Industry Expertise

Tigenix is a biomedical company that focuses on regenerative medicine to develop durable treatments for damaged and osteoarthritic joints. ChondroCelect, the company’s lead product for cartilage regeneration in the knee, is the first cell-based product that successfully completed the entire development track from research, over clinical development to central European registration as a medicinal product.

ThromboGenics is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of innovative medicines for the treatment of eye disease, vascular disease and cancer. The Company's lead product microplasmin is in Phase III clinical development for the nonsurgical treatment of back of the eye diseases.

Cardio3 Biosciences is a Belgian bio-medical company focused on cellular therapy for heart tissues.

Solvay Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Solvay, the chemical and pharmaceutical group, launched a voluntary conditional cash tender offer on the shares of Innogenetics, the Ghent-based biotechnological company. After a counterbid launched by Gen-Probe, a US-based competitor, Solvay increased its offer price eventually launching a successful offer.

Devgen is an innovator in biotechnology focused on discovering, developing and commercializing a a novel generation of biotech products in crop protection and novel therapeutic concepts and preclinical drug candidates for treatment of metabolic disease and inflammation.

Mitiska is a holding company with a number of participations in the retail sector. The company was listed on Euronext Brussels and its reference shareholder, Boston NV was considering launching a voluntary public take-over bid on the company capital.

MG Finances is a leading Belgian women clothing retailer. The Group operates 2 networks comprising a total of 85 stores in the Belux and France under the names Cassis (52 stores) and Paprika (33 stores). The Company was taken over in a LBO by Mitiska and Sofindev acquiring a majority participation along with the management of MG Finances.

The reference shareholders of Brantano, a shoe retailer with operations in the Belux, the UK and the Middle East, expressed their intention to find a partner to realize a Public-to-Private transaction. In October 2007, Macintosh Retail Group announced they were making a voluntary and conditional bid for the full share capital of Brantano.

Shopinvest acquired exclusive control over SCF, holding company of retailer E5 Mode, by buying out Sofinim's stake and subsequently launched a public takeover bid on the remaining shares of SCF.

Club, a Belgian retail chain specialized in books and stationery, and Proxis, Belgium's main website for the sale of books and multimedia products, were sold to Distripar, a company owned by CNP, for EUR 21,6 million.

La Corbeille Groep, a family-owned Belgian producer of shelf stable food products, was approached by a potential industrial partner. After an extensive process with several industrial groups, the company was sold to Bonduelle of France.

Dossche is a privately owned business, active in the agro-food industry. The group achieved a turnover (2007) of more than €250-million, employing more then 1000 employees located over 12 manufacturing sites in Belgium, France and Poland. One of its Group members, Dossche Mills & Bakery, is currently one of the largest millers in Europe as well as a major manufacturer of bakery ingredients, flour products and derived wheat products. Dossche Mills & Bakery was owned for more than 99% by Dossche Invest. In 2007, Dossche Invest decided to simplify the family structure and to start a squeeze-out procedure of the minority shareholders in Dossche Mills & Bakery.

Pinguin is a deep-frozen vegetable specialist with a product offering ranging from freshly frozen and cooled basic vegetables to deep-frozen culinary, ready-made meals, soups and sauces. In 2007, the Company acquired Lutosa, a producer of potato-based products, and decided to increase its capital through a rights issue.

Spontin, a business unit of Bru-Chevron, itself a subsidiary of Spadel was sold for an undisclosed consideration to a consortium of Dutch private investors under the form of an asset deal. Spontin operates a bottling production facility located in the Walloon Region and exploits four water springs.

In 2006 the Belgian group De Weide Blik (Univeg) merged with Bocchi Group (Italy). Headquartered in Belgium, the merged group is active in the production, trading and logistics of fresh fruit, vegetables, flowers, flower bulbs, plants and ready-made meals. At the same time, CVC Capital Partners, a European private equity firm, acquired a share in De Weide Blik alongside the management.

CSM is a global producer and distributor of bakery ingredients and products, lactic acid and lactic acid derivatives. CSM is listed on Euronext Amsterdam.

WDP, the leading Belgian real estate investment company in logistical and semi-industrial property, announced in June 2009 a rights offering of 1 new for 3 existing shares at a subscription price representing a discount of 11,4%. The use of proceeds was twofold: to finance future portfolio growth and to decrease its leverage, mainly through the reduction of a short term debt position in commercial paper.

Cofinimmo, the leading Belgian real estate investment company, owned 330.000 treasury shares (c.3% of ordinary share capital) following a number of acquisitions and mergers. The treasury shares were successfully placed in the market on 9 June 2009.

CTB Magemon is the leading specialty dry bulk and general cargo port operator at the inland ports of Liege and Charleroi. Benelux Port Holdings (BPH), a vehicle controlled by Babcock and Brown Infrastructure, acquired a 75% interest in CTB Magemon, the remaining shares staying in the hands of the former majority shareholder.

End June 2006, Partners in Lighting and WDP announced the sale of two PLI buildings to WDP for a combined consideration of nearly 37mEUR of which 29,4 mEUR to be paid in WDP shares. PLI mandated Petercam to place the newly issued WDP shares, representing 8,2% of capital the day following their payment to PLI.

Aquafin is a water treatment company established by the Flemish Government in order to finance, design, build and operate all supra-municipal infrastructure for the treatment of domestic wastewater treatment. In 2006 the Flemish Environmental Agency bought out all external shareholders in Aquafin (holding 49% of the shares) for a total amount of EUR 94 million in order to comply with EU rules.

t-groep, a Belgian staffing services provider, realized its first foreign acquisition. The company took over the share capital of Luba, a Netherlands based staffing company. Luba is active in temporary services, as well as outsourced logistic services.

t-groep is a Belgian staffing services provider. The majority of the shares are held by the Flemish government. The government wanted to evaluate the future possible scenarios for its participation.

Randstad, the listed provider of staffing solutions, acquired Galilei, a Belgium based provider of outplacement services. Through the acquisition Randstad improved its offering in outplacement to a leading position in the Belgian market. The transaction was a strategically important move for Randstad in order to complete its HR solutions offering in one of its core markets.

KBC, the Belgian banking and insurance group, had to cope with significant pressure on the share price and solicited the different Belgian governments in search of a solution. The Flemish government agreed to subscribe EUR 2 billion of Tier 1 hybrid securities, as well as to provide a EUR 1,5 billion core capital facility.

Gemeentelijke Holding (Holding Communal), a holding company comprising a.o. a 14% participation in Dexia and owned by the Belgian communities, was facing possible collateral problems due to the decline of the Dexia share price.

Ethias came under public scrutiny and had to cope with a deteriorating solvency and liquidity situation. The Federal, Flemish and Walloon governments agreed to inject EUR 500 million each in fresh capital.

Banque Artesia Nederland is a Dutch medium-sized commercial bank headquartered in Amsterdam, mainly active in corporate banking for mid-size and large companies and private banking. At year-end 2005, total outstanding loans to customers amounted to EUR 3,3bn and total assets under management were EUR 1,5bn. BAN was sold to GE Commercial Finance.

Argenta raised EUR 100 million in Hybrid Tier I securities with institutional investors.

Telenet, a listed provider of telecommunication services, acquired the analogue and digital client base of a number of pure inter-municipalities (PBE, Integan, Intermedia, WVEM and Interkabel). At the same time it concluded a long-term emphytheotic lease of the HFC-network owned by these inter-municipalities. The total deal value was estimated to be around EUR 427 million.

In September 2005, Belgacom announced a public tender offer on all shares of Telindus. Belgacom's approach was initially rejected by Telindus and in December a counterbid was announced by France Telecom. After Belgacom made a number of commitments to Telindus and increased its bid price to EUR 594 million for 100% of the shares, it successfully completed the acquisition.

Petercam as joint lead manager successfully placed EUR 50 million of new shares (representing 9,9% of capital) via accelerated book building at a discount of merely 2,9% to the prior closing price.

CMSK exploits one of the main primary cobalt mines in the world and is one of the world's largest producers of cobalt raw materials. Both the mine and the concentrator plant, which produces cobalt/copper concentrate, are located in the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Penne is a subcontractor focused on the production of engineered metal and plastic components primarily for the automotive sector and consumer electronic market. Penne operates a production facility located in the Benelux and employs approximately 85 people.

Industri Kapital, the European private equity firm, has acquired a significant stake in Magotteaux's capital. Magotteaux is a world leader in grinding and wear resistant parts for the cement and mining industries, with HQ in Belgium. Magotteaux's realised a turnover of EUR 378 million in 2005 and employs over 2.000 people.

Nyrstar is the world's largest zinc metal producer and one of the world’s largest producers of primary lead. The Company produces other valuable by-products including silver, sulphuric acid, indium, copper and gold. The Company was created in 2007 by combining the zinc and lead smelting and alloying operations of Zinifex (an Australian mining company) and Umicore (a Belgian materials technology company). In October 2007, the Company was listed on NYSE Euronext Brussels.

The family shareholders, owning 35% of of the Deceuninck Group, were looking for a financial partner for half of their participation in view of the stabilisation of the shareholding. The family preferred a solid, financial partner with a strong industrial and Belgian embedment.