h3. London (UK), Silicon Valley (US), 24 July, 2008. – Kennet Partners, the technology growth equity investor, today announced the closing of its third fund, Kennet III, at over €200 million ($315 million).
Kennet, with offices in London and Silicon Valley, invests in technology segments including software, IT services, semiconductors, and new media.
Kennet III will continue the current strategy of investing in later-stage technology businesses in Europe and the US. The emphasis has long been on growth equity financings and recapitalizations of businesses which are founder-managed and have been developed without significant external capital.
Kennet invests in the US and Europe from a single fund, providing its portfolio companies with unparalleled support as they expand across borders.
“High-growth European technology companies often need to succeed in the US to become global market leaders. Our fund structure and US team can be a significant competitive advantage for our portfolio companies,” said Michael Elias, Kennet Managing Director.
The Kennet investment portfolio has included some of the most successful growth companies and some of the highest-value private company exits in the technology industry. These have included Paragon Software (acquired by Openwave), Altitun (acquired by ADC for approximately $1 billion), Cramer Systems (acquired by Amdocs), Chipidea (acquired by MIPS), Consul (acquired by IBM), and Adviva Media (acquired by Specific Media).
Two investments from the Kennet III fund have already been announced. The first was a €7 million financing of Telemedicine Clinic, the market leader in the provision of sub-specialized teleradiology services to public and private healthcare providers across Europe.
The second, announced in June, was a €22 million recapitalization and investment led by Kennet into NTRglobal, a leading provider of on-demand systems management software. These companies join Kennet’s extensive portfolio of businesses with recurring revenue models in a range of high-growth vertical markets.
“Kennet’s growth equity strategy is well-timed for the US market, where bootstrapped, founder-led businesses are underserved, since the majority of investment capital is targeted at early-stage venture deals or large buyouts,” adds Javier Rojas, Kennet Managing Director, Silicon Valley.
"We are delighted to support Kennet Partners in their third and largest fund to date." said Mark Regal, a Director in Credit Suisse's Customized Fund Investment Group. "Kennet’s focus on growth equity in both Europe and US resonates well with Credit Suisse and we believe that this focus on later- stage, capital-efficient businesses is particularly interesting in the current market environment.”
“We are delighted to be working with the quality of investors that have joined us in Kennet III. Technology growth equity was virtually unheard of in Europe when we started, and the support we have received from investors is a result of the recognition of the potential of this asset class,” said Michael Elias.
Investors in Kennet III include Access Capital Partners, Adveq, Alpha Associates, BNP Paribas Private Equity, Capital Dynamics, Crédit Agricole Asset Management Capital Investors, Credit Suisse, European Investment Fund, Finama, LGT Capital Partners and Siemens.
h2. About Kennet Partners
Kennet Partners is a leading international private equity firm that invests in growth companies providing information technology products and business services that leverage technology. Kennet offers expansion capital to businesses that want to accelerate growth and build exceptional shareholder value in partnership with an experienced investor. Kennet Partners acts as an advisor to Kennet I, a Jersey-based fund and to Kennet II and Kennet III, both Guernsey-based funds. Kennet Partners is authorized and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. For more information: www.kennet.com
h3. NTRglobal is a leading provider of on-demand remote support and IT management solutions
Significant Funding Fuels NTRglobal’s Sales Growth in Europe, the US and Asia
Barcelona (Spain), June 19th, 2008.- NTRglobal, Europe’s largest pure-play vendor of software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions to enterprise, today announced a €22 million investment round led by Kennet Partners, joined by Atlas Venture and existing investors Debaeque and Elaia Partners.
NTRglobal will use the new funding to fuel sales growth among the Global 2000 and small and midsized businesses (SME) in Europe, North America, the UK, Japan and China, as well as to accelerate the roll-out of a new generation of SaaS IT automation solutions to be launched later this year.
NTRglobal provides enterprise-grade, on-demand solutions for remote support, IT collaboration and IT administration. Enterprises of all sizes use NTRglobal to support employees, customers and partners over the Internet. This allows businesses to reduce IT maintenance costs significantly, and enables service providers to extend their reach and improve customer service.
According to market research firm IDC, clientless remote support software and remote access solutions are among the fastest-growing segments of the infrastructure software market, with CAGRs of 20% and 34% respectively.
Accelerating growth drivers in this market include the increased mobilisation of workforces, the growing popularity of outsourcing IT functions, the proliferation of devices that require remote support and security, and the desire by corporations to reduce their energy consumption and carbon footprint.
"This investment is important to NTRglobal, not only as a vote of confidence in the way we do business, but because the additional capital solidifies our ability to serve corporate and institutional clients around the world," said Luis Font, CEO and co-founder of NTRglobal.
"We are very excited about the prospects of NTRglobal. The company has established an exceptional market position, and has assembled one of the strongest management teams we have seen," said Maximilian Bleyleben, Managing Director of Kennet Partners.
"NTRglobal is a classic growth equity investment for Kennet – an established business, fast-growing and capital-efficient, with a global market opportunity. As such it is a prime example of the new breed of top-quality, home-grown technology companies to emerge from Europe."
As part of the investment, Maximilian Bleyleben from Kennet and Fred Destin from Atlas Venture will join the Board of NTRglobal.
h2. About Kennet Partners
Kennet Partners is a leading international private equity firm that invests in growth companies providing information technology products and business services that leverage technology. Kennet provides expansion capital to businesses that want to accelerate growth and build exceptional shareholder value in partnership with an experienced investor. With approximately $600 million in funds under management, and working from offices in London and Silicon Valley, the Kennet team actively supports its portfolio companies as they expand their operations internationally. Kennet Partners acts as an advisor to Kennet I, a Jersey-based fund and to Kennet II and Kennet III, both Guernsey-based funds. Kennet Partners is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
For more information, visit https://www.kennet.com
h2. About Atlas Venture
Atlas Venture is a leading early-stage international venture capital firm that invests in technology and life sciences businesses in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Since inception in 1980, its partners have helped build over 300 companies in more than 16 different countries. In the past decade, 44 portfolio companies have been acquired and 47 are now public companies with an aggregate market capitalization of over $15 billion. Atlas Venture manages over $2.5 billion in capital through offices in Boston, London, Munich, and Paris.
For more information, visit http://www.atlasventure.com
h2. About NTRglobal
More than 12,000 companies in 60 countries rely on NTRglobal’s enterprise-grade software-as-a-service (SaaS) and self-hosted solutions to make IT simpler™ and more cost-effective to manage the mobile workforce and extended enterprise. NTRglobal’s growing portfolio of enterprise-grade SaaS now includes: NTRadmin™ for secure remote systems management, NTRadmin BOTS™ for simplifying IT task automation and NTRsupport™ for on-demand help desk and instant remote technical support.
SaaS from NTRglobal combines award-winning functionality, proven integration with Salesforce.com and other major CRM systems, point-and-click administration and scalability, global capabilities, customization and robust reporting for 360-degree visibility and compliance management. Offering a superior customer experience with dedicated regional and global support, NTRglobal applications are offered in 15 languages, including those with double-byte characters. All NTRglobal applications are hosted from 11 secure data centers around the world which operate with fail-over capabilities to ensure speed of service and reliability.
More information can be found on the NTRglobal website: http://www.ntrglobal.com
h3. Press Contacts
KENNET PARTNERS
Maximilian Bleyleben, Managing Director +44 (0)20 7839 8020
Su Johnston, PR contact - sjohnston@kennet.com
ATLAS VENTURE
Fred Destin - +44 (0)20 7529 4467 ymechtouf@atlasventure.com
NTR GLOBAL
Heidi Wieland, PR Manager +1 805 722 7413 pr@ntrglobal.com
Luis Font, CEO +34 93 445 07 00
h3. New Entity Offers UK Brand Advertisers Opportunity to Deliver Targeted Ads with Scale and Accuracy
Irvine, Calif. and London – March 12, 2008 – Specific Media, the largest independent online advertising network, today announced a definitive agreement to acquire all the assets of Adviva, a leading display advertising network in the United Kingdom. The combination of Specific Media and Adviva in the UK gives brand advertisers an opportunity to combine massive reach with every method of targeting to produce the results they are looking to achieve. The Adviva acquisition marks Specific Media’s entry into the European market, giving the company a strong start on global expansion. The deal closed this week for an undisclosed amount.
With $5 billion in online advertising revenues in 2007 according to eMarketer, the UK is the largest European advertising market. Adviva's broad network of brand-friendly content driven websites reaches more than 21.3 million unique UK internet users. Post-acquisition the combined companies will become the fourth largest ad network in the UK reaching 25.9 million unique UK users.
"Specific Media has anonymous data on 365 million consumers globally and the acquisition of Adviva gives us the opportunity to utilize the European portion of that data," said Tim Vanderhook, co-founder and CEO of Specific Media. "Specific Media chose to partner with Adviva because it had a compelling value proposition of brand advertisers, quality publishers and a tremendous team that are enthusiastic about the opportunities in front of us."
Specific Media is the only advertising network offering brand advertisers a complete targeting solution that combines demographic, behavioral, contextual, and geographic methods. The company currently works with more than 300 of Fortune 500 brands including seven of the top 10. Following the acquisition, Adviva’s London office will become Specific Media’s European headquarters. The acquisition of Adviva brings the total employee count for Specific Media to close to 200.
"Specific Media and Adviva have a great deal in common already and the new synergies will further benefit our advertisers and publishers," said Todd Treusdell, co-founder and CEO of Adviva, who will stay onboard as Specific Media’s Managing Director, European Operations. "Now reaching nearly 80 percent of consumers in the US and the UK, Specific Media gives publishers and advertisers an attractive alternative to the large, publicly-held players in the industry."
h2. About Specific Media
Specific Media, the advertising industry's fastest-growing interactive media company, enables advertisers to target consumers based on demographics, behaviors, geographic locations and/or the contextual relevance of websites visited. Specific Media works with many of the Fortune 500 brands including seven of the top 10 companies. Specific Media’s network reaches more than 140 million U.S. monthly unique users and includes more than 450 premier brands such as: ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, ESPN, Major League Baseball, Sportsline.com, USA Today and VIACOM.
For additional information, visit http://www.specificmedia.com
Kennet Partners Limited, a leading international growth equity investor focused on the technology sector, announced today that it has promoted Evan Frank to the position of Director.
Evan joined Kennet as an Associate in the London office in 2005. At Kennet he has focused on European deal origination and transaction development in the technology services, software and digital media industries. Prior to joining Kennet, Evan worked at Jefferies Broadview in New York. During his time at Jefferies Broadview, he worked extensively in the technology services and software industries, assisting with several public and private M&A and capital markets transactions. Evan holds a BBA degree from the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business.
Michael Elias, Managing Director at Kennet Partners said: "Evan has contributed significantly to Kennet over the last two years and he was closely involved in our recently completed investment in Telemedicine Clinic in Spain. Evan's strong experience in the technology sector in Europe and the US makes him a natural fit for the Kennet investment team."
Evan will continue to be based in the firm's London office. As Kennet commences the investment of its third fund, Kennet III, it has also hired two new Associates, one in London and one based in the firm's Silicon Valley office.
Kennet Partners is a leading international private equity firm that invests in growth companies providing information technology products and business services that leverage technology. Kennet provides expansion capital to businesses that want to accelerate growth and build exceptional shareholder value in partnership with an experienced investor. Kennet Partners acts as an advisor to Kennet I, a Jersey-based fund and to Kennet II and Kennet III, both Guernsey-based funds. Kennet Partners is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
For more information: www.kennet.com
Kennet Partners, a leading international growth equity investor focused on the technology sector, is pleased to announce the first investment from its new fund, Kennet III L.P. Kennet has led a €7m financing of European Telemedicine Clinic ('TMC'), the European market leader in the provision of sub-specialized teleradiology services to public and private healthcare providers.
Teleradiology involves the transmission of digitised diagnostic images - such as x-rays, MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scans and CT/PET scans - to a remote location for interpretation by certified radiologists. In recent years, demand for advanced diagnostic scans has increased significantly, leading to long waiting times for patients and highlighting a shortage of specialized radiologists in many countries.
As a result, hospitals are looking to teleradiology to provide access to sub-specialty diagnostic services, and to achieve their objective of reducing patient waiting times. TMC was one of the first European providers of teleradiology services and is currently the leader in the UK and Europe.
According to Frost & Sullivan, some 91 million digital radiography exams took place in Europe in 2006, a figure that is expected to grow to 198 million by 2010, with most of the increase coming from the so-called complex modalities - MRI and CT/PET. It is estimated that in the most advanced European markets for teleradiology - the UK, Spain and Scandinavia - less than 4% of these exams are currently being interpreted remotely. Evidence from more mature markets, such as the US, indicates that up to 20% of diagnostic exams will eventually be reported remotely.
TMC was founded in 2001 by David Backstom and Henrik Agrell in Barcelona, Spain. Today, more than 80 experienced radiologists work for TMC. From the company's centralized reading facility in Barcelona, a large base of UK radiologists serve the UK market. The company also provides European hospitals with on-call ('nighthawking') services from Sydney, Australia. TMC pioneered the establishment of new quality and control processes for remote reading centers, and as a result the company is considered a quality leader in this market.
"What impressed us about TMC's management was the speed with which they established the company as both the quality and volume leader in the market. TMC is setting the standard for sub-specialty radiology services in Europe today. We are delighted to support the TMC team as they cement their position in the global market for telemedicine services," said Maximilian Bleyleben of Kennet Partners.
"The timing of Kennet's investment could not be better for TMC. With Kennet on board, TMC will further accelerate its growth and presence in the UK and other geographic markets and to develop new service offerings. Our growing sub-specialty expertise with the most advanced imaging modalities, such as CT/PET, will enable us to remain a pioneering provider of telemedicine services to hospitals worldwide," said David Backstom of TMC.
Maximilian Bleyleben of Kennet will join the board of directors of TMC. The company was advised in this financing round by GBS Finanzas of Madrid.
As part of this financing, earlier investors Active Capital Partners (ACP) and Inversions en Innovacio a Catalunya, F.C.R. (Invernova) achieved a partial exit for their shareholdings. Invernova was the first institutional investor in TMC in 2004.
Telemedicine Clinic is based in Barcelona and provides diagnostic services in radiology for public hospitals and private healthcare providers in the United Kingdom and Scandinavia. The diagnostics are provided in the native language of the hospital and are always double-read by two specialists. Today Telemedicine Clinic is the largest centre in teleradiology and the largest diagnostic centre in MRI in Europe with 80 specialist radiologists working from seven European countries.
For more information, visit www.telemedicineclinic.com
Kennet Partners is a leading international private equity firm that invests in growth companies providing information technology products and business services that leverage technology. Kennet provides expansion capital to businesses that want to accelerate growth and build exceptional shareholder value in partnership with an experienced investor. Kennet Partners acts as an advisor to Kennet I, a Jersey-based fund and to Kennet II and Kennet III, both Guernsey-based funds. Kennet Partners is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
For more information, visit www.kennet.com
ACP, advisor to MCI (Molins Capital inversion S.C.R. S.A.), makes minority investments in companies requiring startup or expansion capital. ACP invests between €500,000 and €3,000,000 per transaction and also co-invests in larger opportunities. ACP's investment style is characterised by its independence, how its partners complement the management teams they back, its entrepreneurial shareholder base and its network of advisers, consultants and specialists, who enable ACP to add value to its investments.
For more information, visit www.acpvc.com
Kennet Partners Ltd ("Kennet"), a leading international growth equity firm focused on the technology sector, today announces the sale of its stake in portfolio company Chipidea Microelectronica S.A. ("Chipidea") to MIPS Technologies Inc. ("MIPS Technologies"). The sale was part of the acquisition of 100% of the shares in Chipidea by MIPS for $147m in cash plus an additional performance-based payment of up to 610,687 MIPS common shares.
Kennet invested in Chipidea in May 2005 when it led a €12 million financing of the business.
Chipidea is the world's leading independent supplier of analog and mixed signal intellectual property (IP) for the wireless, digital consumer and connectivity markets. The company licenses analog and mixed-signal technologies for use in a variety of end-user devices including digital media players and wireless handsets. Within the last five years, Chipidea has grown its customer base from 20 to more than 150 - including 13 of the world's top 15 semiconductor companies.
Chipidea had a number of characteristics which made it an ideal investment from Kennet's perspective. Kennet emphasizes capital efficiency in the companies it backs and Chipidea had a track record of growth that was largely self-financed prior to Kennet's investment. Kennet was Chipidea's first international institutional investor. In addition, the May 2005 financing blended both new capital for business expansion and the purchase of equity from existing shareholders - another Kennet hallmark.
Kennet Managing Director Michael Elias joined Chipidea's board at the time of the 2005 financing and remained a director of the company until it was acquired by MIPS.
Mr Elias said: "The acquisition of Chipidea by MIPS Technologies is a testament to the quality of its products, its team and the company's leading market position. Founders Jose Franca, Carlos Azeredo Leme and Joao Vital have done a terrific job building this business and I am certain that within MIPS Technologies, the company will continue to prosper."
Kennet Partners is a leading international private equity firm that invests in growth companies providing information technology products and business services that leverage technology. Kennet provides expansion capital to businesses that want to accelerate growth and build exceptional shareholder value in partnership with an experienced investor. Kennet Partners acts as an advisor to Kennet I, a Jersey-based fund and to Kennet II and Kennet III, both Guernsey-based funds. Kennet Partners is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
For more information: www.kennet.com