EQT and its portfolio companies recognized in Q1
EQT has won its fair share of awards over the years, but this quarter might take the prize for the best ever, with a number of honours bestowed upon both the firm and its portfolio.
It began with the Private Equity International Awards in March, where EQT took home ‘Mid-Market Firm of the Year’ in Europe, as well as ‘Firm of the Year in the Nordics’. In particular, EQT was recognised for closing EQT VII at record speed, a number of acquisitions including Lima and TOP-TOY, as well as notable listings such as Dometic and Scandic. In April, EQT won further recognition at the Real Deals Private Equity Awards, beating the likes of Carlyle, Warburg Pincus and Ardian to be named ‘Global House of the Year’.
The portfolio companies of EQT has had an award-winning quarter too. StormGeo, an EQT Mid Market portfolio company and a supplier of software-based decision support for weather-sensitive operations, was awarded the ‘2016 Norwegian Export Prize’ for successfully creating value in Norway by developing its business in global markets. Another EQT Mid Market company, Musti ja Mirri, the leading pet specialty retailer in the Nordics, won two awards: it ranked first in the prestigious list ‘Great Place to Work 2016’ (big companies category) and won ‘Franchise Chain of the Year 2016’ in Finland. In Sweden, Atos Medical, the world-leading medical device company owned by EQT VI, won the internationally recognised ‘Red Dot Product Design 2016 Award’ for its Provox Coming Home system.
As for the next quarter, the winners of Financial News’ 20th Anniversary Awards for Excellence in European Finance will be announced in London on 26th May. EQT is nominated in two categories, ‘Deal of the past 20 years’ for Tognum and ‘Large private equity firm of the past 20 years’.