UK / Ireland
UK - Warner Music Group to enter fray for EMI
Terra Firma's recommended £3.2bn bid for music publisher EMI is likely to feel the heat of a rival bid in coming days. Warner Music Group's desire to combine with EMI was strengthened upon yesterday's news that the European Commission had given its approval...
UK - Bridges Ventures provides Smart Storage with additional funding
Bridges Ventures has provided Smart Storage with an additional £2.9m of funding. Bridges originally invested £2m in Smart Storage in March 2006. Royal Bank of Scotland has also backed the Merseyside-based self-storage company with a substantial debt...
UK - Imperial Innovations and The Capital Fund lead £2.44m round for IXICO
Imperial Innovations Group and The Capital Fund have together invested £850,000 to co-lead an investment round of £2.44 million into IXICO Ltd, a provider of image analysis solutions for the pharmaceutical industry. The fundraising will enable the company...
EUROPE - European venture performance takes off
The returns from European venture have never been better, with new performance figures now exceeding even the lofty heights seen in 2001. “The GPs left in this space are the cream that has risen to the top,” says Charles Irving at Pond Ventures. “It...
UK - Bank of Scotland backs sustainable regeneration company
Bank of Scotland Corporate has taken a 20% stake in Morston Assets, the Norfolk-based specialist developer of sustainable regeneration. At the same time Bank of Scotland has agreed a £110m revolving facility for the development of existing assets and...
UK - Sovereign Capital adds specialist child care provider to portfolio company
Sovereign Capital has acquired specialist child care provider Paediatric Nursing Link Ltd (PNL) for £2.2m. The acquisition is being undertaken by Sovereign portfolio company Complete Personal Assistance, a provider of post-traumatic homecare provision....
UK - BC Partners snaps up Foxtons
BC Partners has acquired London-focused estate agency chain Foxtons in a deal believed to weigh in at approximately £400m. The private vendor appointed Credit Suisse to run a process to dispose of the asset. TA Associates and 3i were thought to have...
UK - EMI agrees to Terra Firma's £3.2bn offer
EMI's board has agreed to a 265p per share offer from Terra Firma. The bid represents an enterprise value of £3.2bn for the music publishing giant. Terra Firma's agreed offer with London-listed EMI follows a year of speculation about the ownership of...
UK - Quadrangle opens London office
Quadrangle Group has opened a London office to expand the firm's private equity activities in Europe. The firm is currently investing its second private equity fund, Quadrangle Capital Partners II, which has over $2bn in committed capital. Gordon Holmes,...
WORLD - Blackstone in $3bn Chinese coup
When Blackstone announced it was to list on the NYSE, it provoked much discussion, but few mused over its potential impact on Chinese-US relations. Unsuprisingly, no one foresaw China's announcement that it will invest $3bn of its $1.2 trillion foreign...
UK - Advent acquires Lloyds TSB Registrars
Advent International has acquired the share registration business of Lloyds TSB plc, Lloyds TSB Registrars, for £550m. Advent is backing the existing management team led by Managing Director David Winton. The business is headquartered in Worthing...
UK - Hermes sells Walbrook to Barclays Bank
Hermes Private Equity has sold independent fiduciary company Walbrook Group Limited to Barclays Bank PLC. Hermes backed the management buyout of Walbrook in December 2003 from Deloitte and in January 2006 Walbrook acquired the Deloitte office in Hong...
EUROPE - Private equity to take the stand
The Commons Treasury Select Committee in the UK has summoned five of Europe ’s biggest private equity chiefs to attend a meeting on 20 June, which as been called a sort of ‘public hearing’ in a report in today’s Financial Times. The industry...
UK - B.P. Marsh in further backing of Hyperion
BP Marsh & Partners has announced that it has participated in a £5.5m rights issue of portfolio company Hyperion Insurance Gruop. B.P. Marsh exercised its right to participate in the issuance at a cost of just over £1.5m, retaining a 27.89% stake....
UK - M&C Saatchi enters private equity arena
UK advertising agency M&C Saatchi is launching a new division to work with private equity firms to assess brands and spot potential deals. The new division, Accelerator, will be headed by the agency's UK chief executive, Tim Duffy. Duffy said: "Private...
UK - Advent grows ICT investment team
Advent Venture Partners has announced the appointment of Paul Fisher to the ICT investment team. Fisher gained experience of early-stage transactions at First Capita, where he was Associate Director. Prior to joining First Capital, Fisher worked in...
UK - Ladbrokes CEO quashes bid talk
The chief executive of British betting and gaming company Ladbrokes has claimed that rumours of an imminent bid for the firm are well wide of the mark. In an interesting turn of phrase, Chris Burn said the speculation was 'absolute rhubarb.' Shares...
EUROPE - Bear Stearns joins iPEIT club
The Initiative for Private Equity Investment Trusts ( iPEIT ) now names Bear Stearns Private Equity Limited as one of its members, bringing the total number of PEITs under the umbrella organisation to 11. Bear Stearns is a listed fund of funds that...
UK - Baird invests £13m in recruitment company Aston Carter
Baird Capital Partners Europe has invested £13m for a majority stake in Aston Carter, a UK recruitment consultancy specialising in the placement of IT professionals into the financial services sector in the UK and internationally.
UK - Cognis Capital backs BIMBO of waste services company
Cognis Capital Partners has backed the BIMBO of waste serivces company Sancerre. The deal has enabled Sancerre to purchase the high temperature incinerator and waste-to-energy plats in Fawley, Hampshire from Veolia ES (UK) Ltd. The company expects to...
UK - 3i sells stake in Corpro to SCF Partners
3i has sold its 49.5% stake in oilfield services company Corpro to SCF Partners. The exit generated an IRR of 22% for 3i, which backed the £2m management buyout of the company in 1998. Since the deal, Corpro has expanded internationally and now operates...
EUROPE - WINNERS ANNOUNCED for unquote” Central & Eastern European Awards
Unquote” is delighted to announce the winners of the first ever awards for Central & Eastern European Private Equity, held last night at One Whitehall Place, London. The inaugural event, held in association with EBRD and sponsored by Clifford Chance,...
UK - Aberdeen exits coach manufacturer Plaxton reaping 2.6x return
Aberdeen Asset Managers Private Equity has realised a 2.6x return on its exit from coach manufacturing portfolio company Plaxton. The business has been acquired by Alexander Dennis Ltd for an undisclosed sum.
UK - Octopus backs Promotion Space with expansion funding
Octopus Private Equity has provided marketing services business Promotion Space with expansion finance. Octopus was introduced to the deal by Ford Campbell, a Manchester and Leeds-based corporate finance firm. The value of the funding was not disclosed,...