Sector
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 ТЃ10m BIMBO of London Property Maintenance Ltd, a Kent-based provider of contract cleaning, security...
UK - Blackstone completes full exit from South Cross Healthcare
Blackstone has augmented its proceeds from the July listing of Southern Cross Healthcare by selling the 43% stake it retained post-float. The full exit added ТЃ127.5m to the cash already realised from the UK's largest nursing home operator. Total returns...
UK - Apax and Permira's New Look considers IPO in 2007
New Look, the fashion retailer backed by Apax and Permira, has revealed strong trading figures over the Christmas period leading to speculation that the investors may seek to exit the company sometime in 2007. Its chief executive stated that an IPO in...
UK - LDC portfolio company Music Zone enters administration
LDC portfolio company Music Zone, which with 104 stores and 1,100 staff is one of the UK's largest independent CD and DVD retailers, has entered administration highlighting problems faced by the retail sector. Bank of Ireland withdrew credit facilities...
GERMANY – Merck rumoured to sell its Generika division
Chemical-pharmaceutical company Merck is reportedly looking for a buyer of its generic drug manufacturing division, which achieved revenues of around EUR 1.8bn in the last year. It is believed that with this sale Merck would partly finance its recent...
FINLAND - CapMan's real estate fund acquires Kalevankatu 20
CapMan Real Estate I has acquired the property and lot located at Kalevankatu 20 in Helsinki from the Local Government Pensions Institution for an undisclosed sum. Kalevankatu 20 is located in the Kamppi district of central Helsinki and comprises approximately...
PORTUGAL - Portugal Telecom deal about to close
After a year of negotiations, the five investment banks fronting Sonaecom's hostile takeover bid of Portugal Telecom are reported to be close to agreeing advisory fees as the deal reaches its final stages.
GERMANY - Barclays Private Equity exits Buch & Kunst
Barclays Private Equity has sold its stake in German book retailer Buch & Kunst to the Thalia Group for an undisclosed amount. The financial investor acquired the company in 2001.
UK - NESTA looks to private sector to aid distribution of £50m fund for start-ups
The new NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology & the Arts) ТЃ50m fund for start-ups is to be overseen by a team drawn primarily from the private sector. The committee, which includes Apax partner, Adrian Beecroft and MTI CEO and managing partner,...
UK - Inflexion backs £12m MBO of Tekton Group
Inflexion Private Equity has led the ТЃ12m management buyout of Tekton Group, the fastest growing Enterprise Resource Planning software provider to the UK construction and house building industries. The buyout also includes the simultaneous complementary...
ITALY/UK - Apax hands Damovo over to hedge funds
Apax Partners is reportedly being forced to hand over its telecom business Damovo to a consortium of hedge funds, in order to save the company from bankruptcy.
UK - Seraphim Capital completes first investment
Seraphim Capital, the UKтs first Enterprise Capital Fund, led by GLE, is to provide a development capital injection of ТЃ1m into G-T-P Group Ltd. The deal represents Seraphimтs first investment.
GERMANY - New principal at Waterland Private Equity
Waterland Private Equity Investments has appointed Jörg Dreisow as principal of its German branch. He had previously been investment director and will now co-lead a team of six.
ITALY - Apax acquires healthcare factoring business
Pharmaceutical group Confarma is reported to have sold the majority of its shares in Farmafactoring to FF Holding, a vehicle entirely owned by Apax Partners.
NL - Kennet Partners to sell Consul Risk Management to IBM
Kennet Partners Ltd has announced that it intends to sell Consul Risk Management International, a software company for the enterprise and managed security services markets, to IBM. The sale is expected to close in the first quarter of 2007. Kennet first...
UK - Charterhouse-backed Saga makes radio disposal
Charterhouse portfolio company Saga, the specialist service provider to the 50 plus age-group, has disposed of its radio assets. The three radio stations based in the Midlands and Scotland, plus another yet to be launched station, have been acquired by...
SPAIN - INova Capital backs DC Wafers
INova Capital has announced its invesment in industrial manufacturer DC Wafers. After the investment, completed via a capital increase, the private equity firm will control a 15% stake in the company.
FRANCE - CVC hires industrial expert for its Paris office
CVC Capital Partners has announced the appointment of Patrick Verschelde as industrial partner in Paris.
NL - 3i to acquire Business Media Europe from VNU
3i has announced that it has reached an agreement in principle to acquire substantially all of VNU Business Media Europe (BME), a Dutch careers classified and B2B magazines group, from VNU.