Apax Partners is a private equity and venture capital firm based in the United Kingdom which operates in Hong Kong, China, India, United Kingdom, United States, Europe, and Israel. The firm has raised approximately $35 billion (USD) and existed for over 30 years (being founded in 1972 by Ronald Cohen). Apax invests in a series of business sectors including: telecommunications, IT, retail and consumer goods, media, healthcare and financial/business services. At the moment Apax has a portfolio of around 340 companies in all stages of development. Image File history File links Apax_logo. ... Private equity is a broad term that refers to any type of equity investment in an asset in which the equity is not freely tradable on a public stock market. ... Venture capital is a general term to describe financing for startup and early stage businesses as well as businesses in turn around situations. ... Hong Kong (香港; Cantonese IPA: ; Jyutping: hoeng1 gong2; Yale: heūng góng; pinyin: Xiānggǎng; Wade-Giles: Hsiang-kang) is one of the two Special Administrative Regions of the Peoples Republic of China. ... World map showing the location of Europe. ... Sir Ronald Cohen (1945- ) is an Egyptian-born British businessman and political figure, known as the father of British venture capital.[1] // Cohen was born in Egypt; his paternal family were Sephardi Jews, originally from Aleppo, Syria, though his mother, Sonia Douek, was English. ...

Apax raises money through investors such as pension funds and university and college endowments. One of the firm's co-founders, Alan Patricof, was an initial investor in Apple Computer and America Online when both companies were just starting out. A pension (also known as superannuation) is a retirement plan intended to provide a person with a secure income for life. ... Endowment may refer to many things: Finance Financial endowment; relating to funds or property donated to institutions or individuals. ... Apple Inc. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ...

Acquisitions

In 1998 Apax invested in Neurodynamics which was the parent of Autonomy Corporation. Apax's investment in Autonomy created one of the largest returns in European Venture Capital history with the conversion of around a $3M investment into $900M.^{[citation needed]}

In Q2 2005 Apax Partners purchased a majority stake in Travelex (the worlds largest foreign exchange company) for £1.06bn. In Q3 2005 Apax also announced plans to purchase Grupo Panrico, one of Spain's largest food companies and its largest bakery company. Travelex plc is the worlds biggest foreign exchange company. ...

As part of the Velvet Acquisitions consortium (along with Barclays Capital and Robert Tchenguiz) Apax is involved in the purchase of Somerfield, the UK's fifth largest supermarket chain (with around 700 stores).^{[citation needed]} Somerfield is a chain of small to medium-sized supermarkets operating in the United Kingdom. ...

At the end of 2005, it was announced that Apax Partners had purchased the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation for $1.6 billion, or $16.80 a share, all in cash. In May 2006, this deal was approved by the shareholders of Tommy Hilfiger. Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Thomas Jacob Hilfiger (born March 24, 1951 in Elmira, New York) is a world-famous American fashion designer and creator of the eponymous Tommy Hilfiger and Tommy brands. ...

Apax Partners has invested in several other public and privately held realtors and clothing designers, such as Phillips-Van Heusen, Tommy Bahama, Spyder Active Sports, Dollar Tree Stores and the Children's Place.^{[citation needed]} Phillips Van Heusen is noted for dress shirts In 1881, Moses Phillips and his wife Endel began sewing shirts by hand and sold them from pushcarts to local Pottsville, Pennsylvania coal miners. ... Tommy Bahama is a clothing manufacturer that designs and makes Hawaiian shirts and other tropical wear. ... Dollar Tree Stores, Inc. ... The Children’s Place Retail Stores, Inc. ...

Apax Partners took HIT Entertainment private in June 2006. The new HIT Entertainment logo, introduced in June 2006. ...

On 2006-08-21, it was announced that Apax Partners and Bain Capital had joined the enlarged private equity consortium headed by KKR that has agreed to acquire an 80.1% stake in the Semiconductor Division of Royal Philips Electronics. The new company is called NXP Semiconductors. For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... is the 233rd day of the year (234th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Bain Capital LLC is a Boston, Massachusetts-based private equity firm founded in 1984 by Mitt Romney, the late Governor of Massachusetts, and two other partners from the consulting firm Bain & Company: T. Coleman Andrews III and Eric Kriss. ... Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (commonly referred to as KKR) is a New York City-based private equity firm that focuses primarily on late stage leveraged buyouts. ... Philips HQ in Amsterdam Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Royal Philips Electronics N.V.), usually known as Philips, (Euronext: PHIA, NYSE: PHG) is one of the largest electronics companies in the world, founded and headquartered in the Netherlands. ... For other uses of NXP, see NXP (disambiguation). ...

In May 2007 APAX signed definitive agreements with funds advised by Apax Partners (Apax) and OMERS Capital Partners (OMERS) under which such funds will acquire the higher education, careers and library reference assets of Thomson Learning, and a consortium of funds advised by OMERS and Apax will acquire Nelson Canada, for a combined total value of approximately $7.75 billion in cash. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of this year and is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

The higher education, careers and library reference assets include such well-known brands and businesses as: Wadsworth, South-Western, Delmar Learning, Eddie Diamond,Gale, Heinle, Brooks/Cole, Course Technology and Nelson Canada. Phil McGuire Nelson Canada is a leading provider of books and online resources for the educational market in Canada. It will be majority-owned by OMERS.

External links

• Apax Partners