Foreword
We are pleased to start the year with this newsletter. Its purpose is to allow you to follow the evolution of our shareholders' equity throughout the year and to pro-vide you with the latest news on our keyinvestment activities. We will issue this newsletter twice a year in January and July, in addition to the publication of our detailed Annual and Half-Year Financial Reports.
Harold Boël Chief Executive
Officer
Founded | 3 Office locations | € 5.6 Bn | Listed | Global | 3 Comple- | ~ 22 |
120 years | Brussels-Luxembourg | shareholders' | on Euronext | equity | mentary | Investment |
ago (°1898) | Singapore | equity 1 | Brussels (SOF.BR) | investments | investment | professionals |
styles |
An investment company controlled and run by the Boël family
Shareholders' equity
Sofina's shareholders' equity (preliminary and unaudited) as at 31 December 2017 is currently estimated at € 5.66 Bn 2, i.e. € 168/share 3.
Investment activity
1. Long term minority investments
Sofina's sourcing and dealflow activities were intense during the last semester. Sofina's investment team reviewed sever-al investment opportunities in the US and in the EU.
Sofina participated to the capital increase of The Hut Group, the leading multi-site distributor in the UK and now holds more than 8% of the share capital. It also reinforced its stake in JF Hillebrand, one of the world's market leading logistics provider active in the beverage trade.
Sofina further proceeded to some di-vestments as part of the rotation of its portfolio. As such, it divested its entire shareholding in Caledonia, a UK invest-ment trust listed on the London Stock Exchange and sold more than half of its stake in Deceuninck. In addition, it completed a top slicing transactions in Orpea, the European leader in high de-pendency care.
* ~ 51% of shareholders' equity
Equity commitment € 75 - € 200 M
Mainly in Europe
Patient minority stakes in privately owned and listed companies with long term reference shareholders
Companies with an enterprise value between € 250 M and € 3.0 Bn
* This pie chart takes into account a ~12% cash or cash equivalent
1 As at 31 December 2017 (preliminary and unaudited). 2 For the two most significant portfolio companies reported under the equity method, i.e. Petit Forestier and JF Hillebrand, this figure is based on an estimate of the annual results for the financial year 2017 and is therefore subject to change. 3 On the basis of a number of 33.644.742 shares.
2. Investments in top tier VC and PE funds
The deployment of Sofina's private equity portfolio continued in the past six months. Sofina subscribed to new funds for a total amount of € 182 million, focusing on top world managers in high demand. Sofina invested mainly in venture and growth funds in the US and Asia. In parallel,
3. Sofina Growth - Investments in fast-growing businesses
Sofina performed several investments during the last semester both in Asia and in the US. It invested in Medgenome,a leading genomics research and genetic diagnostics company active both in the US and India. It recently closed an invest-ment in Miss Fresh, a leading fresh-cen-tric, grocery e-commerce Chinese player. It also increased its holding in existing portfolio companies such as CarebridgeSofina slightly rebalanced the LBO portfo-lio towards smaller mid-market funds and value managers. Sofina also continued to build its nascent European Venture Capital portfolio with the objective of deploying c. 10% of the private equity portfolio in this strategy.
(Jiahui International Hospital), a Chinese integrated healthcare services network based in Shanghai, 1stdibs, a US based online market place for decorative ob-jects, and Byju's, a leading provider of supplemental education solutions in India. Finally, it participated to the share buy-back programme launched by Flipkart, a leading Indian e-commerce platform, selling ~15% of its stake.
~ 11% of shareholders' equity
Equity commitment US$ 15 - US$ 50 M
Emerging markets and fast growing sectors
Focus on high growth sectors
In partnership withtrusted partners
Creating value for Society
Sofina held an event on Thursday 9 Novem-ber in its offices to welcome the new candi-dates selected by the Platform for Educa-tion and Talent, an organization set up in 2011 by Sofina and its family shareholders. The Plateform is managed together with the King Baudouin Foundation and aims tosupport education and training of talent in Belgium through individual grants and the provision of support to university and high school students as well as to craftsmen.
[Pictures and videos are available on the website through this link]
54 scholarships granted to university students 95 scholarships granted to craftsmen
Support to the success of almost 100 high school students from an unfavoured social environment in secondary education (Boost programme)
They have joined Sofina
Sofina strengthened its investment teams in Brussels, Luxembourg and Singapore. We are pleased to welcome:
Ainhoa Manterola-Solans | Tanya Sen | Yashvin Singh Boparai | Bertrand Fawe |
Senior Investment Manager | Investment Manager | Investment Associate | Investment Associate |
• Based in Brussels | • Based in Singapore | • Based in Luxembourg | • Based in Brussels |
• Previous positions at Bain | • Previous positions at Bain & | • Previous positions at Barclays | • Previous positions at |
Capital Private Equity and | Company and Deutsche Bank | and Royal Bank of Scotland | Mediobanca and LFPI |
McKinsey & Company | • Graduate from University | • Graduate from University of | • Graduate from Solvay |
• Graduate from Institut | of Oxford and the Wharton | Oxford (Financial Economics) | Brussels School |
Supérieur de l'Aéronautique | School, University of | ||
et de l'Espace (Supaero) | Pennsylvania | ||
Financial calendar | |||
6 September 2018 | |||
Half-Year Financial Report | |||
2018 |
22 January 2018
30 March 2018
3 May 2018
July 2018
Sofina Newsletter #1
Annual Report 2017
Annual General Meeting of Shareholders
Sofina Newsletter #2
SOFINA S.A. Rue de l'Industrie, 31 - 1040 Brussels (Belgium) - RLE Brussels: 0403.219.397 - Listed on Euronext Brussels (ISIN BE0003717312) Contact: Wauthier de Bassompierre - Tel.: +32 2 551 06 11 - Email:info@sofinagroup.com- www.sofinagroup.com
Sofina SA published this content on 22 January 2018 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein.
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