Sector
UK/FRANCE - NBGI launches in Paris
NBGI Private Equity has opened a new office in Paris, which will be headed up by Didier Riebel and Laurent Allégot.
UK - Oxford Capital closes fourth gateway fund on £12m
Oxford Capital has closed Oxford Gateway Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) Fund No 4 on £12m.
UK - Foresight appoints industrial partner
Foresight Group has appointed Nigel Aitchison as industrial partner.
Tough at the top
The prevailing opinion in the private equity market today is that it's not a good time to be a large buyout fund manager. With a 'sweet spot' a long way up the value chain, finding suitable targets is a tough job and convincing banks to back a transaction...
Politicking
Following the conflict between UK trade unions and private equity firms last year, and the subsequent negative media attention, came the recognition by the private equity community that it needed to engage with a wider stakeholder base. This should begin...
DENMARK - Index Ventures invests USD 27m in Milestone
Index Ventures has invested USD 27m in Milestone, a Copenhagen-based developer of open platform IP video management software for surveillance systems.
FRANCE - Garibaldi et al invest EUR 1.2m in Addev
Naxicap Partners, Garibaldi Participations and Midi-Pyrénées Croissance have completed a management buyout of Addev, the holding company of adhesives producer Adhis.
UK - Sovereign strengthens investment team
Sovereign Capital has appointed Taha Hasan as investment manager and Tom Matthews as investment executive.
UK - Amadeus leads USD 16m funding round for Secerno
Amadeus Capital Partners has led a USD 16m series-B funding round into software company Secerno Ltd alongside existing backers Eden Ventures and Spark Ventures.
UK - Advent et al make further investment in OpenCloud
Existing investors Advent Venture Partners, No 8 Ventures and Motorla Ventures have supported a USD 10m series-B funding round in telecommunications software developer OpenCloud Ltd. Silicon Valley Bank provided a debt package to support the deal.
FRANCE - Index Ventures invests EUR 22.5m into BestofMedia
Index Ventures has invested EUR 22.5m into online media publishing company BestofMedia.
ITALY - Barclays exit industrial manufacturer CEME
Barclays Private Equity has agreed to sell fluid control components producer CEME Group to Investcorp, the global provider and manager of alternative investment products. The current management team will also reinvest in the company.
SWEDEN - EQT Opportunity acquires Granngården
EQT Opportunity has acquired Granngården, a Swedish retail chain, from Lantmännen, a group owned by 42,000 Swedish farmers, for an undisclosed sum.
SWEDEN - Riverside acquires SPX Air Filtration
The Riverside Company, through its Riverside Europe Fund III (REF III), has acquired the Swedish based SPX Air Filtration for an undisclosed sum. A senior debt package was provided by Kaupthing Bank, while Eqvitec supplied a mezzanine tranche to support...
SPAIN - Private equity investment drops 41%
According to the latest data released by ASCRI, the first semester of 2008 registered a 41% year-on-year drop in total private equity transaction value in Spain, dropping to EUR 1.19bn and falling below the EUR 1.23bn invested in the first semester of...
GERMANY – Consortium joins third nugg funding round
New investors European Funders Funds and VC Fonds Technologie Berlin joined for a third round of funding for nugg.ad AG, a provider of predictive behavioral targeting solutions to advertising agencies, alongside incumbent investors bmp Media Investors...
FRANCE - Turenne backs Mediastay acquisition of Lucky Surf
Turenne Capital, through Turenne Investissement and Hexagone Croissance 1, has backed portfolio gaming company Mediastay’s acquisition of US competitor Lucky Surf.
UK - QIA looking for new partners for Four Season Healthcare
The Quatari Investment Authority (QIA) is talking to potential new partners about ways to recapitalise troubled nursing home operator Four Seasons Healthcare. Buyout house Blackstone and Infrastructure investor Macquarie are said to be among the firms...
UK - Pentech to raise £45m fund
Pentech Ventures is believed to be raising a new £45m fund, to be launched this summer.
UK - Advent appoints partner
Advent Venture Partners has appointed Mike Chalfen as general partner in its technology team.
SPAIN - Bertelsmann in series-C financing for BuyVip.com
Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments (BDMI), the venture investment vehicle of the Bertelsmann Media group, has completed a EUR 10m series-C round of financing for internet multi-brand retailer BuyVip.
UK - Balderton invests in GDCM
Balderton Capital has invested an undisclosed sum in software company Global Datacentre Management (GDCM).
UK - Jefferies appoints managing director
Investment bank Jefferies International has appointed Andrew Bracey as managing director for its London office.