Sector
UK - Nordic Venture Partners leads £5m funding for Player X
Mobile media company Player X has received a second round of venture funding provided by new investors Nordic Venture Partners and Long Acre Partners. This follows a first round of funding in 2005 from Arts Alliance and Bullion International.
HUNGARY - Riverside exits Salgglas
The Riverside Company has exited Hungarian manufacturer of safety glass Salgglas to CEE Industrial Holdings Ltd. The sale price has not been disclosed, but the exit generated a 4x cash-on-cash return and a gross IRR of 19%.
UK - KKR looks at Pearson
Pearson the media group is the subject of buyout speculation. It is reported that KKR is weighing up a £7bn bid for the publisher of the Financial Times which has its core business in educational publishing.
GERMANY - bm-t invests in Analytik Jena AG
bm-t beteiligungsmanangement thüringen GmbH has invested EUR 1m in manufacturer of high performance and analytical instruments Analytik Jena AG. Following its investment the venture capitalist will hold a 3% shareholding in the company.
FRANCE - XAnge and Auriga invest EUR 5m in marketing software developer Neolane
XAnge has led the EUR 5m second round of venture funding in marketing and communications software developer Neolane. Auriga Partners, which invested EUR 2m alongside the company's CEO and management in 2002, re-invested on this occasion.
UK - Corbett Keeling appoints Vincent Thompson
Corbett Keeling has appointed Vincent Thompson as an associate. Thompson qualified as an accountant with Peat Marwick Mitchell in 1978 and has since worked for the corporate finance division of Morgan Grenfell and Hambros Bank. In 2003, he joined the...
UK - 3i and Esprit exit CPS for $35m
Cambridge Positioning Systems Ltd (CPS), a 3i and Esprit Capital portfolio company, has been sold to CSR Plc for a total consideration of $35m. 3i and Esprit, through the Prelude Trust, first invested in CPS via a £1.75m funding round in 1998. Two further...
UK - North West Equtiy Fund invests £250,000 in medical communications company
North West Equity Fund has invested £250,000 into Cheshire-based CSF Medical Communications Limited (CSF).
FRANCE - ACE Management and 123Venture invest EUR 3m in Tetco
ACE Management and 123Venture have invested EUR 3m in the third round of funding for VoIP software developer Tetco. ACE Management invested on behalf of Advance Capital Europe, UFF Innovation III and Financière de Brienne.
UK - Barclays Ventures acquires Christy Group in £21m deal
Barclays Ventures has backed the £21m management buyout of Christy Group Ltd, a designer, importer and distributor of children’s dress-up costumes based in Barnsley. Christy supplies major retailers worldwide such as Walmart/ASDA, Tesco, Marks and...
FRANCE - Innovacom backs online data stocking software developer
Software developer Agematis has received its first round of funding from French investor Innovacom. The private equity investor injected EUR 2.5m in the company.
UK - Oak Hill to acquire United Utilities' outsourcing business
A private equity consortium headed up by Oak Hill, the US group, is to acquire the United Utilities' business outsourcing division, Vertex. The £220m deal follows United Utilities decision to sell Vertex due to falling profits within the division.
SWEDEN - 3i, InnovationsKapital and smac partners sell Nordnav for $75m
3i, InnovationsKapital and smac partners have sold Nordnav, a provider of GPS software solutions for mobile devices, to Camebridge Silicon Radio. The purchase price for all shares in the company is approximately $75m and InnovationsKapital has generated...
UK - Imperial Innovations invests in Equinox Pharma
Imperial Innovations Group plc has invested £250,000 in Equinox Pharma Limited, a company providing advanced software products to the pharma and biopharma industry. The investment in Equinox was part of a £500,000 seed funding round, which also included...
BELGIUM - Barclays Private Equity France acquires Desmet Ballestra
Barclays Private Equity France has acquired a majority stake in Desmet Ballestra, operative in the fields of engineering and supply of plants and equipment for the edible oil industry, the detergent-surfactants and related chemical industry and the oleochemical...
UK - AlixPartners names three new London managing directors
AlixPartners, the international corporate turnaround, performance improvement and financial advisory firm, has promoted three of its London team to the position of managing director: Laura Barlow, Andrew Grantham and David Hutchinson. The three professionals...
UK - Wellington Partners leads EUR 18m investment in Truphone
Wellington Partners has led an EUR 18m series-A funding round for London-based mobile VoIP start-up Truphone. Also participating in financing Truphone are existing investors Eden Ventures and a number of business angels, as well as Independent News and...
UK - Bank of Scotland backs MBO of Willis & Gambier
Bank of Scotland Integrated Finance has funded the £55m management buyout of Willis & Gambier Ltd, taking a minority stake in the company.
HUNGARY - GMT and Mid Europa sell Invitel for EUR 470m
GMT Communications Partners and Mid Europa Partners have announced that they have agreed to sell Hungary’s second largest fixed line telecoms operator Invitel Távközlési ZRt. to Hungarian Telephone & Cable Corp for EUR 470m. The two financial investors...
BELGIUM - Gilde Healthcare portfolio company Ablynx signs $265m deal
Pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim and Ablynx have announced an exclusive worldwide collaboration and licence agreement worth almost $265m to discover and develop new therapies for Alzheimer’s disease using Ablynx Nanobodies®.
UK - LDC backs MBO of Cable Management Group
LDC has backed the management buyout of Cable Management Group (CMG). The investment will support new product development, expansion of export markets and future acquisitions. Headquartered in Coleshill, Birmingham, CMG is the UK market leader in the...
UK - Double appointment at MTI Partners
MTI Partners, the technology venture capital investor has made two new appointments. Sarah Bates joins the board of MTI as a non-executive director. Bates, who has a BA in Law from Cambridge University and an MBA from the London Business School, worked...
UK - Advent Venture Partners leads $10m investment in Open Cloud
OpenCloud Ltd, a leading supplier of next generation application servers to the telecommunications industry, has received its first institutional funding in a round led by Advent Venture Partners. The round, totalling $10.25m, includes investment from...
UK - Sovereign Capital begins 2007 with three deals
Sovereign Capital has begun 2007 by announcing the completion of three platform investments, two of which are support services businesses. The first was the £10m BIMBO of London Property Maintenance Ltd, a Kent-based provider of contract cleaning, security...