SouthBridge Europe Mezzanine II SICAR announces investment in Brand Hospitality S.A., a hotel acquisition vehicle aiming to consolidate hotel business opportunities.

Brand Hospitality is a strategic partnership between SouthBridge Europe Mezzanine II SICAR and Hotel Brain S.A., one of the largest hotel operators in Greece today, currently leasing and operating more than 100 hotels in Greece and Cyprus. The partnership will build a branded hotel chain with primary focus on selected tourist destinations and resort properties.

SouthBridge Europe Mezzanine II SICAR (www.southbridgeadvisors.com) is an investment fund backed by the European Investment Fund (EIF), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Hellenic Development Bank of Investments (HDBI).

Census is a cybersecurity engineering powerhouse, committed to providing highly focused services and exceptional implementation engagements. Its offering includes cybersecurity engineering, evaluation of cybersecurity resilience (“tiger team”) and vulnerability research. The company collaborates with Fortune 500 companies and leading international organizations, specializing in critical sectors such as Defense, Automotive, Healthcare, Banking, Maritime and Telecommunications.

Census has helped major corporations around the world (>90% of its sales are derived from abroad) to achieve cybersecurity resilience and provide hackproof products with the cybersecure promise. It has audited the design and implementation of multiple security-critical devices. Many of its findings have made it into public advisories, covering both system-level components (e.g. Microchip SDKs, Linux kernel, Android multimedia framework, Microsoft Windows networking stack) and popular applications (e.g. WhatsApp Messenger, Oracle WebCenter). Furthermore, each year Census experts present groundbreaking research at industry-leading conferences, such as Black Hat, DEF CON, INFLITRATE, OffensiveCon, TROOPERS, OWASP AppSec.

SouthBridge Europe Mezzanine II SICAR (www.southbridgeadvisors.com) is an investment fund backed by the European Investment Fund (EIF), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Hellenic Development Bank of Investments (HDBI).

Surprice Group (https://surpricecars.com/) is engaged in the short-term car rental business through a worldwide franchise network, the management and operation of which is supported by an internally developed IT platform connecting the network to global online travel intermediaries.

The Group has developed an extensive network numbering over 40 franchisees with presence in 32 countries (21 in Europe, 4 in Asia, 4 in Africa and 3 in the Americas), in over 150 locations, operating a total fleet of over 8,000 cars. In addition, the Group operates directly 3 rent-a-car (RaC) stations in Greece located in Athens, Heraklion and Chania as part of Surprice’s franchise network.

Surprice Group has partnerships with some of the most globally acknowledged OTAs such as Booking (RentalCars.com), Expedia, Cartrawler and DoyouSpain.

SouthBridge Europe Mezzanine II SICAR (www.southbridgeadvisors.com) is an investment fund backed by the European Investment Fund (EIF), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Hellenic Development Bank of Investments (HDBI).

Deloitte acted as financial advisor to Surprice for the transaction.

SouthBridge Advisors AIFM (www.southbridgeadvisors.com) announces completion of first closing of SouthBridge Europe Mezzanine II SCA, SICAR at €174 million.

The new fund is based in Luxembourg, invests mainly in Greek SMEs and is backed by prime private and institutional investors such as the European Investment Fund (EIF), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Hellenic Development Bank of Investments (HDBI, ex-TANEO).

SouthBridge II follows upon SouthBridge Europe Mezzanine Fund I successful investment strategy, which achieved consistent high growth across all its portfolio companies, i.e., HotelBrain Group, Alfa Dianomes / Inkat, Cosmos Yachting, Manifest, Katikies Group, Diakinisis, Arivia and Skroutz. SouthBridge I landmark realized transactions include the sale of leading producer of plant-based cheese Arivia to multinational food company Upfield (owned by KKR) and partial sale of Greece’s leading e-commerce platform Skroutz to CVC.

SouthBridge II will continue on the same investment principles to actively support with both capital and know-how successful entrepreneurs who seek taking the next step in terms of their company’s growth.

More specifically, SouthBridge II investments aim at building lasting value for its portfolio companies by investing capital to fund organic growth and M&A initiatives as well as implementation of capital and operational restructuring plans.

SouthBridge announces SouthBridge Fund II’s first investment in Biologiko Chorio, a company that operates the largest retail chain of organic products in Greece currently comprising of 19 operating stores in the greater Attika region as well as 6 more under development. Biologiko Chorio, having developed significant proprietary know-how in the field of organic products, has invested in recent years in the proper education of the consumer and has effectively supported Greek bio-producers and representatives. It is worth noting that during 2020, the company’s revenues exceeded 15 million euros, showing an increase of 40% over the previous year.