Sector
PAI’s Marcolin picks up Viva
Italian eyewear manufacturer Marcolin, backed by PAI Partners, has acquired Viva International through a definitive stock purchase agreement.
Baird acquires Alpha for £28m
Baird Capital has purchased a majority stake in international management consultancy business Alpha Financial Markets Consulting (Alpha) in a deal valuing the company at £28m.
Apax takes over French education business Inseec
Apax France has agreed to acquire Inseec, a French business and management schools operator, from listed US player Career Education Corporation in a €200m deal.
Riverstone energy fund IPO raises £760m
Riverstone Holdings listed its new energy fund Riverstone Energy Limited (REL) on the London Stock Exchange on Thursday, raising £760.3m.
Capricorn, Vesalius lead round for Trod
Capricorn Venture Partners and Vesalius Biocapital have co-led a €4.75m series-B funding round for Trod Medical, a Belgian medical devices company.
KKR’s ATU receives $25m and nears debt restructuring
KKR’s problem child Auto-Teile Unger (ATU) has entered an agreement with creditors in order to reduce its debt and receive a $25m liquidity injection.
PAI Partners’ Swissport acquires SAS division
PAI Partners-backed ground services company Swissport International has agreed to acquire a 10% stake in Scandinavian Airlines (SAS).
BaltCap invests €1.5m in Stenders
Baltic private equity firm BaltCap has backed Stenders, a Latvian cosmetics franchise, with a €1.5m investment.
HTGF et al. back Itembase with $3.25m
High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Rheingau Founders and German Startups Group have invested $3.25m in online inventory platform Itembase.
VC-backed iLiga receives €5m funding round led by USV
Earlybird-backed football app iLiga has raised a €5m funding round led by Union Square Ventures (USV), a US-based venture capital house.
Idinvest reaches €60m first close
Paris-based Idinvest Partners has held a first close on its Idinvest Digital Fund II on €60m.
Academic endeavours: online education set to explode
Online education
Funding Circle raises $37m in series-C round
UK-based crowdfunding platform Funding Circle has raised $37m in a series-C round led by Accel Partners.
PE-backed Primacom to take over rival for €600m
Cable network Primacom, backed by private equity firms Alcentra and Avenue Capital, has placed an estimated €600m bid for rival cable network Tele Columbus.
Permira walks away with Dr Martens
After months of speculation, Permira has acquired iconic footwear brand Dr Martens for £300m.
Inflexion backs CMO Compliance
Inflexion has backed the management buyout of CMO Compliance, a software company focused on health, safety and environment (HSE) governance, and risk and compliance.
Hard times over for hardware investments?
The hardware end of Europe’s technology market has largely been ignored by GPs in favour of the safety net of software. Ellie Pullen investigates the reasons behind its neglect and whether the sector is about to become a more appealing investment opportunity
F-star raises €9.4m from Atlas, Aescap et al.
Biopharmaceutical company F-star has raised €9.4m in a series-A round supported by Altas Venture, Aescap Venture, TVM Capital among others.
Wonga buys VC-backed Billpay
Cash lender business Wonga, backed by a consortium of venture capital firms, has acquired online payment business Billpay, a portfolio company of numerous German VCs.
Innova creates GWP for PLN 375m
Innova Capital has bought Polish internet portal Wirtualna Polska (WP) and merged it with Grupa o2 in a transaction totalling PLN 375m.
Faction raises further $3m
Ski equipment and apparel retailer Faction has received a further $3m in funding from Octopus Investments and London-based angel investors.
HTGF backs dentaZoom in seed round
High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) has backed dental microscopes manufacturer dentaZoom in a seed round thought to be worth €500,000.
Goldman Sachs sells Rothesay stake to Blackstone et al.
Goldman Sachs has sold a majority stake in UK-based life insurer Rothesay Life to Blackstone, GIC and Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual).
GCP rebrands to Kester and offloads TEG
The former European private equity division of Greenhill & Co, GCP Capital Partners, has simultaneously rebranded as Kester Capital and divested Travel Entertainment Group (TEG).