We open today with a bit of luxury, as private equity firm Permira takes a majority stake in Gruppo Florence, an integrated industrial platform serving the luxury industry, from VAM Investments.
Next, we take a look at Gyrus Capital’s acquisition of LRE Medical, a provider of analytical instruments to the life sciences industry, from AIS Global.
This week we also had a couple of industrials deals with a side of renewable energy, with Bridgepoint snapping up a majority stake in Windar Renowables, and Cube Infrastructure and Equitix jointly acquiring waste management and energy recovery company RiverRidge.
We’ve covered a lot of people news this week, and today is no different. Nordic Capital has appointed Mohit Agnihotri as a partner.
Life of luxury
Kicking off with some luxury goods. Funds advised by Permira agreed to acquire a majority stake in Gruppo Florence, an Italian industrial platform for the high-end luxury segment, from existing shareholders VAM Investments.
Founded in 2020, Milan-based Gruppo Florence offers services ranging from product development to production of high-end clothing, accessories, shoes and leather goods for luxury brands. The group generated revenues of more than €600 million in 2022.
Gruppo Florence is composed of 26 companies that bring differentiated capabilities across a broad range of product categories, according to a press release.
“The high interest we received from many entrepreneurs who spontaneously sought to join Gruppo Florence clearly demonstrates that the intuition of enhancing the consolidation of the Made in Italy luxury supply chain was a winning decision,” said Francesco Trapani, chairman of VAM Investments and Gruppo Florence. “We are ready now to partner with Permira for the second phase of Gruppo Florence’s growth.”
For more luxury sector coverage, you can read my round-up of deals in the segment here.
Diagnostics
Staying with the manufacturing theme, but over on healthcare. European investment firm Gyrus Capital has agreed to acquire LRE Medical from AIS Global.
Based in Nördlingen in Germany, LRE Medical is a provider engineering and manufacturing services for medical and life sciences equipment. Founded in 1961, the company employs more than 250 people and operates two sites in Germany.
AIS Global, headquartered in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, is a global designer and manufacturer of human-machine interface (HMI) for original equipment manufacturers in the medical, commercial, industrial and gaming end-markets. LRE has been part of AIS since 2004, and in 2019, AIS Global became a portfolio company of New York-based KPS Capital Partners.
“Near-patient testing enables rapid clinical decision making and improved patient outcomes while eliminating the logistics costs of traditional laboratory testing,” said Robert Watson, managing partner at Gyrus Capital. “These benefits to society are core theme within our healthcare investment strategy.”
Renewables
This week we also saw some industrials deals in the renewables segment. Bridgepoint, via Bridgepoint Europe VII, announced it will acquire a majority stake in Windar Renovables, a global manufacturer of towers and foundations for onshore and offshore wind turbines.
Windar is headquartered in Asturias, Spain. The company operates ten manufacturing plants located in Spain, Brazil, India, and Mexico. It was owned by Grupo Daniel Alonso and Siemens Gamesa since inception.
Siemens Gamesa will continue to be a strategic client for Windar in this next phase, according to a release.
(Note: Bridgepoint owns PEI Group, the publisher of PE Hub Europe.)
Over in the UK, Cube Infrastructure Managers and Equitix Investment Management have jointly completed the acquisition of a majority stake in RiverRidge Holdings, a waste management and energy recovery company in Northern Ireland.
RiverRidge is based in Belfast. The company, with around 280 employees, generated £60 million (€68.9 million; $74.45 million) in revenue in 2022.
BGF has exited its minority stake in RiverRidge as part of the transaction. BGF invested £16 million in the company since its first investment in 2016, according to a release.
“The investment in RiverRidge Holdings represents a unique opportunity for Cube to acquire an essential infrastructure asset in a new geographic location, with the embedded opportunity to pivot towards the generation of renewable energy from waste,” said Saket Trivedi, partner of Cube Infrastructure Managers.
Appointments
We’ve seen a flurry of people moves in the last couple of days. This morning, Nordic Capital announced the appointment of Mohit Agnihotri as a partner.
Agnihotri will become a member of Nordic Capital’s technology and payments team and will be based in London. He will also lead the team’s investment advisory activities in the US, alongside Greg Sheldon and other members of Nordic’s office in New York.
Agnihotri will also be responsible for Nordic Capital’s payments and fintech activities, according to a release.
Other people moves from the week include Extens appointing Albane Gayon as partner, Bridges Fund Management promoting Kyle Bentwood to partner, Permira naming David Floyd as senior adviser, Keensight Capital hiring Rafe Hafeez as M&A director and Verdane opening a new office in Munich and appointing Dominik Schwarz as a partner.
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