On 12 October, our bank and the Belgian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association put the winning companies in the spotlight. With the support of Private Equity, all three completed a remarkable growth track.

The winners of the 2022 Private Equity Awards have been announced. It was the fifth time that BNP Paribas Fortis organised this event together with the Belgian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (BVA). In addition to rewarding Belgian growth companies, this is also a good opportunity to highlight the added value of venture capital for start-up, fast-growing and mature companies.

And the winners are...

The three winners were selected from nine nominees in three categories: Venture capital, Growth, and Buy-out company of the year.

Qover was voted 'Venture Company of the Year'. This award was created for young companies that develop and market an innovative product or service with the support of a venture capital investor.

Qover enables any digital company to embed insurance in its value proposition. The company has built a tech platform that can launch any insurance product in any market, language and currency in a matter of days. The company is ready to scale up internationally and was praised for its innovative and disruptive business model.

Lansweeper was named 'Growth Company of the Year'. This category is for companies that have significantly expanded their activities through organic growth or acquisitions. They bring a financial partner on board who does not want control.

Lansweeper is an IT Asset Management platform provider that helps companies better understand, protect, and centrally manage their IT devices and network. The company has developed a software platform that can be used to create an inventory of all types of technology assets, installed software, and users. Besides setting an excellent financial track record, the company succeeded in gaining a solid foothold internationally.

Sylphar was the winner in the 'Buy-out Company of the Year' category. These are companies that achieve growth through involved management with the backing of a private equity investor with a controlling interest.

Sylphar develops and packages innovative and consumer-friendly OTC products worldwide. OTC products are medicines that are sold directly to the consumer without requirinng a doctor's prescription. Examples include tooth whitening products and skin, hair and body care products. Their spectacular digital transformation of the sales process, strong international expansion, and rapid product development were decisive factors.

"As a financial instrument, private equity is perfectly suited for boosting innovation and sustainable growth. The three winners have all proven this", says Raf Moons, Head of BNP Paribas Fortis Private Equity.

Find out more about Private Equity at BNP Paribas Fortis.

Source: press release

The Private Equity Awards will be presented on 12 October 2022. We are organising this event for the fifth time, together with the Belgian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (BVA). Check out this year’s nine nominees.

The Private Equity Awards reward Belgian companies that have received support from a private equity or venture capital investor for their growth and development. This is the fifth time that the Belgian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (BVA) and BNP Paribas Fortis are organising this prestigious award ceremony.

The nine finalists were nominated based on criteria such as sustainable growth, authentic leadership, and active ownership. They are divided into three award categories: Venture capital, Growth, and Buy-out company of the year.

Venture company of the year:

• Aerospacelab
  Aerospacelab is an innovative scale-up specialising in satellite platforms and information obtained from geospatial technology. The company designs, manufactures and operates a constellation of satellites for remote sensing, collecting useful information.
• Precirix
  Precirix is a biopharmaceutical company and a spin-off of the VUB. It is dedicated to extending and improving the lives of cancer patients by designing and developing precision radiopharmaceuticals.
• Qover
  Qover enables any digital company to embed insurance in its value proposition. The company has built a tech platform that can launch any insurance product in any market, language and currency in days.

Growth company of the year:

• Efficy
  Efficy has developed a complete and highly customisable SaaS (Software as a Service) CRM (Customer Relationship Management) solution. The company wants to become five times bigger, increasing its market share to 5% of the independent CRM market in Europe, within five years.
• Fedrus International
  Fedrus International is an international building materials group that manufactures and distributes roof and façade materials and services with a focus on EPDM rubber and zinc. The company wants to become the preferred partner of building professionals, with high quality standards and a great sense of innovation.
• Lansweeper
  Lansweeper is an IT Asset Management platform provider that helps companies better understand, protect, and centrally manage their IT devices and network. The company has developed a software platform that can be used to create an inventory of all types of technology assets, installed software and users.

Buy-out company of the year:

• Baobab Collection
  Baobab Collection sells diffusers and candles made from hand-blown glass or metal clad with precious leather. The Belgian brand remains true to its values of craftsmanship and excellence by supporting European expertise and craftsmen.
• Sylphar
  Sylphar develops and markets innovative and consumer-friendly OTC products worldwide. OTC products are medicines that are sold directly to the consumer without requiring a doctor's prescription. Examples include tooth whitening products and skin, hair and body care products.

• House of HR
  House of HR is a leading European HR service provider focusing on Specialised Talent Solutions and Engineering & Consulting. Their goal is to connect people’s talents and dreams with successful companies.

Drive innovation and sustainable growth

"Private equity is a financial instrument that is perfectly suited to boost innovation and sustainable growth. The result is strong growth. But private equity involves after all so much more than just raising capital. Venture capital investors also share their knowledge and network, opening many doors. All the nominees have a solid track record and are all in with a chance to win. I am very curious to see which companies will take home an award", says Raf Moons, Head of BNP Paribas Fortis Private Equity.

Find out more about Private Equity at BNP Paribas Fortis.

Source: Press release BVA

Private equity can also be a convenient way for SMEs to strengthen their equity and finance their further growth. But how do you attract private equity investors? And how do they operate?

Private equity can refer to many things. Which investment techniques are involved in private equity and in which cases are they used?

Private equity

Private equity is an instrument used by FPE to acquire an equity interest in a company, either alone or together with other investors. This does not involve a passive investment, but active share ownership: the aim is to engage in a partnership in the medium or long term. In concrete terms, this means that FPE is represented on the Board of Directors as a minority shareholder and in that capacity provides strategic and financial guidance and/or further professionalization of the company.

After a few years, FPE will withdraw from the company again. How this happens exactly is decided in consultation with the co-shareholder(s). They can buy the interest from FPE, but FPE may also sell it to another private equity investor or industrial player.

A company may decide to attract capital for various reasons. A common reason is that the company seeks to finance growth by increasing its activities, internationalising or acquiring other companies. The advantage is that no new private funds or excessive leverage are necessary. Other options are a business transfer or a (partial) buyout of family or less active shareholders.

Venture capital

Venture capital, also referred to as start-up capital, is a form of private equity used to finance early-stage, high-tech companies. These are mainly innovative start-up companies with promising growth prospects. FPE mainly provides venture capital through investments in university venture capital funds.

Mezzanine financing

Mezzanine financing is a long-term subordinated loan for which the company is not required to provide any interim repayments, but makes one lump-sum repayment at the end ('bullet'). These factors mean that the risks of mezzanine financing are higher, which makes it more expensive than a conventional loan with a shorter term, a repayment schedule and securities.

The company does have to generate sufficient returns and liquidity in order to bear the interest charges. The total payment usually consists of a combination of the following elements:

• Cash interest: Interest that is paid at regular intervals during the term.
• 'Payment in kind' (PIK) interest: Capitalised interest that is not paid in cash during the term, but is added to the payable capital and repaid along with the principal.
• Warrant: An instrument that entitles the provider of mezzanine financing to acquire a small percentage of the share capital later. This allows the provider to enjoy a variable payment too.

The exact relationship between these elements depends on the type of company, its future plans and the arrangements it has made with the financier. A company generating a lot of liquidity will be able to cope with a higher cash interest, while a company with a great need for working capital will tend to go for a higher PIK interest or more warrants.

Mezzanine financing is often used for companies facing a financing gap: an investment need that cannot be fully covered with capital or conventional leverage. A company can also opt for this form of financing if does not need external capital injection because there is sufficient equity present or because the company prefers not to open up the capital to new shareholders, for example.

Is technology the key to moving towards more sustainable business travel? Here’s what Philippe Kahn, Mobility Solutions Expert, thinks.

Now more than ever, businesses need to rethink mobility so that it forms part of the sustainable transition that needs to take place in our societies. Since 1 July 2023, the regulation meaning that company vehicles with combustion engines will no longer be longer tax-deductible by 2026 has started to have an impact. At the same time, Belgium’s Federal Mobility Budget and its recent developments are making this (r)evolution much more concrete and practical. And one thing is for sure: technology – and especially apps – have a key role to play. Philippe Kahn, Mobility Solutions Expert at Arval BNP Paribas Group, explains why.

1 July 2023: a key date

“In the few weeks that have passed since the pivotal date of 1 July 2023, we have already seen a change in the needs expressed by our corporate customers,” says Kahn. "Some of them had already taken practical steps towards sustainable transition. But nowadays, more and more of them also have to address the specific questions and concerns of their employees. How will I be able to use an electric car when I live in a city and have no charging stations available? Do I want to search for a reliable place to charge every day? And am I ready to fundamentally rethink how I get around? Providing a satisfactory answer to these questions is inevitably a priority for employers. As well as the end-to-end management of company electric vehicles – including the question of charging them – more and more companies are starting to rethink their overall mobility policy, analysing all existing alternatives, particularly multimodal solutions. And that’s great news, because it’s essential for their future. So I think the demand for such solutions is only going to grow. Technology, and apps in particular, are key tools for a smooth transition".

Anticipating change to serve companies better

Whereas this issue is only just emerging for many companies, it has been a priority for Arval BNP Paribas Fortis and Philippe Kahn for years. "For more than five years now, we have been anticipating the changes that are now taking place, ensuring that our vision of mobility and expertise go far beyond leasing. We now have an entire department that deals with these matters exclusively. This enables us to meet and even anticipate the needs of companies that have no experience of these issues, and who sometimes feel a little lost when it comes to this revolution in travel.”

A simpler, smoother experience thanks to technology

But why and how is technology playing an important role in this transition to more sustainable business travel? "It’s making the experience of new mobility easier and smoother for its users. And that's where the latest developments in the market are heading," says Kahn. "In fact, that's also what our new Mobility Arval App now offers our corporate customers. It makes it easier for employers to manage the mobility budget established by the federal authorities. This budget, its three pillars and recent developments are crucial factors when a company is rethinking its mobility. But at the same time, it involves some regulatory complexity. That’s why, five years ago, we started developing a whole range of technological tools to help companies deal with these matters. For example, we  make it simple for our customers to manage the combination of an electric car and bicycle within this mobility budget. In this spirit of innovation, and aiming to improve the user experience, our app integrates all facets of new business mobility, which are all accessible from a smartphone. Use of public transport, shared mobility, taxis, and even parking – even though this is not one of the pillars of the mobility budget – everything is in one place. The app also makes it easier to manage transactions: low-value mobility transactions, such as buying a bus ticket, are automatically captured and validated, so manual checks are no longer needed. Similarly, there is no longer any need to advance money to employees or reimburse them for anything, and no need for them to keep and present tickets or any other proof of purchase. In short, our app translates the entire mobility budget, which can be pretty complex, into a user-friendly tool where all the important components are taken into account: car, bicycle, scooter, multimodal solutions, public transport, shared mobility, etc."

Technology as a strategy accelerator

Arval Belgium’s innovations perfectly illustrate why technology is an important accelerator when implementing new mobility strategies. And it goes without saying that what exists today will evolve very quickly, leading to an ever-richer user experience. As Philippe Kahn says, "there are a lot of innovative tools out there already. But one of the challenges, linked to the complexity of the situation in Belgium, is to bring together all the players involved under the same umbrella, so that the result of this collaborative work can be found in a single 'magic' app. The solutions that exist today in Belgium are often local in scope. This is a limitation that doesn’t exist in the Netherlands, for example, thanks to their OV card.  Belgium’s urban planning realities are also a challenge:  outside the major urban centres, it’s less easy to set up mobility hubs in which all modes of travel are accessible."

One thing is certain: for companies, the transition to new forms of mobility is well underway. And the new Arval Belgium app is a valuable tool for those companies. “This technological innovation now makes it possible to mitigate the regulatory complexity for employers, and to make multimodal transport a very fluid experience for employees,” concludes Kahn.

Arval Belgium SA, Ikaroslaan 99, 1930 Zaventem – Registered with the Brussels trade register – Belgian VAT number 0436.781.102.  Company with an ancillary insurance brokage business, registered with the Belgian Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) under number 047238 A. Subject to acceptance of your request.

Arval Belgium SA is a subsidiary of BNP Paribas Fortis S.A.

At the end of May, BNP Paribas Fortis and the University of Antwerp brought together a number of experts to discuss the many challenges involved in decarbonising the shipping sector. What are the key points to remember?

Established 12 years ago, the BNP Paribas Fortis Chair in Transport, Logistics and Ports - linked to the University of Antwerp - conducts in-depth research to find concrete and innovative ways of creating an increasingly resilient – and sustainable – maritime ecosystem.

Building on the success of its first two major events in 2017 and 2019, the Chair has decided to do it again this year. On 25 May 2023, a number of experts and stakeholders from the port and maritime transport sector gathered at the BNP Paribas Fortis premises in Antwerp to discuss the impact of decarbonisation on the maritime ecosystem.

Here are their main findings...

1 – We need to move up a gear

Shipping is currently the most carbon-efficient form of commercial transport in terms of CO₂ emissions per tonne and kilometre. But it can do better.

So far, industry players have favoured quick wins, such as modifying ship propellers and adjusting speeds. But on 25 May, the experts agreed that now is the time to experiment with new fuels and technologies, and move towards (near) zero emissions. The pace of change is accelerating, but there's no silver bullet yet. The costs (and risks) are huge.

2 – International regulation, please (and only one)!

The regulatory framework is complex and constantly evolving.

The International Maritime Organisation (IMO), which reports to the UN, is committed to reducing the carbon emissions from all ships by 40% by 2030 and by 70% by 2050 compared to 2008.

The European Union has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from shipping by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels. By 2024, an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) will apply to all ships of more than 5,000 gross tonnes sailing to or from EU ports.

In short: things are moving, and in the right direction. The problem, according to industry players, is that numerous regional and supra-regional programmes continue to coexist. This leads to administrative and financial overload.

On 25 May, all those involved agreed on two points: firstly, that a single international policy is essential, as this is a global sector; and secondly, that players who do not comply with the rules must be sanctioned.

3 – The transition to carbon neutrality will be costly 

The investments required to build new greener ships is estimated at $5 trillion by 2050. The cost of modernising the existing fleet is not yet known, but it will not be zero. In addition, the investment required to renew port infrastructures promises to be huge.

4 – Fuel and/or preferred technology: uncertainty reigns

What will be the fuel or technology of the future? Opinions are divided.

Many types of low-emission fuels are likely to coexist for some time. Electricity will only be used on coastal vessels, ferries and some tugs. Large ships will use liquefied natural gas (LNG) or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), methanol, ammonia and possibly even biofuels.

Long-distance shipping will initially depend on heavy fuel oil, possibly with carbon capture and storage. Hydrogen has potential, but its density, storage and handling raise questions. Wind, solar and nuclear power are also in the mix.

But the real problem at the moment is that while the number of ships that can run on cleaner fuels is increasing, these fuels are not yet sufficiently available internationally. In other words, supply is much lower than demand.

5 – Banks play a key role

Banks have a key role to play in financing the energy transition. In 2019, eleven financial institutions – mostly European, including the BNP Paribas Group – launched the Poseidon Principles to support the transition to low-carbon shipping. This global framework makes it possible to measure and disclose the carbon intensity of bank loans in the maritime sector. There are now 24 signatories, including Japanese financial institutions. And that’s good news.

Want to know more?

Presentations, videos and photos from the 25 May event are available on this page.