Benelux
BELGIUM - Barclays Private Equity France acquires Desmet Ballestra
Barclays Private Equity France has acquired a majority stake in Desmet Ballestra, operative in the fields of engineering and supply of plants and equipment for the edible oil industry, the detergent-surfactants and related chemical industry and the oleochemical...
GLOBAL - SJBerwin loses three partners to Kirkland & Ellis
SJ Berwin LLP has announced that three private equity partners, Mark Mifsud, Richard Watkins and Justin Dolling, will move to rival law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP’s fund formation team.
EUROPE - IPES appoints Brennan as COO
IPES, a private equity fund administrator and outsourcing provider, has announced that Kevin Brennan is to take on the newly created role of chief operating officer. Brennan will be responsible for the design and delivery of the organisational structure...
BELGIUM - Movetis raises EUR 49m
Drug development company Movetis NV has secured EUR 49m in a series-A round of financing led by Sofinnova Partners and Life Sciences Partners and including Sofinnova Ventures, KBC, GIMV, Quest for Growth and BIP Investment Partners.
BELGIUM - Gilde Healthcare portfolio company Ablynx signs $265m deal
Pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim and Ablynx have announced an exclusive worldwide collaboration and licence agreement worth almost $265m to discover and develop new therapies for Alzheimer’s disease using Ablynx Nanobodies®.
NL - ABN AMRO spins out life science activities
Forbion Capital Partners has spun out the life sciences venture activities of ABN AMRO Capital to form a new, independent group. Forbion has raised a EUR 200m fund with ABN AMRO and Coller Capital as founding investors. ABN AMRO has a 25% shareholding...
NL - Prosensa secures EUR 13.5m in funding
Biotechnology compnay Prosensa has secured EUR 13.5m in a series-A round led by Life Science Partners (LSP) and co-led by Abingworth. MedSciences Capital, an existing shareholder, also participated in the round. Prosensa is a Netherlands-based biotechnology...
NL - Parcom buys stake in Qurius
Parcom Ventures BV, the private equity company of ING, has acquired a shareholding of approximately 21% in Qurius. Parcom has taken over the shares (B) which ABN AMRO Capital and Prime Technology Ventures received out of the Qurius-Watermark merger. This...
NL - Private equity courts Akzo Nobel's pharma business
Chemical group Akzo Nobel NV is to receive offers for its pharmaceutical business Organon from private equity firms, according to a Dutch broadsheet.
BELGIUM - GIMV signs exclusivity agreement for sale of Kleimar stake
GIMV has reached an agreement with the Greek Navios Maritime Holding to hold exclusive talks on the sale of its stake in shipping company Kleimar. Currently, GIMV owns 24% of Kleimar, which is part of the Sea-Invest group.
SWITZERLAND/ BELGIUM – Alpha acquires Dietiker and NFI
Alpha Private Equity has acquired the Zurich-based Dietiker group for an undisclosed sum from its family shareholders. The investment is the fifth investment from the financial investor’s Alpha Private Equity Fund 5 (APEF 5), which closed in February...
BELGIUM - Cognetas to sell Aliplast Group for €430m
Cognetas, (formerly known as Electra Partners Europe) has announced that it intends to sell Aliplast Group to a consortium backed by Sagard and Ergon for EUR 430m.
NL- Gilde Buy Out Partners hires three new team members
Gilde Buy Out Partners has announced that it has strengthened its team with three hires.
NL - Kennet Partners to sell Consul Risk Management to IBM
Kennet Partners Ltd has announced that it intends to sell Consul Risk Management International, a software company for the enterprise and managed security services markets, to IBM. The sale is expected to close in the first quarter of 2007. Kennet first...
NL - 3i to acquire Business Media Europe from VNU
3i has announced that it has reached an agreement in principle to acquire substantially all of VNU Business Media Europe (BME), a Dutch careers classified and B2B magazines group, from VNU.
NL - Casema, Multikabel and Essent merger receives regulatory clearance
Warburg Pincus and Cinven have received regulatory clearance by the European Commission for their intention to merge Dutch cable operator Essent Kabelcom with the Casema/Multikabel combination which received clearance in September. The new entity will...
LUXEMBOURG - Oostvogels Pfister Roemers appoints new partner
Oostvogels Pfister Roemers has announced the appointment of Jean-François Trapp, formerly partner at Noble & Scheidecker, as finance partner.
EUROPE - EVCA publishes 2006 benchmarking study
EVCA has published its third annual benchmarking study, a piece of research which compares the tax and legal environments for private equity and venture capital across 25 European countries.
BELGIUM / ITALY - Cognetas announces disposal of Azelis and Aliplast
Cognetas, formerly known as Electra Partners Europe, is reportedly selling two portfolio companies for a combined EUR 745m.
BELGIUM / ITALY - 3i invests EUR 30m in Electrawinds
3i has announced that it has acquired a minority stake in Electrawinds, an independent renewable energy company, for EUR 30m.
NL- LSP portfolio companies Kiadis and Celmed merge to create Kiadis Pharma
Life Sciences Partners (LSP) has announced that, following approval by the shareholders of both companies, the merger between its portfolio companies Kiadis and Celmed has completed. The merger creates Kiadis Pharma BV, an oncology drug development company...
BELGIUM - Inustri Kapital sells Consolis to LBO France
Industri Kapital has announced that the sale of Consolis, European market leader in prefabricated concrete, to LBO France. The transaction allows Industri Kapital and its co-investors to generate a money multiple just shy of three times and a triple digit...
NL - Liquavista attracts EUR 12m in series - A financing round
Amadeus Capital Partners and GIMV have led a EUR 12m series-A financing round in Liquavista BV, a fabless display manufacturing company based in Eindhoven. New Venture Partners, which led the spinout of Liquavista from Philips Research in April this year,...
EUROPE – Kenneth Leet to lead European Investment Team of Cerberus
Cerberus Capital Management has announced that Kenneth H M Leet has joined Cerberus European Capital Advisors as president. Leet’s previous positions include an 18-year tenure as partner in the investment banking division at Goldman Sachs.