Ukrainian online shopping club Hilt.com.ua has bagged equity funding worth USD500,000 from Xevin Investments. The funds will be used to cover marketing expenditure and increase the working capital of the target company. Hilt’s performance has been nothing short of impressive: with sales showing month-on-month increase averaging 50 per cent, the mid-2013 monthly sales figure is [...]

The MCI Group, which is riding high on its 2012 achievements of PLN41.6 mln in consolidated net profits, is in the process of finalizing a 20 per cent acquisition of Indeks Bilgisayar Sistemleri Mühendislik Sanayi ve Ticaret, the largest distributor of IT products and services in Turkey. This will be MCI’s first investment in the [...]

Central Fund acquired Office Depot Hungary, the Hungarian unit of the global office supplies provider Office Depot.  The unit will operate under the same trade name in the future and continue to serve OD’s global accounts in Hungary. Financial terms of the transaction haven’t been disclosed. Office Depot’s exit may be a consequence of rationalization; [...]

VC investment house Advent International has entered into an agreement to buy a 55% stake in Poland’s EKO Holding, a chain of supermarkets which is held in majority by Krzysztof and Marzena Gradecki. As part of the deal, the Gradeckis will buy back non-core businesses owned by the holding company; this means Advent will reduce debt [...]

International investors 3i has sold its 49 percent minority stake in premiere Finnish outdoor clothing and sporting goods manufacturer Halti Oy to Ingman Group. The eight-year business relationship between 3i and Halti has helped the latter to double its annual revenues and move into the international market by leveraging 3i’s international network of contacts and [...]

Russian entrepreneur Leonid Boguslavsky has invested, through his PE firm ru-Net, in Indian online footwear retailer BeStylish. Former investors include Mangrove Capital, which funded the retailer in 2011. The current investment from ru-Net is pegged at USD 8 mln. BeStylish is currently the largest online shoe retail store in the Indian ecommerce space, having rapidly grown [...]

One of Russia’s hybrid brick and mortar and online consumer electronics and computer product retailers, Ulmart, has attracted the attention of the founders of Lenta, a prominent supermarket chain in the country. The resulting funding received by Ulmart is pegged at USD 70 mln, which may increase during the course of the year by USD [...]

The management team of Latvian DIY department store chain DEPO has just gone through a Management Buy-Out that transfers the 72 percent stake formerly held by BaltCap back into the hands of the management team. The MBO is being backed by ABLV Private Equity Fund and the move will allow the management team to develop [...]

Top League, one of Russia’s major players in the sports goods retail chain marketplace, has bagged a round of investment from VC fund CapMan, thorough their CapMan Russia unit. The investment will drive Top League’s Russia expansion plans at a speeded-up rate, and while CapMan will hold a significant minority stake, the remaining share of [...]

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 [...]

Leading Russian internet-centric VC firm Fast Lane Ventures has decided to sell its Shopping Live stake to Home Shopping Europe, a German company. Shopping Live was one of Fast Lane’s earliest and most successful portfolio companies to date, and marks Fast Lane’s second successful exit bid. Home Shopping Europe (www.hse24.de) Home Shopping Europe (HSE24)is a [...]

Turkish clothing store retail chain Fabeks Diş Ticaret has managed to bag a sizable investment from Saudi bank-funded Eastgate Capital. The 49.8 percent equity stake that was sold to Eastgate was completed via the latter’s MENA Direct Equity Fund. The funding will be used to expand Fabeks’s presence in Turkey, as well as additional target markets. The [...]

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 [...]

Istanbul based departmental store chain YKM’s announcement of a stake sale has attracted bid from global PE firm Carlyle. The firm has tied up with Turkish private equity investor Esas Holding AS for a 63-per cent stake of the retail chain operator. California based real-estate investor Colony Capital – in collaboration with local private equity [...]

Strategic Value Partners – a US based distressed assets investment specialist, has exited Polish personal care chain operator Polbita, five years after it had acquired Polbita’s parent company IWP International. The Polbita sale marks the third and final round of divestment of the IWP portfolio. The US alternative investment group had invested EUR 90 million [...]

Enterprise Investors (EI) has followed up with a EUR 10 mln investment in Profi Rom Foods thorough its Polish Enterprise Fund VI. The additional funding will be used to expand operations through new stores, as well as for acquiring smaller chain stores within Romania. Total investment by PEF VI in Profi now stands at EUR [...]

Polish company Emperia has shortlisted four private equity firms for the sale of its retail division. Potential investors include Advent International, Mid Europa Partners, Penta Investments and Doughty Hanson; Tesco and Carrefour are also interested in the acquisition, which is valued at USD 272 mln (PLN 900 mln). The deal follows an attempt by Emperia [...]

Russian investor Igor Yakovlev and PPF Group have come to an agreement for Yakovlev to sell his remaining shares, 50% minus 1 share) to PPF Group. PPF Group purchased 50% plus 1 share of the Russian electronics chain in 2009. The purchase has already been approved by the Russian regulators. Eldorado (www.eldorado.ru) Eldorado was founded [...]

Turkish discount retail chain A101 will begin accepting bids for the company around August 10, 2011. Several private equity funds, including Capital Group, TPG, and Permira, and Mid Europa Partners have all shown an interest in the sale. It is anticipated that the price will range between 800 and 1 billion Lira. A101 (www.a101.com.tr) A101 [...]

Goldas Jewelry has signed an agreement with GEM Global Yield Fund Ltd. And GEM Investments America, LLC for an equity line of credit valued at 60 million Turkish Lire. Goldas has been in negotiations with the fund since late 2010. Funds will be used to expand the company and must be used within 3 years. [...]