News
FRANCE - Innovacom et al invest EUR 7m in Active Circle
Returning investor Innovacom has led a EUR 7m second round of investment into Active Circle, a technology solutions company, alongside OTC and Quest for Growth.
UK - Goldman Sachs appoints Allen as adviser
Goldman Sachs Capital Partners has appointed Charles Allen, former chief executive of ITV, as a senior adviser.
FINLAND - Eco-site receives funding from Seed Fund Vera
Seed Fund Vera has invested in One did it Ltd, an online provider of information relating to sustainable consumption. The investment sum has not been disclosed, but it is estimated to be between EUR 100,000 and EUR 250,000.
UK - DFJ hires venture partner
DFJ Esprit has hired William Reeves as venture partner in its London office.
GLOBAL - Bear Stearns Private Equity re-brands
Bear Stearns Private Equity Ltd will change its name to JP Morgan Private Equity Ltd (JPEL).
UK - Dunedin hires analyst
Dunedin has hired Simon Rowan as analyst.
UK/NETHERLANDS – Apollo joins bidding for Reed
Apollo, alongside former non-executive director Strauss Zelnick, have jointly made a bid for publisher Reed Elsevierтs business information division.
UK - Sofinnova backs mydeco in £7.35m investment
Sofinnova Partners has led a ТЃ7.35m second round of funding for mydeco, an online intermediary for the home design market, alongside SRPE, Amadeus Captial Partners and Burda Cross Media.
FINLAND - Profita Group acquires Häggblom-companies
Profita Group has acquired a majority stake in Häggblom-companies, a manufacturer of undercarriages and spare parts for earth-moving machines, for an undisclosed sum.
SWEDEN - Primaca Group completes EUR 15m Metso acquisition
Primaca Group has bought Metso Foundries Karlstad AB, a manufacturer of large, hand-molded iron castings, for EUR 15m from Metso Corporation. The vendor will retain a 16.7% stake in the new company, Heavycast AB.
EUROPE - Fortis launches EUR 400m clean energy fund
Fortis Investment has launched a new EUR 400m fund dedicated to investments in clean energy companies in Europe.
SWEDEN - GP Bullhound recruits two
Investment bank GP Bullhound has hired Andreas Zartmann as director and Carl Bergholtz as analyst.
UK - Azini acquires Lynx Capital Ventures
Azini 1 has acquired the 85% interest owned by Bear Stearns Capital in Lynx Capital Ventures LP, as well the entire share capital of Lynx Capital Ventures GP Ltd from Bear Stearns Asset Management.
SWEDEN - Volati acquires Sandberg
Volati has acquired the Swedish engineering firm Ragnar Sandberg & Söner Mekaniska Verkstad for an undisclosed sum from the Sandberg family.
SWITZERLAND - Atlas et al invest in Lumavita
Atlas Ventures, BB Biotech Ventures and BioMedInvest have invested CHF 18m in biopharmaceutical company Lumavita AG.
UK - Informa rejects Providence offer
The board of business-to-business information provider Informa has rejected a takeover offer made by the private equity consortium led by Providence Equity Partners, saying it 'significantly undervalued' the business.
FRANCE – XAnge and CVC sell GeneSystems
XAnge Private Equity and CVC Enterprises have sold GeneSystems, a French developer of molecular diagnostics platform, to Pall Corp.
UK - Kirkland & Ellis hires new partner
Kirkland & Ellis International has hired Jane Scobie as a partner in the tax practice group.
UK - Brown Rudnick hires new partner
Brown Rudnick has hired Sonya Van de Graaff as partner.
FRANCE - Crédit Agricole to launch co-investment activity
Crédit Agricole Private Equity is launching a co-investment activity that will take minority equity stakes alongside European and North-American investment funds.
Germany - TVM promotes Schuster
Munich-based venture capital house TVM Capital has promoted Steffen Schuster to general partner.
Germany/China - Freshfields re-posts private equity partner
Freshfields Bruckhuas Deringer will relocate Dr Heiner Braun, one of its Frankfurt-based private equity partners, to its Shanghai office on 8 September 2008.
GERMANY – bmp AG sells stake in Gamigo
bmp Media Investors has sold its 47.37% stake in Hamburg-based games publisher Gamigo to co-investor AS Venture GmbH, a subsidiary of the Axel Springer publishing house.
GERMANY - Montagu to sell BSN Medical
Montagu has put medical supplies company BSN Medical up for sale, with the purchase price expected to reach between EUR 1.8bn and EUR 1.9bn.