Market

Bird & Bird’s Prague office is relocating to Karlín.

After almost 15 years in the Czech market, Bird & Bird’s Prague office will relocate to Missouri Park in Karlín, Prague 8 in October later this year.

Missouri Park is part of the River City Prague urban district project developed by real estate company CA IMMO located on the banks of the Vltava River close to Florenc metro station.

“We have outgrown our current office in the Prague city centre. When looking for new premises we wanted to ensure that the new location not only suited our further growth requirements but above all reflected our core values – a dynamic, innovative, and responsible law firm. At Missouri Park we found everything we were looking for – modern tech facilities, smart energy solutions, as well as a healthy workplace for our people set in city greenery,” says Ivan Sagál, Managing Partner of Bird & Bird for Czech Republic and Slovakia.

“We are starting an exciting new chapter for Bird & Bird in the Czech market and our new office will no doubt support further development of Bird & Bird’s reputation as a strategic partner for innovative projects, often involving disruption or breakthroughs in our clients’ activities or in their sectors,” adds Vojtěch Chloupek, partner and head of the Intellectual Property practice and the Tech & Comms sector group in the Czech market.

In recent years, Karlín has become a vibrant district attracting people, as well as Czech and international companies. Continued investments and development of adjacent areas has produced closer connections with its surroundings, both with the neighbouring Štvanice island and Holešovice district, and with the newly built bridge HolKa which is due to open in spring 2023.

Bird & Bird selected architects from studio archicraft to help with the interior design of the office. Jones Lang LaSalle assisted with consulting services during the premises selection process, negotiated the terms of the lease agreement, and provided project management support.

Bird & Bird LLP is an international law firm which supports organisations being changed by the digital world and those leading that change. Over the years it has become one of the most dynamically growing law firms in the world and is renowned in the field of intellectual property and technology law. It is one of the first international law firms in the world to gain ISO27001 Information Security Management certification.

MidEuropa, the leading private equity firm in Central and Eastern Europe, is pleased to announce that Vesna Sipp has joined the firm as partner, Head of Investor Relations and member of the Investment Committee. She will be based in MidEuropa’s London office and will also lead the firm’s ESG and diversity efforts. Vesna was previously Head of Client Relations at ICG and prior to that, Managing Director at Hamilton Lane.

Managing partner Robert Knorr said: “I am delighted to welcome Vesna to MidEuropa. This is an important step in ensuring we continue to provide the highest standards of communication and service to our investors as well as introduce a senior leader to our ambitious ESG and diversity agenda.”

Senior investment partners Pawel Padusinski and Kerim Turkmen added: “Vesna already knows us well as an investor in our funds and as a long-time friend of MidEuropa. We are excited to have her on board and look forward to working with her closely.”

Dear CVCA members,

let me pass the invitation to the Poland & CEE Private Equity Conference 2022, held on the 10th of May 2022 in InterContinental Warsaw.

Top industry professionals and asset managers are gathering for the 8th edition of the Poland & CEE Private Equity Conference hosted by Private Equity Insights. They are ready for a full day of unparalleled opportunities and actionable insights, laying the foundation for future business. Meet 300+ handpicked attendees including prominent private equity investors across the CEE region, as well as global asset managers and get their groundbreaking perspectives. It is the perfect place to meet LPs, GPs, and PE/VC Target Companies.

For more details such as speakers and agenda, click HERE.

We are happy to inform you that CVCA Members are eligible for a special price. If you want to take advantage of the exclusive 30 % discount, please use the registration link: https://pe-insights.com/private-equity-conferences/poland/register/ and use the code cvcacz30 to get your discount.

Limited Partners are invited to attend the conference for free. To get tickets, reach out to sebastian@pe-insights.com.

For any inquiries, contact the organizer at sebastian@pe-insights.com.

Kind regards,

Katerina

ESPIRA Investments (ESPIRA), a CEE focused private equity investor, is pleased to announce the acquisition of a majority shareholding in Premier Clinic, a rapidly growing provider of aesthetic medicine in the Czech Republic. ESPIRA‘s investment has been made in partnership with Premier Clinic’s founder to strengthen and expand the company’s successful concept of high-quality care.

Premier Clinic offers comprehensive treatments in plastic and aesthetic surgery, corrective and laser dermatology and preventive medicine, treating Czech and international clients. In just a few years, Premier Clinic has become one of the top Czech clinics in its field with annual revenues of over EUR 4 million. The company’s management team is focused on growing the company in a sustainable and client-focused manner while delivering premium care and innovative treatments with an unwavering emphasis on safety. Furthermore, by regularly upgrading technology and equipment, clients are able to achieve better outcomes with shorter recovery times.

The Premier Clinic medical team is headed by the esteemed plastic surgeon, Dr. Lucie Zárubová. Thanks to her and the cohesive and respected medical team, Premier Clinic is able to attract and develop young and talented plastic surgeons and specialists.

“I am pleased to welcome ESPIRA as our new partner and I look forward to embarking on the next chapter of sustainable development while leveraging ESPIRA’s experience, broad network and strong financial expertise. We see expansion opportunities in the market and ESPIRA can support us realizing such new strategic initiatives,” said Martin Frank, CEO and Founder of Premier Clinic.

“The ESPIRA team is excited to support Premier Clinic’s successful strategy and to contribute to the further acceleration of its expansion by increasing capacity to address growing market demand, broadening its treatment offering and strengthening operational excellence. Premier Clinic has proved to be a resilient and agile company which grew even during the COVID-19 pandemic, and this is very encouraging,” said Emília Mamajová, Founding Partner of ESPIRA Investments.

ESPIRA was advised on the transaction by a legal team of Konečná & Zacha. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

MidEuropa is pleased to announce that its portfolio company intive has completed three acquisitions to expand its global footprint and accelerate its scale-up in a fast growing and consolidating market.

The digital design and engineering services specialist operates an outsourced digital product development model which combines local onshore presence with nearshoring delivery capability in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and Latin America, in order to tap into a deep and high quality pool of IT talent. intive’s 2,800+ digital natives serve blue-chip clients including Ericsson, Audi, BMW, Vorwerk, BASF, Viacom, Discovery and Tandem.

intive’s recent acquisitions include:

• US-based Spark Digital, a digital consulting, design, and development services provider, which significantly expands intive’s US presence as well as Media sector domain expertise. Spark Digital serves multinational enterprise clients with US onshore presence combined with nearshore delivery in Argentina and across greater Latin America (December 2021)

• US-based SimTLiX, a digital transformation partner for some of the biggest Fortune 500 companies, which further boosts intive’s regional presence in the Americas and strengthens its domain expertise and value offering for customers in FinTech, Telecom, Healthcare and Retail sectors (November 2021)

• Ireland-based Ammeon, a digital transformation and solutions partner, which extends intive’s regional presence in the UK & Ireland and its capability for customers in the Telecommunications sector, as well as the cloud domain and DevOps practices (May 2021)

MidEuropa acquired intive in February 2019, following early identification and approach to management and shareholders. Under MidEuropa’s stewardship, intive has expanded its delivery and design studios across existing and new geographies and more than doubled its workforce. intive is headquartered in Munich, with broad revenue and delivery coverage across Europe and the Americas.

Gurdeep Grewal, Chief Executive Officer of intive, said, “These acquisitions are helping us to achieve our global ambitions more quickly. MidEuropa’s support in helping to identify and approach businesses is invaluable, helping make a time-consuming and complex undertaking more straightforward. Their experience gives us confidence and strength in processes.”

Kerim Turkmen, Partner at MidEuropa, said, “The phenomenal growth intive is achieving is down to the impressive ambition of the team as well as the exciting global opportunity for their offering. We are delighted to support strategic priorities and devote capital and M&A resources to enable the team to accelerate growth and achieve international scale.”

Polish Enterprise Fund VIII, a private equity fund managed by Enterprise Investors (EI), is to acquire a significant minority stake in Ekoenergetyka-Polska (Ekoenergetyka), a high-technology company focused on power charging solutions for electromobility.

• The fund will invest over EUR 45 million in Ekoenergetyka-Polska and other projects related to e-mobility;
• The transaction is conditional upon obtaining antimonopoly approval.

Ekoenergetyka is a Polish technology company offering unique solutions for the global market. Its main activity is the design and production of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles used in public and commercial transport, as well as private cars. The electromobility sector has grown rapidly in recent years, propelled by technological developments and more environmentally conscious customer choices. A stable, widely available and, above all, technologically advanced charging infrastructure is needed to keep up this growth momentum and meet the market’s present and future requirements. Ekoenergetyka is one of just a few players in the world offering such solutions.

Established by Mr. Bartosz Kubik and Mr. Maciej Wojeński in 2009, Ekoenergetyka grew out of an academic research project. Today, the company is a leading provider of advanced high-power charging solutions and has the potential to go global. Its products and services have been implemented in the largest European cities, including in Barcelona, Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Paris and Warsaw. Thanks to its continually expanding R&D capabilities, superior research facilities and first-class production equipment, Ekoenergetyka is the technological leader in the field and successfully competes with international peers. Product development – from R&D through design and construction to sales and marketing – is carried out in-house. Ekoenergetyka also offers a broad range of maintenance and after-sales services that include 24/7 monitoring of charging stations and remote customer support in Polish, English and German. The company is led by a young management team with the right mix of vision, expertise and motivation to execute their ambitious expansion plan.

“We strongly believe in the electromobility sector’s dynamic growth and are very impressed by Ekoenergetyka’s innovation and technological sophistication as well as by how the company is commercializing its solutions,” said EI partner Sebastian Król, who is in charge of the deal. “The company’s unique experience and flexibility as well as the high quality of its products are appreciated by the most demanding customers in Poland and abroad. Ekoenergetyka’s solutions have been selected and implemented by the largest public transport operators in Poland and Europe, as well as by the major charging and fuel distribution networks. Thus the company is helping shape the development of this extremely fast-growing young market. This is an advantage we plan to use to reinforce Ekoenergetyka’s leading position,” he added.

“We decided to team up with Enterprise Investors to benefit from their experience in developing young entrepreneurial companies that are in a rapid growth phase. Ekoenergetyka is planning swift expansion, primarily in foreign markets. For this next step in our company’s development we sought a strong financial partner that would support us with both capital and experience. Now we can focus on becoming the number one player in the market,” said Bartosz Kubik, Ekoenergetyka’s co-founder.

“With Enterprise Investors’ support we intend to continue growing dynamically and developing our technological, production and organizational potential even faster, to build the best solutions for the zero-emissions transport of the future. Customer satisfaction at every stage is our priority, so I am pleased we have a partner with whom we will achieve our most ambitious goals in terms of production, service and maintaining our systems at peak efficiency,” added Maciej Wojeński, co-founder of Ekoenergetyka.

Enterprise Investors was supported on the legal side by DLA Piper Giziński, Kycia sp. j.; Ekoenergetyka-Polska and its founders were represented by the law firm Rubicon Kancelaria Radców Prawnych i Adwokatów Barbara Łągiewka sp. k.

Polish Enterprise Fund VIII, a private equity fund managed by Enterprise Investors (EI), has become a 40.6% shareholder in FinGO, the fastest-growing financial services intermediary in Slovakia.

• The fund has invested EUR 19.1 million;
• EI has teamed up with Mr. Lukáš Novák (InTeFi Capital), the company’s founder, to boost FinGO’s dynamic growth in Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

FinGO is an innovative financial services intermediary with a multi-channel distribution platform. The company sells mortgages and life insurance primarily, but also investments, pension savings and non-life insurance. It was founded in Slovakia in 2017 with the aim of building a technology-based ecosystem. The idea was to connect all the major financial institutions (e.g. banks, insurance providers and savings companies) with end customers, thus optimizing their choices. Thanks to FinGO’s unique business model users can compare complex products online, gain a better overview of what is available on the market and make more informed decisions. After running an initial analysis through the online platform they are served by one of FinGOo’s more than 1,000 exclusive agents, who can usually offer them an even better deal. FinGO gives its network of agents the best combination of commissions and product selection, comprehensive CRM system and back-office functions as well as extensive product and marketing support.

Thanks to its unique online lead-sharing platform and rapidly growing network of agents, FinGO is now the fastest-growing financial intermediary in Slovakia. This year the company expanded into Czechia, where it aims to replicate its successful business model. FinGO’s sound market position is reflected in its strong financial results – in 2021 the company plans to top EUR 23 million in revenues.

“We are convinced that the market of third-party financial product intermediation in Slovakia and Czechia will grow steadily in the coming years. FinGO was the first player to address the growing needs of customers looking to compare complex and high-value financial products online. Our plan is to build on this innovation and tap prevailing trends. We want to grow the business both organically and through acquisitions,” said EI managing partner Dariusz Prończuk, who is responsible for this investment.

“FinGO provides a very complex service. The company helps customers find optimal solutions at reasonable prices that would not be available to them without such intermediation. Through its marketplace FinGO also provides agents with new customer leads and other useful tools – not available elsewhere – that make their work more efficient,” added Martin Chocholáček, a vice president at Enterprise Investors who is responsible for the firm’s activity in Slovakia.

“I highly value the Enterprise Investors team’s trust and their appreciation of FinGO’s unique concept. Thanks to their investment, we can not only start building a major player in the Czech market but also develop and expand the largest digital broker in Slovakia. With this strong partnership we will continue our journey of digitizing financial intermediation to build the broker of the future. EI’s extensive experience, not just in the financial sector, will certainly be a valuable asset for FinGO,” said Lukáš Novák, the company’s founder and chairman.

Polish Enterprise Fund VIII, a private equity fund managed by Enterprise Investors (EI), today announced it will acquire a 60% stake in Focus Garden, owner of one of Poland’s most popular e-stores dedicated to garden furniture and accessories.

• The company founder – Mr. Sławomir Czajkowski – will remain its shareholder and will become chairman of the supervisory board;
• The value of the transaction has not been disclosed;
• The transaction is conditional upon obtaining antimonopoly approval.

Focus Garden was established in 2007 and was initially engaged solely in the import and distribution of garden furniture. Over time, the company developed an e-store in line with the prevailing retail trends. Today, focusgarden.pl is one of Poland’s largest specialist retailers focused on outdoor living. Its offer includes a wide selection of garden and patio furniture as well as other outdoor accessories, most of which – thanks to the company’s well-organized purchasing and logistics department – are available immediately.

Focus Garden operates in a very promising specialty retail niche in which it already holds a leading position. This is reflected in its good financial results – in 2021, the company’s revenues will exceed EUR 13 million.

“The funds we manage have invested over EUR 350 million in 17 companies operating in the retail sector, including e-commerce. We intend to use this extensive experience to support the further development of Focus Garden,” said Bartosz Kwiatkowski, a partner at Enterprise Investors who is responsible for this investment.

Commenting on the transaction, Sławomir Czajkowski, the founder of Focus Garden, said: “I am proud that the company I created has secured a strong investor who will help us reinforce its position in its current market and successfully enter new ones.”

We are pleased to provide you with this year’s edition of the “European M&A Outlook”, published in co-operation with Mergermarket.

71% of dealmakers agree that private equity (PE) firms are better placed than corporates to take advantage of buying opportunities presented by COVID-19, according to the ninth edition of the European M&A Outlook, published by CMS in association with Mergermarket.

The report offers a comprehensive assessment of dealmaking sentiment in Europe’s M&A market. It reflects the opinions of 330 corporates and PE firms based in Europe, the Americas and APAC about their expectations for the European M&A market in the year ahead.

While financial buyers may be better placed than strategic buyers, more than half of survey respondents expect the overall level of European M&A activity to increase over the next 12 months, with both corporates and PE firms eager to make up for lost time. This stands in stark contrast to last year’s poll, in which 78% of interviewees were preparing for a decrease in M&A.

Key findings from our survey include:

• A brighter outlook: 53% of respondents expect European M&A activity to increase over the next 12 months (compared to only 2% last year)
• Low valuations and distress: 24% see undervalued targets as the most important buy-side driver of M&A activity. 22% identify distressed-driven M&A as the most important catalyst for sell-side activity.
• Private equity in pole position: 71% agree that financial buyers are better placed than strategic buyers to take advantage of buying opportunities in the post-lockdown revival.
• ESG gaining importance: 72% expect ESG scrutiny to increase during the next three years.

Our features in this year’s report include an editorial on Earn-Outs in the time of COVID-19 pandemic, an editorial on the CEE Hotel Investment Scene, ESG considerations in M&A deals for the year ahead and Brexit and FDI considerations.

Please note that our annual CMS European M&A Study will be published in spring 2022 when we will report back on how this market has impacted M&A transaction terms and conditions.

For more details on CMS´s report click here.