Central-Europe-focused private equity house Penta Investments has closed its third successful real estate deal by buying the Walter factory site from Red Group in Prague. The investment company intends to pump in over EUR 200 mln in the development of the 160,000 square meter site into a ‘resi-mmercial” piece of valuable real estate over the [...]

Polish chimney and lining company MK Chimney Systems, owned by the Riverside Company, has been sold to the French Isotip-Joncoux Group. Riverside, which acquired the asset in 2006, exits with 2.9x cash-on-cash returns; the original equity investment came from the Riverside Europe Fund III, while the debt was provided for the transaction by WBK SA. [...]

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 [...]

AXA Private Equity has ended its six-year relationship with Germany’s Gealan, by selling the window maker to Halder, a subsidiary of Belgium’s Gimv. The minority shares currently held by Gealan management and board members will remain in their possession once the sale is complete. Under AXA’s guidance, Gealan increased turnover, despite the economic crisis which [...]

Ruukki Group has agreed to sell off the majority holding in Pohjolan Design-Talo, the Finnish house builder to funds managed by CapMan. Total size of the deal is approximately EUR 76 million in cash for 80% stake. The other 20% of the company remain with its management. Transaction is expected to be completed by March [...]

Baltic region venture capital firm BaltCap has announced an investment which gives it a controlling interest in Kelprojektas, a Lithuanian engineering company. More than 90% of Kelprojektas’ total shares were acquired by the BaltCap Private Equity Fund from the company’s former shareholders. Those former shareholders included an unnamed financial investor and two separate road construction [...]

BaltCap, the Baltic States’ leading private equity investment firm, has purchased a significant minority stake in Estonian road construction company Trev-2. BaltCap spent €3.2 million to acquire 1.5 million new shares, equal to a stake of 20.75%. BaltCap made the acquisition based on plans to take the company public sometime in the future. It is [...]

BaltCap has announced the first investment for its BaltCap Latvia Venture Capital Fund, a €1.4 million, minority-share deal with concrete flooring company Primekss. The fund is a JEREMIE Holding Fund financed in partnership with the EU Structural Fund’s European Investment Fund (EIF). The investment is a milestone for both BaltCap and the EIF in that [...]

Estonia’s BaltCap has made a move to reinvest in a company it exited seven years ago. BaltCap recently signed an agreement to acquire a 25% stake in TREV-2 Group for an undisclosed sum. The private equity firm first invested in TREV-2 back in 1998, holding on to their stake until they sold it to Alta [...]

Arx Equity Partners has invested in a Czech construction materials company by backing a management buy-out. The deal for a majority stake in Krkonošské vápenky Kunčice (KVK) includes subsidiary Parabit. Arx sees growth potential in the Czech housing markets, and believes KVK continued success during the economic crisis puts the company is a strong position. [...]

Poland’s Enterprise Investors (EI) recently made public its plans to increase investment in Macon, the building materials company it acquired in 2006. Plans call for EI to acquire an existing aerated autoclaved concrete (AAC) producer and build or acquire a third production plant to cover the southeastern portion of Poland. The expansion plans are slated [...]

Polish road construction firm Poldim S.A. will become a portfolio company of Lithuania’s Tiltra Group now that the Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection has issued its approval for the transaction. The deal gives Tiltra a 71% interest in Poldim for an undisclosed amount. Poldim (www.poldim.com.pl) Based in the southern city of Tarnów, Poland’s [...]

Swiss flooring manufacturer Bauwerk Parkett AG is preparing to change hands as current owner, Nybron Flooring International Corporation (NFI), has agreed to sell the company to EGS Beteiligungen AG and Zurmont Madison Private Equity. Under the arrangement Zurmont Madison will acquire a 55% interest while EGS Beteiligungen will own 45%. Both investors have committed to [...]

Marshall Capital Partners and Morgan Stanley formed Russian Mayak Corporate Real Estate, which will offer its services to clients in both the public and private sectors. Mayak will focus on investors whose real estate assets, while sizable, are not part of their core business operations. The firm will also advise both Marshall Capital Partners and [...]

Pending final Board approval near the end of July, the EBRD is poised to invest € 75 million in Heitman European Property Partners IV, Heitman’s fourth value added fund. The project cleared final review and is expected to be approved without delay. The EBRD’s investment is intended to help the Heitman fund reach its target [...]

Invalda, one of the strongest investment firms in Central Europe, has decided to pull the plug on its involvement with VIPC Klaipeda, a company formed to develop real estate in Klaipeda, Lithuania. Invalda has sold its stake in VIPC Klaipeda, which amounts to 47% of total shares, for an undisclosed amount. The company had originally [...]

Central Europe’s Penta Investments has successfully worked out an agreement to acquire Slovakian window maker Noves okna, s.r.o. The deal marks the second Penta acquisition in the window industry after completing a takeover of Okna Rabien, a Polish window producer. Details of the sale were not disclosed, but Penta plans to invest more than EUR [...]

Trion and VPO Protivanov, both window frame manufacturers, of Poland and Czech Republic respectively have decided to become one entity in a cash and share transaction by the former. VPO, with its sale of 20.7 Euros last year is obviously a good buy. Marek Grzona, the 22% shareholder and the CEO of Trion proposes to [...]

Digital Sky Technologies, the leading Russian Internet investor has acquired a minority stake in WinNER. The investment is said to be worth USD 0.5 million and will broaden the company’s subscription-based real estate database to an online market in Russia. WinNER (www.bazar-winer.ru) Having grown to 10,000 subscribers, Moscow-based WinNER was founded in 2000. Operating as [...]

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, EBRD, has signed a USD 34.4 million loan agreement with Terminal Brovary for the development, construction and operation of a 49,200 square metre Brovary Logistics Centre in Brovary, Ukraine. The logistics centre will be located roughly 30 kilometres from Kiev, Ukraine. It’s development will help to meet the [...]