Sector
Q&A - 2008 faces slowdown, not a crash
DLA Piper's Erwin Simons speaks to Domitille Lainey about the state of the Benelux private equity market at the beginning of 2008
UK - SEP et al. provide VirtenSys with $12m series-B funding
Scottish Equity Partners (SEP) and other existing investors Celtic House Venture Partners and GIMV have participated in a $12m series-B funding round for VirtenSys Ltd. The same syndicate of investors first provided the company with a series-A $12m investment...
CEE - ING appoints new director to CEE team
ING Leveraged Finance and Sponsor Coverage Business has hired David Ryba as a director of its CEE team. This addition takes ING's CEE team to five professionals.
CEE - GED acquires Plus GSM
Through its GED Eastern fund II for Eastern Europe, GED has acquired Plus GSM, a specialist in mobile telephone services.
GERMANY - Mid-market buyouts unscathed by finance crisis
According to a statement issued by Deutsche Beteiligungs AG, activity in the mid-market buyout space in Germany is unbroken and is evidently unimpeded by the liquidity crisis. Market data issued today supports this: 35 transactions were recorded in 2007,...
UK - BOSIF invests £12m+ in Quartix
Bank of Scotland Integrated Finance has invested a combined debt and equity package in excess of £12m in Quartix Ltd, a supplier of vehicle tracking systems. As a result of the deal, BOSIF has taken a 20% stake in the business, the balance is held by...
UK - ISIS backs £20m buyout of software company
ISIS Equity Partners has completed the £20m management buyout of CSC, a structural engineering software company. Yorkshire Bank provided a debt package to support the deal.
UK - Zeus completes MBO of XLN Telecom
Zeus Private Equity (ZPE) has completed its fourth deal, backing the management buyout of telecommunications solutions provider, XLN Telecom Ltd. ZPE has invested £6.63m to acquire a majority stake in the business. Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander has...
UK - MSIF supports Host Telecom with £100,000
The Merseyside Special Investment Fund's (MSIF) Liverpool Seed Fund has invested £100,000 to support Host Telecom, developers of a new mobile phone advertising application.
Think positive
The liquidity troubles which dominated the latter half of 2007 had looked set to spill over into 2008. However, a destabilisation of the private equity industry in 2008 does not feel imminent. Private equity is cyclical and its investments are often much...
Q&A - Small is beautiful
After an active and fruitful year of investment and fundraising in 2007, Patrick Lissague, director general of UGF Private Equity, and Activa Capital partner Charles Diehl talk to Francois Rowell about the challenge the year ahead will provide
UK - Graphite, Advent and 3i gear up for Kurt Geiger
Graphite Capital, Advent International and 3i are reported to be amongst bidders in the final round of an auction to acquire Kurt Geiger. The designer shoe retailer is currently owned by Barclays Private Equity. Hawkpoint is running the process to divest...
EUROPE - Investcorp Technology Fund exceeds target by $100m closing on $500m
Investcorp Technology Partners (ITP) has completed the fundraising for its latest vehicle Investcorp Technology Partners III (ITP Fund III) raising $500m. The final close exceeded the fund's initial target of $400m and beats the $300m raised for ITP Fund...
NORWAY - Index, Teknoinvest and NorthZone complete final exit from listed-Trolltech
Trolltech, a Norwegian cross-platform software developer, previously backed by Index Ventures, Teknoinvest and Northzone Ventures, has signed an agreement to be acquired by Nokia for NOK 843m, corresponding to NOK 16 per share.
UK - IMAC appoints new director
Ingenious Media Active Capital Limited (IMAC) has appointed George Bryan Dix to its board of directors with effect from 24 January 2008.
FRANCE - Seventure takes 10% of Sidetrade
Seventure Partners has acquired a 10% stake in software firm Sidetrade. In 2007 Sidetrade recorded a turnover of EUR 7.34m, a 34% increase on the previous year. The company forecasts growth of 22% between 2007 and 2011.
SWITZERLAND – Carlyle acquires KSC.net
The Carlyle Group has acquired, in partnership with management, KCS.net Holding AG, an Enterprise Resource Planning solution (ERP) vendor in an all-cash transaction.