Overview

GartenHaus headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, is the online leader in the garden homes, sheds, saunas and related projects market in the DACH region. The business combines specialist trade product know-how with digital competence and offers a one-stop platform for customers – from planning to realisation and maintenance of their garden and home projects.

Founded in 2002, GartenHaus is a pure eCommerce player and has been the pioneer in selling garden homes directly to consumers.   

We see the business as the foundation to building the leading European platform for home and garden projects. The key focus is to develop the product range into adjacent categories, as well as to internationalise the business by expanding into neighbouring countries.

Highlights

• The home and garden market is expected to see online penetration double by 2025, generating market growth of c.13%
• GartenHaus generates 95% of its sales directly online with a high level of SEO traffic as a result of its strong content
• The business differentiates itself through its own product development, excellent customer service, and the management of complex logistics
• Only 70 days after 3i's acquisition, GartenHaus acquired Polhus, a leading online retailer of garden houses and related products in Scandinavia

Overview

Founded in 1982 and headquartered in the Netherlands, Hans Anders is a market leading, value-for-money optical retailer in North-West Europe. The company operates under the Hans Anders, eyes + more and Direkt Optik retail banners, and offers a range of private label and branded spectacles, hearing aids, contact lenses and sunglasses at average price points significantly below its major competitors.

Hans Anders is one of the most well-known optical retailers in its core markets, with a high level of brand awareness and customer loyalty that will benefit from long term macro-growth dynamics.

Highlights

• Leading and fast-growing optical retail platform that is exclusively focused on the growing value-for-money segment
• Acquired eyes + more in January 2019, expanding Hans Anders' European footprint to five countries
• Benefits from long-term, macro growth dynamics including an aging population and an increasing consumer focus on value-for-money
• Fragmented European optical retail market presents significant opportunities for growth
• Strengthened omnichannel position led to an increase of >100% of shop appointments made online, delivering a more valuable experience in-store, with zero waiting time, and better aligned staff planning.

Regulatory information 
This transaction involved a recommendation of 3i Investments plc, advised by 3i Benelux.

Overview

Havea Group is a leader in the Natural Consumer Healthcare industry in Europe. It manufactures, designs and distributes a wide range of products from functional and natural food supplements, to natural personal care products for babies and women through its world class plant in France. Havea is well positioned due to its multi-distribution channel strategy (pharma, mass market, D2C) and its 7 well-known strategic brands: Biolane, Vitavea, Nature Moi, Yves Ponroy, Aragan, Densmore and Dermovitamina. Havea has acquired 5 companies in the past 5 years to strengthen its presence in the pharmacy channel and internationally.

Since inception, Havea has grown at a double digit rate each year organically and is well positioned to benefit from the consolidation taking place in this highly fragmented market and will continue to expand its international footprint in Europe, Asia and the Americas.

Highlights

• Strong future organic growth expected stemming from global mega trends in natural healthcare and well-being
• Transitioned from a family-owned business with the nomination of a new management team including Nicolas Brodetsky, former CEO of Aragan
• Supporting the management team to implement a complete digital strategy
• Supporting M&A opportunities using our global network and strong experience which led to the acquisitions of Aragan within a few months of our ownership, Densmore in July 2018, Pasquali in Italy in April 2019, Laudavie in November 2020 and ixX pharma in Belgium in August 2021

Regulatory information 
This transaction involved a recommendation of 3i Investments plc, advised by 3i France.

Overview

Herambiente is the Italian leader in the waste treatment and disposal sector. The company owns and operates a portfolio of c.80 waste treatment facilities, mostly located in the Emilia Romagna. The plants include landfills, waste to energy plants, anaerobic digestion and other waste sorting facilities.

Herambiente’s revenues originate primarily from waste treatment and disposal and from sale of the resulting by-products, including electricity from incineration, biogas from landfills and recycled materials. In 2016, Herambiente treated c. 1.7m tons of urban waste, 4.7m tons of special waste and produced 161,455,167kWh of electricity.

Investment rationale

• Strong market position in its home region of Emilia Romagna and more broadly in Northern and Central Italy.
• The large plants portfolio provides technology diversification and exposure to increased recycling across Europe.
• The highly fragmented market offers significant consolidation opportunities.
• The expertise and environmental permits required to build new facilities provide significant barriers to entry.

Regulatory information 
This transaction involved a recommendation of 3i Investments plc.

Overview

Infinis is the largest generator of electricity from landfill gas in the UK, with a portfolio of 121 landfill sites and total installed capacity of over 300MW.

Recent developments

The business has performed well operationally and financially since our acquisition in December 2016, although long-term power price forecasts have decreased. As expected in our investment case, Infinis was a strong contributor to the Company’s income in the period, counter-balancing some other growth-orientated businesses in the portfolio.

Good progress has been made identifying opportunities to exploit the business’s spare engine and grid connection capacity. Together with the management team, we are reviewing projects in non-landfill gas generation activities, with 30MW of reserve power generation now under development. The Company has agreed to provide further equity of £12 million to support these projects.

In August 2017, Infinis appointed Tony Cocker as Chairman of the Board and Scott Longhurst as Non-executive Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee. Tony was previously CEO of E.ON UK. Scott is currently Group Finance Director at AWG and Managing Director of AWG’s non-regulated business.

In March 2018, 3i Infrastructure plc announced a follow-on investment of c. £125 million to fund Infinis’s acquisition of Alkane Energy, an independent power generator from both coal mine methane and Reserve Power operations and the largest generator from CMM in the UK.

Regulatory information 
This transaction involved a recommendation of 3i Investments plc.

Overview

Ionisos is a leading owner and operator of cold sterilisation facilities servicing the medical, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries.  Established in 1993 in Civrieux, France, Ionisos is the third largest cold sterilisation provider globally and operates a network of 11 facilities in Europe with market leading positions in France and Spain. It has over 200 employees and a highly diversified customer base of more than 1,000 customers.

Ionisos delivers a mission-critical, non-discretionary service for the medical, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries for whom cold sterilisation is an essential component of the manufacturing process. It is typically applied to single use products that would be damaged by the heat and/or humidity of hot sterilisation methods.

Investment Rationale

3i Infrastructure acquired Ionisos in September 2019, having committed to invest in July 2019.

• Diversification of 3i Infrastructure’s sector exposure and increased presence in the French market
• Sound market fundamentals with non-cyclical drivers, including an ageing population in Western Europe
• Growing demand for healthcare services increasingly relying on single use medical equipment
• Increasingly stringent regulation governing the sterilisation of medical, pharmaceutical and cosmetics products
• High barriers to entry
• Platform potential with growth opportunities organically and through M&A

Overview

JMJ Associates is a US-headquartered, leading, global safety training and consulting firm with a focus on supporting multinational companies with complex capital programmes and operations. The business works with clients to significantly enhance their workplace safety and their project and organisational team performance through behavioural and cultural transformation.

JMJ has a substantial international presence and future growth will come from its strong underlying end-markets, the increasing complexity and size of major capital projects, rising global spending on workplace safety and continued growth in the utilisation of external expertise in safety and project execution services.

Highlights

• Via our Business Leaders Network we introduced Pete Regan, who has unique experience in consulting and safety businesses, as Chairman
• Moved to a full partnership structure in 2015
• Using our international network to identify and support further growth opportunities

Regulatory information 
This transaction involved a recommendation of 3i Corporation, a US wholly owned subsidiary of 3i Group.

Overview

Joulz is a leading owner and provider of essential energy infrastructure equipment and services in the Netherlands. It leases essential energy infrastructure equipment and meters to a large and diversified customer base of industrial, commercial and public sector customers. It has two business units: Infrastructure Services and Metering.

The Infrastructure Services business owns and leases medium voltage electricity infrastructure such as transformers, switchgear and cables under long-term contracts. The Metering business owns and leases approximately 50,000 electricity and gas meters for non-household customers under medium term contracts.

Investment Rationale

3i Infrastructure acquired Joulz in April 2019, having committed to invest in March 2019.

• Strong established asset base as well as good potential for growth
• Joulz is set to benefit from the Dutch government’s commitment to decarbonise the economy (the ‘Energy Transition’)
• The Energy Transition is expected to increase electricity consumption and demand for Joulz’s equipment and services
• 3i Infrastructure has relevant experience from investing in the Netherlands and previous investments in the electricity and leasing sectors

Regulatory information 
This transaction involved a recommendation of 3i Investments plc.

Overview

Luqom Group is the #1 vertically-integrated online retailer of lighting products in Europe. It is headquartered in Germany, from where it distributes own-brand and third party products to customers all over Europe through 27 country-specific online shops.

Luqom Group differentiates itself from its competitors through an extensive range of 50,000 products, broad and differentiated product assortment, in-depth product knowledge, excellent customer service and high product availability. The company generated >€230m of sales in 2020, of which ~60% came from outside Germany. Luqom has grown strongly in the DACH region as well as internationally, through a steady roll-out across European countries in recent years.

Highlights

• Via our Business Leaders Network we appointed Jochen Wilms, a seasoned expert in both the building supply and online industries
• Supporting the business to further strengthen its position in Germany and further penetrate existing and additional international markets
• We also introduced the operational Venture Capital fund Project A Ventures as minority investor to further improve Lampenwelt’s best-in-class digital capabilities
• Acquired Netherlands-based QLF / Lampenlicht, the leading player in the Benelux region, in July 2019 as well as Lampemesteren, the leading online retailer for premium lighting products in the Nordics, in March 2021

Regulatory information 
This transaction involved a recommendation of 3i Investments plc, advised by 3i Germany.

Overview

Magnitude's mission is to help companies turn their core business data into continuous intelligence, providing actionable insights to shorten the path from data to decision. It enables its customers to connect data across enterprise applications and business processes including supply chain, finance, manufacturing and distribution. 1,300 enterprises around the world trust Magnitude to put the power of their data into the hands of their business users. 

The company has a portfolio of best-in-class products to integrate fragmented data and deliver actionable insights for critical business decisions, including:

• Magnitude Angles: A process analytics suite that provides business reporting and analytics from SAP and Oracle ERP data that shorten the path from data to decision, giving business users the power to act swiftly and decisively across supply chain, finance, manufacturing and distribution
• Magnitude Process Runner: A process automation tool that lets knowledge workers manage SAP data and automate complex data transactions directly from Microsoft Excel, improving productivity and reducing human error
• Magnitude SourceConnect: A data integration solution to help businesses migrate to SAP's Central Finance Foundation platform by providing transaction replication and master data harmonisation from 15 third-party ERP platforms
• Magnitude Simba: A data connectivity platform that allows enterprises and software vendors to access data from sources including leading SaaS applications, big data platforms, payment processing systems and cloud data warehouses 

We invested in Magnitude in 2019 and look to accelerate its global growth ambitions through new product development, investments in sales & marketing, and additional M&A. 

Highlights

• Headquartered in Texas with global operations in the US, Canada, the Netherlands, UK and India
• Growth tailwinds in data analytics and management sector, driven by need for enterprises to become "data-driven" to speed insights and decision-making 
• Focus on innovation and new product development, with a number of recent new product launches
• Refreshed brand identity and digital presence, enhanced go-to-market capabilities and new executives driving organic growth and increased pace of innovation

Regulatory information 
This transaction involved a recommendation of 3i Corporation, a US wholly owned subsidiary of 3i Group.

Overview

MAIT Group is a leading provider of innovative and pioneering digital solutions in the DACH region.  Headquartered in Rottweil, Germany, MAIT focuses on software and hardware in product lifecycle management (“PLM”), enterprise resource planning (“ERP”) and IT services generating approx. €120m in sales per annum.

The business develops and implements solutions in close cooperation with their over 5,300 SME customers. As a value-added reseller, MAIT uses the most innovative technologies from market-leading PLM, ERP and IT providers such as Siemens, PTC, SAP-PLM, abas, Comarch, HP and Fujitsu.

Highlights

• Differentiates itself by looking at digitisation in a holistic way and developing tailored solutions in partnership with its customers.
• High level of recurring revenues driven by multi-year maintenance and IT infrastructure contracts.
• Operates in an attractive market which is expected to continue to grow considerably; medium-sized companies in particular are investing significantly in digital transformation in order to make their processes more efficient and effective.
• Demand for PLM, ERP and IT is expected to grow by around 8% annually in the coming years, driven by megatrends such as IoT and Industry 4.0.
• Kamy Niroumand, former Chief Sales Officer at T-Systems and current Chairman of HR management software provider P&I, will join the Advisory Board as Chairman.
• Strong M&A track record and further consolidation opportunities in a fragmented market.

Regulatory information 
This transaction involved a recommendation of 3i Investments plc, advised by 3i Germany.

Overview

MPM is an international leader in branded, premium, natural pet food. The business owns leading pet food brands such as Applaws, Encore and Reveal and differentiates itself through its high quality, human-grade products, its natural, clean-label ingredients and its “cat first” proposition.

MPM is a certified B-Corp and its loyal customer base places great importance on its sustainable sourcing and recyclable packaging. Headquartered in Manchester, UK, MPM has an established presence in the UK, EMEA and APAC with a fast-growing business in North America resulting in international sales now accounting for more than 70% of revenues.

The market has proven resilient through economic downturns and Covid-19, with pet ownership increasing amongst a highly engaged and loyal community for whom pets are seen as family members.

Highlights

• The premium wet cat food market is large and is forecast to continue to grow at c.7% p.a.
• MPM fits well with our desire to invest in strong mid-market businesses where we see significant headroom to accelerate international expansion
• We invested £125m alongside management for a majority stake in this rapidly growing, resilient business
• Strong relationships with key retailers across pet specialist, grocery and online channels

Overview

Oystercatcher is the holding company through which 3i Infrastructure plc holds 45% interests in five subsidiaries of Oiltanking, located in Belgium, Malta, the Netherlands and Singapore. These businesses provide over five million cubic metres of oil, petroleum and other oil-related storage facilities and associated services to a broad range of clients, including private and state oil companies, refiners, petrochemical companies and traders.

Recent developments

The five terminals all performed well in the period, generating EBITDA in line with or ahead of budgeted levels. Each terminal enjoys a strong position in its market and benefits from Oiltanking’s reputation for excellent service standards. Capacity at each location remains substantially let.

In Singapore, favourable conditions underpin the terminal’s key activity, which is gasoline storage and provision of associated services. During the period, a new marine jetty entered operation. This additional jetty capacity will improve customer turnaround times and further cement the competitive position of the terminal.

Customer demand for capacity generally remains strong, but we have seen some softening of demand for storage of certain product types.

Regulatory information 
This transaction involved a recommendation of 3i Investments plc.

Overview

Q Holding is a leading global manufacturer of highly-engineered, fully assembled medical devices and precision-molded elastomeric components used in a broad range of Life Sciences (medical and pharmaceutical) and Electrical Management (industrial, automotive and aerospace) applications. Headquartered in Ohio, it sells products in over 50 countries and has 13 manufacturing locations in North America, EMEA and Asia.

Q Holding has built a strong reputation as the supplier of choice to provide high-quality mission critical components for medical and harsh environment applications. It has developed longstanding relationships with a broad range of blue-chip customers who value Q’s ability to design and develop customized solutions and manufacture globally.

Highlights

• Acquisitions of Degania Medical (Dec. 2016), a leading global manufacturer of catheters and other medical devices and Silicone Altimex (July 2015), a silicone provider of medical device components and pharmaceutical assemblies
• Strong organic growth driven by favorable trends in medical (preference for minimally invasive therapies) and industrial / auto (content growth, connectivity, IoT) end markets
• Global manufacturing footprint aligned with customers. New facilities in Mexico, supporting investments in Europe, China and India
• Experienced management team with longstanding track record of driving innovation in product and service offering

Regulatory information 
Regulatory information: This transaction involved a recommendation of 3i Corporation, a US wholly owned subsidiary of 3i Group.

Overview

Formed in 2007, Regional Rail provides freight transportation, car storage, and transloading services in New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware across three railroads and over 155 miles of track connecting to a diversified Class 1 railroad network.

In 2018, the company moved over 13,000 carloads while serving over 70 customers across a diversified set of end-user markets including heating, fuel blending, agriculture, chemicals, and metals. The company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Diamondback Signal, is the premier provider of rail-crossing installation and maintenance services to over 100 short-line rail customers across 20 states.

In October 2019, Regional Rail acquired Pinsly Railroad Company’s Florida operations adding 208 miles of track across three short-line railroads.

Investment rationale

• Essential service provider with high barriers to entry - irreplaceable track infrastructure with direct access to key customer facilities and multiple Class I railroad connections.
• Premium geography in the Northeast U.S. - located at the centre of a densely populated corridor within the New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington DC metro areas.
• Freight revenue is largely generated from local consumption tied to these attractive end markets.
• Strong freight revenue growth of >9% p.a. since 2013.
• Attractive platform for consolidation as short-line rail space is ripe for consolidation; acquisition of Pinsly Railroad Company’s Florida operations in October 2019.

Regulatory information 
This transaction involved a recommendation of 3i Corporation, a US wholly owned subsidiary of 3i Group.

Overview

Royal Sanders is a leading European private label and contract manufacturing producer in the health & beauty category. Its key geographies are the Benelux, Germany, France and the UK with plants in the Netherlands (Vlijmen and Zeewolde), the UK (Bradford) and Belgium (Ieper).

Main product categories include shampoo, bath and shower gels, body lotions, hand wash and nutritional supplements. The company sells its products through private label, contract manufacturing and own brands including Van Gils, Sanicur and Odorex.

3i is investing alongside management to drive the company’s international growth strategy.

Highlights 

• Demonstrated a consistent and strong track record of profitable organic growth over the past 10 years, significantly outgrowing the market
• Completed three add-on acquisitions since 2018
• Production footprint expanded from two to four locations in the Netherlands, Belgium and the UK
• Differentiates itself through its focus on quality, innovation, sustainability and service, longstanding relationships with key customers and superior operational capabilities at its state-of-the-art facilities
• Ready to continue consolidation in a fragmented industry with multiple potential buy-and-build opportunities across a variety of geographies

Regulatory information 
This transaction involved a recommendation of 3i Investments plc, advised by 3i Benelux.