News
GERMANY - Heidelberg Innovation and BioMed Venture exit BioVision
Venture capital groups Heidelberg Innovation and BioMed Venture have exited their stakes in BioVision GmbH to US-based molecular spectroscopy systems specialist Digilab LLC. Heidelberg Innovation and BioMed Venture, alongside other investors provided...
SPAIN - TPI Yellow Pages up for grabs
Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica has announced plans to sell off its 60% stake in its TPI Yellow Pages subsidiary. BNP Paribas has been selected to manage the sale process.
GERMANY - Lone Star acquires Moenus Textilmaschinen GmbH
Funds advised by US special situations investor Lone Star have acquired Moenus Textilmaschinen GmbH, encompassing the company's operations in Gera, Mönchengladbach, Hamburg and Olomouc in the Czech Republic. The vendor, parent group Moenus GmbH, has...
GERMANY - 3i looks to IPO Magix?
According to press reports, 3i is preparing to list Magix, a German software firm in which the firm acquired a 21% stake in 2000.
UK - Liverpool healthcare firm raises £750k funding
A Liverpool pharmaceutical company is expanding with a finance package totalling over £750,000 which includes support from Merseyside Special Investment Fund (MSIF).
UK - SVG posts 19.6% increase in NAV
SVG Capital has unveiled its unaudited preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2005. The portolio has posted strong results driven by significant distributions and write-ups including a 19.6% increase in fully diluted net assets per share to...
THE NETHERLANDS - VNU accepts EUR 7.5bn LBO offer
VNU NV, a leading global information and media company, and Valcon Acquisition BV, a holding company newly incorporated in the Netherlands, announced today that they have agreed to a public offer for VNU that values the company’s equity at EUR 7.5bn,...
UK - Micrima secures £475k from VC syndicate
Micrima Ltd, a spin-out from Bristol University, has received a £150,000 investment from NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts). This is part of a funding round worth £475,000 with co-investment from private investors and...
GERMANY - 2006 LBO market off to sluggish start, says LEK
The latest edition of the LEK Private Equity newsletter, written by Dr Paul Jowett, records that 2005 finished only marginally above 2004 in terms of dealflow, while the number of transactions closed during the year actually dropped. There are currently...
UK - KCL firm makes new add-on acquisition
Kleinwort Capital Ltd has announced today that portfolio company Healthcare Homes Group Ltd (HHG) has acquired PriMed Group, a privately-owned care and nursing home group based in Suffolk. The acquisition is the fourth successful acquisition made by HHG...
UK - Curvey becomes partner at Duke Street
Duke Street Capital, the independent private equity fund manager, has announced the promotion of Colin Curvey to partner. Curvey joined Duke Street in 1999 and focuses on the consumer goods and insurance sectors.
DENMARK - Nordic Capital's Nycomed announces new management structure
The responsibilities of Nycomed’s leadership team has been revised to place greater emphasis on sales and marketing.
GERMANY - TVM changes name
TVM, a life sciences and information technology venture capital firms in Europe and the United States, announced today that the firm will be change its name to TVM Capital, effective immediately. Founded in 1983 as Techno Venture Management, the name...
GERMANY - Bank of Ireland syndicates Westfalia Auto deal
Bank of Ireland Acquisition Finance has announced that it has launched the syndication of the EUR 50m senior debt and EUR 10m mezzanine debt facilities part financing the secondary MBO of Westfalia Automotive by WestLB and Odewald from Granville Baird...
ITALY - Sanpaolo IMI and Quadrivio invest in ework
Nord Ovest Impresa (the closed-end fund managed by Sanpaolo IMI Fondi Chiusi SGR) and Quadrivio New Old Economy Fund (managed by Quadrivio SGR) have invested EUR 11m in the employment agency ework. The current managers Pino Cova and Marco Davi will remain...
UK - Bank of Scotland invests in McCurrach UK
Bank of Scotland Corporate has announced that its integrated finance team has taken a minority stake in Glasgow-based McCurrach UK Ltd.
UK - 3i invests in Israeli technology fund
3i has invested $20m in Giza Venture Capital’s fourth fund. This investment extends 3i’s global venture capital activities to Israel, where it will invest primarily alongside Giza, in Israeli companies with highly disruptive technologies.
SWEDEN - ICG recruits Timo Larjomaa as Nordic investment manager
Timo Larjomaa has joined Intermediate Capital Group’s (ICG) Nordic team in Stockholm as an investment manager. He has previously held positions at the Boston Consulting Group and the Finnish law firm Roschier Holmberg.
SPAIN - Impala Capital and Charterhouse create world's largest natural stone company
Funds advised by Impala Capital Partners (previously Suala Capital) and Charterhouse Capital Partners have reached an agreement with the shareholders of Grupo Levantina to create the world’s largest natural stone company. The total value of the transaction...
ESTONIA - MartinsonTrigon brings MTV to the Baltics
MTV Network’s emerging markets team will run MTV Baltic’s operations, together with MartinsonTrigon's TVCorp, chaired by Allan Martinson, a local entrepreneur and creator of the first Baltic news agency.
UK - BancBoston makes 15x money on Aquila exit
BancBoston Capital has notched up a 15.2x net return on the sale of its shares in the UK-based Aquila Group Holdings Ltd. This tops a stellar run of exits for the firm. Returns on BancBoston Capital’s recent transactions include 6.5x on the sale of...
FRANCE - Siparex Croissance clocks up good performance for 2005
Sigefi Private Equity’s listed private equity vehicle, Siparex Croissance, has today announced its performance in 2005. The fund, which is quoted on Eurolist’s C compartment, recorded its best performance in five years for parent company net income...
DENMARK - ATP protests against squeeze out of TDC shareholders
ATP has decided to subimt a formal protest against Nordic Telephone Company ApS (NTC) and TDC A/S to prevent the squeeze out of ATP and other minority shareholders of TDC.
SWEDEN - Accent Equity acquires stake in Jetpak
Accent Equity has announced the acquisition of one-third of the shares in Swedish logistics company Jetpak. The formerly SAS-owned company was acquired at the end of 2005 by Danish Polaris Private Equity.