Press Release 5 September 2007 at 9.30 a.m.
Finnventure Fund V has sold its shareholding of 14.7 percent in Copterline Oy to a Finnish investor consortium in which Ilmarinen via its investment fund and Ilkka Herlin are in the leading position. The exit has no substantial impact on CapMan Plc’s result for 2007.
Finnventure Fund V managed by CapMan invested in Copterline, the Finnish helicopter operation and maintenance organisation, in 2000. Copterline provides search and rescue services, helicopter emergency medical services and charter flights, among others. Copterline operated scheduled route flights between Helsinki and Tallinn in 2000-2006. The company had to suspend the scheduled route in August 2005 as a result of a helicopter accident caused by a technical failure in the helicopter’s main rotor servo.
“Copterline’s business and the scheduled route in particular developed well prior to the unfortunate accident. The new owners are prepared to make the required substantial further investments for the reopening of the scheduled route in early 2008. We are pleased with their plans to develop the company’s business, and we are confident that there is still a strong demand for scheduled route flights,” says CapMan’s Senior Partner Tuomo Raasio.
For further information, please contact:
Tuomo Raasio, Senior Partner, CapMan Buyout, tel. +358 9 6155 8305 or +358 400 405 682
CapMan www.capman.com
CapMan is one of the leading alternative asset managers in the Nordic countries and manages Nordic buyout funds with approximately EUR 3 billion in total capital. CapMan has four investment areas (CapMan Buyout, CapMan Technology, CapMan Life Science and CapMan Real Estate), and each of them has a dedicated team. Altogether CapMan employs around 100 people in Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Oslo. CapMan was established in 1989 and its B shares are listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange since 2001.
CapMan Buyout
CapMan Buyout makes both equity and mezzanine investments in middle market buyouts in almost all industries in the Nordics. The Buyout team comprises 25 experienced professionals. The current team has made over 60 Nordic investments and close to 40 exits. Examples of the current portfolio are Finnish Lumene, Swedish MQ, Norwegian Cardinal Foods and fully Nordic InfoCare and OneMed. The aggregate turnover of current portfolio companies is approx. EUR 2.8 billion and the companies employ nearly 18,000 people.
