UK / Ireland
UK - Astex appoints new CEO
The Financial Times reports today that Astex has recruited Leon Bushara, a senior executive at Europe's largest biotechnology group Serono, as its chief executive. Astex is a biotechnology group based in Cambridge that has received significant contributions...
UK - ISIS back MBO of the Panacea Group
ISIS Equity Partners, in partnership with the Panacea management team, has successfully completed a management buyout of the Panacea Group. ISIS invested £6.187m as part of the transaction alongside senior debt and working capital facilities from Lloyds...
UK - AnaCap Financial Partners establishes strategic advisory board
AnaCap Financial Partners has appointed three members to its strategic advisory board: Andrew Jackson, founder of Intermediate Capital Group; Michael Callen, former head of Citicorp Worldwide Corporate Division; and Rudi Doerr, former group vice president...
UK - Matrix backs MBO of Blaze Neon Ltd
Matrix Private Equity Partners has financed a £5m secondary management buyout of Blaze Neon Limited (Blaze) alongside management and senior debt from Lloyds TSB. Blaze is a leading player in the design, manufacture and installation of shop front and...
UK - Enterprise Ventures backs MBO of Acorn Foundation Engineering Ltd
Enterprise Ventures, the North-West based venture capital company, has completed an investment in the management buyout of Acorn Foundation Engineering Ltd (AFE). Andrew Hall, the current managing director of the company received backing from Enterprise...
UK - BVCA reports show rise in UK private equity investment
The BVCA's performance measurement and the report on investment activity shows that worldwide investment by UK private equity firms has increased by 21% in 2005 to £11.7bn. 58% of this total was invested in the UK, a 3% rise on the 2004 figure. The survey...
UK - Lasitha Perera joins Glitnir Bank's European leveraged finance team
Lasitha Perera is joining Glitnir Bank's European leveraged finance team where he will report to Erlendur Magnusson, head of leveraged finance.
Mid-market private equity investors brimming with confidence
Market confidence levels among mid-market private equity investors are riding high, according to a survey carried out by Grant Thornton Corporate Finance. During the first quarter of the year, 92% of mid-market VCs predicted that the volume of transactions...
UK - Bank of Scotland Corporate backs MBO of T.M.Lewin
T.M.Lewin & Sons Ltd, the leading retailer of formal shirts has been acquired by its management team from a group of private vendors. With a deal size of £50m, Bank of Scotland Corporate provided an integrated finance funding package and will invest...
EUROPE - Apax Partners publishes report on the future of private equity
Apax Partners, together with the Economist Intelligence Unit, has produced a report on the future of private equity. This follows a 2002 report in which it accurately predicted deal sizes increasing significantly and liquidity improving.
UK - Matrix midlands motoring challenge
Yesterday Matrix Private Equity entertained a group of Midlands corporate financiers (and Kimberly Romaine of Incisive Media, publishers of unquote” and Private Equity Europe) at Prestwold Hall in Loughborough, where guests were treated to a day of...
UK - Deloitte hires two operational diligence experts
Matt Penny and Duncan Robertson have joined the operations due diligence team at Deloitte from Ernst & Young. Both have expertise in the retail and technology manufacturing sectors.
UK - Core Growth Capital leads secondary buyout of London Graphic Centre
Core Growth Capital, manager of Core VCTs I, II and III, has led the secondary MBO of London Graphic Centre (LGC), investing £3m alongside £9m of debt facilities provided by Singer & Friedlander.
UK - Graphite backs £25m MBO of TMP Worldwide
Graphite Capital is backing the £25m management buyout of TMP Worldwide from its American parent, Monster Worldwide, Inc. TMP Worldwide is the UK and Ireland’s leading recruitment communications business, with 70% of its business in the public sector...
UK - Endless acquires GlynWebb.
Endless LLP has acquired chain retailer GlynWebb for an undisclosed sum. GlynWebb, which specializes in selling discounted DIY, homeware and garden products in the North and Midlands of England generates annual sales of £45m and is planning to increase...
UK - PPF Investments appoints new CEO
PPF Investments has appointed Michal Šušák as its new chief executive officer.
UK - CVC and Bain in bidding for Caudwell Group
CVC Capital and Bain Capital are the remaining two competitors in the contest to buy the Caudwell Group, reports The Times today. John Caudwell offloaded part of his business in April and the bidders are now neck-and-neck for the rest of his empire, which...
UK - 3i announces £700m return to shareholders.
3i has announced a total return of £831m for the year ending 31st March 2006, representing a 22.5% return on opening shareholders’ funds. It has also announced its intention to return £700m to shareholders through a bonus issue of listed B shares.
UK - Mathew Masters joins Caledonia Investments
Mathew Masters has joined Caledonia Investments Plc as an investment executive.
UK - Gresham appoints new investment executive
Mike O’Brien has joined Gresham's investment team as an investment executive based in London.
UK - M&C Ventures makes new hire
M&C Ventures has appointed Neil Sebba as a corporate finance executive. Sebba joins from BDO Stoy Hayward, where he qualified as a chartered accountant in 2003.
UK - Imperial Innovations spin-outs win LDA grants
Imperial Innovations, the technology commercialisation company based at Imperial College London, has announced that six of the companies in its portfolio have been awarded prestigious R & D grants worth nearly £700,000 from the London Development Agency.
UK - ISIS invests £4.87m in Reed & Mackay
ISIS Equity Partners has taken a significant minority stake in Reed & Mackay Limited, a leading provider of business travel management services. ISIS has invested £4.87m as part of the transaction, alongside senior debt and working capital facilities...
UK - Index backs Last.fm
The London-based consumer internet startup Last.fm has raised its first round (an undisclosed sum) initiated by Index Ventures.