Deals
UK - Oxford Capital Partners backs Glide Pharma with £2.3m
Oxford Capital Partners has joined existing investors on a £2.3m funding round for Glide PharmaTM, the specialty pharmaceutical company developing products based on its innovative needle-free Glide SDI™ drug delivery system. Existing shareholders include...
UK - Exponent acquires Cardsave from RJD, Morley Fund Managers and LDC
Exponent Private Equity has acquired Cardsave, a supplier of credit card terminals and services to independent retailers. The company was bought from a consortium of shareholders which included RJD Partners, Morley Fund Management and LDC. Lloyds TSB...
UK - Bowmark acquires Las Iguanas from Piper Private Equity for £27m
Bowmark Capital has acquired Las Iguanas, a chain of Latin American restaurants, in a £27m buyout. The transaction provided an exit for Piper Private Equity, which invested £3.4m in the business in July 2002. Piper has reaped returns of 6x its investment...
GERMANY - VTC Industrieholding exits TAKRAF
German industrial group VTC Industrieholding GmbH has announced the sale of TAKRAF GmbH to Milan-based Tenova, a fully-owned subsidiary of Techint Group. The deal value has not been disclosed and the transaction is subject to the approval by antitrust...
UK - MVM backs new spinout Heptares Therapeutics
MVM Life Science Partners has provided Heptares Therapeutics with an undisclosed sum of early-stage funding. Heptares has spunout of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge.
GERMANY - BayBG invests in B2B online retailer
BayBG Bayerische Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH has invested EUR 1m in Mercateo AG. The new capital will be used to further develop and optimise the company’s software. For this purpose it will employ 10 new software developers.
FRANCE - PAI to sell Yoplait
French large-cap private equity firm PAI partners is reportedly considering divesting dairy products company Yoplait.
IRELAND - Amadeus, Balderton and Spark invest $17.75m in Intune Networks
Amadeus Capital Partners, Balderton Capital and Spark Capital have led a $17.75m investment in Intune Networks, a developer of technology for telecommunications networks. 3i and ICC Venture Capital are existing shareholders in the company having invested...
FRANCE - UI Gestion backs F2A's secondary buyout
UI Gestion has acquired a majority stake in ventilation equipment manufacturer F2A, previously backed by Finadvance and Ciclad.
SPAIN – Clave Mayor leads buyout of Natural Food
Clave Mayor has wholly acquired Natural Food alongside industrial backer George Stravrakakis.
UK - Blackstones quits plans to delist FKI
Blackstone has ended talks with engineering group FKI about a possible £768m take-private deal. The London-listed group announced that it was in contact with a suitor in May this year.
FRANCE - Eurazeo and its LPs invest EUR 500m equity in Elis deal
French buyout house Eurazeo and Eurazeo Co-Investment Partners (ECIP) provided around EUR 500m in equity out of a total transaction value of EUR 2.28bn for the tertiary buyout of textile rental business Elis.
UK - Modus completes second deal with £11.4m development capital investment
Modus Private Equity has backed insurance administrator Fish Administration Ltd with £11.4m of development capital. The deal represents MPE's second since being set up 12 months ago by Paul Newton, Mike Rogan, Paul Hogarth and Brendan Flood.
GERMANY – Burda Digital Ventures invests in Tripsbytips.com
Burda Digital Ventures has acquired a minority stake in German online community Tripsbytips.com. The transaction value has not been disclosed.
UK - Index leads $30m round for Viagogo
Index Ventures has led a $30m funding round for Viagogo, bringing its total venture backing so far to $50m. The company is an online ticket reseller. A number of private investors have also contributed to the fundraising round. Viagogo intends to break...
UK - Virgin Media auction delayed
The auction that would see Virgin Media taken private has reportedly been delayed. The communications group cited turbulence in the debt markets as the reason for the postponement. A deal may not now complete until early 2008.
SWEDEN - Apax sells Global Refund to BPE for over EUR 360m
Apax Partners has sold Global Refund, a Swedish VAT refund service, to Barclays Private Equity for a sum in excess of EUR 360m. As part of the transaction, the management team will continue to be shareholders in the company.
UK - West Coast Capital has three days to make rival offer for Dobbies
West Coast Capital has been given three days by the Takeover Panel to make a rival offer for Dobbies. The Scottish gardening chain is currently the subject of a £15 per share recommended bid by Tesco. The UK retailing giant owns 32% of the shares with...
UK - Enterprise Ventures completes further investment in Into Technology
Enterprise Ventures has completed a further investment in e-trading platform specialist Into Technology Holdings Ltd through its RisingStars Growth Fund. The £1.25m funding package included commitments from other existing investors North West Equity...
UK - Cambridge Angels backs ionscope with £680,000 funding round
Cambridge Angels Group has provided microscope technology company ionscope Ltd with £680,000 of funding. ionscope was formed by Imperial Innovations.
UK - Street Capital backs buyout of PCTI Solutions
Irish private equity investor Street Capital has backed the buyout of software business PCTI Solutions Ltd. PCTI is an electronic document management service provider to the UK primary healthcare sector.
UK - BOSIF participates in £925m acquisition of David Lloyd Leisure
Bank of Scotland Integrated Finance (BOSIF), together with London & Regional Properties (L&R), has provided an integrated debt and equity package to facilitate the Next Generation Clubs (NGC) £925m acquisition of David Lloyd Leisure Ltd (DLL) from Whitbread...
ITALY - Barclays Private Equity acquires catering business
Barclays Private Equity has completed the management buyout of Gemeaz Cusin Ristorazione and Scapa Italia from the Accor Group. It is understood that the sale of the two businesses is part of Accor's disposal strategy of non-core Italian assets to focus...
GERMANY – NORD Holding acquires Julius Heywinkel GmbH
Nord Holding Unternehmensbeteiligungsgesellschaft mbH has acquired the Julius Heywinkel Group from the Wilhelm Karmann Corporation for an undisclosed sum. The management also invested and will retain a minority stake in the company.