Sector
UK - Kennet Venture Partners sells Cramer to Amdocs
Kennet Venture Partners Ltd, a venture capital firm focused on the technology sector, had announced the sale of portfolio company Cramer to Amdocs, an industry leader in solutions that enable integrated customer management, for £205m ($375m). Cramer...
UK - LDC acquires digital dictation specialist BigHand
Digital dictation specialist BigHand is targeting rapid global growth after being bought by a management team backed by LDC. London-based BigHand supplies software that allows users to dictate directly onto their firm’s computer network from anywhere...
UK - London University spin-out company raises £930,000 with help from The Capital Fund
IXICO Ltd, a London University spin-out company that has developed innovative software to automate the analysis of digital clinical images used in drug discovery and development, has raised £930,000. The Capital Fund provided £100,000, investing alongside...
UK - Endless acquires Peter Black
Peter Black, designer and supplier of footwear, cosmetics and gifts to Marks and Spencer, Tesco and Next has been acquired by Endless. Peter Black was taken-private in 2000 by its management team.
FRANCE - Apax Partners agrees to buy FTMSC from France Telecom
Apax Partners has signed a agreement to acquire 100% of France telecom Mobile Satellite Communications SA (FTMSC).
UK - Design LED Products receives Braveheart investment
Braveheart has invested £250,000 in Design LED Products, a spin-out company from the Hillington Innovation Centre, Glasgow, with which Braveheart has strong links. This is the first investment from its Alpha EIS Fund.
FRANCE - KKR in exclusive talks for PagesJaunes
According to press reports, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts has entered exclusive negotiations with France Telecom for the acquisition of its 54% stake in telephone directory business PagesJaunes, for EUR 3.3bn
UK - Lagan secures £8.3m funding led by Esprit Capital Partners
Lagan, provider of enterprise case management and customer relationship management solutions to governments in the UK and North America, has secured £8.3m investment funding to support the company's next phase of growth. The latest round of funding was...
UK - Barclays Ventures backs MBO of Lakeview Computers Group
Barclays Ventures has backed the management buyout of Lakeview Computers Group Ltd, a leading player in the development and maintenance of enterprise resource planning software systems. The business, which generates an annual EBITDA of over £2m, was...
UK - MFI retail chain auction enters final stages
This week, MFI Furniture Group Plc will meet with the remaining bidders, including Merchant Equity Partners, Apax and Argyll Partners, in the auction for its retail arm.
SWEDEN - Procuritas buys North Trade
Procuritas Capital Investor III has acquired a majority shareholding in meat products importer North Trade AB. Going forward, North Trade plans to launch new products and expand geographically.
NORWAY - Norvestor’s Life Europe buys more shares in Life Scandinavia
Norvestor Equity’s Life Europe AB has increased its shareholding in Norwegian health food retailer Life Scandinavia AS to 89%. The seller of the stake is Validius, which will continue to own 11% of the shares. Following the transaction, Norvestor owns...
UK - Bridgepoint's Pets at Home in £288m refinancing
Pets at Home, the UK pet food and product retailer, has secured £288m of new debt facilities following its announcement last week of revenues of £276.9m and EBITDA of £40.7m for the year ended 31 March 2006. Following completion of the refinancing,...
ITALY - Aletti acquires majority stake in Lovato
Aletti Private Equity has purchased 70% of Officine Lovato from its founders, via the Dimensione Network fund. According to reports in the Italian press, the transaction is worth around EUR 25m.
UK - Catapult Venture Managers back Exmet
Catapult Venture Managers has led a syndicate of investors to provide a £600,000 funding package for Kingswinford-based Exmet Limited, the supplier of the See20/20 specialist management software system for single and multi-site ophthalmic practices.
BELGIUM - KBC Private Equity sells I-PAC Technologies
KBC Private Equity has signed an agreement to sell its 18.90% stake in I-PAC Technologies, a specialist in the development of new technologies for the plastic packaging industry. InnoConcepts NV, the principal stakeholder, will acquire the stake for EUR...
ITALY - Wise acquires majority stake in SpII SpA
The private equity firm Wise SGR, via the funds Wisequity II & Macchine Italia, has acquired a majority stake in SpII SpA, an industrial automation player for the logistic sector, from its founders for an undisclosed sum.
BELGIUM- KBC invests in Tailormade Logistics and Tailormade Transport
KBC Arkiv has invested EUR 1m in Tailormade Logistics and Tailormade Transport, two Flemish companies specialising in integrated logistics services.
UK - Esprit join Atlas and Benchmark in funding round for Newnham
Newnham today announced it has raised $13.25m in a series-B extension round of venture capital to help the company expand the development and worldwide marketing of its interactive networked display software and semiconductor technology. Following this...
NL-Cinven and Warburg Pincus to acquire Casema
Cinven and Warburg Pincus have reportedly reached an agreement with Carlyle, Providence Partners and GMT Communications to acquire Casema for around EUR 1.2bn. Carlyle and Providence each hold a 46% stake in Casema, with GMT Communications making up the...
UK - Microsoft executive Judy Gibbons joins Accel London
Accel Partners has announced the appointment of Judy Gibbons as venture partner in its London office, which focuses on early stage Internet, software and communications investments in Europe and Israel.
UK - Misys 'management walk in' to prevent company being sold off too cheaply
Control of software firm Misys is reported by the Times to have been assumed by three former directors who want to prevent the firm being sold off too cheaply to private equity or trade buyers. Under plans by the directors, the £1bn firm will be broken...
UK - Taylor Nelson Sofres receiving private equity interest
The international market research firm Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) is said to have attracted private equity interest. The company has encountered the dissatisfaction of its institutional investors after it revealed revenues in the US had fallen and were...
UK - Blackstone and KKR target Argos and Homebase
GUS, the parent company of Argos and Homebase retailers (ARG)and Experian, the business information provider, which is intent on a demerger of the two divisions in October, is reported to have received private equity offers for both arms of the company....