News/UK / Ireland
UK - Whitbread rumours intensify as Starwood appoints former Whitbread director
Rumours surrounding the leisure group Whitbread and its possible delisting by Starwood Capital have intensified this morning as it emerged that Starwood had appointed Desmond Taljaard, formerly property director at the group.
UK - Kevin Dunn appointed new European head of leveraged finance for GE Commercial Finance
Kevin Dunn has been named as the new European head of leveraged finance for GE Commercial Finance. Based in London, Dunn will oversee the entire European leveraged finance operation, with offices in Paris, Milan and Frankfurt. Dunn replaces Sandeep Kamat,...
UK - 3i sells 6% stake in Travelex to majority owners Apax and Standard Chartered
Funds advised by Apax Partners together with Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) have entered into a series of agreements with funds advised by 3i to purchase 3i's remaining 6% stake in Travelex. The transaction is due to complete within the next 5 months.
UK - Aberdeen Asset Managers sells interest in Bond Aviation Solutions
Aberdeen Asset Managers Growth Capital has sold Bond Aviation Solutions Ltd to Alpha Aviation Group. Aberdeen originally led the £4m management buyout of Bond from Astraeus Ltd, another Aberdeen Asset Managers-backed company, in November 2005. The sale...
UK - Ingenious Media takes stake in Apax target Incisive Media
Ingenious Media Active Capital Ltd part of Ingenious Media Plc, the entertainment and media-focused investor has acquired an 11% stake in Incisive Media Plc for £22m. Ingenious paid 195p per share which matches the price offered by Apax six weeks ago...
UK - Bowmark Capital generates 6.7x return on Medscreen exit
Bowmark Capital has sold its majority interest in drug and alcohol testing services provider Medscreen Holdings Ltd to Concateno Plc, an AIM-listed company. The exit has generated an IRR of 52% and a return of 6.7x for Bowmark Capital.
UK - Private equity rumours continue to engulf Whitbread
Whitbread, the listed leisure group that owns Premier Travel Inn, Costa, David Lloyd Leisure and T.G.I. Fridays is again the subject of private equity speculation after market sources report that Starwood Capital has built up a 3% stake in the company.
UK - FSA reports positively on private equity industry
The FSA has today published its report on the private equity industry, an inquiry that was begun in March having been prompted by the rapidly growing size of the industry. Despite the fact that the Justice Department in the US has stated that it will...
UK - Langholm Capital portfolio company Just Retirement seeks AIM flotation
Just Retirement, a Surrey-based life assurance group focusing on the provision of financial services to those at or in retirement, has announced its intention to apply for admission to AIM. Just Retirement is seeking to raise approximately £50m through...
UK - Warburg Pincus pharmaceutical company makes acquisition
Archimedes Pharma Ltd, a speciality pharmaceutical company based in Reading has acquired Link Holdings Ltd. Link is a Sussex-based pharmaceuticals group focusing on sales and marketing of speciality pharmaceuticals with commercial operations in the UK,...
UK - Hutton Collins backs James Hull Group
Hutton Collins & Co Ltd has acquired James Hull Group, a specialist dental corporate operating in both the public and private markets.
UK - Styles & Wood to float
Aberdeen Asset Managers Private Equity portfolio company Styles & Wood will raise £72m when it lists next week. The 150p per share IPO will give the shopfitter and retail property services provider a market capitalisation of £96.7m. Investec has been...
NORWAY/UK - HitecVision opens office in Aberdeen
Norwegian HitecVision Private Equity has announced that it will open an office in the UK energy capital Aberdeen. It has appointed a new partner, Mike Hill, formerly a director at 3i’s oil and gas team, to drive its international growth.
UK - Aberdeen Asset Managers sells interest in Mining Communications
Aberdeen Asset Managers Growth Capital has sold its interests in Mining Communications Ltd to a consortium of investors including Aspermont, an Australian publisher, and other existing executives and shareholders in Mining Communications. The sale has...
UK - Ingenious appoints Peter Shawyer as non-executive director
Ingenious, the media investment and advisory group, has appointed Peter Shawyer as a non-executive director to the board and a director of Ingenious Ventures Ltd. Shawyer was previously managing partner at Deloitte & Touche and is currently a non-executive...
UK - Barclays Ventures backs youtravel.com
Barclays Ventures has invested a significant minority stake in youtravel.com, a new internet travel business. The investment forms part of a deal valued at over £15m. youtravel.com, which launched this week, is targeted primarily at travel agents, offering...
UK - Smedvig portfolio company Lovejuice appoints new managing director
Lovejuice, a portfolio company of Smedvig Capital, has appointed Andrew Shanahan as the new managing director. Shanahan joins from Pret a Manger. During his time as development director at Pret, he delivered 13 new shops from site identification to design...
IRELAND - 3V raises EUR 20m from Atlas and Benchmark
3V Transaction Services Ltd, the pay-as-you-go VISA voucher company, today announces it has raised EUR 20m in Series-A funding from Atlas Venture and Benchmark Capital Europe. The proceeds will be used to launch its innovative pay-as-you-go 3V VISA Voucher...
UK - Review of private equity for HSBC
Like many of its banking competitors, HSBC is currently reviewing its position on private equity. Although its European private equity arm spun-off as Montagu Private Equity a number of years ago, HSBC retains a number of Asia-focused funds. Earlier this...
UK - European Capital acquires Whitworths from Gresham for £86m
Gresham Private Equity has exited Whitworths through the sale of the business to European Capital in a deal worth £86m. The exit has generated a return of over 6x for Gresham, which acquired the company in a £15m management buyout in 2001.
UK - Yahoo! corporate development executive joins Accel London
Accel Partners has announced that Simon Levene has joined the investment team in the London office. Levene's areas of expertise include internet, infrastructure, software and services.
UK - Primary Capital makes two new appointments
Primary Capital has announced the appointment of two new associates. Brett Corkery has joined from Macquarie Funds Management. He has a bachelor of commerce in finance and econometrics from the University of Sydney and is a chartered financial analyst...
UK - ECI Partners sells Kirker Travel to Kuoni
ECI Partners, has sold Kirker Travel to Kuoni for an undisclosed amount. Kirker is an independent provider of luxury holidays, offering tailor-made itineraries for holidays across 150 destinations in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Far-East and New...
UK - Triago-X appoints head of US Office
Triago-X, the private equity fund secondary transactions specialist, has announced the appointment of Jean-Marc Cuvilly, as head of its US office.