News
UK - MEP to sell MFI to management
Reports suggest that Merchant Equity Partners-backed kitchen and bathroom retailer MFI Retail Ltd is to be bought back by its management team for around £25m, saving it from collapse.
UK - Vision appoints COO
Vision Capital has appointed David Robinson as chief operating officer
FRANCE - Crédit Agricole invests EUR 4m into Urbasolar
Crédit Agricole Private Equity, via its fund Capenergie FCPR, has invested EUR 4m into photovoltaic business Urbasolar.
UK - Survey reveals increasing role of advisors in deal origination
A new survey conducted by BDO Stoy Hayward confirms that company advisors are growing in importance in terms of deal origination, with 80% of UK-based private equity-backed businesses answering that they sourced their investment via a professional advisor...
UK - Barclays Ventures invests £5.5m into AWS Group
Barclays Ventures has completed an investment of £5.5m into AWS Group, a provider of specialist electronic manufacturing services, alongside a banking package from Yorkshire Bank.
SWITZERLAND - TowerBrook refinances Odlo
TowerBrook Capital Partners has agreed a refinancing of portfolio company Odlo Sports Group AG, a designer, manufacturer and distributor of functional sports clothing, which will see new debt facilities of CHF 86.7m injected into the business.
UK - Lyceum appoints four executives
Lyceum Capital has appointed Simon Hitchock, Duncan Green, Humphrey Baker and Ian Williams to its investment team.
DENMARK - Vækstfonden invests DKK 10m into Smartshare Systems
Danish venture capital firm Vækstfonden has made an investment of DKK 10m into IT company Smartshare Systems.
SWEDEN - Valedo acquires menswear company
Valedo has acquired Oscar Jacobsen, a Swedish menswear chain, from the Bengtsson family for an undisclosed sum.
UK – Sun Capital-backed SSG acquires French arm of G4S
According to reports, Security Services Group, which is backed by US investor group Sun Capital Partners, has acquired the French arm of security firm G4S in a deal thought to be worth £50m.
FRANCE - CDC leads EUR 6m Quotatis funding
CDC Enterprises has invested EUR 4m as part of a EUR 6m funding round for Quotatis, a provider of pay-as-you-go business leads to reputable trademen, with the remainder being provided by existing investor Banexi Ventures.
CIS – Aureos invests USD 10m into Leasing Group
Aureos Central Asia Fund has invested USD 10m into Kazakhstan-based Leasing Group, taking a majority stake in the business.
SWITZERLAND – Vinci Capital invests CHF 6m into Omnisens
Vinci Capital has invested CHF 6m into Omnisens SA, a developer of long-distance distributed fiber-optic sensing.
FRANCE – AtriA backs EUR 65m AltéAd MBO
AtriA Capital Partenaires has backed the EUR 65m management buyout of heavy industry support services company AltéAd, alongside historic investors IPO, Ouest Croissance and Synergie Finance. The company managers, Jean-François Torres and Jean-Baptiste...
GERMANY - Joachim Schmarbeck to leave Wölbern
Joachim Schmarbeck will leave Wölbern Invest AG on 31 December 2008 to pursue new opportunities.
GERMANY - Odewald & Compagnie sells Zehnacker Group
Odewald & Compagnie has fully exited its stake in facility management company Zehnacker Group in a trade sale to listed French company Sodexo.
ITALY - Clessidra acquires MPS asset management subsidiaries
According to reports, Clessidra Sgr has acquired a controlling interest in the asset management subsidiaries of Italian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS).
GERMANY - NORD Holding backs MBO of IGEL
NORD Holding Unternehmensbeteiligungsgesellschaft mbH has taken a majority stake in thin clients company IGEL Technology GmbH as part of a management buyout from parent company the Melchers Group. Melchers Group and managing partner Heiko Gloge will together...
SWEDEN - KTH and STING invest in fuel cell company
KTH Chalmers Capital and STING Capital have invested in fuel cell company myFC AB as part of a SEK 22m funding round, alongside the Sixth Swedish Pension Fund and business angels.
SWEDEN - STING invests in technology companies
STING Capital has invested a total of SEK 5m into three technology companies; Oculus AI, Predect and Zebor Technologies.
EUROPE - 3i reports 40% drop in new investments
3i Plc has announced a year-on-year drop of almost 40% in new investments for the five months to 31st August, which fell to £622m in 2008 compared to more than £1bn for the same period in 2007.
UK - LCI appoints new executive director
Low Carbon Investors (LCI), the investment management company for Low Carbon Accelerator, has appointed Andrew Affleck, co-founder and managing partner of Devonshire Capital, as executive director.
EUROPE - Permira hires new senior adviser
Permira has hired David Williams as a senior adviser in the industrial and product services sector.
FRANCE – Atos Origin rejects Candover offer
IT services provider Atos Origin has rejected a EUR 1.6bn takeover approach by Candover for its Atos Worldwide unit, which specialises in electronic payment systems.