Switzerland

Private equity and venture capital news from Switzerland

More articles

• 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.

• Zurich-based private equity firm Zurmont Madison hires new investment manager 06 Jul 2009. Source: AltAssets. Zurmont Madison Management, a Zurich-based private equity firm, is expanding its investment team with the appointment of Andreja Solar as an investment manager.

• Swiss biotech business Symetis raises €15m in venture funding 02 Jul 2009. Source: AltAssets. Lausanne-based biotechnology company Symetis has raised CHF23m (€15.1m) in a financing round co-led by Wellington Partners and Vinci Capital–Renaissance.

• Women’s health biopharmaceutical company Lumavita raises €4m in extended Series A venture round 19 Jun 2009. Source: AltAssets. Lumavita, a Swiss biopharmaceutical company specialising in anti-infectives for women’s health, has raised CHF6m (€4m) in an extension to its Series A venture round, which the company initiated in September last year. The total raised in this financing round is CHF24m (€15.9m).

• Fund of funds manager Castle Private Equity sees credit facility expanded 15 Jun 2009. Source: AltAssets. A subsidiary of Castle Private Equity, the listed Swiss fund of funds,  and LGT Bank have agreed to expand Castle’s credit facility by $30m to a maximum of $150m or 30 per cent of net asset value, whichever is lower.

• LODH Private Equity closes latest fund of funds on CHF776m 04 Jun 2009. Source: AltAssets. LODH Private Equity, an arm of Swiss private bank Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch, has closed its latest fund of funds, Euro Choice IV, on CHF776m (€512m).

• Castle Private Equity boosts liquidity by selling on the secondary market 28 May 2009. Source: AltAssets. Castle Private Equity, a listed Swiss private equity firm, has shored up its liquidity via the sale of six partnerships on the secondary market.

• BZ Bank leads €41.4m venture funding round in biotech company 12 May 2009. Source: AltAssets. BZ Bank Aktiengesellschaft led a CHF62.5m (€41.4m) round of venture funding in Swiss biotech business NovImmune, allowing the company to regain rights to two compounds from its competitor, MerckSerono.

• Capital Dynamics to manage $2.1bn Silicon Valley fund of funds 01 Apr 2009. Capital Dynamics, the Switzerland-based fund of funds, has agreed to assume management of Silicon Valley-based HRJ Capital's $2.1bn fund.

• Swiss biopharmaceuticals company Merck Serono sets up venture capital fund 23 Mar 2009. Source: AltAssets. Swiss biopharmaceuticals company Merck Serono has set up Merck Serono Ventures, a new venture capital fund focused on emerging biotechnology companies. The fund will support start-ups that can align with Merck Serono in its core areas of neurodegenerative diseases, oncology and autoimmune and inflammatory diseases and has been initially capitalised with €40m.

• BioMedPartners holds first closing of fund on €64m 20 Jan 2009. Source: AltAssets. Swiss venture capital firm BioMedPartners has held the first closing of its second life science-focused venture-capital fund, BioMedInvest II, on CHF95m (€64m).

• Aravis, IGC lead CHF32m Series B round for Synosia 08 Jan 2009. Source: AltAssets. Aravis Venture and Investor Growth Capital have led a CHF32m ($29m) Series B round for Basel, Switzerland-headquartered Synosia Therapeutics; the proceeds of which will be used to fund the development of its phase II clinical programmes portfolio.