News
FRANCE – Gilde acquires Groupe Novasep
Gilde Buy Out Partners and Banexi Capital Partenaires have acquired Group Novasep for EUR 425m from Rockwood Holding. The financial investors take a 72% stake with management holding the balance. The transaction is subject to approvals by relevant competition...
UK - unquote" holds second annual awards
Last night unquote" celebrated the achievements of the UK private equity industry at its second annual awards. The London event was hosted by BBC presenter Adrian Chiles who presented awards to firms and professionals in 12 different categories. The winners...
NORDIC - Nordic unquote" honours local players with awards for top achievements
The Nordic region's record year in private equity was celebrated at the inaugural Nordic unquote" Private Equity Awards 2006, sponsored by SEB, at the dinner held at Grand Hotel in Stockholm on 28 November. The event was hosted by Swedish current affairs...
UK - MSIF invests £440,000 in interactive voice messaging solutions company
Merseyside Special Investment Fund (MSIF) has invested £440,000 in Paver Downes Origin, a Liverpool-based interactive voice messaging (IVM) solutions company.
PORTUGAL - Morais Leitão, Galvão Teles, Soares da Silva & Associados moves office
Law firm Morais Leitão, Galvão Teles, Soares da Silva & Associados has moved to a new address.
SWEDEN - 3i and SEB Företagsinvest divest stakes in SBL Vaccines in sale to Crucell
3i and SEB Företagsinvest, alongside other shareholders, are divesting their stakes in SBL Vaccines, a Swedish vaccine distributor in a sale to NASDAQ listed Dutch biotechnology company Crucell. The sale price is EUR 39.4m, excluding deferred payments...
UK - Audax Group backs MBO of Nicholl Food Packaging
Audax Group, a Boston based mid-market private equity house, has backed the management buyout of Nicholl Food Packaging from its private shareholders. The transaction was supported by debt facilities arranged by Barclays Leveraged Finance in the Midlands...
UK - Core Capital invests £5m replacement capital in Kelway
Core Capital has completed a £5m replacement capital investment in Kelway, a fast growing IT hardware and software reseller based in the UK, which focuses on supplying to companies in the SME market. Kelway is one of the UK’s leading resellers of computing...
SPAIN - SI Capital launches renewable energy investment arm
Barcelona-based SI Capital has created a private equity firm to invest in the renewable energy sector. This is the first initiative in the sector in the Catalonia region.
PORTUGAL - CEO of BANIF to launch new private equity firm
According to market sources Gonçalo Pereira Coutinho, CEO of investment bank BANIF Investimentos, is set to launch a new private equity firm.
AUSTRIA – IDENTEC SOLUTIONS raises EUR 10m
SAM Private Equity has led a financing round of EUR 10m in Austrian company IDENTEC SOLUTIONS. Other financial backers included gcp gamma capital partners, Sustainable Performance Group and RFID Invest. The company will use the funding to launch additional...
UK - Barclays Ventures appoints new head of its Birmingham office
Barclays Ventures has appointed Adrian Willetts as the new head of its Birmingham office. Willetts joins from European private equity firm Bridgepoint where he ran their Midlands operations. Willetts has been involved in a number of major private equity...
ITALY - Venture Capital helping to reduce unemployment
During the Finance & Knowledge conference, organised by Finlombarda last week, the head of AIFI has said that the VC industry is creating a substantial number of job vacancies. According to Giampio Bracchi, it is understood that around 46,000 new jobs...
UK - Alliance acquires Albany Ventures
Alliance Trust has announced that it has bought 100% of the shareholding of Albany Venture Managers (Holdings) Ltd, a six-year-old group that runs three venture capital funds with committed equity of £25m.
UK - Esprit appoints new partner
European technology venture firm Esprit Capital Partners has appointed Peter Keen as partner. A chartered accountant, Keen will assume responsibility for Esprit’s financial and fund raising activity as well as providing investment support, with a focus...
GERMANY – ubitexx GmbH receives funding
BayBG has invested EUR 400,000 in Munich-based ubitexx GmbH, a specialist company for professional PDA and Smartphone solutions. The funding will be used for software development and expansion of existing distribution channels.
FRANCE - MBO Partenaires invests in real estate intermediary
MBO Partenaires has taken a 40% stake in Le Partenaire Européen, a company which acts as a contact point between buyers and sellers of real-estate.
ITALY - Blackstone to scoop Italian telecom firms
After Blackstone's frontman Tony James confirmed the firm's interest in bidding for Telecom Italia, it is reported that the US buyout house is eyeing other Italian companies in the communications sector.
UK - Gresham exits Individual Restaurant Company Limited
Gresham Private Equity has successfully exited Individual Restaurant Company Limited (IRC) through a sale to Bank Restaurant Group plc (Bank) for a value of up to £41m.
GERMANY – vertico software raises EUR 2m
FirstVentury Equity GmbH has invested EUR 2m in Karlsruhe-based VoIP manufacturer vertico software GmbH in a first financing round. The funding was made via the venture capitalist’s aeris Technology Fund.
SWEDEN - Northzone Ventures recruits Hans Otterling as new general partner
Nordic venture capital company Northzone Ventures has recruited Hans Otterling as new general partner. Hans Otterling is an addition to the Stockholm office, which to date has been led by Jörgen Bladh and Pär-Jörgen Pärson.
PORTUGAL - Gesventure discusses business angels activity tomorrow
VC fund manager Gesventure is organising its 8th annual meeting tomorrow in Lisbon. Anthony Clarke, president of the European Business Angels Network (EBAN) will be one of the speakers at the event, which will discuss the current state of the business...
UK - Addleshaw Goddard appoints Andrew Carpenter as head of private equity
Addleshaw Goddard has announced the appointment of Andrew Carpenter as head of private equity to lead the practice through the next stages of its growth.
FRANCE - Unither's secondary buyout generates 4.25x money multiple for SG Capital Europe
SG Capital Europe has achieved a money multiple in excess of 4x and an IRR of almost 26% on the sale of dose vials manufacturer Unither to ING Parcom.