Companies - Published Thursday, 28 April 2011 07:21 | Author: Johan Nylander
Matchmaking for private equity deals makers
Céline Fillistorf (CEO) and Alex Vukajlović (Chairman) of DealMarket. • Stockholm getting ready for M&A explosion • China to become biggest private equity player
A new online marketplace will make it easier for private equity professionals to get access to investment opportunities and corporate finance deals. DealMarket, a website that bring together private equity investors, deal providers and advisors, was lunched in Stockholm last month. “Private equity is very developed in Sweden, both looking at the number of and size of investors as well as the supply of entrepreneurial ideas and talent”, Alex Vukajlović, chairman of the Zurich-based company, told The Swedish Wire. The Swedish Private Equity and Venture Capital Association estimates that more than 60 percent of the country’s private equity and venture capital firms are based in Stockholm. Alex Vukajlović describes DealMarket, founded last year, as “a one stop shop” where investors, sellers and private equity advisers can meet. Sellers can post deals and business opportunities on the website for 100 dollars a month, the “price of a cappuccino a day”, he added. Buyers get access to prospects for free. “This will do for the private equity sector what real estate portals have done for the property market”, Vukajlović said. The website makes it possible to search for direct and secondary investments deals and compare current and past transaction. Users can also have access to advisers to smooth the progress of transactions. Social media features allow users to rate deals and fellow professionals, as well as chat and share information.
“DealMarket has been designed by private equity professionals for private equity professionals. It is based on our own extensive experience”, said Chief Executive Officer Céline Fillistorf. How has the respond been so far? “The response so far from people we have talked to was great; both to the idea of an efficient, easy to use public portal for deals and opportunities, as well as to the MyOffice service which is essentially a deal management tool”, Alex Vukajlović said during a visit to the Swedish capital. Looking for Swedish service providers DealMarket is currently actively looking for service providers in Sweden to team up with to expand its offering and develop its products, Alex Vukajlović told The Swedish Wire. An example would be integration of other software services, like Skype. Last month, DealMarket was also launched in Switzerland, the United Kingdome, Germany, the United States and the other Nordic countries.