News/Region
UK - Low Carbon Accelerator makes £320,000 investment into QuantaSol
Low Carbon Accelerator Ltd has announced a £320,000 investment into solar enegry firm QuantaSol Ltd, taking its equity stake in the company to 25.6%.
EUROPE - Index closes first ventures growth fund on EUR 400m
Index Ventures has closed its latest fund Index Ventures Growth I LP on EUR 400m. The fund was formed to address the market opportunity created by the maturation of Europe’s start-up industry and the movement of traditional late-stage investors into...
FRANCE – I-Source Gestion closes new fund I-Source 3
I-Source Gestion has closed I-Source 3 on EUR 60m. The fund will be used to continue I-Source’s early-stage venture investments in information and communication technology companies in Western Europe.
GERMANY - High-Tech Gründerfonds backs start-up Immunservice
High-Tech Gründerfonds has provided seed financing for Immunservice GmbH, a start-up which develops immune biomimetic hormones for drug testing. The seed financing enables the company to optimise production of its lead product Pulmoleukin to industrial...
UK - E-Synergy leads £1.7m Envirotreat funding
The Sustainable Technology Fund (STF), a cleantech focused venture capital fund managed by E-synergy, has led a £1.7m round of funding for toxic soil and waste remediation specialist Envirotreat Ltd.
UK - Spark and Eden invest $6m in We7
SPARK Ventures has been joined by new investor Eden Ventures on a $6m series-A funding round for We7, an ad-funded music download service. Peter Gabriel, the musician, also participated in the deal having provided the company with start-up funding alongside...
FRANCE – LBO France rumored to seek sale of Cegelec
It is believed that LBO France has hired Rothschild & Co and Hawkpoint Partners Ltd as advisors for the possible sale of Cegelec, a company it values at EUR 1.8bn.
DENMARK - Rumoured private equity interest in X-Yachts
It is rumoured that X-Yachts, a Danish yacht builder, is to be sold to a private equity firm.
GERMANY/BELGIUM- Buchanan Capital Partners’ portfolio company Dehler makes acquisition
Buchanan Capital Partners’ portfolio company Dehler has acquired Belgian company ETAP Yachting for an undisclosed sum from the owner family. Through its Buchanan Unternehmer-Fonds I, Buchanan Capital Partners acquired a minority stake via a capital...
UK - Balderton and Advent Moveme with £3.4m of funding
Balderton Capital and Advent Venture Partners have co-invested £3.4m into online home moving specialists Moveme.com in a second round of funding.
UK - Aberdeen divests childcare portfolio company
Aberdeen Asset Managers Growth Capital has sold Tender Loving Childcare Ltd (TLC) to Busy Bees Group Ltd, for an undisclosed sum. Aberdeen invested £1.7m of development capital in TLC in October 2000 to fund the rollout of a chain of purpose built nursery...
GERMANY – Holtzbrinck Ventures and European Founders Fund invest in AdScale
Holtzbrinck Ventures and European Founders Fund invested a medium seven figure sum in AdScale in a second round of financing. The size of the first financing round – to which Oliver Jung and Lukasz Gadowski contributed – is undisclosed. AdScale is...
GERMANY/NETHERLANDS – Triangle invest EUR 4.1m in German/Dutch iOpener
Triangle Venture Capital Group has raised EUR 4.1m in seed financing for real-time game engine company iOpener. Its first product is based on innovations from the European Space Agency, which allow the efficient transmission of telemetric data from a...
UK - JC Flowers eyes up Friends Provident again
The US private equity firm JC Flowers is believed to have offered 175p per share, or £4.1bn, for UK insurer Friends Provident. JC Flowers had shown an interest in Northern Rock at the early-stages of the "auction" for the lender. Last week, JC Flowers...
UK - Infrastructure player crashes Biffa deal with £1.5bn offer
Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) is reported to be making a £1.5bn offer for waste services company Biffa. Last month, Biffa opened its books to HgCapital and Montagu Private Equity after they made a £1.2bn joint bid for the London-listed group.
GERMANY - High-Tech Gründerfonds invests in search tools company kinkaa.de
High-Tech Gründerfonds GmbH & Co. KG and other investors invested in kinkaa Search Tools GmbH. The company is based in Frankfurt and Palo Alta, Silicon Valley, and operates kinkaa.de, an Internet meta search engine specialised on travels. The search...
GERMANY – Gruenderfonds Bielfeld-Ostwestfalen closes first investment
e-Capital advised Gruenderfonds Bielefeld-Ostwestfalen has joined KfW and High-Tech Gruenderfonds in investing an undisclosed sum in Divolution – Digital Revolution Technology GmbH. Divolution, based in Detmold, offers web analysis, testing and targeting...
FRANCE - Stéphanie Courtadon joins Crédit Agricole Private Equity
Stéphanie Courtadon has joined Crédit Agricole Private Equity as head of marketing and investor relations from AXA.
ITALY - Ergon acquires 50% stake in industrial manufacturer
Belgian Ergon Capital Partners has agreed to acquire a 50% stake in Nicotra-Gebhardt from Fondo Interbancario d'Investimento Azionario in a deal valued at approximately EUR 80m.
ITALY - New fund to invest in Central and South America
The Fondo America Centrale e Meridionale will invest in Central and South American companies acquiring participations to a maximum of 49% of the firm's social capital.
SPAIN - Miura Private Equity sees the light
The Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores has approved the creation of Miura Private Equity.
NETHERLANDS - Private Plus and Heicop acquire Lightweight Structures
Private Plus Fund and Heicop together with the management have acquired all shares in Lightweight Structures.
UK - Apax announces change in business services team
It is understood that the current head of Apax's business services investment team, Stephen Green, is to leave the buyout house in March for family reasons. Green led the buyouts of Yell and Travelex.
UK - Terra Firma's EMI tables bid for Chrysalis
It is understood that EMI, the record company and music publisher owned by Terra Firma, has made an indicative bid for smaller rival Chrysalis. Other trade buyers including Sony ATV and Warner Music have also shown interest. Chrysalis owns music publishing...