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Home › Media › Releases 2006 › CapMan exits from Matka-Vekka

Press release - 1 August 2006

CapMan exits from Matka-Vekka

Funds managed by CapMan exit from Matkatoimisto Oy Matka-Vekka, Finland’s most comprehensive private travel agency chain. CapMan funds will sell their ownership in holding company Viatour Oy to Icelandic Heimsferdir EHF. The funds’ exit does not have substantial impact on CapMan Plc’s result for 2006, as the Finnventure IV fund has not yet begun to generate carry. The parties in the transaction will not publish the transaction price.

Matkatoimisto Oy Matka-Vekka was founded in 1972 and is a Finnish travel agency that organises and sells cruises, package tours and long-distance flights among others. Matka-Vekka’s turnover in 2005 was EUR 60.9 million, and the company has some 260 employees. The investment in Matka-Vekka has been reasonable for investors in CapMan funds.

”Matka-Vekka has achieved the strategic objective that was set for the company – to be Finland’s leading leisure travel agency chain. During the past two years the company’s profitability has risen among the best in the travel industry, and its current network of 50 sales offices reaches the majority of Finnish consumers of travel agency services,” says CapMan Partner Jukka Järvelä.

CapMan funds Finnventure IV and Finnmezzanine II acquired ownership of Matka-Vekka together with the company’s operative management in 1999. The transaction was executed in the name of holding company Viatour Oy, which owns 100 per cent of Matkatoimisto Oy Matka-Vekka. CapMan funds’ holding in the company is 75.3 per cent prior to the exit. In the second quarter of this year, Viatour Oy repaid its mezzanine loan to Finnmezzanine II funds.

For further information, please contact:
Jukka Järvelä, Partner, CapMan Buyout, tel. +358 9 6155 8334 or +358 50 553 8990

CapMan
CapMan is one of the leading private equity investors in the Nordic countries and specialises in middle market buyouts in various industry sectors, investments in expansion and later stage technology companies and investments in life science companies. In addition, CapMan manages private equity real estate funds. The CapMan team comprises around 100 people in Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Oslo. CapMan manages Nordic funds with approx. EUR 2.3 billion in total capital. To date, the funds managed by CapMan have invested in 154 companies in the Nordic countries and exited from 91 companies. The latest investments are made in Finnish Tamro MedLab Oy, Danish ScanJour A/S, Swedish Neoventa AB and Norwegian InfoCare ASA. The portfolio of CapMan’s first private equity real estate fund consists of 22 commercial properties in the Helsinki metropolitan area. CapMan Plc is listed on the Main List of the Helsinki Stock Exchange. www.capman.com

Matkatoimisto Oy Matka-Vekka
Matka-Vekka is a private nationwide travel agency chain, which was established in 1972 and has Finland’s most comprehensive network of offices. The Matka-Vekka Group comprises the Matka-Vekka travel agency and Lomamatkat Oy. The Group’s gross sales in 2005 totalled EUR 127 million and turnover was EUR 60.9 million. Matka-Vekka has some 260 employees in 50 offices all over Finland.

Heimsferdir
Heimsferdir hf is Iceland’s leading tour operator and the fourth largest tour operator in Scandinavia. The group comprises of Terranova in Iceland, Bravo Tours in Denmark, Solresor in Sweden and Solia in Norway. Following the transaction the group expects to post 2006E sales of 367 Million EUR. This acquisition strengthens Heimsferdir's objective to be a leading Scandinavian tour operator, and completes its ambition of having operations in all Scandinavian countries. Heimsferðir is wholly owned by group president Andri M. Ingolfsson.

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