Deals
UK - Sainsbury's consortium under pressure to make formal bid
The CVC-led consortium considering a bid for the UK's third largest supermarket chain, Sainsbury's, is under pressure to announce a formal bid before the Easter weekend. Together CVC, KKR and TPG have been looking at the asset since February and have...
UK - Hotbed leads buyout of Land Rover parts supplier
Hotbed has invested £5m alongside commitments from Grove Industries Ltd and Barclays Bank to support the institutional buyout of Bearmach Plc, a supplier of parts and accessories to the global aftermarket for Land Rover. Bearmach is headquartered in...
UK - Finance Cornwall backs waste handling company
Finance Cornwall has provided AP Waste Handling Ltd with an undisclosed sum of funding. The Penryn-based company was founded in 2005 and employs 5 staff. It designs and supplies waste handling and processing equipment and also distributes a bio-process...
UK - Kaupthing/Tchenguiz try to see off Tragus with £104.2m bid
The bidding war for Spanish-themed restaurant chain La Tasca escalated today as a consortium made up of Kaupthing and Robert Tchenguiz, the property entrepreneur raised its bid by 6% to £104.2m. This follows a series of bids and counter-bids between...
SWEDEN - Industrifonden invests SEK 9m in satellite receiver Lyngbox
Industrifonden has invested SEK 9m in LyngBox Media AB, a company that develops a new type of digital boxes intended for satellite reception of TV programmes. The Lyngbox is automatically updated by the internet with data on all the world’s different...
GERMANY - Flex Group changes hands
AXA Private Equity has acquired German manufacturer of hand-held power tools from New York based investment advisor GSO Capital Partners. The management team led by Jörg Kempfing and Dr Josef Kring also invested and will holds a minority stake in the...
UK - La Tasca at centre of bidding war
Spanish eatery chain La Tasca is at the centre of a bidding war after Tragus upped its bid in response to a competing approach from a Robert Tchenguiz and Kaupthing. Tragus, backed by Blackstone and the operator of the Cafe Rouge and Bella Italia restaurant...
ITALY - BS Private Equity sells nursing home group
BS Private Equity has sold all its shares in nursing home group Segesta alongside the company's founder and CEO. The buyer is French mental healthcare provider Korian.
CEE – Innova sells Polcard
Central and East European investor Innova Capital has sold its remaining stake in Polish banking card company Polcard in a EUR 243m sale to First Data International, an e-commerce provider. Innova held a 25.24% stake in the company, strategic co-investor...
NL - Iris Capital and GIMV acquire majority share in Human Inference
Iris Capital and GIMV have acquired a majority stake in Human Inference, European market leader in the field of data quality solutions.
UK - NBGI realises 4.3x on exit to Duke Street portfolio company
Duke Street Capital portfolio company Food Partners, a supplier of pre-packed sandwiches has acquired Brambles Foods, another sandwich producer in a £22m buyout from NBGI. The deal has realised a return of 4.3x the original cost of NBGI's investment...
NL - ProFibrix closes $11m Series A financing round
ProFibrix BV, a Leiden-based biotech company focused on products to stop bleeding and initiate tissue repair, has closed a Series A financing round raising $11m. The round was led by Index Ventures and backed by some of the current share holders of ProFibrix....
UK - Sovereign makes 260% IRR on Claims Management exit
Sovereign Capital has reaped a 3.3x equivalent to an IRR of 260% on its exit from CMGL Group Ltd. The specialist provider of outsourced claims and insurance management services company has been acquired by The Capita Group Plc for £32m.
BELGIUM - Candover to invest in excess of EUR 50m in Ontex
Ontex has agreed to a financial restructuring which will see its private equity backer Candover inject more than EUR 50m into the business. Candover's stake is understood to rise to more than 80% following the restructuring. Merrill Lynch has reportedly...
UK - New entrant to begin battle for Boots?
Market sources suggest that German firm Celesio, a continental rival to the Alliance Boots pharmaceutical chain, has approached other buyout groups about the possibility of teaming up to launch a competing takeover bid for the listed UK retailer. Boots...
GERMANY - Essmann Group changes hands
Quadriga Capital has acquired the Essmann Group for EUR 110m from Taros Capital. Quadriga Capital will take a majority stake in the company, with management that also invested holding the balance. Taros Capital had acquired Essmann in 2000.
UK - Investment in UK enterprise hits new high
Investment in UK deals of sub-£1m has hit a new high of £63m over the 12 months to December 2006 according to research published by Venture Index. The £63m was comprised of 398 deals of which 136 were completed in the last three months of 2006. In...
SPAIN - Nazca makes 53% IRR with sale of tapas chain
Nazca Capital has sold its entire stake in tapas restaurant business Lizarrán Tapas Selectas from Nazca Capital for EUR 22m. The sale has brought an IRR of 53% and a money multiple of 2.3x on the initial investment to the private equity firm. The buyer...
DENMARK - Vækstfonden invests $ 19.27m in series B round in Egalet
Vækstfonden has invested $19.27m in Egalet, a pharmaceutical company that specialises in oral controlled released products. The investment will be used to expand and optimise its proprietary product portfolio.
FRANCE - 360 Capital Partners invests EUR 3m in Iminent
Franco-Italian venture investor 360 Capital Partners has invested EUR 3m in the first round of funding for Iminent, a developer of tools and services for online instant messaging.
GERMANY - Pace raises EUR 3m
eCapital has led a EUR 3m financing round in high-end engineering software developer Pace GmbH. IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft and Strategic European Technologies also participated in the round.
FRANCE - Industri Kapital to sell Ceva Santé Animale
Unquote News can reveal that Ceva Santé Animale is set go on sale. The information was provided by a source close to the deal.
UK - Baird generates 2.2x on exit from Specialist Heat Exchangers
Baird Capital Partners Europe has generated 2.2x its money on its exit from Specialist Heat Exchangers Ltd (SHE). The designer and manufacturer of cooling systems for the automotive and industrial sectors has been acquired for £9m by Dynamic Technologies...
SPAIN - 3i exits electronic systems business for EUR 33m
After a holding period of eight years, 3i has divested the 33% stake it had in Ikusi, a company active in the design, introduction and management of electronic systems. The exit value is EUR 33m and the buyer is the private equity arm of Corporación...