Novator Partners
Novator Partners LLP is a British private equity investment firm based in London owned by Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson. Assets overview The company specializes in investments in companies based in emerging markets. Industries by which it focuses on include telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, social gaming, financial services and natural resource sectors. Investments In 2003 Novator acquired a 70% stake in Czech telecoms company České Radiokomunikace for £120m. It owns 39.23% of the shares in T-Mobile Czech Republic a.s. (one of the two largest mobile operators in the Czech Republic). Novator sold the stake three years later for £942m. In 2005 it acquired the largest single stake in Finnish telecom company Elisa for around £100m. The stake was later sold in 2007 for £311m. In 2005 Actavis acquired the New Jersey-based generic drug company Amide Pharmaceutical for US$500 million. In 2005 Novator invested in video game developer CCP, and sold their stake to de ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson
Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson (born 19 March 1967), known internationally as Thor Bjorgolfsson, and colloquially in Iceland as Bjöggi, is an Icelandic businessman and entrepreneur. He is also chairman and founder of Novator Partners. Björgólfur Thor has built and invested in a number of larger companies and smaller startups, including Actavis, a pharmaceutical company; WOM Play - mobile telecoms challenger brands in Chile, Colombia and Poland; and Zwift - an online platform for indoor cycling. Other companies invested in by Björgólfur Thor and Novator include Deliveroo, Monzo, Stripe, Cazoo, Xantis Pharma, Klang, and Lockwood Publishing. Björgólfur Thor was the first Icelander to join ''Forbes'' magazine's list of the world's richest people in 2005. He has been declared as "Iceland's first billionaire"; and was ranked as the 249th-richest person in the world by Forbes magazine in 2007 - up from 350th the previous year - with a net worth of $3.5 billion. However, due ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
TurkNet
TurkNet or by its legal name TurkNet İletişim Hizmetleri A.Ş. is a telecommunications company that offers internet access and telephone services to businesses and consumers in Turkey. As of end of September 2015, TurkNet was the fourth largest internet service provider in Turkey with 2.1% share of the internet service provider market, and 3.7% of the fixed-line telephone services market. In 2007, TurkNet received a $12,5 million investment from Novator, a private equity fund controlled by Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson and in May 2013, TurkNet received a loan worth EUR 9.5 million from the EBRD for a capital expansion program. Subsequent growth brought the company a retail base of 180,000 retail customers and 25,000 business customers. Founded as Netone, the company purchased the TurkNet brand and assets from Sabancı Holding Hacı Ömer Sabancı Holding A.Ş., commonly abbreviated as Sabancı Holding, is an industrial and financial conglomerate with headquarters in Istan ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Play (telecommunications)
P4 sp. z o.o., known as Play (until January 2022, also as Play Communications SA, former parent company of P4 registered in Luxembourg), is a Polish cellular telecommunications provider. Play was founded in 2007 and has gradually increased its local market share, up to 27% . In September 2020, Play became part of French Iliad. Before being sold, Iceland's Novator Partners, led by Icelandic businessman Thor Bjorgolfsson, acquired a large stake in the company. As of November 20, 2020, Iliad owns 96,66% of Play. Network Play is the biggest cellular network in Poland. PLAY uses EGSM 900 and GSM1800 for its 2G services, UMTS 2100 and UMTS 900 for 3G and LTE800, LTE1800, LTE2100 and LTE 2600 for LTE. Its MCC is 260–06. Thanks to domestic roaming with Polkomtel (Plus) and Era ( T-Mobile.pl), Play is a nationwide cellular carrier. Native Network As of November 3, 2013, Play Mobile has 3288 EGSM 900 BTS, 4143 UMTS 2100 nodeB and 2175 UMTS 900 nodeB's. UMTS 900 and UMTS 2100 network P ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Bulgarian Telecommunications Company
Vivacom ( bg, Виваком) is the largest telecommunications company in Bulgaria and a former state-owned incumbent operator. The company is headquartered in the capital city Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ... and employs around 5,900 people, owning a mature distribution network with around 230 branded retail outlets and alternative sale points. Vivacom is a fully integrated operator, providing mobile, fixed voice, fixed broadband and pay-TV (both DTH and IPTV) services on a nationwide scale to both residential and business customers. The fixed-line services are provided through copper-based and fibre network footprint, while the mobile services are based on GSM/GPRS/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA+/LTE technologies. Vivacom owns and operates Plana Teleport, which is ab ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Saunalahti
Saunalahti (previously Jippii) was a Finnish mobile phone operator and an internet service provider. History The company was founded in 1996 when three middle-sized internet operators merged. In 2009 the Helsinki Court of Appeal convicted Jippii leadership of using inside information when selling its own shares, accounting mistakes and too good information of the company finance to public in 2001. The case was brought back to the court in 2012 and all 26 convictions were overturned. The Finnish state was obliged to pay 4 million euros from the trial. In 2005 Saunalahti merged with Elisa. Icelandic-led Novator acquired a large share of the company in 2005. Subsequently Elisa acquired all stock and Saunalahti was delisted from the Helsinki Stock Exchange in the first half of 2006. Elisa The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (, ) is a commonly used analytical biochemistry assay, first described by Eva Engvall and Peter Perlmann in 1971. The assay uses a solid- ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Boyko Borisov
Boyko Metodiev Borisov ( bg, Бойко Методиев Борисов, ; born 13 June 1959) is a Bulgarian politician who served as the prime minister of Bulgaria from 2009 to 2013, 2014 to 2017, and 2017 to 2021, making him Bulgaria's second-longest serving prime minister to date. Borisov was elected Mayor of Sofia in 2005. In December 2005, he was the founding chairman of the conservative political party Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB), becoming its lead candidate in the 2009 general election. Borisov led GERB to a landslide victory in 2009, defeating the incumbent Socialist Party, and resigned as mayor of Sofia to be sworn in as Prime Minister. He resigned in 2013, after nationwide protests against the government's energy policy, but after leading GERB to victory in the 2014 general election, he became Prime Minister again. His second term ended similarly to his first, after Borisov resigned in January 2017, this time following GERB's defeat in the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
CCP Games
CCP hf., doing business as CCP Games, is an Icelandic video game developer based in Reykjavík. Novator Partners and General Catalyst had previously collectively owned a majority stake in the company, and in September 2018, CCP was acquired by South Korean video game publisher Pearl Abyss for $425 million. CCP Games is best known for developing ''Eve Online'', which was released in 2003 and has since been maintained. History CCP Games was founded in June 1997 by Reynir Harðarson, Þórólfur Beck Kristjónsson and Ívar Kristjánsson for the purpose of making MMORPGs. The name "CCP" is short for "Crowd Control Productions". To finance the initial development of ''Eve Online'', CCP Games developed and published a board game, called ''Hættuspil'' ("''Danger Game''"). The game sold more than 10,000 copies to Iceland's 80,000 households. In April 2000 the company, with Sigurður Arnljótsson as CEO, raised $2.6 million, through a closed offering organised by Kaupthing Bank ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Indoor Cycling
Indoor cycling, often called spinning, is a form of exercise with classes focusing on endurance, strength, intervals, high intensity (race days) and recovery, and involves using a special stationary exercise bicycle with a weighted flywheel in a classroom setting. When people took cycling indoors in the late 19th century, whether for reasons of weather or convenience, technology created faster, more compact and efficient machines over time. The first iterations of the stationary bike ranged from strange contraptions like the Gymnasticon to regular bicycles placed atop rollers. Class content and goals Classes generally use specialized stationary bicycles. Features include a mechanical device to modify the difficulty of pedaling, specially shaped handlebars, and multiple adjustment points to fit the bicycle to a range of riders. Many have a weighted flywheel, which simulates the effects of inertia and momentum when riding a real bicycle. The pedals are equipped with toe clips as o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Zwift
Zwift is a massively multiplayer online cycling and running physical training program that enables users to interact, train, and compete in a virtual world. Zwift was developed by Zwift Inc., which was co-founded by Jon Mayfield, Eric Min, Scott Barger, and Alarik Myrin, in California, United States, North America, in 2014. The Zwift game was released in its beta version in September 2014, in partnership with TRUE Communications/InGoodTaste, and became a paid product with a fee of US$10 per month in October 2015 (). They raised their monthly membership to US$14.99 in November 2017 (). Early history In 2012/13 Eric Min had recently sold his previous company, Sakonnet Technology. Min, a lifelong cyclist, found himself confined to riding indoors, and dissatisfied with current interactive options, he believed he could improve on them by "making cycling social". Around this time, Min saw an online post by programmer Jon Mayfield describing a "3D trainer program" he was developing ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Chile covers an area of , with a population of 17.5 million as of 2017. It shares land borders with Peru to the north, Bolivia to the north-east, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far south. Chile also controls the Pacific islands of Juan Fernández, Isla Salas y Gómez, Desventuradas, and Easter Island in Oceania. It also claims about of Antarctica under the Chilean Antarctic Territory. The country's capital and largest city is Santiago, and its national language is Spanish. Spain conquered and colonized the region in the mid-16th century, replacing Inca rule, but failing to conquer the independent Mapuche who inhabited what is now south-central Chile. In 1818, after declaring ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Play (telecommunications)
P4 sp. z o.o., known as Play (until January 2022, also as Play Communications SA, former parent company of P4 registered in Luxembourg), is a Polish cellular telecommunications provider. Play was founded in 2007 and has gradually increased its local market share, up to 27% . In September 2020, Play became part of French Iliad. Before being sold, Iceland's Novator Partners, led by Icelandic businessman Thor Bjorgolfsson, acquired a large stake in the company. As of November 20, 2020, Iliad owns 96,66% of Play. Network Play is the biggest cellular network in Poland. PLAY uses EGSM 900 and GSM1800 for its 2G services, UMTS 2100 and UMTS 900 for 3G and LTE800, LTE1800, LTE2100 and LTE 2600 for LTE. Its MCC is 260–06. Thanks to domestic roaming with Polkomtel (Plus) and Era ( T-Mobile.pl), Play is a nationwide cellular carrier. Native Network As of November 3, 2013, Play Mobile has 3288 EGSM 900 BTS, 4143 UMTS 2100 nodeB and 2175 UMTS 900 nodeB's. UMTS 900 and UMTS 2100 network P ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Telecommunication
Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that feasible with the human voice, but with a similar scale of expediency; thus, slow systems (such as postal mail) are excluded from the field. The transmission media in telecommunication have evolved through numerous stages of technology, from beacons and other visual signals (such as smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs), to electrical cable and electromagnetic radiation, including light. Such transmission paths are often divided into communication channels, which afford the advantages of multiplexing multiple concurrent communication sessions. ''Telecommunication'' is often used in its plural form. Other examples of pre-modern long-distance communication included audio messages, such as coded d ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |