News
UK - Pinsent Masons strengthens corporate finance team
Pinsent Masons has announced a fourth major corporate signing in Manchester with the move of highly regarded corporate finance specialist, Chris Moss, to the firm as a partner.
UK - Morgan Crucible to be next private equity target?
According to a report in the Financial Times today, the industrial ceramics and defence materials maker Morgan Crucible has disclosed that it has received a takeover approach.
SWEDEN - Altor buys 80% of Dustin
Altor is to acquire 80% of the shares in Dustin, a company trading computers and computer equipment via the internet and by mail order. The remaining shares will be retained by the founders and the current owners.
SWEDEN - SciBase secures SEK 100m in growth funding
SciBase AB, a Swedish medical technology company, has secured a SEK 100m investment. The investors include Investor Growth Capital, SEB Företagsinvest and CapMan. Following the transaction, the three venture capital groups control 80% of the company....
SWEDEN - 3i's Alimak Hek buys Australian rental fleet operator
3i’s portfolio company Alimak Hek has bought Australian rental fleet operator Conrent for SEK 88m from Coates Hire Limited. Conrent rents and installs man and materials hoists and mast climbing work platforms.
UK - Frontier Capital Management appoint chief operating officer
Frontier Capital Management has announced the appointment of Colin Hodges as its chief operating officer. Frontier was founded by Michael Azlen in 2004 in order to deliver a unique multi asset fund to the institutional, high net-worth and private banking...
UK - Ingenious backs Travis album
Ingenious has announced that its Music VCT funds have made their latest investment by backing Travisт fifth album, currently scheduled for release later this year. Travis has been working on their forthcoming album with producer Nigel Godrich who has...
UK - CBPE backs MBO of Rosemont Pharmaceuticals for £93m
Close Brothers Private Equity (CBPE) has announced that it has backed the management buyout of Rosemont Pharmaceuticals, a leading developer and manufacturer of oral liquid medicines. The purchase from previous owners, Savient Pharmaceuticals Inc, a NASDAQ-quoted...
UK - Ventus invests in Craig Wind Farm Ltd
The Ventus group of funds have invested ТЃ2.7m in Craig Wind Farm Ltd. The proceeds of the investment will be used to construct a 10 megawatt wind farm on Craig Farm, an active sheep farm in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. Electricity generated from the site...
UK - Warburg Pincus announces appointment of Charles Miller Smith
Warburg Pincus has announced that Charles Miller Smith has become a senior advisor to the firm. He will be based in London and will participate in the firm's European investment activities.
UK - Summit sells shareholding in Global Address
The Summit Group, the independent venture capital business specialising in seed and development capital, and its 41.5% owned investment company, Summit Alpha, announce the sale of their investment in Global Address (formerly Optima Database Management...
UK - Quester realises investment in Sibelius
Quester has announced the realisation by Quester VCT Plc of its investment in Sibelius Software Ltd, the leading music applications software company, through its acquisition by Avid Technology Inc, a NASDAQ-listed technology company.
UK - Possible Macquarie bid for Thames Water to be strengthened
Terra Firma's bid for Thames Water faces intensified competition as the Sunday Times reports that Macquarie may be teaming up with Alinta, the Australian infrastructure group to make a bid for RWE-held Thames Water.
UK - Further activity in the gym industry
The Sunday Times reports that there is to be further consolidation in the gym industry as the owners of both Esporta and Cannons look to sell their businesses. Esporta is held by Duke Street Capital which is expected to be able to sell the company for...
UK - Candover to bid for Trinity Mirror's newspapers
According to a report in the Observer, Candover is expected to emerge as a bidder for Trinity Mirror's newspapers that include the Daily Mirror, the Liverpool Echo and the Sunday Mirror. The announcement last week that the group was to conduct a strategic...
UK - Octopus makes two new appointments
Octopus Investments announced that it has appointed two new members to its private equity team; Richard Taylor and Jane Vinson. Taylorтs role will be to source and develop private equity deals working with advisory firms in the north of England т concentrating...
NL- KKR, Silver Lake and AlpInvest to acquire Philips' chip division
Royal Philips Electronics has announced that it has signed an agreement with KKR, Silver Lake Partners and AlpInvest Partners NV regarding the sale of an 80.1% stake in Philips' Semiconductors business. Philips will retain a 19.9% stake in the business....
UK - Signet Group eyed by Apax and KKR
Apax and KKR are reported to be considering a bid for Signet Group Plc, the company which owns the H Samuel and Ernest Jones shops in the UK and Kay Jewelers in the US.
UK - Qatar and UBS enter race for Thames Water
According to the Financial Times today a new competitor has entered the running to acquire Thames Water. Qatar's state-owned investment fund is reported to have teamed up with UBS's Global Infrastructure fund to make a bid for the company which could...
UK - Carlyle et al. exit from Trema
The four largest shareholders in Trema, The Carlyle Group, Investcorp, ABS Ventures and Norks Vekst announced the sale of Trema to Wall Street Systems, a portfolio company of Warburg Pincus. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Trema is a leading...
FRANCE - IPO and Siparex build neon-sign empire
Visotec, a neon light manufacturer acquired by an IPO-led syndicate in a 2003 secondary buyout, has integrated Poland-based Socha wihin its group. Visotec had held a 20% stake in Socha since 2004, and had already shared a part of its manufacturing process...
NETHERLANDS - Cinven and Warburg Pincus to acquire Essent Kabelcom
Cinven and Warburg Pincus have announced that they have reached an agreement to acquire Essent Kabelcom from Essent NV for EUR 2.6bn. The acquisition follows the recent agreement for Cinven and Warburg Pincus to acquire Casema, another Dutch cable company...
GERMANY - Deutsche Börse announces excellent results for Q2 2006
Deutsche Börse has announced that its results for Q2 2006, making this the most successful quarter ever. It has managed to reduce costs by a further 3%, significantly increase sales revenue by 21% and have recorded a net interest income of EUR 37.8m....
UK - Telent deal looks unlikely to go ahead
According to the Financial Times today, Fortress Investment Group's take-private of Telent, the company that was formerly part of Marconi, has almost been thwarted by Telent shareholder, Polygon.