Active PE deal summer in the Nordics despite COVID-19 effects

• KPMG PE Data Snapshot returns from the summer break. It is positive to notice that the PE deal environment in the Nordics has been active despite the Corona situation. June deal count was at the highest level together with March 2020 in the last 12 month horizon. In July the market quitened for summer break, however reaching roughly the same level as the previous year.
• Nordic aggregate three-month rolling deal count level came to  95%, whereas the Finnish deals totaled 86%. The Finnish market was very active in June, whereas in July the number Finnish deals was the lowest within the last 12 months.

• CapMan establishes a Special Situations investment fund focused on underperforming or non-core businesses, supporting them through financial restructuring and operational turnaround. The investment focus is primarily in Finnish companies that are facing a financial restructuring, an operational turnaround or a carve-out situation.  Typical investment ticket is EUR 10-20M, though individual investments can be up to EUR 40M.
• Priveq Investment, a Nordic lower mid-market growth and buyout investor, has closed its sixth fund, Priveq Investment VI, at SEK 2.5bn. The fund was oversubscribed with strong backing from existing investors and also interest from new European and North American institutional investors.

• Pilke Päiväkodit Oy, a Finnish private daycare operator, was sold to Læringsverkstedet, a Norway-based family company. Since 2012, the main owner of Pilke has been the Finnish private equity investor Korona Invest. During Korona Invest’s ownership, Pilke’s net sales have risen from EUR 1.5M  to almost EUR 100M.
• PHM Group, majority owned by a fund managed by Norvestor, signed an agreement to acquire Kotikatu Holding Oy from Vaaka Partners. Kotikatu is a leading residential property maintenance services provider in Finland. The combined group is expanding rapidly and is approaching EUR 250M in revenues. The transaction is subject to approval from the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority and is expected to close during Q3 2020.
• Swappie, a Helsinki-based refurbished electronics marketplace, has raised a $40M Series B round from Tesi, as well as existing investors Lifeline Ventures, Reaktor Ventures, and Inventure, all of which participated also in Swappie’s $5.6M Series A in 2019.

Private Equity Data Snapshot compiles monthly deal volume data from Finland and the Nordics. Read our older Private Equity Data Snapshots.