UK / Ireland
WestBridge holds £50m first close
British Business Bank commits £15m, with the vehicle aiming to raise £100m overall
Mobeus sells Gro Company to trade for £22m
Sale generates a total return of 2x money for Mobeus and an IRR of more than 20%
Carlyle exits Lily O’Brien’s in €40m deal
GP invested in 2014 via its Carlyle Cardinal Ireland fund for an estimated £12.5m
European PE in 2018: beware the bullet
unquote” brings together a group of leading practitioners to analyse industry developments during 2017 and discuss emerging trends heading into 2018
Baird Capital exits RaySpec
Polatechno acquires RaySpec for its products and future collaboration opportunities
European PE in 2017: fundraising tailwinds and growing leverage
Industry professionals look back on a resilient year for private equity during a period of turbulent geopolitics
Maven invests £1.95m in E-Safe Global
Deal comes two years after the GP made a £450,000 investment in the cyberbullying detection business
ECI appoints three, promotes two
Daniel Bailey, Isa Maidan and Laura Morrill join the GP's investment team
Tenzing invests in buyout of Converge TS
Acquisition of the cloud-based IT business is the GP's second investment from its maiden fund
HgCapital-backed A-Plan buys Endsleigh from Zurich
Endsleigh will continue to operate as a separate entity under its existing management team
Piper invests in Neom Organics
GP acquires a minority stake in the UK-headquartered skincare and fragrances brand
VC-backed Funding Circle plans £1bn IPO
Peer-to-peer lending platform has raised more than £250m over six funding rounds
BGF injects £10m into DB Food
Funding will be directed towards the group's low-fat meat and protein division Muscle Food
Connection Capital in £13.3m Tempcover MBO
GP invests £7.5m in the transaction for the online temporary insurance provider
Bowmark sells LBR to Levine Leichtman
Secondary buyout of the legal publishing company brings to an end a five-year holding period
CapVest's Valeo buys Raisio's confectionery brands for €100m
Acquisition of Big Bear, Nimbus and Candy Plus is the ninth bolt-on made by the group
VC firms in £85m series-B for Orchard Therapeutics
Fresh capital will be used for the global launch of the company's lead gene therapy product
Foresight appoints Haywood as investment manager
New recruit previously co-founded biotech company Puridify, which was sold to GE Healthcare
Aurelius buys Connect Books
Division comprises six brands and has projected combined revenues of €250m for 2017
UK buyout activity reaches post-crisis peak in 2017
Small-cap and lower-mid-market invested strongly during the course of the year, while fundraising activity continued apace
BGF, Blue Water Energy inject £56m into Rovop
Subsea vehicle services company will expand its fleet by 50% following the transaction
AnaCap sells First Names to Astorg's SGG
Transaction sees AnaCap generate a 2.6x money multiple on its investment in the administration business
BGF invests in APS Group
Tomato producer will invest in a new glasshouse, site expansion and automation technology
Ontario Teachers' partially divests Busy Bees to Temasek
Nursery school business has undertaken an acquisitive growth strategy under the LP's tenure