UK / Ireland
Downing hires seven for investment team
New appointments join the energy and property sector investment team
Parkwalk leads £6m series-A for Bodle Technologies
Low-powered video display producer will use the funding to scale up its operations
Endless's Bright Blue Foods buys Greencore's cakes division
Deal will see the consolidated cakes and desserts business double in size with a turnover of ТЃ140m
Tosca holds final close for second fund on £237.6m
Vehicle is more than twice the size of its predecessor, Tosca Debt Capital Fund I
Gilde leads €40m series-C for Fire1
Deal for the remote monitoring medical devices business is the GP's first Irish investment
BGF injects £6.4m into Northern Escalator Installations
Escalator installation, repair and removal business will expand its range of services
Insight and Eight Roads in $28m round for Duco
VCs have invested in the data management platform alongside corporate backer NEX Group
Chiltern divests Vantage to Exponent-backed Enra
Deal comes 20 months after the vendor acquired a significant minority stake in the mortgage broker
Secondaries: all systems go following bumper 2017
Following a slump in 2016, the global volume of PE secondary transactions increased last year to reach new records
Da Vinci invests £15m in EZBob
Fresh capital is provided at a post-money valuation of ТЃ100m, according to press reports
Equistone sells Concept Life Sciences to Spectris for £163m
Equistone formed Concept Life Sciences through a hat-trick of acquisitions in 2014
Octopus Ventures leads $20m series-B round for Depop
Rebecca Hunt, investment manager at Octopus Ventures, will join the board of Depop
Summit Partners promotes two in London office
Vice-presidents Johannes Grefe and Steffan Peyer become principals in the GP's London office
Nordic Capital in talks to acquire Oaktree's Hesira
Value of the European dental business could near тЌ480m, according to reports
DN Capital closes GVC Fund IV on €200m
Primary focus is on the UK and Germany, with France and the Nordic region as secondary investment markets for the fund
BC holds final close on €7bn
Eight additional LPs including Pomona Capital IX and Adams Street 2017 make contributions
Clearwater promotes Eden to COO
Eden joined the business in 2014 following roles at Lloyds Bank, Close Brothers and Experian
Aliter kicks off third platform with Boston Networks deal
Sixth transaction for Aliter, which closed its support services fund a year ago
GP Bullhound IV holds €65m first close
Latest vehicle has surpassed capital raised by its predecessor, GP Bullhound Fund III
VCs tread cautiously around blockchain craze
VC activity in cryptocurrency has increased, but despite eye-catching deals, their volume is not as high as the wider enthusiasm would suggest
Mobeus invests £3.3m in investor news service Proactive
Fresh capital will be used to launch the service in the US and open an office in New York
Penta- and Maven-backed GRP acquires County Group
Current management team will stay with the business as it moves to new ownership
Investindustrial acquires Benvic Europe from OpenGate
Deal closes a four-year holding period under OpenGate, which acquired the firm in 2014
Foresight hires Gueorguiev as investment manager
Stephan Gueorguiev leaves August Equity Partners after three years with the mid-market firm