Switzerland

Private equity and venture capital news from Switzerland

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• Swiss merger block delays TDC share sale 07 May 2010. Source: AltAssets. The private equity owners of TDC have been forced to delay a share sale due to regulatory issues with the Danish telecoms company’s Swiss arm, according to reports.

• Aravis sells off LuciaWind to trade buyer 06 May 2010. Source: AltAssets. Aravis Venture Associates, a venture capital firm based in Zurich, has sold Swiss wind energy company LuciaWind to domestic utility EBM, which also operates a 42MW wind farm in Spain, for more than CHF100m (€70.3m).

• Partners Group invests half of latest fund in secondaries 06 May 2010. Source: AltAssets. Swiss alternative asset manager Partners Group has invested almost half of its latest fund in the secondary market, having raised more than its €500m target at a time when many firms are struggling to attract investors.

• Biocartis raises €30m for DNA diagnostics 08 Apr 2010. Source: AltAssets. Swiss biotech company Biocartis has closed a hefty series B equity financing round, successfully raising €30m.

• Argos Sodotic makes second exit in a week 09 Feb 2010. Source: AltAssets. Argos Soditic has sold its stake in Swiss chocolate wafer company Kägi Söhne to an industrial family, netting the European private equity player a 4.2 times return and an IRR of 129 per cent.

• Unigestion reaches €135m first close of latest secondaries fund 27 Jan 2010. Source: AltAssets. Geneva-based asset manager Unigestion has held the first close of its latest fund. Total commitments for the Unigestion Secondary Opportunity II have so far reached €135m, with the firm expecting to reach the target size of €150m in the near future. The hard cap has been set at €200m.

• GI Partners backs launch of German distressed mortgage investor 27 Jan 2010. Source: AltAssets. Transatlantic private equity firm GI Partners has backed the launch of Elystan Capital Partners, a Munich investment firm targeting distressed German mortgage assets. GI will provide investment capital from its recently closed GI Partners III fund, with a company spokesman saying that it was prepared to back Elystan with up to €100m.

• BioMedPartners raises CHF106m for European healthcare investments 13 Jan 2010. Source: AltAssets. Swiss healthcare-focused venture firm BioMedPartners has closed its second fund on CHF106m (€71.7m).

• Swiss insulin delivery systems developer CeQur raises over €20m 06 Jan 2010. Source: AltAssets. CeQur, a company focused on the development and commercialisation of insulin delivery systems to improve the management of type 2 diabetes, has closed its series A funding round on CHF31.7m (€21.4m). Investors include BMC Ventures, Endeavour Vision, Schroder & Co Bank and Venture Incubator.

• Partners Group closes secondary fund at €2.5bn 15 Dec 2009. Source: AltAssets. Swiss alternative assets manager Partners Group has closed its Partners Group Secondary 2008 fund on its hard cap of €2.5bn, above its target of €2bn. Limited partners in the fund include corporate and public pension plans, insurance companies and family offices.

• Drug discovery company Therasis raises $12m 08 Dec 2009. Source: AltAssets. Therasis Inc, a newly founded oncology drug discovery company, has secured $12m in a series A financing from Tilocor Life Science. The funds will allow the company to launch and further develop its proprietary oncology drug discovery engine, the Therasis Filter.

• Fortress rescues listed fund of funds with $225m loan 03 Nov 2009. Source: AltAssets. US alternative investment management firm Fortress Investment has provided a $225m bail-out of troubled listed fund of funds APEN. The line of credit has allowed the fund of funds, formerly known as AIG Private Equity, to repay its $79m of bank debt, restructure preference shares, and reshape its investment portfolio to reduce undrawn fund commitments.

• Capiton closes oversubscribed fourth fund on €350m 02 Nov 2009. Source: AltAssets. German private equity firm Capiton has closed its fourth fund, Capiton IV. The reportedly oversubscribed fund closed on its target of €350m.

• Swiss biotech company Evolva closes series B round on CHF28m 23 Oct 2009. Source: AltAssets. Swiss biotech company Evolva has closed its series B funding round with CHF28m (€18.5m) in financing. Venture capital firm Aravis, an existing investor, led the round alongside new investors Auriga Partners, Vinci Capital - Renaissance PME and Wellington Partners.

• Swiss PE firm Zurmont buys out flooring company Bauwerk Parkett 20 Oct 2009. Source: AltAssets. Zurmont Madison Management, a Zurich-based private equity firm, has acquired Bauwerk Parkett, a double-layer parquet flooring company serving the German-speaking European market, for an undisclosed sum.

• European private equity firm Argos Soditic takes majority stake in Misapor 09 Oct 2009. Source: AltAssets. European private equity firm Argos Soditic has acquired a majority stake in Swiss foam glass granulate manufacturer Misapor through a management buy-out. The deal was funded by re-investing shareholders, the Misapor management team and Argos Soditic funds with existing debt from Graubundner Kantonalbank.

• HBM Partners portfolio company Brahams to be acquired by Thermo Fish Scientific 07 Sep 2009. Source: AltAssets. Life sciences investor HBM Partners has sold portfolio company Brahams to Thermo Fish Scientific in an all-cash transaction at an enterprise value of €330m ($473.4m). Brahams will form the core of Thermo Fisher Scientific’s future European Centre of Excellence for clinical diagnostics.

• Medtech company Endosense in series B financing 02 Sep 2009. Source: AltAssets. Endosense, a Swiss medical technology company focused on improving the efficacy, safety and reproducibility of catheter ablation for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias, has received $36m in series B financing.

• European private equity firm IK Investment Partners acquires majority stake in Vistra Group 28 Aug 2009. Source: AltAssets. IK Investment Partners, the pan-European private equity firm formerly known as Industri Kapital, will acquire a majority stake in Vistra Group, an international trust and corporate service provider, alongside a group of investors. The size of the deal has nor been disclosed.

• LGT Capital Partners holds first close of latest secondaries fund on $268m 10 Aug 2009. Source: AltAssets. LGT Capital Partners, an alternative assets manager, has held the first close of its listed fund Crown Global Secondaries II on $268m. The overall fundraising target of the fund is $750m.

• Swiss bank Pictet & Cie loses its head of private equity 23 Jul 2009. Source: AltAssets. Swiss inependent private bank Pictet & Cie has lost its head of private equity, Marwan Naja. Naja oversaw the bank’s private equity funds of funds business, but has left to pursue direct invesments.

• Zurmont Madison Private Equity acquires majority interest in Swiss translation company CLS Communication 13 Jul 2009. Source: AltAssets. Zurmont Madison Private Equity, a fund managed by Zurmont Madison Management, has acquired a majority interest in Basel, Switzerland-based language services provider, CLS Communication. The deal consists of a partial buy-out of the existing managing shareholders for increasing the company's equity. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

• European private equity firm Ventizz Capital Partners merges portfolio companies CardFactory and AEM Technologies Holding 10 Jul 2009. Source: AltAssets. Ventizz Capital Partners has merged radio frequency identification (RFID) card manufacturers, CardFactory and Switzerland-based AEM Technologies Holding. The merger will create a single provider of data carriers, and computers with integrated security electronics (known as embedded solution houses), operating under the name AEM Technologies Holding.