Sector
UK - Further investment for ZBD
Prelude Trust Plc, managed by Esprit Capital Partners, has made an additional ТЃ640,000 investment into ZBD Displays Ltd as part of a ТЃ2.86m funding round. This will mean that Prelude will now have a 33% holding in ZBD, and has so far committed ТЃ5.6m...
FRANCE - SGAM and Galileo invest EUR 4m in internet shoe retailer
Société Générale Asset Management (SGAM) and Galileo Partners have injected EUR 4m in e-commerce shoe retailer Sarenza.
SPAIN - 3i acquires shareholding in Sten
3i has agreed to buy a 30% stake in Sistemas Técnicos de Encofrados (STEN) from its founders and majority shareholders. The company develops formwork systems and solutions for construction projects and civil engineering work. The consideration has not...
ITALY - MPS Venture exits Moby and buys into Savino Del Bene
The asset management firm MPS Venture has sold its 3.47% stake in logistics player Moby in a deal worth EUR 6.4m to the Onorato family, which now wholly owns the company.
NETHERLANDS - Apollo acquires TNT logistics division
Express delivery company TNT has signed an agreement to sell its logistics division to Apollo Management. The total value of the transaction is EUR 1.48m on a cash and debt free basis, of which EUR 15m will be received in the form of a 5% equity stake...
NETHERLANDS - VNU appoints David Calhoun as chairman of executive board and CEO
VNU has announced that David L. Calhoun, vice chairman of General Electric Company, has been named chairman of the executive board and chief executive officer of VNU by the company’s supervisory board. Calhoun succeeds Rob Ruijter, who has served as interim...
BELGIUM - Ablynx raises EUR 40m in C financing round
Ablynx, a company specialising in the discovery and development of Nanobodies, a novel class of antibody-derived therapeutic proteins, has announced the successful closing of its series C financing round raising EUR 40m.
UK - Smedvig appoints new associate
Smedvig Capital has announced the appointment of Nicola Lando as a new associate. She joins Smedvig from Mercer Management Consulting.
UK - Private equity rumours surrounding SMG unfounded
The Financial Times reports that the Scottish media company, SMG, is likely to turn down last week's takeover approach from Northern Irish rival, UTV. The rumours surrounding SMG and private equity do not apparently have any serious foundations.
UK - Endless exits Encanta via sale to Exponent porfolio company, Magicalia
Endless has announced the disposal of Encanta Media Ltd for ТЃ2.72m to Magicalia, an on-line publishing business and one of Exponent Private Equity's portfolio companies.
UK - Dunedin backs £30m secondary MBO of Capula Ltd
Dunedin Capital Partners has announced that it has led the secondary management buyout of Capula Ltd, the UKтs leading independent provider of real time IT solutions to the energy and utility markets, from Bridgepoint. Dunedin backed the management team...
FINLAND - Ratos to buy Perlos Healthcare in EUR 67m deal
Ratos has signed an agreement to buy 78% of Perlos Healthcare. The cash and debt free purchase price of Perlos’ healthcare business by the new company is worth approximately EUR 67m.
UK - MFI retail deal in final stages
According to the Financial Times, the board of MFI has agreed to pay a 'dowry' to Merchant Equity Partners in order to facilitate the private equity institution taking the loss-making retail chain off its hands.
BELGIUM - Carlyle acquires FRS Global from S1 Corporation
The Carlyle Group and technology investor Kennet Partners today announce that they have acquired FRS Global from S1 Corporation (NASDAQ: SONE). FRS Global is headquartered in Belgium and employs 190 people. It has the largest installed customer base in...
CZECH REPUBLIC - Mid Europa sells cable company
Central and Eastern European investor Mid Europa Partners (MEP) has sold its 82% stake in Czech cable company Karneval Media to UPC, the Czech Republic’s number one player. The EUR 322.5m deal saw the bankers of UPC (Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan) take control...
FINLAND - Sentica buys cleaning solutions business
A fund managed by Sentica Partners has acquired the entire share capital of Finnish industrial cleaning technology supplier Finnsonic Ltd.
UK - Beringea sells Mergermarket to Financial Times Group
Beringea has agreed to sell portfolio company Mergermarket to the Financial Times Group, a subsidiary of Pearson Plc, the global media company. The sale is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to complete in Q3 2006 and will generate a total...
UK - Morgan Crucible to be next private equity target?
According to a report in the Financial Times today, the industrial ceramics and defence materials maker Morgan Crucible has disclosed that it has received a takeover approach.
UK - Frontier Capital Management appoint chief operating officer
Frontier Capital Management has announced the appointment of Colin Hodges as its chief operating officer. Frontier was founded by Michael Azlen in 2004 in order to deliver a unique multi asset fund to the institutional, high net-worth and private banking...
UK - Summit sells shareholding in Global Address
The Summit Group, the independent venture capital business specialising in seed and development capital, and its 41.5% owned investment company, Summit Alpha, announce the sale of their investment in Global Address (formerly Optima Database Management...
UK - Quester realises investment in Sibelius
Quester has announced the realisation by Quester VCT Plc of its investment in Sibelius Software Ltd, the leading music applications software company, through its acquisition by Avid Technology Inc, a NASDAQ-listed technology company.
UK - Candover to bid for Trinity Mirror's newspapers
According to a report in the Observer, Candover is expected to emerge as a bidder for Trinity Mirror's newspapers that include the Daily Mirror, the Liverpool Echo and the Sunday Mirror. The announcement last week that the group was to conduct a strategic...
UK - Carlyle et al. exit from Trema
The four largest shareholders in Trema, The Carlyle Group, Investcorp, ABS Ventures and Norks Vekst announced the sale of Trema to Wall Street Systems, a portfolio company of Warburg Pincus. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Trema is a leading...
ITALY - Stirling Square backs MBI of Metroweb SpA
Stirling Square Capital Partners, the pan-European private equity firm, has announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Metroweb SpA. from Milan-based utility AEM SpA. Stirling Square is backing a team of experienced telecom managers...