Region
Unquote has a long history of delivering in-depth coverage for each European market, from individual deals to fundraising and region-specific trend analysis. Click on the following links to access content for a specific region:
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FINLAND - CapMan completes MBO of Varesvuo Partners
CapMan Buyout Fund VIII together with Roope Lerthinen and the company’s management, have completed a management buyout of Varesvuo Partners Oy, a Finnish television content and film production business for an undisclosed value.
UK - Zeus backs £22m+ buyout of networking services supplier
Zeus Private Equity has completed its third deal with the management buyout of networking services supplier Electranet (UK) Ltd. ZPE has invested ТЃ6m as part of a funding package worth more than ТЃ22m. HSBC provided senior debt and working capital facilities....
UK - Low Carbon Accelerator makes £320,000 investment into QuantaSol
Low Carbon Accelerator Ltd has announced a ТЃ320,000 investment into solar enegry firm QuantaSol Ltd, taking its equity stake in the company to 25.6%.
EUROPE - Index closes first ventures growth fund on EUR 400m
Index Ventures has closed its latest fund Index Ventures Growth I LP on EUR 400m. The fund was formed to address the market opportunity created by the maturation of Europeтs start-up industry and the movement of traditional late-stage investors into larger...
FRANCE – I-Source Gestion closes new fund I-Source 3
I-Source Gestion has closed I-Source 3 on EUR 60m. The fund will be used to continue I-Source’s early-stage venture investments in information and communication technology companies in Western Europe.
GERMANY - High-Tech Gründerfonds backs start-up Immunservice
High-Tech Gründerfonds has provided seed financing for Immunservice GmbH, a start-up which develops immune biomimetic hormones for drug testing. The seed financing enables the company to optimise production of its lead product Pulmoleukin to industrial...
UK - E-Synergy leads £1.7m Envirotreat funding
The Sustainable Technology Fund (STF), a cleantech focused venture capital fund managed by E-synergy, has led a ТЃ1.7m round of funding for toxic soil and waste remediation specialist Envirotreat Ltd.
Returns concerns
Confidence in mega-funds declines.
The problem with sovereign wealth funds
Stuart Mills considers the impact of Sovereign Wealth Funds on the private equity market.
Public vs. Private Equity – Monkeys vs. Innovators and Explorers
Dr Thomas Meyer explores the origins of the limited partnership structure and looks at the co-existence of the public and private markets.
A new frontier
Sovereign wealth funds have the resource to emerge as serious challengers to private equity in the M&A space. However, unless they address transparency concerns these ambitions are likely to be thwarted by protectionist government intervention.
Q & A – Funds-of-funds speak out
Christophe Bavière of AGF Private Equity, Vincent Gombault of AXA Private Equity and Dan Kjerulf of Danske Private Equity discuss the funds-of-funds landscape.
UK - Spark and Eden invest $6m in We7
SPARK Ventures has been joined by new investor Eden Ventures on a $6m series-A funding round for We7, an ad-funded music download service. Peter Gabriel, the musician, also participated in the deal having provided the company with start-up funding alongside...
FRANCE – LBO France rumored to seek sale of Cegelec
It is believed that LBO France has hired Rothschild & Co and Hawkpoint Partners Ltd as advisors for the possible sale of Cegelec, a company it values at EUR 1.8bn.
DENMARK - Rumoured private equity interest in X-Yachts
It is rumoured that X-Yachts, a Danish yacht builder, is to be sold to a private equity firm.
GERMANY/BELGIUM- Buchanan Capital Partners' portfolio company Dehler makes acquisition
Buchanan Capital Partners’ portfolio company Dehler has acquired Belgian company ETAP Yachting for an undisclosed sum from the owner family. Through its Buchanan Unternehmer-Fonds I, Buchanan Capital Partners acquired a minority stake via a capital increase...
UK - Balderton and Advent Moveme with £3.4m of funding
Balderton Capital and Advent Venture Partners have co-invested ТЃ3.4m into online home moving specialists Moveme.com in a second round of funding.
UK - Aberdeen divests childcare portfolio company
Aberdeen Asset Managers Growth Capital has sold Tender Loving Childcare Ltd (TLC) to Busy Bees Group Ltd, for an undisclosed sum. Aberdeen invested ТЃ1.7m of development capital in TLC in October 2000 to fund the rollout of a chain of purpose built nursery...
GERMANY – Holtzbrinck Ventures and European Founders Fund invest in AdScale
Holtzbrinck Ventures and European Founders Fund invested a medium seven figure sum in AdScale in a second round of financing. The size of the first financing round – to which Oliver Jung and Lukasz Gadowski contributed – is undisclosed. AdScale is an...
GERMANY/NETHERLANDS – Triangle invest EUR 4.1m in German/Dutch iOpener
Triangle Venture Capital Group has raised EUR 4.1m in seed financing for real-time game engine company iOpener. Its first product is based on innovations from the European Space Agency, which allow the efficient transmission of telemetric data from a...
UK - JC Flowers eyes up Friends Provident again
The US private equity firm JC Flowers is believed to have offered 175p per share, or ТЃ4.1bn, for UK insurer Friends Provident. JC Flowers had shown an interest in Northern Rock at the early-stages of the "auction" for the lender. Last week, JC Flowers...
UK - Infrastructure player crashes Biffa deal with £1.5bn offer
Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) is reported to be making a ТЃ1.5bn offer for waste services company Biffa. Last month, Biffa opened its books to HgCapital and Montagu Private Equity after they made a ТЃ1.2bn joint bid for the London-listed group....
GERMANY - High-Tech Gründerfonds invests in search tools company kinkaa.de
High-Tech Gründerfonds GmbH & Co. KG and other investors invested in kinkaa Search Tools GmbH. The company is based in Frankfurt and Palo Alta, Silicon Valley, and operates kinkaa.de, an Internet meta search engine specialised on travels. The search...
GERMANY – Gruenderfonds Bielfeld-Ostwestfalen closes first investment
e-Capital advised Gruenderfonds Bielefeld-Ostwestfalen has joined KfW and High-Tech Gruenderfonds in investing an undisclosed sum in Divolution – Digital Revolution Technology GmbH. Divolution, based in Detmold, offers web analysis, testing and targeting...