Latest news with #Bernd
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
GTCR Announces Sale of Antylia Scientific
Transaction Follows Decade-Long Management Partnership Culminating in Successful Transformation and Growth of Unique Life Sciences Tools Business CHICAGO, May 28, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- GTCR, a leading private equity firm, today announced that it has signed and completed the sale of Antylia Scientific ("Antylia" or "the Company") to Brookfield Asset Management's private equity business and CDPQ for approximately $1.34 billion. Headquartered in Vernon Hills, Illinois, Antylia is a diversified life sciences company focused on the biopharmaceutical, clinical diagnostic, and environmental testing industries, among others. Antylia supports the accuracy and repeatability of processes in research and clinical labs by manufacturing and selling mission-critical products to thousands of long-term customers across these industries. As part of GTCR's Leaders Strategy™, the firm partnered with Antylia Chairman Bernd Brust, CEO Jonathan Salkin, and the Company's executive team to execute transformational growth. Since the firm's initial acquisition of Antylia (f/k/a Cole-Parmer Instrument Company) from Thermo Fisher Scientific in a carve-out transaction in 2014, GTCR's investment funds continued to invest significant capital in the Company to expand its geographic reach and portfolio of lab products, bioprocessing tools and life sciences reagents and quality controls. Since 2014, Antylia has completed 15 add-on acquisitions of complementary life science tools and diagnostic controls businesses. In addition, in late 2021, Antylia separated and divested its Masterflex bioprocessing business segment to Avantor Inc. in an all-cash transaction that valued the business unit at $2.9 billion, which represented the culmination of transforming that business segment into a high-growth bioprocessing asset supporting biologic drug and vaccine production. "We are extraordinarily proud of the business transformation that Bernd, Jon and the entire Antylia team have been able to achieve over the last decade," said Sean Cunningham, Managing Director and Head of Healthcare at GTCR. "From just an idea in 2014, to creating the current business through organic investment and M&A, we believe this is another great example of our Leaders Strategy™ approach, and we want to thank the entire Antylia team for their partnership." "Bernd and Jon have created a unique platform within the life sciences industry," said Dean Mihas, GTCR Co-CEO and Managing Director. "The business has grown and evolved significantly in the decade we have partnered with them, and we look forward to watching the Antylia team's continued success as the business drives innovation in the life sciences industry." "Antylia's continued growth and momentum would not have been possible without the thoughtful partnership from the entire GTCR team over the past decade," said Jonathan Salkin, CEO of Antylia. "We are thankful for their support and look forward to continuing to grow Antylia into the future." Goldman Sachs and Jefferies acted as financial advisors and Kirkland & Ellis acted as legal counsel to Antylia. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC acted as financial advisor to GTCR. About GTCR:Founded in 1980, GTCR is a leading private equity firm that pioneered The Leaders Strategy™ – finding and partnering with management leaders in core domains to identify, acquire and build market-leading companies through organic growth and strategic acquisitions. GTCR is focused on investing in transformative growth in companies in the Business & Consumer Services, Financial Services & Technology, Healthcare and Technology, Media & Telecommunications sectors. Since its inception, GTCR has invested more than $30 billion in over 280 companies, and the firm currently manages more than $45 billion in equity capital. GTCR is based in Chicago with offices in New York and West Palm Beach. About Antylia:Antylia Scientific™ is a diversified life science tools business with a portfolio of products serving the pharma, biopharma, healthcare and environmental markets. Its life sciences portfolio includes well-recognized brands such as the environmental sampling and testing innovator, Environmental Express®; real-time monitoring and cold storage expertise at Traceable®; our standards and external diagnostic control specialists, SPEX® and ZeptoMetrix®; and our lab essentials and consumables Cole-Parmer Essentials® brand. For more information, please visit GTCR Media Contact: Josh Clarkson / Ryan Smith 212-279-3115 Pro-GTCR@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE GTCR Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Daily Mirror
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Man dismembered alive and eaten over 10 months by lover in sick cannibal pact
Armin Meiwes kept portions of Bernd Brandes' flesh in a freezer after they made a fatal agreement. The cannibal consumed his victim over a lengthy period and was later jailed for his murder Armin Meiwes spent 10 months dining on his voluntary victim after he ate him alive following a sick pact. With cannibalism highly illegal, depraved Meiwes was later jailed for life for murdering Bernd Brandes. The fetishistic killer had posted an advert called 'Dinner - or your dinner' more than 60 times on a German forum when his offer was taken up by Bernd, a 43-year-old engineer in 2001. Meiwes, then 42, invited his victim into his home in Rotenburg, southern Germany, feeding him sleeping pills and Schnapps before cutting off his penis and feeding it to both of them. The next gruesome course was Bernd's back, telling a documentary called Docs: Interview With A Cannibal: "I took out my best dinner service, and fried a piece of rump steak – a piece from his back – made what I call princess potatoes, and sprouts." "The first bite was, of course, very strange. It was a feeling I can't really describe. I'd spent over 40 years longing for it, dreaming about it. "And now I was getting the feeling that I was actually achieving this perfect inner connection through his flesh. The flesh tastes like pork but stronger." Meiwes prepared his dinner table with candles and cooked and consumed the illegal feast he had been "longing" for. Bernd then took a bath as Meiwes read a Star Trek novel to him before he stabbed him in the neck, killing him. He cut him into pieces and buried him in his garden, saving some of his flesh in the freezer which he ate over the next 10 months. After the deed was done, Meiwes was arrested in December 2002 and lied to the police, telling them the meat in his freezer was wild pig. The former computer technician had developed a sick obsession with eating someone alive when he was a teenager, inviting his victim to his home in Rotenburg, in southern Germany. He told a subsequent criminal trial that the engineer "came to me of his own free will to end his life. For him, it was a nice death." The dead man was later reported to have a fetish to be castrated and had agreed to accommodate Meiwes' cannibal wish in return, and said to have feared he would be committed if he lived. The pair spent a month communicating daily by email discussing their plans, and the day before Bernd left, he sold his car, wiped his computer and wrote a note leaving his possessions to his boyfriend. In January 2004, the cannibal was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to eight years and six months in prison. In a subsequent retrial in May 2006, he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, where he remains behind bars at the age of 63. In April 2023, Meiwes' former home and the scene of the murder was destroyed in a suspected arson attack.
Daily Mirror
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Cannibal cut off lover's penis, fried it with garlic and served it for dinner
The sick fetishist placed an advert entitled 'Dinner - or your dinner' (Image: AFP) Cannibal Armin Meiwes dined on his lover's flesh after he agreed to be eaten alive. Sick Meiwes carried out his highly illegal fantasy in 2001, when he killed Bernd Brandes and cooked his penis for dinner. The cannibal had posted an advert called 'Dinner - or your dinner' more than 60 times on a German forum when Bernd, 43, took him up on his offer. Meiwes then decorated his table, adding candles for ambience, before he carried out his gruesome act. The former computer technician had developed a sick obsession with eating someone alive when he was a teenager, inviting his victim to his home in Rotenburg, in southern Germany. He told a subsequent criminal trial that the engineer "came to me of his own free will to end his life. For him, it was a nice death." READ MORE: Britain's longest serving prisoner kept in glass box is 'slowly dying' The engineer was 43 when he was eaten alive after responding to an advert Bernd first took sleeping pills and drank Schnapps before Meiwes cut his penis off and they both ate it. He then ate part of his voluntary victim's back, describing how he had been "longing" for it. The cannibal told a documentary called Docs: Interview With A Cannibal: "I took out my best dinner service, and fried a piece of rump steak – a piece from his back – made what I call princess potatoes, and sprouts. After I prepared my meal, I ate it. "The first bite was, of course, very strange. It was a feeling I can't really describe. I'd spent over 40 years longing for it, dreaming about it. "And now I was getting the feeling that I was actually achieving this perfect inner connection through his flesh. The flesh tastes like pork but stronger." Meiwes first developed his sick fantasy when he was a teenager After the sick feast, Bernd took a bath as Meiwes read a Star Trek novel to him before he stabbed him in the neck, killing him. He cut him into pieces and buried him in his garden, saving some of his flesh in the freezer which he ate over the next 10 months. The dead man was later reported to have a fetish to be castrated and had agreed to accommodate Meiwes' cannibal wish in return, and said to have feared he would be committed if he lived. The pair spent a month communicating daily by email discussing their plans, and the day before Bernd left, he sold his car, wiped his computer and wrote a note leaving his possessions to his boyfriend. After the deed was done, Meiwes was arrested in December 2002 and lied to the police, telling them the meat in his freezer was wild pig. He was 42 when he had videotaped the killing, dissection and consumption of Bernd. In January 2004, the cannibal was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to eight years and six months in prison. In a subsequent retrial in May 2006, he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, where he remains behind bars at the age of 63. In April 2023, Meiwes' former home and the scene of the murder was destroyed in a suspected arson attack.
Euronews
04-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Euronews
Why are European children's TV characters so terrifying?
This year, German television celebrates a mightily important anniversary. 25 years ago, a depressed loaf of bread waltzed on to children's TV screens and terrified the entire population. Bernd das Brot, or 'Bernd the bread' is a beloved mainstay of German children's television. The sour-faced sourdough first aired on the Kika channel in 2000 alongside more traditionally optimistic characters such as Chili the Sheep and Briegel the Bush. The toast of children's television, Bernd das Brot was first baked up by Tommy Krappweis and Norman Cöster. Georg Graf von Westphalen then designed Bernd as a loaf of white bread with a permanent scowl. With his petulant pessimism and signature expression 'Mist!' (crap), it wasn't long before German TV programmers had some sense and moved Bernd from the daytime to the evening slot on the children's channel. There, stoners could fully appreciate their kindred spirit and Bernd das Brot as the crusty king he always was. As we commemorate 25 years of German TV's strangest attempt at children's entertainment, we thought it would be a good opportunity to look through the annals of European TV to find other examples of the continent's greatest tradition: terrifying children. United Kingdom: Mr Blobby No list of horrifying children's characters would be complete without the UK's gallant entry into the crowded field. It was 1992 and the coke-fuelled era of TV production was clearly still in full swing when Mr Blobby came hurtling into our lives. The huge costume of a bulbous pink man with jiggling eyes and an electronically altered voice that only screams 'blobby' with the vicious intensity of a thousand death hounds, Mr Blobby's entire shtick was terror. Introduced on the show 'Noel's House Party' as a gag where they pretended Mr Blobby was an established TV character in front of unknowing celebs, Mr Blobby somehow hypnotised a nation into making him a permanent fixture, appearing on British screens regularly ever since. Blundering into rooms, chaos always followed Mr Blobby. The grotesque humanoid creature would destroy all in its path. A symbol of 90s decadence in Britain, it's hard to say what summarises Mr Blobby or the era more: that he reportedly reduced a small girl to tears after throwing her birthday cake on the floor causing her father to assault him; or that he had a number one UK Christmas single. The Netherlands: Karbonkel As mentioned above, the 90s were a weird time. Not willing to be outdone by the Brits for televisual oddities, in 1994 Dutch TV programmers signed off on the show 'Ik Mik Loreland'. On the surface, it seems like a sweet idea. Aimed at primary school children, the show was designed to encourage and support them in learning to read and spell correctly. What could be more wholesome than learning to love literacy? For all that the Dutch are praised for their rationality, this is also a nation that was put on the map for their laissez-faire approach to weed and hookers. Naturally then, the best way to teach children under 10 how to read is through the ever present threat of Karbonkel, a one-eyed monster that can't read or write and tries to stop children from doing so too. Karbonkel immediately terrified children but production was already too far along by the time the studio realised for them to change course. The studio ended up touring Karbonkel around schools to prove to children this shape-shifting monster was just a puppet. Despite traumatising a generation, 'Ik Mik Loreland' has endured as an icon of Dutch culture. Czechia: Raťafák Plachta Guillermo del Toro ain't got nothing on the Czechs. Long before he created the terrifying Pale Man character with eyes in his hands for Pan's Labyrinth, Czech TV aired the Slovak show 'Slniečko' from 1979 to 1989. 'Slniečko' translates as 'little sunshine' and the puppet show's main character was a hand puppet of the sun. But while the main mascot was largely adorable, it isn't the show's legacy. Instead, that honour falls on Raťafák Plachta, another puppet created to parody politicians – yes, it's a children's show. Raťafák Plachta or 'big nose blanket' was a huge ungainly puppet that needed to be manned by two operators draped in the blanket costume. Walking around like a prop from a cheap horror film, Raťafák Plachta needs to be killed with fire. Sadly, almost all 500 episodes of 'Slniečko' are lost. It's only due to a parody video which surfaced online of someone using the original costume that many 1980s Slovak-Czech kids were reminded of the beast haunting their nightmares.
Voice of America
02-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Voice of America
'Bernd das Brot,' a depressed German loaf of bread, has spent 25 years as a TV cult classic
Forget SpongeBob SquarePants, Sesame Street and the sourdough starter craze — a depressed German loaf of bread named Bernd das Brot is celebrating his 25th anniversary as the reluctant star of a children's television program that accidentally became equally popular with adults. A cult classic in Germany, Bernd das Brot (Bernd the Bread) is a puppet renowned for his deep, gloomy voice, his perpetual pessimism and his signature expression, "Mist!" (Think "Crap!" in English.) Played and voiced by puppeteer Jorg Teichgraeber, Bernd is a television presenter who wants nothing to do with TV and can't wait to go home to stare at the wallpaper. This year, his friends — a sheep and a flower bush — are urging him to become a bread influencer. Born as a sketch on the back of a napkin in a pizzeria, Bernd was drawn by Tommy Krappweis, who modeled it after co-creator Norman Coster's face. The duo had been asked to come up with mascots for KiKA, a German children's public television channel. Comic artist Georg Graf von Westphalen designed Bernd as a pullman loaf — white bread typically sliced for sandwiches — with short arms and a permanent scowl. Bernd channels German stereotypes with his grumpy disposition, penchant for complaining, and dry sense of humor and irony. Bernd's first episode aired on KiKA in 2000 alongside his more optimistic pals, Chili the Sheep and Briegel the Bush. A reluctant popularity Because KiKA is a children's channel, there was typically dead air from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. On Jan. 1, 2003, the network put Bernd's short episodes into the night loop for the first time. The move brought an adult audience into Bernd's world, often those sitting at home and smoking pot, or returning after a long night of partying. The night loop cemented his popularity as a German cult classic. In 2004, Bernd won the Adolf Grimme Prize, the German television equivalent of an Emmy. The jury said he represents "the right to be in a bad mood." "Bernd shows you that you are less vulnerable with humor and self-irony. And perhaps the most important point is: It's totally OK if you don't feel well sometimes. That's completely fine," Krappweis said in a KiKA Q&A about Bernd's anniversary. Bernd's broken heart Bernd is depressed for a multitude of reasons, including his failed attempt to be the mascot for a bakery's advertising campaign (that's how he ended up as a TV presenter, as a last resort). But it's in Episode 85 that we finally learn about Bernd's broken heart. "A long, long time ago I fell in love with a beautiful, slim baguette. She was so incredibly charming and funny," Bernd tells Chili and Briegel. But unfortunately it was in vain. "She only had eyes for this run-of-the-mill multigrain bread with its 10 types of grain. It was so depressing." The kidnapping Despite Bernd's best efforts — one of his catchphrases is "I would like to leave this show" — the episodes have never become stale. He sings, he dances, he's been to space. He's the star of merchandise, a video game and headlines like "Give Us Our Daily Bernd." He was even kidnapped. In 2009, his 2-meter-tall statue was stolen from his traditional place outside the town hall in Erfurt, where KiKA is based. A claim of responsibility surfaced on YouTube, by sympathizers of a group of demonstrators who were protesting a company that had produced cremation ovens for the Nazis' Auschwitz extermination camp. The demonstrators, however, denied involvement in Bernd's kidnapping, and the video was removed from the internet. Bernd was held hostage for nearly two weeks before being discovered unharmed in an abandoned barracks. KiKA is honoring Bernd's 25th anniversary, despite his complaints. New episodes, an update to his hit song, and online activities for kids and adults alike will be featured. The celebrations are at hand, as Bernd's birthday is Feb. 29. The latest series will premiere in September as Bernd, Chili and Briegel launch the social media channel "Better with Bernd" in their efforts to make him into a bread influencer. The trio will present inventions to make school, and life, easier for viewers, but naturally their concoctions backfire. Bernd instead becomes a defluencer — and an involuntary trendsetter.
