UK / Ireland
UK - Clayton, Dubilier & Rice strengthens European team
Clayton, Dubilier & Rice Inc (CD&R) has announced that Marco Herbst has joined the firm as a senior principal. Herbst, formerly of Duke Street Capital, will be based in CD&R's London office.
UK - Corbett Keeling appoints new chairmen
Corbett Keeling, the specialist management buyout adviser, is pleased to announce that it has had a record period in its financial year ended 31 July 2006. This is mainly due to multiple successes in its core area of advising management teams on financing...
UK - Sir James Crosby joins Bridgepoint Advisory Committee
Bridgepoint, the European private equity firm, has appointed Sir James Crosby to its European Advisory Committee. Sir James recently stepped down from the board of HBOS Plc where he had been chief executive since 2001. He had previously been CEO of Halifax...
UK - Lion Capital acquires Kettle chips with KP Snacks in sight
Lion Capital made the first step on its bid to become the second largest company in the UK snacks market, behind market-leader PepsiCo. It acquired Kettle foods, the maker of Kettle Chips in a deal which values the US-headquartered company at approximately...
UK - Beringea sells Mergermarket to Financial Times Group
Beringea has agreed to sell portfolio company Mergermarket to the Financial Times Group, a subsidiary of Pearson Plc, the global media company. The sale is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to complete in Q3 2006 and will generate a total...
UK - Pinsent Masons strengthens corporate finance team
Pinsent Masons has announced a fourth major corporate signing in Manchester with the move of highly regarded corporate finance specialist, Chris Moss, to the firm as a partner.
UK - Morgan Crucible to be next private equity target?
According to a report in the Financial Times today, the industrial ceramics and defence materials maker Morgan Crucible has disclosed that it has received a takeover approach.
UK - Ingenious backs Travis album
Ingenious has announced that its Music VCT funds have made their latest investment by backing Travis’ fifth album, currently scheduled for release later this year. Travis has been working on their forthcoming album with producer Nigel Godrich who has...
UK - Frontier Capital Management appoint chief operating officer
Frontier Capital Management has announced the appointment of Colin Hodges as its chief operating officer. Frontier was founded by Michael Azlen in 2004 in order to deliver a unique multi asset fund to the institutional, high net-worth and private banking...
UK - CBPE backs MBO of Rosemont Pharmaceuticals for £93m
Close Brothers Private Equity (CBPE) has announced that it has backed the management buyout of Rosemont Pharmaceuticals, a leading developer and manufacturer of oral liquid medicines. The purchase from previous owners, Savient Pharmaceuticals Inc, a NASDAQ-quoted...
UK - Warburg Pincus announces appointment of Charles Miller Smith
Warburg Pincus has announced that Charles Miller Smith has become a senior advisor to the firm. He will be based in London and will participate in the firm's European investment activities.
UK - Ventus invests in Craig Wind Farm Ltd
The Ventus group of funds have invested £2.7m in Craig Wind Farm Ltd. The proceeds of the investment will be used to construct a 10 megawatt wind farm on Craig Farm, an active sheep farm in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. Electricity generated from the site...
UK - Summit sells shareholding in Global Address
The Summit Group, the independent venture capital business specialising in seed and development capital, and its 41.5% owned investment company, Summit Alpha, announce the sale of their investment in Global Address (formerly Optima Database Management...
UK - Quester realises investment in Sibelius
Quester has announced the realisation by Quester VCT Plc of its investment in Sibelius Software Ltd, the leading music applications software company, through its acquisition by Avid Technology Inc, a NASDAQ-listed technology company.
UK - Possible Macquarie bid for Thames Water to be strengthened
Terra Firma's bid for Thames Water faces intensified competition as the Sunday Times reports that Macquarie may be teaming up with Alinta, the Australian infrastructure group to make a bid for RWE-held Thames Water.
UK - Further activity in the gym industry
The Sunday Times reports that there is to be further consolidation in the gym industry as the owners of both Esporta and Cannons look to sell their businesses. Esporta is held by Duke Street Capital which is expected to be able to sell the company for...
UK - Candover to bid for Trinity Mirror's newspapers
According to a report in the Observer, Candover is expected to emerge as a bidder for Trinity Mirror's newspapers that include the Daily Mirror, the Liverpool Echo and the Sunday Mirror. The announcement last week that the group was to conduct a strategic...
UK - Octopus makes two new appointments
Octopus Investments announced that it has appointed two new members to its private equity team; Richard Taylor and Jane Vinson. Taylor’s role will be to source and develop private equity deals working with advisory firms in the north of England –...
UK - Signet Group eyed by Apax and KKR
Apax and KKR are reported to be considering a bid for Signet Group Plc, the company which owns the H Samuel and Ernest Jones shops in the UK and Kay Jewelers in the US.
UK - Qatar and UBS enter race for Thames Water
According to the Financial Times today a new competitor has entered the running to acquire Thames Water. Qatar's state-owned investment fund is reported to have teamed up with UBS's Global Infrastructure fund to make a bid for the company which could...
UK - Carlyle et al. exit from Trema
The four largest shareholders in Trema, The Carlyle Group, Investcorp, ABS Ventures and Norks Vekst announced the sale of Trema to Wall Street Systems, a portfolio company of Warburg Pincus. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Trema is a leading...
UK - Telent deal looks unlikely to go ahead
According to the Financial Times today, Fortress Investment Group's take-private of Telent, the company that was formerly part of Marconi, has almost been thwarted by Telent shareholder, Polygon.
UK - Investec Private Bank funds acquisition of Sugar Puffs
Investec Private Bank’s Growth & Acquisition Finance division has backed Big Bear Ltd in the acquisition of the Sugar Puffs cereals and Harvest cereal bars businesses. Investec initially backed Big Bear with a composite senior, mezzanine and minority...
UK - Phoenix backs secondary MBO of Gaucho Grill
Phoenix Equity Partners has structured and led the funding of a £55m secondary buyout of Gaucho Grill in partnership with the management team of the business led by Zeev Godik, the founder and chief executive. Gaucho, the Argentinean restaurant group,...