Private Equity News & Analysis

Warburg Pincus buys stake in Czech internet portal

The global investment firm has done its second European deal this week, buying a stake in NetCentrum, shortly after its stellar exit from Loyalty Management Group.

By
Toby Lewis
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The global investment firm has done its second European deal this week, buying a stake in NetCentrum, shortly after its stellar exit from Loyalty Management Group.

Global investment firm Warburg Pincus has bought a stake in Czech internet company NetCentrum. Terms were undisclosed but local media reports said the web portal had been planning a €100 million ($147.4 million) float.

NetCentrum was founded by Ondrej Tomek and Oldrich Bajer in September 1999. It is now visited by 700,000 users daily and has almost 3 million monthly users.  

 Warburg Pincus declined to comment.

Yesterday the firm sold a 35 percent stake in Loyalty Management Group, which runs UK customer reward scheme Nectar, making a 6.5 times return. The entire business was sold for £368 million (€515.5 million; $759.7 million) to Canadian trade buyer Aeroplan.

Warburg Pincus also invested $43.8 million (€29.7 million) in a $100 million funding round into Ukraine consumer lending business IMB Group, valuing the company at $263.5 million in June. At the time, the investment was its eighth investment in Central and Eastern Europe.