Latest Deals: 18-24 June 2003

Active investors this week

Western Europe & Israel

Investments

Materials & Construction

Sigefi Private Equity helps to create Trialis
Sigefi Private Equity, IDIA Participations and Natexis Private Equity have helped to create a new company in the buildings material sector called Trialis. The E18m investment enabled the merger of three companies active in the building materials sector - Chausson Matériaux, Marinier Matériaux and Melin Matériaux. Trialis has a staff of 1,700 and its management intends to expand nationally, both through company growth and through acquisitions.

Automotive & Transport

Sigefi Private Equity acquires Stef-TFE Group
Sigefi Private Equity has acquired 9.5 per cent of the stock of the Stef-TFE Group in a transaction valued at E17.2m. The acquisition was made through a holding company, Invesfroid, and included a combination of both equity and debt. Sigefi Private Equity now owns 60 per cent of the company, while its management owns the remaining 40 per cent. Stef-TFE Group is based in France where it focuses on refrigeration logistics. The listed company has over 10,000 employees.

Software

Granville Baird Capital Partners finances MI International
Granville Baird Capital Partners has invested an additional amount of venture capital in MI International, a UK-based provider of business software solutions. The £1.4m invested by Granville in this round brings the firm's total investment in MI International to £5.6m. The latest capital will be used to fund the expansion of sales and marketing resources and to increase its telesales operations.

Advent Venture Partners invests funds in Irish software company
Advent Venture Partners has invested capital in a round of equity financing for Network365, a Dublin, Ireland-based provider of a mobile payment and service delivery software platform for wireless operators, banks and enterprises. Network365 raised $12m in its third round of funding from new and lead investor Advent Venture Partners and previous investors Amadeus Capital Partners, Trinity Venture Capital, Jafco and Enterprise Ireland. The proceeds from the round will be used for operations and marketing.

Food & Beverage

Global Finance invests in United Milk Company
Global Finance has invested E5.1m in the United Milk Company, a Bulgarian dairy company that supplies milk, yoghurt and cheese throughout Bulgaria, as well as accounting for some 30 per cent of Bulgaria's cheese exports. The company had a turnover of more than E13m in 2002. The financing will be used by UMC for an upgrade of its production facilities as well as investing in the areas of milk collection and distribution.

Services

Benchmark Capital takes Alphyra private
Benchmark Capital has taken Irish electronics payment company Alphyra private in a deal valued at E88.5m. E53.5m of this figure is debt, which has been provided by Bank of Scotland Corporate Banking Group and IIB Bank. Benchmark Capital will work closely with the management team to grow the company and Barry Maloney, a partner at Benchmark Capital, has joined Alphyra's board of directors.

Manufacturing

Montagu Private Equity acquires LINPAC Group
Montagu Private Equity has acquired the LINPAC Group for a total consideration of £860m. The acquisition has been made through a newly established vehicle, Picnal, which was set up by Montagu and the company's management team. With its headquarters in Birmingham, UK, LINPAC supplies paper and plastics-based packaging, returnable packaging systems and plastic automotive components. Montagu, which has taken a majority equity stake in the company, will work closely with the management team in growing the business.

Technology

Advent Venture Partners commits capital to Pelikon
Advent Venture Partners has committed capital to Pelikon, a Cambridge, UK-based developer of electroluminescent display technology for handheld devices and other consumer and industrial products. Founded as Elumin in September 2000, the company raised £3.2m in its third round of financing from previous investor Advent, which led the round, and also from new investor Wales Fund Managers. The proceeds from the round will be used for production purposes.

ACT Venture Capital invests in Amphion
ACT Venture Capital has committed capital to Amphion, a provider of semiconductor intellectual property for digital video and image coding system-on-chip design. The Belfast, Northern Ireland-based company raised $5m in Series C funding. ACT Venture Capital, a new investor in Amphion, led the round, which included existing investors Apax Partners and Enterprise Equity, as well as Invest Northern Ireland. The company has raised $19m to date from venture capital firms.

Sport & Leisure

CSFB and Intermediate Capital complete Spanish mezzanine deal
Credit Suisse First Boston and UK-based mezzanine specialist Intermediate Capital Group have completed an E135m mezzanine financing for amusement arcade operator Codere. The transaction represents Spain's largest ever mezzanine deal. The Bank of Scotland provided additional senior debt financing of E75m. Half of the E210m total is to fund existing debt and the remainder is to be used to fund future acquisitions, according to eFinancial News.

Energy

3i invests in Revus Energy
3i has committed £12.5m to Norwegian oil and gas start-up Revus Energy. This contribution from 3i matches another £12.5m committed by HitecVision, a Norwegian venture capital firm, and therefore brings the round total to £25m. Revus is an oil and gas exploration and production company that operates within the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The new capital will allow the company to acquire new exploration and production assets in the area.
 

Healthcare & Life Sciences

Segulah acquires CCS
Segulah has acquired Swedish company CCS, a subsidiary of pharmaceutical research company Medivir. CCS develops, manufactures and markets products for personal care and pharmaceuticals, focusing particularly on dermatology and ophthalmology products. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed but CCS has enjoyed 25 per cent annual growth over the last five years. 

Exits

Healthcare & Life Sciences

Nikko Principal Investments exits UK private hospitals
Nikko Principal Investments has realised its investment in UK Healthcare Partners Limited Partnership Incorporated. The company has been acquired by Capio, which provides healthcare to both publicly and privately funded hospitals. The company was formed in May 2002 to purchase and lease back the real estate of Capio's 20 UK private hospitals. Capio's desire to regain control of its strategic property assets enabled NPIL to exit its investment in a short period of time and at an attractive return multiple, although this figure was undisclosed.

Sport & Leisure

ECI exits Hoseasons
ECI has sold its stake in Hoseasons Holiday Group, a UK-based tour operator, to HgCapital in a secondary buy-out totalling £40m. ECI acquired the company for £22m in 1999. Hoseasons Holiday Group specialises in self-catering holidays in the UK and across Europe. It sells over one million holidays per year and the last three years has seen its turnover increase to £120m.

North America

Investments

Technology

Prism Venture Partners commits to Ammasso
Prism Venture Partners has committed funds to Boston, Massachusetts-based Ammasso, a developer of an ethernet-based networking card for clustered computing. A number of investors joined with lead investor Prism in this round, including CDP Capital-Technology Ventures, Inflection Point Ventures, and Velocity Equity Partners. The company will use the $10m series A funding to devote to development and marketing. Ammasso also announced that it has relocated to new headquarters in the Fort Point Channel area of Boston.

Sequoia Capital invests in Cast Iron
Sequoia Capital has invested in Cast Iron Systems, a Mountain View, California-based provider of an application integration hardware device. The company has raised $8.3m in its first round of equity financing. Norwest Venture Partners co-led the round alongside Sequoia. The company plans to use the funding for sales, marketing and product development, as well as expanding nationally and into Europe towards the end of 2003, according to VentureWire.

Draper Fisher Jurvetson funds Pantero
Draper Fisher Jurvetson has funded a round of equity financing for Pantero. The Waltham, Massachusetts-based company provides data semantic integration technology that unifies all data, applications, and systems under a consistent set of rules. Other investors in the company included a Draper Fisher affiliate, Draper Fisher Jurvetson Gotham Ventures, Venturion Capital and Partech International.  The series A round of funding closed on $4m, the proceeds of which will be used for product development and to increase its staff numbers significantly.

NeoCarta Ventures co-leads round for Cradle
NeoCarta Ventures has co-led an equity investment in Cradle Technologies, a Mountain View, California-based developer of software programmable system-on-a-chip devices. The company has closed the oversubscribed round, for which there was first tranche of $11m, with another $10.5m from NeoCarta Ventures and Prodea. These two firms provided $7m, while East Gate Capital provided $500,000 and existing investors committed a further $3m. Existing investors included Charter Ventures, Smart Technology Ventures and Mingly Ventures. Cradle will devote the new capital to sales, marketing and operations.

ATV invests in Vivato
Advanced Technology Ventures has invested in Vivato, a switch manufacturer developing indoor and outdoor products that operate in the unlicensed 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. The company, which was founded in December 2000 and is located in San Francisco, California, closed its series C round at $44.5m from ATV, Intel Capital, Leapfrog Ventures, US Venture Partners and Walden International. The proceeds from this round will be used to support the production of its switch and development of its wireless local area network product line.

Highland Capital Partners backs Kodeos
Highland Capital Partners has backed a round of institutional financing for Kodeos Communications, a South Plainfield, New Jersey-based provider of optical subsystems. The company raised $6m in this series A follow-on financing, which caps the round at $18m. Highland Capital Partners and co-lead investor Jerusalem Venture Partners are existing investors in Kodeos. The proceeds from the round will be used for product development and manufacturing.

Food & Beverage

Wind Point Partners acquires Vicorp Restaurants
Wind Point Partners has acquired Denver, Colorado-based Vicorp Restaurants. The company owns and operates two family-style restaurant chains, Village Inn and Bakers Square. The company operates 371 restaurants in 25 states across the US. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition was made in partnership with Debra Koenig, who will assume the role of chief executive officer. She was formerly the president of McDonald's Corporation's Southeast Division.

Healthcare & Life Sciences

BioAsia Investments invests in Prestwick Pharmaceuticals
BioAsia Investments has invested capital in Prestwick Pharmaceuticals, a new company that develops drugs for central nervous system diseases. Located in Washington, the company has closed its series A round on $15m. BioAsia Investments and Sofinnova Ventures led the round with $4m each. The remainder of the financing came from Atlas Venture and BA Venture Partners. Prestwick will use the funds to bring its core product through FDA approval and to increase its staff numbers.

Foragen Technologies commits to TGN Biotech
Foragen Technologies has invested in a round of equity financing for TGN Biotech, a Québec, Canada-based company that focuses on the transgenic production of proteins for therapeutic use. This second round raised $4m for the company and will devote the capital to its research and development efforts for its patented technology. Foragen Technologies led the round and was joined by Fondaction CSN, Innovatech du Quebec and an undisclosed individual investor, according to VentureWire.

Morgenthaler Ventures invests in GlobeImmune
Morgenthaler Ventures has invested in GlobeImmune, a developer of recombinant yeast vaccines. The company is situated in Aurora, Colorado, and secured $1m in the first tranche of its series A round. Morgenthaler Ventures, HealthCare Ventures and Sequel Venture Partners participated in the funding, which will be used for product development. Ralph Christoffersen of Morgenthaler Ventures, Augustine Lawlor of HealthCare Ventures and Dan Mitchell of Sequel have joined GlobeImmune's board of directors.

Prospect Venture Partners funds Opus Medical
Prospect Venture Partners has funded a series C round of venture capital financing for Opus Medical, a device maker focused on the sports medicine market. Headquartered in San Juan Capistrano, California, the company secured $13.6m, which included investments from Three Arch Partners as well as individuals. The additional capital will be devoted to the market launch of the company's flagship sports medicine product, a minimally invasive repair system designed as an alternative to currently available shoulder repair devices.

Forward Ventures commits to AnalgesiX
Forward Ventures has made an investment from its new Fund V. The firm has committed capital to AnalgesiX, a San Diego-based developer of pain relief medicines. Over the next three years, Forward Ventures will provide up to $1.5m to the company in return for additional equity in AnalgesiX. It plans to target a specific biochemical pathway that initiates the release of various compounds leading to pain and inflammation, and to develop and screen compounds to shut down this initial target, according to VentureWire. 

Wireless

VantagePoint commits capital to Visto
VantagePoint Venture Partners has invested capital in a round of equity financing for Visto, a Redwood Shores, California-based company that provides personal and corporate mobile access solutions. The company has raised a further $20.1m, bringing the total for the round to $50.4m. VantagePoint Venture Partners, a new investor in Visto, co-led the round with participation from existing investor Oak Investment Partners. Visto will use the additional capital to accelerate new product development, to expand its sales and marketing efforts and to acquire companies that complement its business strategy.

Internet

Intersouth Partners invests in Xactional
Intersouth Partners has invested in a $2.5m round of venture capital financing for Xactional, a Durham-based company that is developing technology to make online exchanges of corporate information more secure. The company will use the new money to fund the development of its online software. Aurora Funds and NextPoint Partners joined Intersouth in this round.

Jerusalem Venture Partners leads Cogent PIPE
Jerusalem Venture Partners has led a PIPE investment in Cogent Communications Group, a publicly traded optical internet service provider based in Washington. The company raised $41m from venture capitalists in this series G deal from Jerusalem Venture Partners, Oak Investment Partners, Worldview Technology Partners, Broadview Capital Partners, Boulder Ventures and Nassau Capital. The proceeds from the round will be used for operations and restructuring.

Accel Partners finances Andale's third round
Accel Partners has backed a third round of financing for Andale, a provider of services for online buyers and sellers on eBay. The company is located in Mountain View, California, and has developed a counter system that allows merchants and potential buyers to see how many people have looked at a particular product.  Andale's third round totalled $2.7m, the proceeds of which will be used to develop a set of new services to facilitate the online auction process. Other investors in this round included Mohr Davidow Ventures and Oak Hill Partners, as well as the company's own management and new individual investors.

Software

Constellation Ventures commits funds to Widevine Technologies
Constellation Ventures has committed capital to a round of equity financing for Widevine Technologies, a Seattle, Washington-based company that provides a suite of conditional access and digital rights management products to telecoms, cable and satellite operators. The company secured $7.8m in funding for this first tranche of a series A round of financing, which included Pacesetter Capital as a co-investor. The proceeds will be used by Widevine to implement its sales and marketing strategy for its product suite.

New Venturetec is the sole investor in round for IPeria
New Venturetec is the only investor in a $3m series A recapitalisation round of financing for IPeria, a Burlington, Massachusetts-based provider of network-based voice messaging software applications. The proceeds from the round will be used for product development and marketing. Prior to this recap round, IPeria raised $35m from New Venturetec, Argo Global Capital, Venture Investment Management Company and individual investors.

Palomar Ventures commits to Composite
Palomar Ventures has committed money to a round of funding for Composite Software, a San Mateo-based provider of enterprise information integration software. The company has raised $5.2m in funding while at the same time announcing its launch. Investors in the round included Palomar and Apax Partners, the lead investors in the round, as well as Clearstone Venture Partners and Dot Edu Ventures. Much of the financing will be used for company development and general working capital. 

Westbury Partners among investors in Partsearch
Westbury Partners has joined a number of investors in a round of equity financing for Partsearch Technologies, a New York-based provider of software and services for locating replacement parts for consumer electronics, major appliance, computer and cellular products. The company has closed its series D round on $4.2m, the proceeds of which will be used to increase the number of staff devoted to its technological advances and also to develop its core technology. Joining Westbury in this round were Enhanced Capital Partners, DCC Venture Partners, Silicon Alley Venture Partners and founding investor Idealab. Partsearch has raised $9m to date.

Manufacturing

Techxas Ventures joins in strategic funding of Nanotechnologies
Techxas Ventures has invested alongside a strategic investor in a round of financing for Nanotechnologies, an Austin, Texas-based manufacturer of metal and metal oxide nanoparticles. The amount of the transaction was not revealed. The deal was led by strategic investor Air Products & Chemicals, but also included venture capital firms such as Castletop Capital, Harris & Harris Group, Eyes of Texas Partners and Capital Conceptions. Nanotechnologies will use the new funding to commercialise its product.

Services

William Blair invests in PRIMIS Marketing Group
William Blair Capital Partners has invested in a round of equity funding for PRIMIS Marketing Group, a Chicago-based company that provides marketing information services. The value of the transaction was not disclosed but some of its proceeds have enabled the company to acquire Accudata America. The funds will continue to be used by the management team for company expansion through acquisitions and organic growth.

Energy

US Venture Partners and Benchmark Capital commit to Nanosolar
US Venture Partners and Benchmark Capital have both committed capital to a round of venture capital financing for Nanosolar, a developer of low-cost solar electricity cells based in Palo Alto, California. Nanosolar has closed the series A funding on $5m, as well as taking $1.5m in venture lease financing. Stanford University and individual investors joined US Venture Partners and Benchmark Capital, the lead investors, in this round. The company will use the capital to develop its product and establish supplier, manufacturing and distribution partnerships.

Networking

Meritech Capital Partners finances BigBand
Meritech Capital Partners has financed BigBand Networks, a provider of broadband multimedia routing systems for broadcast television and advanced services. The company received investments from several firms, including AOL Time Warner Ventures, Charles River Ventures, Evergreen Investments, Pilot House Ventures and Redpoint Ventures. Based in Redwood City, California, the company raised $15m for its fourth round, which it intends to use to increase its sales efforts and for product development. To date, BigBand has raised $75m.

Exits

Technology

Acorn Campus and Hotung International exit Pine Photonics
Acorn Campus and Hotung International have exited their investments in Pine Photonics Communications, a Fremont, California-based manufacturer of transceivers. The acquisition was made by Opnext, an optical components maker based in Eatontown, New Jersey. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Pine Photonics had raised about $20m of venture capital from Acorn Campus and Hotung International.

Asia & Australasia

Investments

Software

IL&FS Investment Managers Limited invest in Indian software company
IL&FS Investment Managers Limited has invested in FutureSoft, a Chennai, India-based company that provides communications software and services. FutureSoft received $4m in financing from IL&FS Investment Managers Limited (IIML), the private equity investment arm of IL&FS Group, and Intel Capital. The proceeds will be used for product development, for purchasing necessary equipment and for sales and marketing.

Healthcare & Life Sciences

The BioCapital Fund invests in Xenome
The BioCapital Fund, a new $66m venture capital vehicle established by the Queensland government to invest in new local biosciences companies, has committed funds to Xenome. The company is located in Australia where it focuses on pain management solutions. Xenome secured $4m in this round, according to Private Equity Week.

Manufacturing

Carlyle leads round for Chinese battery maker
The Carlyle Group has led a round of equity financing for Amperex Technology, a Hong Kong-based manufacturer of lithium-ion-polymer batteries, which are used in devices such as mobile telephones, digital cameras, portable DVDs and camcorders. The company secured $30m of financing in this series B round from 3i and Carlyle. The new capital will be used for general working capital, research and development and to increase manufacturing capacity.

Copyright © 2003 AltAssets

Alex Hingston is a researcher with AltAssets.

If you have any information about your latest deals or exits and would like us to cover it, please e-mail your press releases to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call Alex Hingston on +44 (0)20 7242 8810.