UK / Ireland
UK - MidOcean restructures bezier group
MidOcean Partners has restructured its portfolio company bezier group, a retail marketing agency, in a deal that will see a new management team appointed and new equity injected into the business to the tune of £6.5m.
UK - MMC Ventures invests £1.2m in e-trader group
MMC Ventures has invested just over £1m in online trade business e-trader group.
UK - Exponent acquires enlarged Ambassador
Exponent Private Equity has acquired a majority holding in Ambassador Theatre Group in a transaction that will see the theatre operator simultaneously acquire the UK operations of its rival, Live Nation.
SPAIN/EUROPE - Foresight strengthens solar team
Asset manager Foresight Group has boosted its solar team with the appointment of Humberto Santillana as investment director.
UK - DN Capital backs MBO of Datanomic; 3i exits
Media and technology investor DN Capital has backed the management buyout of software company Datanomic Ltd, acquiring 3i's shares and loans in the business.
UK - Lyceum Capital appoints investment executive
Mid-market growth investor Lyceum Capital has hired Martin Wygas to its investment team.
UK - WestBridge backs e2train MBO
WestBridge Fund Managers has backed the management buyout of e-learning business e2train. No financial details have been disclosed.
UK - Close Brothers CF appoints support services head
Close Brothers Corporate Finance has appointed Will Thompson to head of its support services sector team.
UK - Atlas exits Koodos
Atlas Venture has exited online discount fashion retailer Koodos Ltd through a trade sale to software development company e-trader.
Distressed to impress
As the downturn continues to plague corporations and private equity firms worldwide, turnarounds are predicted to rise in the next year. Deborah Sterescu looks at what this means for the UK market
Q&A - Sergio Jovele - Vice president, Partners Group
Deborah Sterescu speaks to Sergio Jovele, vice president of Partners Group, about portfolio diversity, secondaries and the importance of delving into details
Not all megafunds are evil
Moody's research sheds positive light on erstwhile barbarians
Private equity bounces back
A year after the Lehman Brothers collapse and things are looking up, as Q3 value totals are the highest they have been in a year
Bridging the gap between profits and responsibility
As the topic of social and sustainable investing becomes increasingly popular, Deborah Sterescu speaks to Michele Giddens, co-founder and executive director of Bridges Ventures, about the need to invest responsibly ..
Postponed casualties
At the beginning of this year, The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) issued the headline grabbing statistic that 20-40% of buyout firms would go bust. Everyone was talking about it at first. But as the year draws to a close, the predicted industry shake-out...
Care for a top-up?
Fundraising remains as challenging an activity now as it was 12 months ago. Many signs of life have been in the form of top-up funds - a signal that many LPs are not only honouring their commitments but also supporting their GPs. By Francinia Protti-Alvarez
GLOBAL - Blackstone's shares increase by over 7%
Shares of Blackstone rose by above 7% yesterday, largely a result of the expected positive earnings report to be released on 6 November.
UK- Vision Capital's First Quench goes into administration
Vision Capital-backed First Quench, the owner of the Threshers and Wine Rack chains, has been placed into administration.
EUROPE - Peter Combe leaves Permira Debt Managers
The head of Permira Debt Managers, Peter Combe, has left the UK private equity firm's debt fund as its second in command is promoted to prepare for the changing credit market opportunities.