News
FRANCE - Apax seeking to divest Morgan
Apax Partners is reportedly seeking to exit its investment in Prêt-a-Porter fashion brand Morgan, with Emerisque, the investment company belonging to Lee Cooper owner Ajay Khaitan, believed to have shown interest in acquiring the business.
UK - British Private Equity Awards Shortlist
unquote" is delighted to announce the Shortlist for the British Private Equity Awards 2008 . The winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony being held on 27 November at ‘The Room’ by the River in London’s Waterloo.
UK - Private equity interest in Creston
US-based private equity firm Cartesian Capital Group is believed to have declared an interest in acquiring Creston Plc, a London-listed marketing and communications agency.
CIS - Aureos invests USD 5m into Ala TV
Aureos Central Asia Fund has invested USD 5m into Ala TV, a Kyrgyz cable TV company.
DENMARK - VIA supports mobilePeople with DKK 40m investment
Via Venture Partners has invested DKK 40m into mobile search company mobilePeople.
FRANCE - CAPE acquires Sepchat and Ludovic Le Gall
Crédit Agricole Private Equity (CAPE), through CACI 3, has completed the dual acquisition of recycling businesses Sepchat and Ludovic. The companies will be merged into a single entity, in which CAPE will hold a 60% stake.
GERMANY – Earlybird and Neuhaus invest EUR 4m into smava
Existing investor Earlybird and new backer Neuhaus Partners have invested EUR 4m investment into social lending marketplace smava GmbH in a second round of financing.
FRANCE - OSEO leads EUR 11.5m Crocus funding
OSEO has provided EUR 3m of an EUR 11.5m financing round for Crocus Technology, a developer of magnetic random access memory, with the balance being provided by existing investors AGF Private Equity, CDC Innovation, NanoDimension, Sofinnova and Ventech.
CEE - Horizon and IFC invest USD 15m into Evrotek
Horizon Capital, through Emerging Europe Growth Fund, and IFC have invested USD 15m into Ukrainian food retail chain Evrotek Group.
UK - Capital Fund leads £240,000 Essential Escapes investment
The Capital Fund has invested £200,000 as part of a £240,000 funding round for spa tour operator Essential Escapes, with existing shareholders providing the balance.
FRANCE - CAPE invests in Melkonian
Crédit Agricole Private Equity and Sofipaca have backed the buyout of Groupe Melkonian, a producer of mining materials, alongside the Melkonian family.
CEE – Linklaters becomes Kinstellar
Linklaters has announced that its CEE spin-off will operate under the name Kinstellar from 1 November 2008.
FRANCE - Alven Capital strengthen team
Alven Capital has hired Jérémy Uzan as investment manager.
FRANCE - AXA PE and CDC in partial exit of Saur
AXA Private Equity and Caisse des Dépôts (CDC) have sold a portion of their interest in Hime, the holding company of water services business the Saur Group, to CUBE Infrastructure.
CEE - DLA Piper opens in Bucharest
DLA Piper has announced that it will launch a new office in Bucharest in early November, to be managed by Marian
UK - NVM invests £7m to back buy-and-build of CloserStill
NVM Private Equity has invested £7m into CloserStill Holdings Ltd, a newly created platform company in the events and exhibitions industry.
UK - Matrix backs buyout of Metropress
Matrix Private Equity has backed the buyout of newspaper publisher Metropress Ltd.
NORWAY - Tandberg ends discussions with private equity firm
Norwegian video conferencing business Tandberg has announced that it has terminated negotiations with a potential private equity buyer.
FRANCE - Atlas and OTC make EUR 10m Inspirational investment
New investor Atlas Venture and returning backer OTC Asset Management have invested EUR 10m in a second round of funding for e-commerce specialist Inspirational Stores.
FRANCE - Argos acquires LEXSI
Argos Soditic has acquired a majority stake in security consultancy Laboratoire d’Expertise en Sécurité Informatique (LEXSI) as part of a management buyout transaction, with founder Jöel Rivière and the management retaining the balance of the equity.
UK - Inflexion appoints investment director
Inflexion Private Equity has appointed Richard Swann as investment director.
UK - Sovereign hires assistant director
Sovereign Capital has hired Jon Edington as assistant director.
CEE – Mid Europa increases its stake in Falcon Group
Mid Europa has increased its stake in telecommunication services company, Falcon Group, to 74.06%. The fund already acquired 36.76% in November 2006 and this deal has seen it acquire a further 37.3% from co-investor Lehman Brothers.
SWEDEN - Industrifonden hit by writedowns
Industrifonden reported a SEK -283m loss for the financial year 2007-2008, despite investment commitments of SEK 343m compared to SEK 351m last year when the fund earned of a profit of SEK 123m.