Enterprise Investors to invest in Snap Outdoor

Polish Enterprise Fund VIII, a private equity fund managed by Enterprise Investors (EI), will acquire an 80% stake in Snap Outdoor, a distributor of mountaineering and climbing equipment. The company also owns 8a.pl, Poland’s most popular e-store dedicated to active tourism and mountain sports.

  • The company founders – Mr. and Mrs. Piotr and Elżbieta Czmoch – will remain minority shareholders and will team up with EI to facilitate the dynamic future growth of the business;
  • The value of the transaction was undisclosed;
  • The transaction is conditional upon obtaining antimonopoly approval.

Snap Outdoor is a distributor of mountain sports equipment and runs 8a.pl, the undisputed leader among specialty online retailers. 8a.pl trades apparel, footwear and accessories for outdoor activities and mountain sports such as climbing and ski touring. The company has two brick and mortar stores (in Warsaw and Gliwice, southern Poland), with a third location (in Katowice, southern Poland) due to open shortly. Snap Outdor was founded in 2001 in Gliwice, where its headquarters and logistics center are still located.

The company operates in a very promising market niche that is fueled by healthy lifestyle trends, the increasing popularity of outdoor sports (including mountain sports) and the rising disposable income of Poles. The outdoor sector is expected to continue its dynamic growth in the coming years.

8a.pl stands out from its competitors with its well curated assortment built around tourism and mountain sports. The company strategy is to offer only masstige and premium brands, which are otherwise not widely available. It also has the largest product availability among outdoor equipment specialists in Poland. Strong financial results confirm Snap Outdoor’s leading market position – revenues topped EUR 16 million in 2020, while this year they are expected to exceed EUR 23 million.

“We are convinced that Snap Outdoor’s business model can be successfully replicated in other CEE markets, which in most cases lack a clear market leader in outdoor e-tailing. Thanks to its broad experience in the specialized online retail sector and excellent logistics, the company can become a consolidation platform for other niche e-commerce segments,” said Enterprise Investors Partner Michał Kedzia, who is responsible for the firm’s investments in the retail sector, including Intersport ISI and Snap Outdoor.

“The greatest advantage of our online business is the broad base of returning customers, most of whom are passionate about mountain sports. With every product on the market being just one click away, this proves our strategy and focus on high quality have been key contributors to our success. We plan to make our offer available to mountain lovers from other countries of the region. Our goal is to become the favorite brand for outdoor enthusiasts in Central and Eastern Europe,” emphasized Piotr Czmoch, cofounder of Snap Outdoor.

Enterprise Investors to finance the expansion of Modular System

Polish Enterprise Fund VIII, a private equity fund managed by Enterprise Investors, will acquire a 36.3% stake in Modular System, the largest Polish manufacturer of multi-function container and modular systems.

  • The value of the transaction was undisclosed;
  • The transaction is conditional upon obtaining antimonopoly approval.

Modular System is the undisputed market leader in the production of multi-function turnkey containers and modular systems based on the steel frame technology – the winning solution for temporary non-residential structures (e.g. office buildings, portable staff facilities, military containers). In contrast to traditional construction methods, this technology enables swift, flexible deployment at a fixed cost. It also allows for a high degree of prefabrication.

Modular System’s products are reliable, have a wide range of applications and represent good value for money. As a result, the company is developing dynamically and enlarging its geographical footprint in response to the needs of new market niches. Since 2020 Modular System has reaped the benefits of having a well-equipped and highly efficient new production plant in central Poland. The company’s strong market position is reflected by its excellent financial results. Revenues reached EUR 30 million last year, while in 2021 the company plans to almost double that figure.

“Paweł Brudnicki and Mariusz Brudnicki, the company’s founders, are directly responsible for Modular System’s spectacular success. We are convinced that their entrepreneurial approach, extensive sector knowledge and broad experience will allow us to jointly make the best use of the favorable trends in the construction industry and the advantageous macroeconomic conditions,” said EI partner Michał Kędzia, who is responsible for this transaction. “We expect container and modular technologies to increase in popularity in the years to come, translating into a strong demand for this type of construction. We believe Modular System will not only strengthen its leading position in Poland but will become a regional champion,” he added.

“We are proud that our company has attracted a strong PE investor. Thanks to EI’s backing we now plan to grow at an even faster pace, both by entering new markets and by expanding our offering in those sectors and geographies in which we are already present,” said Paweł Brudnicki, CEO of Modular System.

“Enterprise Investors’ strong track record in the construction industry, including the prefabrication segment, was an important factor in our decision-making process. Together, we plan to replicate this success in the utility containers and modular systems sector,” added Mariusz Brudnicki, a vice president at Modular System, who is responsible for sales and business development.

PE invests in record 566 CEE companies in 2020

  • Second-best year for VC investment and private equity exits across the region

Brussels, Belgium – 29 June 2021 Private equity firms invested in a record 566 companies in Central and Eastern Europe in 2020, as the industry supported dynamic SMEs and start-ups that will fuel the recovery from the impact of COVID-19 and underpin long-term economic and social development across the region.

Invest Europe, the association representing Europe’s private equity, venture capital and infrastructure sectors, as well as their investors, today released its 2020 Central and Eastern Europe Private Equity Statistics. The report shows that the number of companies receiving private equity investment increased by 15% on the previous year’s record and beat the five-year average by 46%.

Venture capital was the driving force for company investments in 2020 as firms backed 474 start-ups and scale-ups with total investment of €358 million – just 4% below the all-time high achieved in 2019. Overall private equity investment slipped to €1.7 billion in 2020, mainly due to the absence of large buyout transactions involving equity commitments exceeding €300 million during the period.

Poland was the leading destination with a quarter of the region’s total investment value (€431 million)  and home to almost a fifth of the companies receiving funding. By investment value, it was followed by Estonia with 21% of the CEE total, the Czech Republic (17%), Hungary (14%) and Croatia (9%).  Hungary was the leading destination for investment by deal number with 236 companies receiving €226 million in funding, 220 of those were venture capital. Poland reported a total of 105 new investments, of which 82 were venture deals. Across the region and all investments, Information and Communication Technology was the leading sector, accounting for almost half of companies backed, while Consumer Goods and Services ranked second.

Bill Watson, Chair of Invest Europe’s Central and Eastern Europe Taskforce, commented: “Private equity is supporting more companies than ever across Central and Eastern Europe. These are fast-growing businesses that can help drive the region’s recovery from the effects of the pandemic, as well as its long-term economic and social development. CEE is on a path that converges with the rest of Europe and private equity can play an essential role in enabling companies in the region to achieve their full potential.”

Eric de Montgolfier, CEO of Invest Europe, added: “Private equity backed companies in CEE are developing into local, regional and global champions. They are highlighting not only the talent, skills and entrepreneurship inherent in the region, but also the vast opportunity still to come as experienced managers work with businesses to take them to the next level.”

 

Public offerings fuelled a strong year from private equity exits in 2020, drawing attention to the strength and potential of companies being created in CEE. Exits increased by 47% to €1.4 billion, measured at historical investment cost, with public listings hitting a record of €690 million. The statistics show that the CEE region more than doubled its proportion of European exit value to 5.8% in 2020.

 

Private equity fundraising for investment in CEE dropped to €1 billion as fundraising cycles meant that the region’s large fund managers were not in the market raising new funds. But, the venture capital sector raised €667 million in 2020, the second-highest total on record, positioning the sector for a sustained high level of investment activity in the coming years.

The 2020 Central and Eastern Europe Private Equity Statistics are available to download from Invest Europe’s website, investeurope.eu. Please click here to access the full report.

Versute Investments and BHS Private Equity sub-fund are delighted to announce a new acquisition in the field of production of feed mixtures for livestock.

General partner Versute Investments s.r.o. (“Versute”) and Sub-fund BHS Private Equity Fund (“BHS PE Fund”) prepared in cooperation with the owners of Babičkin Dvor a.s. (“Babičkin Dvor”) project for the reconstruction and operation of manufactory of feed mixtures for livestock under a separate company Babičkin Dvor Agro Servis a.s. (“BDAS”).

Babičkin Dvor owns and operates nine poultry farms in the region of Velký Krtíš and is the second largest producer of eggs in Slovakia. The company is currently making investments in order to increase capacity and transfer the form of poultry farming from cages to free ranges. Simultaneously, the management of Babičkin Dvor identified the opportunity to buy, at favourable price, assets which historically served as a manufactory of feed mixtures for livestock. And as Babičkin Dvor and its production volume are growing, it was advantageous for them to acquire its own production of feed mixtures. However, due to the aforementioned investment project, Babičkin Dvor did not havesufficient resources and capacity to implement this plan. Therefore, and especially due to the fact that the possibility of purchasing the above-mentioned assets was limited in time and the subsequent construction of similar manufactory on “green field” would be much more expensive, Babičkin Dvor and Versute agreed on a joint plan to purchase, reconstruct and operate the manufactory of feed mixtures under the stand-alone company BDAS.

Hence, BDAS is a newly created entity, within which an investment project is being realized – the purchase of the assets, their repairing and production of feed mixtures. Major owner of BDAS is BHS PE Fund, whose capital is used for the aforementioned purchase of the assets and the start of production. Babičkin Dvor will then be purchasing approximately half of the production of BDAS every year and the other half will be sold on the market within the region.

Babičkin Dvor Agro Servis a.s. is currently the fourth active portfolio investment of BHS PE Fund, which expands its already high-quality and resilient portfolio with an investment that is not only resilient to economic fluctuations, but also meets sustainability criteria.

Sub-fund BHS Private Equity Fund, which is a sub-fund of BHS Fund II. – Private Equity, investment fund with a variable capital, a.s., focuses on investments in small and medium size enterprises in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Fund generated a record-breaking net return of 23.11 % in 2020.

Enterprise Investors sells Wento

Polish Enterprise Fund VI, a private equity fund managed by Enterprise Investors, has sold Wento, a leading Polish renewable energy company specializing in photovoltaic projects. The buyer, Equinor, is a broad energy company with activities in oil, gas, offshore wind and solar energy in more than 30 countries worldwide.

  • The value of the transaction is EUR 100 million;
  • Total gross proceeds generated by the investment amounted to EUR 139 million.

Building on experience gained during its investment in Polish Energy Partners (PEP), now Polenergia, in 2012 Enterprise Investors made another investment in the renewable energy sector when it founded Wento. EI invited a group of experienced managers to run the project, including Wojciech Cetnarski, PEP’s founder and former CEO. Initially Wento focused on wind energy projects but in 2016 pivoted toward the solar energy market. In total, Wento has developed 177 MW of photovoltaic projects to the stage of securing contracts for difference in the auction framework mandated by the Polish government. With a secured pipeline in excess of 1000 MW of further solar projects, the company is well equipped to meet Poland’s growing demand for renewable energy.

“Our investment in Wento has followed the changing fortunes of Poland’s renewable energy market.  The management team led by Wojciech Cetnarski has shown it can adapt and persevere in its goal of building a company that contributes meaningfully to the green transformation of Poland’s energy sector while making good returns for its investors,” said Michał Rusiecki, a managing partner at Enterprise Investors who is responsible for this transaction. “We are convinced that under the new ownership Wento will gain the resources needed to become an even more important contributor to the renewable energy market in Poland,” he added. 

ARX Equity Partners acquires Promens Zlin

ARX Equity Partners has agreed to complete the acquisition of Promens Zlin.

ARX is acquiring the company from Berry Global (NYSE: BERY) with deal completion being subject to customary closing conditions. As part of the investment, ARX has agreed to partner with the company´s existing management team, who will continue to lead its future growth and development.

Promens Zlin (headquartered in Zlin, Czech Republic) is a Tier 1 system and development supplier, focused predominantly on large vehicle exterior and interior parts, which are key components in the production of buses, earth moving vehicles and agriculture equipment. Promens Zlin possesses exceptional R&D capability, especially in the important areas of reaction injection molding and vacuum forming. The company is currently undergoing a substantial capital expenditure programme to both expand and modernise its production facility, in order to meet growing demand from its customer base. In fiscal year ending 2020, Promens Zlin generated sales of ~€ 37 million.

Mid Europa invests in the leading Baltics e-commerce platform

Mid Europa Partners (“Mid Europa”) announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement with MCI.Techventures and minority shareholders of UAB Pigu (“Pigu”) to acquire 100% shareholding in the company. Additionally, Mid Europa has agreed with MCI.Euroventures and the founding shareholders of Pigu and Hobby Hall Group OÜ (“HHG”) to combine Pigu and HHG. The combination will result in the creation of the leading e-commerce and online marketplace platform operating across Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia with a growing presence in Finland (the “Group”).

Mid Europa will emerge as the majority shareholder supported by MCI.Euroventures (MCI buyout fund) and the two founding shareholders of Pigu and HHG retaining significant stakes in the combined Group. The transaction, which is subject to antitrust approval, is expected to complete in Q2 2021.

With several million registered customers across four countries, over 2,000 merchants onboarded on Pigu’s proprietary marketplace platform over the last year, as well as a unique portfolio of online shopping destinations such as pigu.lt, kaup24.ee, hansapost.ee, 220.lv, xnet.lv, and hobbyhall.fi, the combined Group is expected to lead the development of the region’s rapidly growing digital economy by offering the best-in-class value proposition and online shopping experience for its customers and merchants alike.

Kerim Turkmen, Partner of Mid Europa, said: “The acquisition of Pigu and HHG demonstrates Mid Europa’s continued focus on supporting established e-commerce leaders in the CEE region, such as Allegro, the major e-commerce platform in Poland. We are excited to team up with Dainius, Taavi and our co-shareholder MCI, as the combined Group follows a similar path of accelerating investment into innovation and customer experience. We believe the combination of Pigu and HHG will mark a new chapter in the development of e-commerce in the Baltic region.”

Rustam Kurmakaev, Principal of Mid Europa, added: “The rapid growth of Pigu and HHG is a testament to what the vision and hard work of ambitious entrepreneurs can achieve. We believe that now is the right time for these two exceptional companies to join forces and we look forward to supporting the combined Group during the years ahead.”

Dainius Liulys, Co-Founder and CEO of Pigu, who will serve as CEO of the combined Group, said: “The combination of Pigu and HHG creates a true regional champion and represents a unique opportunity for us to accelerate e-commerce growth in the Baltics and Finland. We are putting together two incredibly talented teams and expect to leverage our joint fulfilment and technology infrastructure as well as highly complementary product selection to further improve the online shopping experience for our customers. I am delighted to welcome Mid Europa as an experienced and strong partner and look forward to working with them to lead the combined Group through its next phase of growth.”

Taavi Rajur, Co-Founder and CEO of HHG, said: “We are very excited about joining forces with Pigu as we share a common mission of constantly improving the value and convenience of online shopping for our customers. I am also pleased to welcome Mid Europa and look forward to working with them and Pigu on building a world class online marketplace in our region.”

The transaction was executed by Rustam Kurmakaev, Aleksandar Dragicevic, Dragos Ardelean and Bogdan Bunea.

Mid Europa was advised by Porta Finance (M&A), Dechert and Cobalt (legal), OC&C (commercial), Palladium Digital (technology), and EY (financial & tax).

Mid Europa Partners LLP is registered in England, company number OC310725. Its principal place of business and registered address is 120 Regent Street, London W1B 5FE. Mid Europa Partners LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. It is included in the FCA register and its registration number is 425836.

This e-mail message including any attachments, is confidential and may be privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient, any use, dissemination, distribution, copying or disclosure of this e-mail message and any attachments is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please immediately notify the sender and delete this e-mail message from your computer. The information contained in this e-mail message does not constitute distribution, an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities in any jurisdiction.

ARX Equity Partners acquires Instrumentation Technologies

ARX Equity Partners (“ARX”) has agreed to complete the acquisition of Instrumentation Technologies (“I-Tech”, www.i-tech.si). Founded in 1998 and headquartered in Solkan, Slovenia, I-Tech is the global market leader in the development and assembly of high-specification instrumentation for data acquisition and signal processing used in scientific particle accelerators. Also core to the I-Tech strategy is utilizing the company’s know-how and R&D capabilities to develop instrumentation for medical proton therapy applications as well as broader industrial markets.

The transaction also includes Red Pitaya (www.redpitaya.com), a handheld electronics lab incorporating instruments such as oscilloscopes and signal generators and which is seeing widespread adoption among signal processing engineers, hobbyists and students.

ARX acquired the company from its founders and financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions. As part of the transaction, ARX agreed to partner with the company´s existing management team who will lead the future growth and development of the Company.

Genesis Growth Equity Fund

Genesis Growth Equity Fund I (GGEF I), a fund focusing on smaller and mid-size high growth potential companies primarily in the Czech and Slovak markets, reached its hard cap size of € 40 million following the final closing of the Fund in December 2020 with additional commitments from SPM Capital and Sirius Investments.

“We are pleased to announce completion of the fundraising of Genesis Growth Equity Fund I with a final close reaching € 40 million thanks to support of number of reputable institutional LPs. The Fund was despite current challenging market conditions oversubscribed with the investor commitments reaching the hard cap amount.” comments on the successful fundraising of GGEF I Jiří Beneš, Managing Partner at Genesis Capital Growth.

“Regardless of last year being quite a difficult period for M&A transactions, we managed to close the first investments of GGEF I into two well-performing companies – R2B2 and Home Care Promedica. We look forward to deploying the Fund in the coming years as we see a number of high-growth potential businesses. These often face the issue of succession to the founders but are capable of using development capital efficiently.” added Radim Jasek, Partner at Genesis Capital Growth.

Genesis Growth Equity Fund I will invest equity tickets of up to € 4 million into established companies with a significant growth potential mainly in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which plan on expanding their operations, grow internationally or invest into innovations. The GGEF I team sees a large number of exciting opportunities in this market segment and will provide entrepreneurs and companies with additional capital and support to back their business expansion.

During 2020 the Fund already completed its first two investments when it acquired majority stakes in R2B2, a leading provider of programmatic advertising services in the Czech Republic, and Home Care Promedica, an established provider of professional home health care services mainly in the Prague area.

0100 Virtual CEE_The 2nd Edition of PE & VC Virtual Conference in the CEE Region 16-18/3/2021

0100 Conferences are pleased to invite you to the 2nd edition of their Private Equity & Venture Capital virtual conference in the CEE region- 0100 Virtual CEE scheduled for 16-18 March 2021. You can look forward to more than 500 industry professionals including 300+ investors interested in the CEE region. 

You will have a chance to get insights from speakers like: 

•Tomasz Ciborowski, Partner at Enterprise Investors 

•Rustam Kurmakaev, Principal at Mid Europa Partners 

•Paweł Czupryna, Head of Fundraising at Mount TFI 

•Andrzej Bartos, Senior Partner at Innova Capital 

•Brian Wardrop, Managing Partner at ARX Equity Partners 

•Jan Brávek, COO at Jet Investment 

•Michal Rybovič, Partner at Sandberg Capital 

•Michal Tománek, Investment Director at KKCG Group 

•Ondrej Bartoš, Partner at Credo Ventures 

•Kinga Stanisławska, General Partner & Founder at Experior Venture Fund 

•Andris K. Berzins, Managing Partner at Change Ventures 

•Stephane Gantchev, Partner at LAUNCHub Ventures 

•Piotr Sliwa, Investment Director at 3TS Capital Partners 

•Marcin Szeląg, Partner at Innovation Nest 

•Tomas Kemtys, Partner at Contrarian Ventures 

•Evgeny Angelov, Managing Partner at Silverline Capital 

•Maximilian Schausberger, Managing Director at Elevator Ventures 

•Venelin Dimitrov, Partner & Co-Head of the M&A practice at Tsvetkova Bebov Komarevski 

•Barbara Nowakowska, Managing Director at PSIK 

and others. 


Panel discussions cover topics such as Fundraising appetite in the Region, LP perspective on opportunities & new market trends, PE firms dealing with post pandemic situation, VC investing in the region and many more. 

Are you a Limited Partner or General Partner? 

Then you can register with a complimentary ticket HERE