News

The second investment of Folmer Equity Fund II Ky, a fund managed by Folmer Management Oy, is Finnsiirto Oy, a fast-growing forklift solution provider from Raisio.

Finnsiirto Oy, founded in 1989, is a provider of forklifts and material handling solutions. The company sells and rents self-imported Hyundai and Ausa forklifts, other material handling equipment and used machines. In addition, the company services and maintains machines as well as provides spare parts and accessories. The clientele of the company consists mainly of industrial and logistics companies. The owners of the company, Kalle Dahlman, Antti Nummela and Kimmo Tiittanen will continue working for Finnsiirto and remain as shareholders with 40% ownership. After the transaction, Folmer Equity Fund II Ky owns 60% of the company. The company’s latest estimate for the current fiscal’s revenue is 9 MEUR. The company employs 12 professionals

Press Release

 

Folmer Equity Fund II Ky benefits from the support of the European Union under the Equity Facility for Growth established under Regulation (EU) No 1287/2013 of the European Parliament and the Council establishing a Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and small and medium enterprises (COSME) (2014-2020). Businesses can contact selected financial institutions in their country to access EU financing: www.access2finance.eu.

Folmer has appointed Mr. Kim Höijer as Private Equity Investment Director. Kim’s educational background is MBA, Master of Science in Economics, having main subject in finance. Kim has finance and investment background from e.g. Technopolis, Elisa and Danske Bank. His special expertise is in business development and analysis, valuations, corporate banking, operative and financial reporting as well as project management.

The first investment of Folmer Equity Fund II Ky, a fund managed by Folmer Management Oy, is Holmberg
Companies: Agentur Arne & Mirja Holmberg Oy and Markkinointi Holmberg Oy.

Holmberg Companies (Holmberg) was established in 1993 in Naantali, Finland as Agentur Arne & Mirja Holmberg Oy
started importing high-quality and reasonably priced clothing products for their clients. Markkinointi Holmberg Oy was
established to support the business in cosmetics, footwear and jewelry. The offering of Holmberg consists of selection of
wholly-owned brand labels including e.g. Terinit, Creblét, koneHELSINKI, Pierre Cavallo, Kiada and Merlyn. Holmberg has
also productized several personal brands such as Minea Blomqvist, Janina F. and Jutta Sport & Casual. Holmberg also
operates several licensing agreements e.g. with David, Karhu and Moomin Characters and its key clientele consists of large
Finnish retailers including Kesko Oyj, Tokmanni-konserni, Kokkolan Halpa-Halli Oy and Inex Partners. In addition to offering
its clients services in designing, developing and production of white label products, Holmberg also acts as importer for
several brands such as Polaris shoes and Flormar cosmetics. Outside of Finland, Holmberg also operates in the Nordic
countries and in the Baltics. The international operations of Holmberg are strongly based on responsibility. In particular,
social responsibility, in regards to working conditions in the emerging markets, product safety and animal rights within
cosmetics production are of high importance to Holmberg. The combined revenue of Holmberg Companies is almost 10
MEUR.

Press Release

 

Folmer Equity Fund II Ky benefits from the support of the European Union under the Equity Facility for Growth established under Regulation (EU) No 1287/2013 of the European Parliament and the Council establishing a Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and small and medium enterprises (COSME) (2014-2020). Businesses can contact selected financial institutions in their country to access EU financing: www.access2finance.eu.

Folmer Management Oy has raised its second private equity fund, Folmer Equity Fund II Ky, which will continue the investment strategy of Folmer Equity Fund I Ky. The size of the fund at first closing is 62M€, with a maximum target of 75M€ at final closing.

Folmer Equity Fund II makes majority investments in Finnish SMEs with revenue in the range of 2-50M€ and enterprise value of 3-15 M€. The value creation model is based on the identification of growth potential in portfolio companies as well as developing human capital into competitive advantage.

The main investors in Folmer Equity Fund II Ky are European Investment Fund, Tesi, KRR II and Finnish institutional investors such as Ilmarinen, Tradeka-invest, OP Insurance, ELO, OP Bank Group Pension Fund and OP Life Assurance Company. Folmer Management has also invested in the fund.

Press Release in English

 

Folmer Equity Fund II Ky benefits from the support of the European Union under the Equity Facility for Growth established under Regulation (EU) No 1287/2013 of the European Parliament and the Council establishing a Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and small and medium enterprises (COSME) (2014-2020). Businesses can contact selected financial institutions in their country to access EU financing: www.access2finance.eu.

Blue Import BIM Oy, an import company majority owned by Folmer Equity Fund I Ky, has acquired Retki Finland Oy in an asset acquisition transaction. Retki Finland Oy, based in Kangasala, is specialized in designing, importing and marketing of high-quality outdoor and camping products. The mainline products of Retki Finland include backpacks, seatbacks, sleeping bags and thermos bottles.

The operations and the new brand of Retki Finland expand the existing outdoor, camping and trekking product portfolio of Blue Import BIM Oy. Jari Haulo, the Managing Director and Partner of Blue Import BIM Oy and Arttu Koivula, the Commercial Director and Partner of BIM, continue the work of Jarmo Lajunen, Retki Finland’s entrepreneur since 2005, with Retki Finland’s operations dating back to early 1990’s. Retki Finland designs, imports and distributes its products to retailers around Finland. The key customers of Retki Finland are Finnish retailer chains, hypermarkets and specialty stores.

www.blueimport.fi

Canorama Oy, owned by Folmer Equity Fund I Ky, a private equity fund managed by Folmer Management Oy, continues to expand its regional presence and service offering with the acquisition of printing and ICT operations of it. Hämeenlinna Oy.

it. Hämeenlinna Oy, based in Hämeenlinna, some 100 km north of Helsinki, provides its customers with a wide range of services. In this business acquisition agreement, the Founding Partner of it. Hämeenlinna Reima Väyrynen, sells its printing and ICT businesses to Canorama Oy. In addition, the trademark of it. Hämeenlinna also becomes an asset of Canorama. As part of the deal, the employees of acquired businesses will join Canorama’s team. The turnover of acquired businesses in 2014 was around 3 MEUR.

www.iitee.com

As of 14th of January, 2015, the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA) has authorized Folmer Management Ltd’s registration regarding Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (162/2014, AIFMD, 5th Chapter, 1st Paragraph). The FIN-FSA has added Folmer Management Ltd into the public registry of Supervised Entities based on AIFM legistlation.

http://www.finanssivalvonta.fi/en

The latest investment of Folmer Equity Fund I Ky is Jatkopolut Oy, a child welfare service provider based in Kuopio, Northern Savonia. The pioneer and innovator of the child welfare industry, Jatkopolut now teams up with Folmer in order to strengthen its professional development work.

Jatkopolut Oy was founded in 2007. The founding partners Tommi Holopainen and Tommi Laitinen continue their work as operating directors of Jatkopolut and maintain a total ownership of 25%. After the acquisition, Folmer Equity Fund I Ky owns 75% of shares of Jatkopolut.

Jatkopolut Oy produces high-quality child welfare services, including open and residential care, in the region of Eastern Finland. Jatkopolut has offices in Kuopio and Varkaus. Moreover, Jatkopolut also co-operates with several municipalities supporting their child welfare work. The most important services of Jatkopolut are support measures in open care, placement as a support measure in open care and family work. Jatkopolut employs more than 70 child welfare service professionals. During 2013, Jatkopolut had a turnover of 3.4 MEUR.

www.jatkopolut.fi

The latest investments of Folmer Equity Fund I Ky are DataPro Palvelutand Kauhajoen DataInfo

Folmer Equity Fund I Ky invests in DataPro Palvelut Oy, a company specialized in IT services and solutions, and Kauhajoen DataInfo, a company specialized in IT services and hardware sales. Both of these acquisitions further strengthen the service offering mix of Canorama Oy.

DataPro Palvelut operates in Helsinki, Järvenpää, Riihimäki and Hämeenlinna. DataPro Palvelut is the partner of small and medium sized enterprises and the public sector in comprehensive IT solutions and services. The company had a turnover of 6 Meur in the financial year of 2012. The founding partner Pertti Suutarinen will continue at the company while the second founding partner Ossi Huttunen will stay with the company for a transition period.

Kauhajoen DataInfo operates in Kauhajoki and services a vast customer base in the region of Suupohja. The core business of Kauhajoen DataInfo is to offer IT services and hardware sales for corporate customers. The company had a turnover of 1.3 Meur in the financial year of 2012. Juha Koivisto, the founding partner of Kauhajoen DataInfo, will stay with the company for a transition period.

www.datapro.fi

www.kauhajoendatainfo.fi

www.canorama.fi

Lassi Simola has been appointed as Analyst as of 19th of August, 2013. Lassi has worked as a portfolio analyst for Investment Research Finland and as an equity analyst for Inderes. Lassi’s educational background is Master of Science in Economics (Finance). Lassi has also passed the first level of CFA exam.