News
UK - Consortium backs £10m third funding round for Revolymer
Revolymer Ltd, a polymer technology company, has closed a £10m third round of funding from new investors Sloane Robinson, Lehman Brothers International and Naxos Capital Managers, and existing backers Swarraton Partners and IP Group Plc, an intellectual...
FRANCE - Candover recapitalises Qioptiq Group
Candover has completed a recapitalisation of portfolio optical solutions company Qioptiq Group. Financial terms were not disclosed, other than that European Capital and parent company American Capital collectively invested USD 85m in a mezzanine tranche.
UK - ETF and AGF back £5m Novel Polymer Solutions funding
Environmental Technologies Fund (ETF) and Advantage Growth Fund (AGF) have participated in a £5m funding round for polymer technology company Novel Polymer Solutions Ltd (NPS) alongside private investors.
FINLAND - Eqvitec Technology acquires Powernet
Eqvitec Technology Fund III has acquired the majority of the shares in Powernet Oy, a power supplies provider, for an undisclosed sum. Management maintains a significant stake in the business.
GERMANY - Neuhaus Partners invests more in anti-spam firm
Neuhaus Partners has increased its stake in antispameurope GmbH, a provider of managed email security services.
FRANCE – Elaia leads EUR 10m investment into Wyplay
Elaia Partners has led a EUR 10m second round investment into audiovisual equipment manufacturer Wyplay. Elaia was joined by A Plus Finance and existing investor Sofinnova Partners, which contributed EUR 4m to Wyplay's first round of financing in October...
SPAIN – Riva y García establishes presence in North Africa
Riva y García has opened new offices in Casablanca, Morocco and Algiers, Algeria as part of its expansion into Maghreb.
BELGIUM – GIMV completes exit from Westerlund
GIMV and the Westerlund family have sold their remaining shares in Belgian port operator Westerlund Group to infrastructure investment fund Babcock & Brown, which acquired a minority stake in the group last December. The deal makes Babcock & Brown the...
UK - Indigo hires two and makes promotion
Indigo Capital has promoted Martin Hook to partner and has hired Burkhard Wangenheim and Guillaume Claire as investment executives.
UK - YFM invests in MMIC
YFM Group has joined existing investors Scottish Enterprise, NESTA and AEGF in a further £2.7m series-A funding round for MMIC Solutions Ltd, a supplier of module and subsystem solutions for commercial millimetre wave applications.
UK - BDO promotes two
BDO Stoy Hayward has created two new roles within its corporate finance department, promoting Andrew Ware to national head of advisory services and Graham Elsworth to national head of transactional services.
SPAIN – CVC-backed paper producer acquires French distributor
Paper producer Torraspapel, part of CVC-controlled Lecta Group, has acquired French paper distributor Secmar.
SPAIN – New seed capital fund launched
Savings bank Caixa Laietana and the Roca Junyent family office have launched Inveready Seed Capital, a new fund dedicated to seed capital investments.
UK – Private equity excluded from RBS auction
Royal Bank of Scotland has sent the sales memorandum for its insurance businesses to trade bidders only and excluded all private equity houses from the auction process.
GERMANY – Hanse Industriekapital acquires Balda subsidiaries
According to reports, Hanse Industriekapital has acquired Balda Solutions and Balda Werkzeugbau from German mobile phone supplier Balda AG.
GERMANY – KKR in talks to merge NXP with Infineon
According to reports, KKR is in talks with the chairman of German chipmaker Infineon to merge the business with portfolio company NXP.
GERMANY/US – Consortium invests in CoreOptics
A consortium of investors, comprising T-Com Venture Fund, GIMV, Crescendo Ventures, TVM Capital, High Tech Private Equity, Atila Ventures and Quest for Growth, has closed a USD 25m funding round for CoreOptics, a manufacturer of Gbps optical networking...
FINLAND - EQT offers EUR 70m for covenant breach of Sanitec
According to press reports, EQT has asked the banks that supplied the debt for the acquisition of Finnish bathroom products group Sanitec, which was completed in 2005, to waive and amend the covenants on the EUR 1bn of debt.
GERMANY – ECM backs MBO of Maredo
Equity Capital Management GmbH (ECM) has backed the secondary MBO of steak house chain Maredo. Managing director Uwe Büscher, marketing director Rita Hans and finance director Dietrich Etzler have collectively acquired 15% of the share capital.
UK - European Capital to buy-back shares
European Capital is to buy-back up to €30m of its own shares. The move follows press reports which suggested its one-stop buyout offering was to cease activities. Subsequent to the reports European Capital strenuously denied this was the case and re-affirmed...
GERMANY – b-to-v investor circle backs Online Advertising Solutions
The b-to-v investor circlehas led an undisclosed investment into Online Advertising Solutions. Daniel Klein, founder of online payment solutions service moneybookers, and existing stakeholders also participated in the financing.
UK - Barclays acquires 38% of MRH
Barclays Private Equity has acquired a 38% stake in MRH (GB) Ltd, an owner and operator of petrol filling stations, for an undisclosed sum.
UK – Apax seeking non-European partner
Market rumour suggests that Apax Partners is set to sell a 10% stake in its management company to another investor. Reports indicate that the purchaser is domiciled outside the UK and could be Abu Dhabi’s main sovereign wealth fund or a similar investor...
FRANCE – Duke Street Capital recruit Jean-Marc Dayan
Duke Street Capital has recruited Jean-Marc Dayan as Partner.