News
CZECH REPUBLIC - AMC backs acquisition of ERA
Accession Mezzanine Capital has financed the acquisition of ERA by Rannoch Inc with a EUR 6.25m mezzanine facility. ERA, an aircraft surveillance technology company based in Pardubice, Czech Republic, was acquired by Rannoch Inc for an undisclosed amount...
UK - Advent Venture Partners leads $10m investment in Open Cloud
OpenCloud Ltd, a leading supplier of next generation application servers to the telecommunications industry, has received its first institutional funding in a round led by Advent Venture Partners. The round, totalling $10.25m, includes investment from...
NL - ABN AMRO spins out life science activities
Forbion Capital Partners has spun out the life sciences venture activities of ABN AMRO Capital to form a new, independent group. Forbion has raised a EUR 200m fund with ABN AMRO and Coller Capital as founding investors. ABN AMRO has a 25% shareholding...
DENMARK - Hymite secures EUR 9m in funding
Technology company Hymite A/S has raised a series preferred B financing round totaling EUR 9m. The investors include TVM Capital, InnovationsKapital, Dansk Kapitalanlaeg, Vaekstfonden and IVS.
FINLAND - MB Funds buys VC-backed Forchem
MB Funds has signed an agreement to buy Forchem from shareholders including Bio Fund, Profita, OKO Venture Capital, Finnish Industry Investment and the management.
SPAIN - Apax divests stake in LaNetro Zed
According to reports in the Spanish press, Apax Partners is reported to have sold its 32% stake in LaNetro Zed, a content developer for the mobile and internet industries.
NL - Prosensa secures EUR 13.5m in funding
Biotechnology compnay Prosensa has secured EUR 13.5m in a series-A round led by Life Science Partners (LSP) and co-led by Abingworth. MedSciences Capital, an existing shareholder, also participated in the round. Prosensa is a Netherlands-based biotechnology...
GERMANY – Eurazeo targeting European region
French private equity house Eurazeo is expanding its target region for acquisitions to continental Europe and Germany in particular. Historically, the financial investor has been mainly active in France, but has also gained prominence in other European...
ICELAND - Icelanders create green investment company
Glitnir, FL Group and VGK Hönnun Engineering have founded an investment company, Geysir Green Energy, with the objective of investing globally in renewable energy projects with basis of geothermal sources.
GERMANY – Grohe to issue senior notes
Next week private equity-owned bathroom fittings company Grohe is planning to raise up to EUR 900m in bonds by issuing a senior secured floating rate note. Switching its bank debt into bonds will offer the company more scope and freedom for investing...
UK - Sovereign Capital begins 2007 with three deals
Sovereign Capital has begun 2007 by announcing the completion of three platform investments, two of which are support services businesses. The first was the £10m BIMBO of London Property Maintenance Ltd, a Kent-based provider of contract cleaning, security...
UK - Blackstone completes full exit from South Cross Healthcare
Blackstone has augmented its proceeds from the July listing of Southern Cross Healthcare by selling the 43% stake it retained post-float. The full exit added £127.5m to the cash already realised from the UK's largest nursing home operator. Total returns...
UK - Enterprise Ventures appoints John Simpson
Enterprise Ventures, the Northern-based venture capital company, has appointed John Simpson as finance director and as executive director to the boards of Enterprise Ventures Ltd and Enterprise Ventures Group Ltd.
UK - Apax and Permira's New Look considers IPO in 2007
New Look, the fashion retailer backed by Apax and Permira, has revealed strong trading figures over the Christmas period leading to speculation that the investors may seek to exit the company sometime in 2007. Its chief executive stated that an IPO in...
UK - Matrix completes two buyouts in matter of weeks
Matrix Private Equity backed two management buyouts before the close of 2006, to bring its 2006 tally to eight new investments with an aggregate enterprise value of £65m. The first was the £14m management buyout of Pinewood, the leading UK manufacturer...
UK - LDC portfolio company Music Zone enters administration
LDC portfolio company Music Zone, which with 104 stores and 1,100 staff is one of the UK's largest independent CD and DVD retailers, has entered administration highlighting problems faced by the retail sector. Bank of Ireland withdrew credit facilities...
NL - Parcom buys stake in Qurius
Parcom Ventures BV, the private equity company of ING, has acquired a shareholding of approximately 21% in Qurius. Parcom has taken over the shares (B) which ABN AMRO Capital and Prime Technology Ventures received out of the Qurius-Watermark merger. This...
UK - Bridgepoint exits Digica Group
Bridgepoint has realised its investment in outsourcing and management IT services company Digica Group via a sale of the company to Computacenter Plc, the European IT infrastructure services provider. The consideration paid for Digica amounts to £15.9m,...
UK - Sullivan & Cromwell appoints Tim Emmerson as partner
Sullivan & Cromwell has elected Tim Emmerson as a partner of the firm. He will join its London office during the first quarter of 2007.
GERMANY – Merck rumoured to sell its Generika division
Chemical-pharmaceutical company Merck is reportedly looking for a buyer of its generic drug manufacturing division, which achieved revenues of around EUR 1.8bn in the last year. It is believed that with this sale Merck would partly finance its recent...
NL - Private equity courts Akzo Nobel's pharma business
Chemical group Akzo Nobel NV is to receive offers for its pharmaceutical business Organon from private equity firms, according to a Dutch broadsheet.
FINLAND - Sitra changes its English name
Finland's Sitra has changed its English-language name to Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund as of 1 January 2007. The new English name will replace the previous name, which was the Finnish National Fund for Research and Development Sitra.
FRANCE/SPAIN - Bakery business Panavi buys Ohayo
Catalan bakery group Ohayo has been sold by the brothers Jaume and Jordi Pasarell to private equity backed Panavi, a French company in the same sector. The deal value has not been disclosed.
UK - ECI sells LateRooms.com for £108m
ECI Partners has sold LateRooms, the online hotels specialist, to First Choice Holidays Plc for £108m. This represents an IRR of over 500% and a money multiple of over 9x on ECI’s investment in two years.