Buyouts
GERMANY - Raiden Capital acquires KSH Capital Partners
London-based buyout house Raiden Capital Ltd has acquired KSH Capital Partners AG, a sector-specific financial investor based in Hamburg and Lübeck.
UK - Gresham-owned Whitworths up for sale
Dried fruit packager, Whitworths, is being sold by current backers Gresham at a competitive process run by Rothschild. Several private equity firms including Lion Capital, European Capital, HgCapital and Barclays Private Equity are in the process of preparing...
UK - Bank of Scotland backs buyout of William Cook Defence
William Cook Defence Ltd (WCD), the North East-based specialist manufacturer of tracks and other engineering components, together with its subsidiary William Cook Intermodal Ltd have been acquired from William Cook Holdings Ltd, the Sheffield-based engineering...
ITALY - Carlyle to lead EUR 30bn bid for Telecom Italia businesses
According to reports in the Corriere della Sera, The Carlyle Group is planning a EUR 30bn bid for Telecom Italia's mobile telephony businesses. It will provide EUR 4bn of cash, while the other partners in the consortium, Permira and Blackstone Capital...
NL- Bencis acquires Aktiesport and Perri Sport
Bencis Capital Partners has acquired a substantial equity interest in the in the sport retails chains Aktiesport and Perry Sport through Unlimited Sports Group BV (USG).
UK - Signet wants to hang on to H Samuel and Ernest Jones
US jewellery company Signet has stated that it intends to hang on to its 590 outlets in the UK which trade under the H Samuel and Ernest Jones names. It is understood that the UK businesses are falling behind the fast-growing US businesses.
UK - Possible take-private of Inter Link Foods?
Reports suggest that the management of Inter Link Foods are in talks with private equity firms, including 3i, HgCapital and LDC, about the possibility of delisting the company. Its shares closed at 407.5p on Friday with management anticipating to demand...
SPAIN - Diana Capital and ICO buy 12.7% of Guascor Group
Diana Capital and the Instituto de Credito Oficial (ICO) have acquired a 12.7% shareholding in Guascor Group, a company focused in the development of marine propulsion equipment and engines. Private equity firm Diana Capital and ICO, the state-owned...
SPAIN - Permira secures Telepizza in EUR 850m deal
The five-month battle for Spanish pizza delivery chain Telepizza has come to an end with the winning bid of EUR 3.21 per share from Foodco Pastries and Medimosal, companies jointly owned by Permira and Telepizza founding family Ballve's investment vehicle...
SWEDEN - CapMan creates Nordic healthcare group
CapMan funds and Plena AB have signed an agreement for the acquisition of two Swedish healthcare companies SelefaTrade AB and Förbandsmaterial AB. The acquisitions have been made via the holding company that owns Finnish Tamro MedLab Oy, a business CapMan...
GERMANY - Nordic Capital's Nycomed acquires ALTANA for EUR 4.215bn
Nycomed, a portfolio company owned by Nordic Capital, has acquired ALTANA Pharma AG for four times its own enterprise value. Headquartered in Konstanz, the company is the pharmaceutical business of ALTANA AG's pharmaceuticals and chemicals group. If the...
UK - Bank of Scotland Corporate backs MBO of Conran Restaurants
Bank of Scotland Corporate Banking has provided a ТЃ47m integrated debt and equity package to support the existing management in the buyout of Conran Restaurants. The deal has enabled management, who have invested new cash, to significantly increase their...
UK - Risk Capital Partners acquires Patisserie Valerie
Risk Capital Partners has acquired a majority stake in London's famous upmarket patisserie chain Patisserie Valerie. The acquisition has been made with a view to expanding the business and taking it national. The company has revenues in excess of ТЃ8m....
UK - Sun Capital acquires Pearl Fittings representing partial exit for Endless
Endless has sold its majority stake in Pearl Fittings Ltd to Sun European Partners, the European adviser to Sun Capital Partners. The deal represents a partial exit for Endless, which first invested in the company in March 2006 since when turnover has...
FINLAND - CapMan acquires industrial maintenance from Fortum
Funds managed by CapMan have signed an agreement with Fortum to acquire its industrial services business unit, a provider of industrial maintenance services, for an undisclosed sum.
UK - Apax launches bid to delist unquote" publisher Incisive Media
Apax Partners has made an offer to acquire global B2B publisher Incisive Media Plc. The deal, which has been recommended by the independent directors of the business, values the London Stock Exchange-listed companyтs shares at ТЃ199m, and offers shareholders...
GERMANY - Nord Holding takes majority in PDS Group
Nord Holding has acquired a 70% stake in PDS Group, Cologne, a systems integrator for mobile data capture systems. Raimund Müller-Rau, general manager of the company, retains the 30% balance.The vendor is MUK Kapitalbeteiligungsgesellschaft, a joint subsidiary...
UK - Barclays Private Equity takes stake in Jerrold Holdings for £113.5m
Barclays Private Equity has acquired a significant minority stake in Jerrold Holdings Ltd, a secured lender to the residential and commercial sectors, for ТЃ113.5m. The acquisition adds to Barclays Private Equityтs financial services portfolio, (which...
UK - Penta Capital leads £10m equity funding round in retail chain's 147 UK stores
InternaУЇionale Holdings Ltd, the Glasgow-headquartered retailer which owns 147 Au Naturale and InternaУЇionale stores throughout the UK, has been acquired in a management buyout worth ТЃ45m. InternaУЇionaleтs senior management team of Norrie Stewart,...
UK - Barclays Private Equity invests £15m in powered machine hirers merger
Barclays Private Equity has invested ТЃ15m in the merger of AFI Aerial Platforms and Uplift Platforms, hirers of powered access machines. Barclays Private Equity will hold a significant stake in the enlarged business. AFI Aerial Platforms, based in Wakefield,...
UK - Bowmark Capital acquires Design Objectives
Bowmark Capital has announced the acquisition of Design Objectives Ltd, the UKтs leading supplier of products to the rapidly growing paper crafts market. Paper crafting is principally the design and decoration of home-made greeting cards, scrapbooks and...
UK - NTL deal reportedly off
Market souces report that the ТЃ10.6bn bid for NTL by a consortium of private equity groups is no longer going to go ahead.
UK - 3i targets Countrywide
Listed estate agency chain Countrywide has confirmed that it has received an approach from 3i. Shares in the company have risen by 13% since Thursday, giving the group a market value of ТЃ890m.
GERMANY - Burda Digital Ventures acquires computeruniverse.net
Burda Digital Ventures GmbH, a subsidiary of Hubert Burda Media, has agreed to acquire computeruniverse.net GmbH, Friedrichshof. The vendors are the company's management and private investor Participia Holding, Hamburg. The acquisition is designed to...