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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SWEDEN - Provider invests in digital music company
Swedish venture capital firm, Provider Venture Partners has invested SEK 30m in a leader of the digital music market, Musicbrigade. In a fast growing market, Musicbrigade has expanded its offering to the downloading of music, video and audio via the web...
UK - Partial exit for Candover from Acertec
Acertec starts trading on AIM today allowing Candover to realise part of its investment in the company. Candover participated in the 1999 take-private of the Solihull-based engineering company, investing ТЃ60m for a 95% stake. Following the listing it...
UK - RWE wants Thames Water to float
RWE, the German power group, would rather make its Thames Water subsidiary the subject of an IPO than sell it, according to today's FT. Long-term financial investors are still being considered but a flotation would be preferred according to Klaus Sturany,...
UK - Singer & Friedlander lose five investment managers to Ingenious Media
According to the FT, Singer & Friedlander, the specialist banking and investment management group owned by Icelandic bank Kaupthing, has lost five investment managers to Ingenious Media. Peter Clark, Tim Howe, Richard Sargent and Francis Clarke are amongst...
UK - Close Brothers Private Equity acquires water chemical business
Close Brothers Private Equity (CBPE) today announces the acquisition of the industrial water chemicals business from US listed Chemtura Corporation for an acquisition price of $85m. The business will be renamed BWA Water Additives(BWA). BWA is a global...
FINLAND - Finnish Industry Investment invests EUR 1.5m in Vulcan
Finnish Industry Investment Ltd has invested EUR 1.5m in Vulcan Resources Ltd, a mining company listed on the Australian stock exchange but with a focus on eastern and northern Finland.
SWEDEN - Indap increases offer price for Gambro to SEK 113.70
Indap AB has announced it will be increasing the offer price on Gambro’s series A and B shares from SEK 109.7 to SEK 113.7 per share as well as extending the acceptance period until 31st May. This will give shareholders who have not already tendered their...
FRANCE - LCD developer Nemoptic raises EUR 9m
Nemoptichas received a EUR 9m round of funding from previous investors Ventech Capital, CDC Entreprises Innovation, Crédit Agricole Private Equity, SGAM AI, Auriga Partners, Alven Capital Gestion and Financière de Brienne, and new investor, LC Capital....
FRANCE - Sofinnova Partners hires pharmaceuticals expert
Sofinnova partners has recruited Graziano Seghezzi as partner.
UK - BVCA chairman calls for pensions to look to private equity
In an interview in today's Financial Times, Rod Selkirk, the chairman of the British Venture Capital Association states: 'It is mind-boggling to me to think of a pension fund not having an allocation to private equity.'
UK - Astex appoints new CEO
The Financial Times reports today that Astex has recruited Leon Bushara, a senior executive at Europe's largest biotechnology group Serono, as its chief executive. Astex is a biotechnology group based in Cambridge that has received significant contributions...
GERMANY - Coca-Cola acquires Blackstone-backed Apollonaris
It was announced last week that Coca-Cola had bought Apollonaris, a German mineral water bottler, from its private equity backers. The Blackstone Group and Lion Capital bought Apollinaris earlier this year as part of the EUR 1.85bn deal for Cadbury Schweppes’...
UK - ISIS back MBO of the Panacea Group
ISIS Equity Partners, in partnership with the Panacea management team, has successfully completed a management buyout of the Panacea Group. ISIS invested ТЃ6.187m as part of the transaction alongside senior debt and working capital facilities from Lloyds...
UK - AnaCap Financial Partners establishes strategic advisory board
AnaCap Financial Partners has appointed three members to its strategic advisory board: Andrew Jackson, founder of Intermediate Capital Group; Michael Callen, former head of Citicorp Worldwide Corporate Division; and Rudi Doerr, former group vice president...
UK - Matrix backs MBO of Blaze Neon Ltd
Matrix Private Equity Partners has financed a ТЃ5m secondary management buyout of Blaze Neon Limited (Blaze) alongside management and senior debt from Lloyds TSB. Blaze is a leading player in the design, manufacture and installation of shop front and...
AUSTRIA - Zumtobel lists 95% of stock on Wiener Boerse
Vorarlberg-based lighting producer Zumtobel has listed on the Viennese Stock Exchange at a price of EUR 20.49 per share.
NL /UK- Reed Elsevier to retain Business Publishing Unit
Reed Elsevier, the publisher jointly owned by Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV, has reportedly rejected an informal bid by a consortium of private equity investors regarding the sale of its Business Publishing unit.
UK - Enterprise Ventures backs MBO of Acorn Foundation Engineering Ltd
Enterprise Ventures, the North-West based venture capital company, has completed an investment in the management buyout of Acorn Foundation Engineering Ltd (AFE). Andrew Hall, the current managing director of the company received backing from Enterprise...
NETHERLANDS - Stork to sell its WorkSphere Unit
Dutch industrial conglomerate Stork has reached an agreement to sell its WorkSphere unit to Strukton, a Netherlands-headquartered railway construction and maintenance group.
UK - BVCA reports show rise in UK private equity investment
The BVCA's performance measurement and the report on investment activity shows that worldwide investment by UK private equity firms has increased by 21% in 2005 to ТЃ11.7bn. 58% of this total was invested in the UK, a 3% rise on the 2004 figure. The survey...
UK - Lasitha Perera joins Glitnir Bank's European leveraged finance team
Lasitha Perera is joining Glitnir Bank's European leveraged finance team where he will report to Erlendur Magnusson, head of leveraged finance.
Mid-market private equity investors brimming with confidence
Market confidence levels among mid-market private equity investors are riding high, according to a survey carried out by Grant Thornton Corporate Finance. During the first quarter of the year, 92% of mid-market VCs predicted that the volume of transactions...
UK - Bank of Scotland Corporate backs MBO of T.M.Lewin
T.M.Lewin & Sons Ltd, the leading retailer of formal shirts has been acquired by its management team from a group of private vendors. With a deal size of ТЃ50m, Bank of Scotland Corporate provided an integrated finance funding package and will invest...
EUROPE - Apax Partners publishes report on the future of private equity
Apax Partners, together with the Economist Intelligence Unit, has produced a report on the future of private equity. This follows a 2002 report in which it accurately predicted deal sizes increasing significantly and liquidity improving.