Sign in
- You are currently accessing unquote.com via your Enterprise account.
  
  If you already have an account please use the link below to sign in.
  
  If you have any problems with your access or would like to request an individual access account please contact our customer service team.
  
  Phone: +44 (0)203 741 1137
  
  Email: Georgina.Lawson@acuris.com
  - Sign in
Follow us
- Twitter
- LinkedIn
Free Trial
Subscribe

Southern European Private Equity: 2010 in review

Susannah Birkwood
07 January 2011

Tweet
Facebook
LinkedIn
Google plus
Send to

The year 2010 saw significant improvement across the private equity market in Southern Europe. Read on for a month-by-month summary of the regional highlights.

January
• Permira joins forces with the Marzotto family to buy the €720m debt of fashion house Valentino for €265m.
• Ibersuizas acquires a majority stake in Spain's Mediterránea de Catering.
• Cognetas invests €65m in vending machine provider Gruppo Argenta.

February
• HgCapital closes two Spanish solar PV project deals via its Renewable Power Partners fund.
• The Amplio Group invests around €13m in 6MW of solar plants in southern Italy.
• Denham doubles its money selling PV plant developer SunRay Renewable Energy to SunPower for $277m.

March
• Alto Partners acquires a 51% stake in Italian design furniture business IPE Cavalli.
• CVC Capital Partners, PAI Partners and Permira approve a €131.4m capital increase for fashion retailer Cortefiel.
• Miura Private Equity buys Spanish merchandising firm Marcelo Vilá for less than €25m.

April
• CVC Capital Partners purchases 35% of Galician fibre optics company R Cable.
• Diana Capital begins fundraising for its new €175m-target vehicle.
• Miura Private Equity acquires an 80% stake in credit management services company Gescobro.

May
• BC Partners and Cinven's IPO of travel reservation specialist Amadeus raises €1.45bn, becoming the largest listing in Europe since the onset of the crisis.
• KKR acquires a 49.9% stake in helicopter business Inaer from Investindustrial for almost €350m.
• Sun Capital acquires 100% of toy manufacturer Famosa in a deal valued at €130m.

June
• Italy's government is forced to make major pledges on debt control.
• bcnHighgrowth completes two deals, providing €2m of expansion finance for mobile technology firm Oonair and €1m for real-estate search engine Nuora.
• Montezemolo, Rothschild and Amadeus acquire a majority stake in telecommunications company Octo Telematics.

July
• Bakery business Panrico's debt providers reach an agreement over a debt-for-equity swap; backer Apax Partners loses most of its investment.
• Ambienta provides Italian industrial cooling systems producer Spig SpA with €30m expansion capital.
• Madrid-based law firm Gómez-Acebo & Pombo announces its intention to create a stand-alone private equity practice.

August
• CVC Capital Partners is involved the region's largest deal of the year, leading a €3bn funding round for toll road operator Abertis Infraestructuras.
• HgCapital's acquires TeamSystem from Bain Capital for €565m.
• AC Desarrollo closes two transactions, investing in fast food franchise Grupo NRSur and English language training company Vaughn Systems.
• Atlas Capital provides €6m in expansion capital for Uveauve.

September
• Ibersuizas acquires private label manufacturer Ice Cream Factory Comaker.
• Nasca Capital sells editorial group El Derecho y Quantor to Editions Lefebvre and puts internet domain business Acens up for sale.
• 3i finally exits Pancreac via a trade sale to Illinois Tool Works.
• Mercapital welcomes HIG Capital aboard portfolio company Núter.

October
• Terra Firma closes the €670m buyout of solar power company Rete Rinnovabile.
• The Riverside Company backs the €100m SBO of Rome-based waterwear brand Arena from BS Private Equity.
• Barcelona-based shopping club receives €70m from Index Ventures and General Atlantic.
• Consortium led by Cipio Partners sells Spanish BuyVIP.com to Amazon.

November
• CVC Capital Partners invests a further €157m in R Cable for another 35% of equity.
• Advent International completes a €100m buyout of property valuation firm Tinsa.
• Investindustrial buys ambulance group Transport Sanitari Catalunya (TSC) from parent company Agrupació Mútua.

December
• Blackstone and N+1 agree to buy Mivisa, Spain's biggest maker of cans for food products, for €900m.
• Trilantic Capital completes the €200m buyout of Italy's third largest slot machine operator, Gamenet.
• Trilantic also invests €50m in Portguese publishing group LeYa in one of the only deals to be realised in the country since the summer.