Genesis Private Equity Fund III (GPEF III), a private equity fund advised by Genesis Capital, has signed the acquisition of 61% of 11 Entertainment Group, provider of indoor family entertainment in Hungary. GPEF III partnered with the business founder, Mr. Stefan Fritsch, to build a family entertainment specialist in the CEE region. It is the eighth investment of GPEF III and its historically first independent investment in Hungary.
11 Entertainment Group contains companies providing indoor family entertainment in trampoline parks, indoor playgrounds and laser tag arenas in Hungary. The founder and owner of the business, Mr. Stefan Fritsch, started the first playground in 2009 as a hobby-business together with his wife Réka Kovács to entertain his own children, while being a top manager in the automotive industry. This point was an offtake of Mr. Fritsch’s career as entrepreneur.
”Enterpreneurship was a passion for me since I was a litte boy selling comics at the street corner of my home town. As entrepreneurs we have the full freedom to influence the future in a direction we want to have it and by that we can generate the positive flow needed to overcome the immense hurdles and work load on our way to make things happen”, says Mr. Fritsch. Since 2009, Stefan and Réka grew the business to 5 parks accommodating more than 500,000 visitors annually. The business has ambitions to expand further into the neighbouring countries to become a Central European family entertainment leader. In preparation for this plan, 11 Entertainment Group was recently strengthened by experienced top managers who also become shareholders of the group. GPEF III and Mr. Fritsch both allocated potential further capital to support the growth plan.
“The capital entry of Genesis will enable us to focus on rapid expansion of our entertainment concept throughout Central Europe,” says Stefan Fritsch, while adding: “and it is a proof that our team has done an excellent job in building the business to date. By having Genesis on board with its expertise and 20 years of experience in multiple industries and branches, we will get useful input to become even more professional in developing our growth”
“We perceive the investment into 11 Entertainment Group as an opportunity to support the strong entrepreneurial story of Stefan and realize the growth potential in currently underdeveloped family entertainment markets in Central Europe” comments Radan Hanzl, Partner at Genesis Capital, a local investment advisor to GPEF III. “We believe that Stefan’s track record in operational excellence and his approach to business expansion make 11 Entertainment Group an excellent platform for further growth”, Radan Hanzl concludes. “As a bonus, this transaction also fulfils our vision of GPEF III expanding its region of operation beyond its traditional core markets of the Czech Republic and Slovakia”, adds Tatiana Balkovicová, Investment Director at Genesis Capital.
Transaction advisory was provided by Absolvo Consulting and Baker McKenzie on the sell side, Kinstellar and Deloitte on the buyside.
Founded by Mr. Stefan Fritsch and his wife Réka Kovács in 2009, over the last ten years 11 Entertainment Group grew to a leading indoor family entertainment provider in Hungary with 5 entertainment centres (“Cyberjump” trampoline parks, “Laserpark” laser tag arenas and “Elevenpark” indoor playgrounds) located in shopping malls in Budapest and Győr. The parks attracted more than 500,000 visitors in 2018, mainly children, teenagers and young adults. 11 Entertainment Group employs over 45 professionals.
Stefan Fritsch worked more than 20 years in automotive industry, out of that 18 years in leadership positions as global vice president for Quality, Logistics and Lean Manufacturing and 12 years as CEO for German companies, beeing responsible for up to 2,000 people. In 2009, he started 11 Entertrainment Group.
For details, please visit: https://cyberjump.hu https://www.elevenpark.hu https://laserpark.hu
Or watch video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iL5b2kPhfVI
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Genesis Capital provides advisory services to private equity funds offering access to financing for growth and development of small and medium-sized companies in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and Austria. Since its foundation in 1999, Genesis Capital has provided consultancy to four private equity funds with a cumulative size exceeding EUR 170 million. These funds supported over 50 firms, having invested over CZK 3 billion. Many of those firms became leaders in their respective fields also thanks to their cooperation with Genesis Capital. The current fund, Genesis Private Equity Fund III (GPEF III), with the size of over EUR 80 million has been actively investing since 2015.
Investors in GPEF III are mostly local and international institutions and investment firms such as the European Investment Fund (EIF), Česká spořitelna (member of Erste Group), Amundi Czech Republic (member of international group Amundi), Kooperativa pojišťovna and Česká podnikatelská pojišťovna (both members of Vienna Insurance Group), a Finnish fund-of-funds firm eQ Private Equity, a pension fund of a renowned global company, and a Czech family office.
Currently, the Genesis funds hold shares in the following companies: GTH multicatering, ST Security, Quinta-Analytica, HP Tronic/Datart, D2G, Sanborn, Stangl Technik Holding and CN Group.
For more information, please visit: www.genesis.cz/en
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PR representation of Genesis Capital:
Kamil Chalupa, CHM Communications
E-mail: chalupa@chmc.cz; Tel.: +420 602 865 834