Our fifty-second edition email tracks recent news concerning European FICs, featuring 20 FICs from Germany, Norway, Denmark, Luxembourg, France, Sweden, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Greece and Estonia.
Two main themes this month – AI and anniversaries, the new and the old.
FICs invest in AI companies active in sectors as diverse as customer services and trucking. While another sells an aerospace and defence AI business to an industrial.
In other transaction news FICs, their portfolio companies and investment arms acquire businesses in recycling, retail and software, and invest in companies in digital, IT, propertytech, sustainable, recycling and one focussed on helping counter ransomware attacks. One exit of a specialist cosmetics operation.
Four FICs celebrate anniversaries. Two of the main FICs, 175 and 75 years respectively. One the 70th birthday of an investee company, in the portfolio for more than 40 years, and another 75 years of an overseas manufacturing plant. All underlying two key elements of The FIC Model – resilience and long-termism.
In people news, a long-standing non-family CEO steps up to succeed a long-standing family member as Chairman. Elsewhere, we noted the exit of two senior non-family executives.
On the business front a FIC opened a new HQ, and another a new office in Asia. A listed FIC announced a re-branding, abandoning its family name for something different.
Finally, we report two substantial donations. One to a prominent NGO to support child education after a FIC’s annual in-house fundraising campaign. Another to support the home country’s Olympic and Paralympic teams at this year’s games.
Our news team will now take a break for the summer. The next News Briefing will be in September. We wish all our readers a restful and enjoyable holiday season.
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