Deal round up 06/08/02

Enterprise Investors backs Polish restaurant chain

Warsaw-headquartered VC firm Enterprise Investors has committed $3.75m to privately owned Polish restaurant chain Sfinks. Enterprise Investors will acquire a 28 per cent stake in return for its investment.

Sfinks, based in Ùódê (central Poland), is Poland’s second largest restaurant chain, with 32 outlets. The company plans to open 60 more restaurants by 2006. It also plans 17 new seasonal restaurants and 30 new food courts. Founded in 1995, Sfinks is a public company listed on the Warsaw stock exchange.

Enterprise Investors is forecasting strong growth in the Polish restaurant industry. There are 84,000 restaurants and other eating outlets in Poland, of which only around 500 are owned by chains. The average Pole spends only three per cent of total food expenditure on eating out, way below other European countries including Germany at 33 per cent and France at 30 per cent.

Three deals for Oxford Technology's VCT

Oxford Technology 3 VCT, the UK-listed venture capital investor, has completed three UK deals with a total value of £333,000.

The fund has invested £75,000 for a 6.99 per cent stake in Membrane Extraction Technology. The investment was for 50,000 ordinary shares and was made alongside an investment of £75,000 from Oxford Technology 2 VCT. Oxford Technology VCT is also an investor in MET. The total equity owned by the three funds is 34.31 per cent.

Oxford Technology 3 VCT has invested £150,000 in UK company Illuminated Flexible Membrane in return for a 16.67 per cent share of the company’s equity. The firm was established in 2001 to commercialise a new concept in display technology that improves visibility of displays in all lighting conditions and from all angles.