Invest-IQ

Penta Investments is known to have made a bid for German insolvent chain of drug stores, Schlecker, after almost a month since its last 40 percent stake purchase in Polish retail company EM&F. The bid for Schlecker is non-binding at this point, with the objective being that the Schlecker family will only own a marginal stake [...]

The EUR 2.65 bln sale of Starbev to Molson Coors by CVC is the latter’s second largest PE deal of this year.  Two and a half years ago, CVC bought StarBev for EUR 2.23 bln; the Eastern European brewer now has nine different facilities that account for EUR 700 mln each in annual revenues and [...]

Czech fund Penta Investments has bid for a 40 percent stake in Polish retailer Empik Media & Fashion (EM&F) for 410 million zlotys. The offered price denotes 11.2 percent and 10.7 percent premiums to 3 and 6 months average share prices, respectively. Penta plans to co-manage the business with EM&F’s main shareholder Eastbridge and delist [...]

One of the Alumni of the Czech Startup Yard, Proactify  , a company offering sales techniques as a service to online retailers, has attracted another round of seed funding, this time from oddly named funds Absurd Capital and Rockaway Enterprises. With its offering still under testing, the company is already collaborating with an online furniture store, presumably [...]

Prague-based brewery Starbev has attracted several notable buyers since word got out that they’re looking to sell. Currently owned by CVC, Starbev has the likes of SABMiller and ABI (which Starbev originally spun out from for EUR 3 bln) displaying keen interest. ABI, which has the right to make the first offer, is rumored to [...]

Around 10 companies will bid to buy NET4GAS, a long-distance gas network operator held by the Czech Republic’s RWE Transgas which, in turn, is a subsidiary of RWE Germany. The sale, which is slated for completion by the end of 2012, will involve the 2,500-kilometer network of gas pipelines within Czech territory. RWE plans to [...]

British insurance major Aviva has sold its life insurance and pensions business in Romania and life insurance business in Hungary and the Czech Republic to MetLife Inc. The businesses had combined assets of EUR 57 million at the end of H1, 2011. The deal is expected to be completed before the end of 2012, subject [...]

Mid Europe Partners, the PE firm that holds 39.2% stake in T-Mobile Czech Republic through the entity ‘Falcon’ has secured the biggest funding in Central and Eastern Europe since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. The €365 million financing, to be used for paying out dividends (dividend recapitalization), was provided by a syndicate of [...]

London based Information Technology firm has landed USD 1.8 million in funding from a handful strategic investors led by Prague-based Credo Ventures. Apart from existing investors Sherry Coutu and Dave Mclure, venture capital firms Estag Capital and Atlas Venture also participated in the funding round. The company plans to use the money to add new [...]

The Czech Republic’s StartupYard, a startup accelerator program, has received a second round of seed funding for one of its teams – Proactify.

Credo Ventures has invested USD 3 mln in an event management and cashless solutions company called Intellitix that uses RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology to reduce queue times, fraud attempts and erroneous ticket resales at large events such as music festivals. The capital, which was raised via the issue of new shares, will be used [...]

Central European private equity and real estate firm Penta Investments has invested an amount equal to 80 percent stake in Masaryk Station Investment, which currently owns 66 percent of Masaryk Station Development; the other 34 percent is held by Czech Railways – České dráhy. The Prague deal will also involve subsequent land acquisition from the [...]

HP TRONIC, the Czech Republic’s biggest trader of consumer electronics has reached an agreement to buy 100 percent stake in Czech small applicances company, ETA from Benson Oak Capital. ETA (www.eta.cz) ETA a.s., founded in 1943 by entrepreneur John Prošvic, is a leading manufacturer of small domestic appliances, and enjoys a brand recognition of over [...]

The CEE region’s largest private equity firm, Mid Europa Partners (MEP) has increased its holding in Czech photovoltaic power park developer Energy 21 to 95 percent. The first investment of 60 mln euros in the company was made in May 2010. Energy 21 is the largest company operating in this sector in the region, with [...]

Czech billionaire Petr Kellner controlled private equity group PPF is set to exit its Italian insurance venture Assicurazioni Generali SpA. PPF, which acquired the stake in Assicurazioni Generali SpA in 2007, has the option of exiting the business in 2013. However the Czech group, whose current stake in the joint venture is valued at about [...]

Investor Genesis Capital is seeking to exit its investment in Czech designer clothing brand Pietro Filipi. Genesis had acquired a 58 percent stake in the fashion brand for Kč  63 million in 2004. Michaela Bakala’s Luxury Brand Management is rumored to have evinced interest in acquiring the stake. Pietro Filipi (www.pietro-filipi.com) The Pietro Filipi fashion label can be [...]

GED, a Spanish based private equity firm, has purchased a 30% share in Continental Hotels, from Czech based PPF Partners. This will increase GED’s holdings in the Romanian based hotel chain to 50%. This purchase represents the largest investment GED has made in Eastern Europe since 1996. The remaining shares will be held by Enache [...]

Czech private equity firm Genesis Capital, through its GPEF II fund, has acquired a majority stake in Servodata, an information storage and software business. Servodata’s CEO Rostislav Jirkal will retain a large stake in the company and decision making powers. The transaction is still subjected to approval by the Antimonopoly Authority, but they expect approval [...]

Bavella B.V., a subsidiary of Czech PPF Group, has acquired a 100% stake in Russian based Rav Agro-Pro. This is the first agricultural investment made by PPF Group. Contributing to the investment, RP Capital made a co-investment in this venture by purchasing a 20% stake in Bavella B.V. Rav Agro-Pro (www.ravagro.ru) Rav Agro-Pro owns nearly [...]

Credo Ventures has led a six-figure investment into Beepl, a new expertise platform technology company. Credo Ventures targets early-development Internet or IT companies in the Central Eastern Europe (CEE) region. This investment is considered seed money for product development and launching. Beepl (www.beepl.com) Beepl was established in April 2011, with Steve O’Hear, formally of Tech [...]