Deals
PORTUGAL - The Riverside Company acquires ONI
The Riverside Company has agreed to acquire ONI SGPS SA, the wire-line telecom unit of Portuguese utility Energias de Portugal. The deal is valued at EUR 160m, and is expected to close early next year.
UK - Investment management company moves to Liverpool
A specialist multi manager investment firm with over ТЃ100m of assets under management is expanding into Liverpool with backing from Merseyside Special Investment Fund (MSIF). Mercater Capital Management has opened offices in Liverpool after receiving...
GERMANY - IPO for Quest for Growth portfolio company Wilex AG
Quest for Growth has announced that Wilex AG, its portfolio company, has successfully placed new shares in its IPO on the Frankfurt exchange. Wilex is a biopharmaceutical company based in Munich, which was founded in 1997 by a team of physicians and oncologists...
SWEDEN - Nordic Capital sells fitness club chain SATS
Nordic Capital Fund IV has entered into a binding agreement to divest fitness club chain SATS to Tryg i Danmark smba. Tryg i Danmark smba invests in companies within the healthcare and security sector. The completion of the transaction is subject to approval...
UK - Inflexion sells ACIS to The Carlyle Group
Inflexion Private Equity has sold its entire stake in Advanced Communications and Information Systems Ltd (ACIS) in a secondary buyout to The Carlyle Group. The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
UK - Enterprise receives approach from unknown private equity company
A company which provides outsourced planned and reactive maintenance services to utility companies and local authorities, Enterprise, has received a takeover approach from an unknown private equity company.
FRANCE - Natexis and Crédit Agricole back buyout of luxury bottle maker
Natexis Industrie, Natexis Investissement and Crédit Agricole Private Equity have backed the buyout of Saverglass, a designer, manufacturer and distributor of luxury glass bottles and decanters.
UK - Alchemy in takeover bid for Cathedral Capital
Alchemy Partners is set to acquire insurance and reinsurance group Cathedral Capital after 80% of the unlisted public company's shareholders recommended the offer.
BELGIUM - Clear2Pay raises additional EUR 2m from Iris Capital
Clear2Pay,a Belgian software vendor of next generation payment solutions for financial institutions, has received a EUR 2m capital increase from Iris Capital. In addition, the telco and media venture capitalist has purchased existing equity for the value...
UK - Permira, TDR and Apollo bid for Hard Rock Cafe
Hard Rock Cafe, the chain of 121 restaurants, four hotels and two casinos owned by UK leisure group Rank is being sold. Bidders include Permira, TDR Capital and US-based Apollo Management as well as trade interest from Seminole Hard Rock Hotels and Casinos,...
FINLAND/UK - BioFund exits Ark Therapeutics
BioFund Management Oy has sold all shares of Ark Therapeutics Group Plc, a biopharmaceutical company based in Finland and the UK. Bio Fund Ventures II LP invested in Ark in 2000 and Ark was listed on the London Stock Exchange main list in March 2004....
ITALY/GERMANY - Berlusconi and private equity funds to compete for media giant
According to reports in the Italian press, Silvio Berlusconi's broadcasting empire Mediaset is planning to launch a bid for 50.5% of German television network ProSiebenSat.1 Media. It is understood that a decision will be made next Tuesday, when the group's...
FRANCE - 21 Centrale Partners plans to delist Apem
21 Centrale Partners has entered negotiations to take-private Apem, a manufacturer of miniature switches for electronic applications notably.
UK - Whitbread rumours intensify as Starwood appoints former Whitbread director
Rumours surrounding the leisure group Whitbread and its possible delisting by Starwood Capital have intensified this morning as it emerged that Starwood had appointed Desmond Taljaard, formerly property director at the group.
UK - 3i sells 6% stake in Travelex to majority owners Apax and Standard Chartered
Funds advised by Apax Partners together with Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) have entered into a series of agreements with funds advised by 3i to purchase 3i's remaining 6% stake in Travelex. The transaction is due to complete within the next 5 months....
UK - Aberdeen Asset Managers sells interest in Bond Aviation Solutions
Aberdeen Asset Managers Growth Capital has sold Bond Aviation Solutions Ltd to Alpha Aviation Group. Aberdeen originally led the ТЃ4m management buyout of Bond from Astraeus Ltd, another Aberdeen Asset Managers-backed company, in November 2005. The sale...
UK - Bowmark Capital generates 6.7x return on Medscreen exit
Bowmark Capital has sold its majority interest in drug and alcohol testing services provider Medscreen Holdings Ltd to Concateno Plc, an AIM-listed company. The exit has generated an IRR of 52% and a return of 6.7x for Bowmark Capital.
UK - Private equity rumours continue to engulf Whitbread
Whitbread, the listed leisure group that owns Premier Travel Inn, Costa, David Lloyd Leisure and T.G.I. Fridays is again the subject of private equity speculation after market sources report that Starwood Capital has built up a 3% stake in the company....
GERMANY - KKR and Goldman Sachs acquire Kion forklift unit
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Goldman Sachs Group's private-equity unit have signed an agreement to acquire the Kion forklift unit of Wiesbaden-based Linde Group, the world's largest maker of industrial gases, for EUR 4bn. The sale is subject to regulatory...
UK - Langholm Capital portfolio company Just Retirement seeks AIM flotation
Just Retirement, a Surrey-based life assurance group focusing on the provision of financial services to those at or in retirement, has announced its intention to apply for admission to AIM. Just Retirement is seeking to raise approximately ТЃ50m through...
UK - Warburg Pincus pharmaceutical company makes acquisition
Archimedes Pharma Ltd, a speciality pharmaceutical company based in Reading has acquired Link Holdings Ltd. Link is a Sussex-based pharmaceuticals group focusing on sales and marketing of speciality pharmaceuticals with commercial operations in the UK,...
UK - Hutton Collins backs James Hull Group
Hutton Collins & Co Ltd has acquired James Hull Group, a specialist dental corporate operating in both the public and private markets.
FRANCE - BNP Paribas Développement leads the buyout of Dufieux Industrie
BNP Paribas Développement has backed the buyout of Dufieux Industrie, a Grenoble-based industrial supplier for the aeronautical sector.
NORWAY - Reiten & Co purchases Ellipse-Klinikken
Reiten & Co has acquired a controlling ownership stake in Ellipse-Klinikken, the Nordic region’s largest non-invasive beauty clinic chain. Ellipse-Klinikken offers non-surgical treatments and has 9 locations in Scandinavia and 1 in the UK. In 2005, it...