Enterprise Investors, through its Polish Enterprise Fund V, has found a buyer for its 49 per cent stake in Polish small appliances maker Zelmer; the stake will be purchased by Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte, and the purchase price has been set at PLN 298 mln. The trade sale will be a result of Zelmer appointing Société Générale [...]

Private investment firm CoBe Capital has recently agreed to purchase Warendorfer Küchen, currently owned by AFG Arbonia-Forster-Holding. The acquisition is in line with CoBe’s business objectives of acquiring and then managing non-core businesses that have been divested by other companies. Warendorfer manufactures premium kitchen modules and accessories. The deal is expected to be completed by the end [...]

Gamma Capital Partners has taken on a stake in Swiss office furniture company Stilo.

Baltic states PE and VC leader BaltCap has made a sizeable investment in Ekju, the regions largest garden furniture manufacturing house. The EUR 1.5 mln investment is likely to be used to modernize the target company’s production facilities as well as contribute towards its working capital. The funding comes from a mix of private investors [...]

Online sports, travel and leisure goods retailer Heverest.ru has raised a new round of funding worth USD 4.3 mln. eVenture Capital Partners and an unnamed Russian PE fund have jointly participated in this round. The funding will be used to expand their product line and increase their sales and marketing initiatives, and also upgrade their [...]

VTB Capital, the investment arm of the Russian Federation’s second largest lender, VTB Group, has completed the acquisition of Bulgarian cigarette maker Bulgartabac Holding with a EUR 100.1 mln (USD 136.8) investment that equated to a 79.83 percent stake in one of Europe’s leading cigarette manufacturing companies and Bulgaria’s market dominator. As part of 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 [...]

Advent International-backed animal nutrition leader Provimi Pet Food has sold its French factory to rival company ATM. Following the sale, Hungary-based Provimi will operate from seven production units in Europe, with expansion plans underway for Germany, Romania and Poland. ATM (www.hery.fr) ATM, founded in 1980, is headed by Eric Charles. Héry Laboratoires is one of [...]

BT Invest, an Austrian registered investment firm owned by Russian bank VTB, offered EUR 100.1 million for Bulgartabac. Bulgartabac is currently a state-owned entity. The transaction amount would account for 5,881,380 shares of the company, or nearly 80% of its capital. The bid is EUR 100,000 higher than the starting price set by the Bulgarian [...]

A handful of funds currently controlling 37.47% of Lithuanian appliance maker Snaige AB have informed the company of their intentions to submit a non-competitive tender that would enable them to acquire a controlling stake of 62.53%. The funds plan to pay for the acquisition in cash. Included in the group are KJK Fund SICAV-SIF (Luxembourg), Firebird Republics Fund [...]

Getting in on a recent trend in private equity buy-outs, Riverside Company is exiting Teufel Speakers through a secondary sale to HgCapital. Riverside first acquired Teufel in 2006, subsequently tripling the number of employees while doubling revenue and earnings. Though the exact purchase price hasn’t been disclosed, it has been estimated near €72.2 million based [...]

Enterprise Investors has completed a partial divestment of Poland’s Harper Hygienics through an IPO on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The transaction, which consisted of just over 25% of Harpers, or 13 million shares, netted Enterprise’s Polish Enterprise Fund V a total of PLN 53.3 million at PLN 4.1 per share. Enterprise has been invested in [...]

European VC investor EarlyBird has taken on three new projects in the clean tech, Internet, and IT services sectors. Although the exact amount invested in each project has not been revealed, it’s estimated that the total investment was somewhere in the neighborhood of €6 million to €9 million. The three companies benefiting from the investment [...]

Bentus Laboratories, the Russian personal hygiene products maker, has finalized a deal which will provide financing for company expansion and marketing goals. The funding comes from VTB Asset Management via its RUB 800 million Moscow Regional Venture Fund II, with VTB providing USD 4 million in exchange for a 30% share. Due to the global [...]

Balkan investment management company Axxess Capital has announced a recent investment in Noriel Group, a leading producer of popular games and toys in Romania. The €7 million equity investment was made on behalf of the Balkan Accession Fund (BAF) which is managed by Axxess. The deal gives BAF a 40% stake in Noriel through the purchase of [...]

Already the Ukraine’s largest investor with more than €4.2 billion committed to 194 projects, the EBRD has agreed to provide a substantial loan to LLC Ergopack. The USD 7.9 million mezzanine debt facility is designed to help the consumer products manufacturer expand its product line and support Ergopack’s ability to compete in the domestic market. [...]

Boston-based private equity firm Advent International has made a public bid for WSiP S.A. The bid, for Poland’s leading textbook publisher, offers PLN 16.35 per share which represents a 1.5% premium over the closing price for Nov. 5th. If accepted, the bid could amount to a total sale price of up to PLN 405 million. [...]

Making good on a deal reached with Russian billionaire Igor Yakovlev last February, PPF Group recently announced it has completed a transaction which gives them a controlling stake of Eldorado, the Russian electronics and appliance giant. The deal results in Eldorado being managed as a joint venture with both PPF and Yakovlev appointing two members [...]

Polish pet store chain Kakadu has been acquired by Arx Equity Partners, as the European private equity firm purchased a controlling stake for an undisclosed sum. The purchase was orchestrated using Arx Equity’s DBG Eastern Europe II and ARX CEE III funds. The investment marks the debut of the Arx CEE III fund which has [...]

Czech financial services firm PPF Group NV has inked a deal that will give it majority control of Russian electrical retailer Eldorado. The troubled retailer which ran afoul of the Russian Tax Service had previously declared bankruptcy. The deal is packaged as a USD 500 million loan which when converted, gives PPF a 50% stake [...]