Verdane buys Nordic direct secondaries portfolio

Verdane Capital, a Norwegian private equity firm, has purchased a portfolio of Swedish companies stakes in a direct secondaries deal.

Oslo-headquartered Verdane bought stakes in seven Swedish firms from Aggregate Media through its Verdane Capital VIII fund, according to a spokesman for the firm. Verdane VIII is a 2014-vintage 2 billion krona ($233 million; €214 million) vehicle and is the firm’s latest fund.

The deal, which is the sixth direct secondaries transaction from Verdane VIII, was worth around 50 million krona, Secondaries Investor understands.

“The companies have strong positions in interesting sectors with high growth,” the spokesman said.

The deal, which closed in late December, included stakes in the following companies:

• Funera, an online funeral agency
• Schoolido, a digital learning platform
• Allinc, an online travel agent
• Consector, a financial intermediary
• Ecoride, a Nordic electric bicycle maker
• Stor & Liten, an online toy retailer
• Smart Senior, producer of loyalty cards for pensioners

Verdane VIII is 55 percent invested and currently holds 40 portfolio companies, according to the spokesman. The secondaries fund focuses on telecommunications, media and technology sectors and closed in June 2014 after 12 months of fundraising, according to PEI’s Research and Analytics division.

This is the fifth deal Verdane has completed with Aggregate after the 2014 acquisition of a portfolio of ten Swedish internet companies from firm. Aggregate is a Stockholm-based venture capital firm that invests in companies in exchange for advertising space, according to its website.

Verdane, which changed its name in 2006, was Norway’s first venture capital firm when it was established as Four Seasons Venture in 1985.

The firm manages around €700 million in committed capital and provides growth capital to Nordic companies in IT, energy and advanced industrial industries, according to its website.