottom-line ROI. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

Commenting on the transaction, Sean Lenahan, CEO of Pegasus stated: "Today's transaction sends a powerful message to hoteliers that our teams and new ownership intend to set the market standard for driving innovation and enhanced customer service. Travel Tripper's intuitive user experience and software design simplifies the customer journey and its e-commerce solutions uniquely drive direct business with leisure customers for casinos, resorts and independent hotels. Together, our teams will deploy the best of our combined capabilities to deliver compelling holistic solutions that drive significant value for hoteliers."

Houlihan Lokey, Cypress Group and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner advised Pegasus. Cooley advised Travel Tripper. Goodwin Procter advised Accel-KKR.
 
VERTU Capital and BDC Capital acquired Firmex from Novacap.

VERTU Capital and BDC Capital acquired Firmex, one of the fastest-growing and most widely-used providers of virtual data rooms and secure document sharing solutions, from Novacap. Financial terms were not disclosed.

“VERTU Capital was founded with the vision of working with great Canadian technology companies to help them achieve their goals. Firmex’s commitment to product excellence and customer service has distinguished the company as a trusted partner to its clients,” said Lisa Melchior, Founder of VERTU Capital. “We are excited to partner with BDC Capital and Firmex management on the acquisition and look forward to supporting the team on their journey as they continue to build a world-class company.”

RBC advised Firmex. BMO provided debt financing.
 
Z Capital acquired Techniks Tool Group.

Techniks Tool Group is a leading provider of tool holding and workholding products used in CNC machine applications for industrial end markets. Financial terms were not disclosed.

"TTG is an innovative technology leader with an established track record, and its investments in people, systems and processes are driving significant momentum and positioning the business for long-term success," said James Zenni, Chief Executive Officer of Z Capital Group. "I look forward to working with Dean and TTG's seasoned leadership team to refine and execute the Company's strategic plan to capitalize on a range of compelling opportunities for continued growth."
 
Elliott Management to take part in Avianca’s $75m capitalization.

Activist investor Elliott Management Corporation agreed to extend $75m in financing to bankrupt airline Avianca Brasil. Avianca Brasil on Friday filed a reorganization plan with the court in which the carrier said it was hoping to secure $75m in financing to continue operations and emerge from bankruptcy. The new capital would be invested through convertible debt instruments to be issued by a new company called Life Air to be created as part of the restructuring. 
 
Blackstone formed Waterfield Midstream.

Waterfield Midstream is a full-cycle provider of water management services, including water gathering, treatment, recycling and disposal, to provide solutions to producers in the Permian Basin. The company secured $500m equity commitment to pursue greenfield development and acquisitions of water-related infrastructure, helping producers minimize the environmental impact and operating cost of oil and gas production.

Erik Belz, Principal at Blackstone, said: “We believe that Waterfield addresses a critical need of producers in the Permian Basin both in terms of infrastructure and quality of service. Waterfield’s subsurface capabilities and engineering track record set it apart from other offerings in the market.”
 
Hidden Harbor Capital closed its debut fund at $265m.

Florida-based Harbor Capital Partners closed its debut buyout fund at over $265m, above its target, with contributions from a balanced mix of endowments, foundations, pensions, family offices and funds of funds.

“We are humbled by all of the support from our limited partners, and look forward to building great companies rooted in our core values of integrity, team, high-performance, passion and a commitment to constant improvement,” said John Caple, Managing Partner.

Probitas Partners acted as the exclusive placement agent and Kirkland & Ellis acted as fund counsel for Hidden Harbor.
 
Engage3 obtained financing from Wells Fargo Strategic Capital.

Davis, California-based Engage3, a pricing platform for retailers and brands, secured an undisclosed amount of financing from Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, a principal investing and merchant division of Wells Fargo & Company.

“In a world where 71% of consumers say that price determines whether they would shop at your store over another, the use of AI and algorithms to deliver the best price image to shoppers while achieving revenue and profitability goals is the clear answer,” said Ken Ouimet, CEO and founder of Engage3. “Price optimization as a category failed to reach its promise in the ‘90s because of the lack of good quality data as input. Every retailer now understands the importance of having clean, accurate and timely competitive data to formulate the best pricing strategy. We have addressed this problem, and our customers are now reaping the rewards of data-driven, scientific pricing.”
 
Andreessen Horowitz leads Series E $250m round for Databricks.

Databricks, the leader in unified analytics and founded by the original creators of Apache Spark, secured $250m in a Series E funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz. Coatue Management, Microsoft, and New Enterprise Associates also participated. This most recent round of funding brings Databricks’ total amount raised to $498m and raises the company’s valuation to $2.7bn.
 
“Databricks has gone from almost no revenue to over $100m in annual recurring revenue in just three years, putting us among the fastest growing enterprise software companies,” said Ali Ghodsi, CEO and co-founder of Databricks. “What’s driving this incredible growth is the market’s massive appetite for Unified Analytics. Organizations need to achieve success with their AI initiatives and this requires a Unified Analytics Platform that bridges the divide between big data and machine learning.”
 
Personal Capital obtained $50m in IGM-led Series F financing round.

Silicon Valley-based Personal Capital, a digital wealth management company, secured $50m in Series F funding. IGM Financial led the round. The additional investment comes amidst a flurry of development and growth for the business and reflects IGM Financial’s confidence in the business. Personal Capital has recently surpassed $8.5bn in assets under management and 2m registered users on its platform, which tracks more than $650bn in aggregated account value.

“We have stayed laser-focused on our mission of building a business that uses the ideal combination of technology and advisors to help Americans achieve clarity and confidence in their financial lives,” said Jay Shah, CEO of Personal Capital. “Ongoing support from our investors has been integral to scaling up Personal Capital and delivering on our mission.”
 
 

APAC

 
Polaris Capital acquired HITOWA Group from CVC.

Polaris Capital acquired HITOWA Group from CVC. Established in 1997, Hitowa offers house cleaning, home visit rehabilitation and massage, elderly care and childcare support services. Financial terms were not disclosed, however the deal is rumored to be valued at $456m. 

Yuji Kimura, Founder, President and CEO of Polaris Capital Group, said: "For the future growth of HITOWA Group, Polaris will offer the company its full support, working to raise its enterprise value by sharing know-how acquired through years of highly successful investments, including into service providers and franchise service businesses. After the share acquisition, Polaris will dispatch several senior officers to HITOWA Group and work with the existing management team and employees to strengthen its business, providing comprehensive business and financial support ahead of a future share listing."
 
SoftBank unveiled a $5.5bn share buyback plan.
 
Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp announced a $5.5bn share buyback on Wednesday as it reported a 60% increase in quarterly operating profit buoyed by rising valuations for its technology investments. The conglomerate expects to buy back 10% of its outstanding shares. Executive Masayoshi Son said the buyback – SoftBank’s largest ever - was driven by what he sees as a chronic undervaluation of SoftBank’s shares.
 

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