News
Second German newspaper buyout for Veronis-Mecom Consortium
US private equity media specialist Veronis Suhler Stevenson, alongside British Mecom Plc, has acquired German Morgenpost Verlag GmbH from former shareholders Hans Barlach and Josef Depenbrock for an undisclosed sum. The deal is the consortium's second...
Investor appetite for private equity accelerates, says Coller
Institutional investors (LPs) expect almost every aspect of private equity to grow in the coming year, according to Coller Capital’s latest Global Private Equity Barometer, but they are worried by levels of competition in established markets and plan...
First investment for Perfectis II
Perfectis Private Equity has made its first investment via Perfectis II, backing the secondary buyout of SAM +. Alliance Entreprendre and Paluel-Marmont Capital, which backed the original buyout in 2003, have reinvested in the company. Its CEO, Bernard...
Quartilium stengthens its fund-of-funds team
Finama Private Equity – Quartilium, the private equity fund-of-funds arm of Groupama in France, has appointed Olivier Thévenet as investment manager. Thévenet started his career at McKinsey & Company as a management consultant. He then joined the...
ClusterSeven secures £2.4m investment
ClusterSeven, the enterprise spreadsheet management software provider, has announced that Quester, a leading UK venture capital company, has invested £2.4m in the company. The funds will be invested in product development and in ClusterSeven’s expansion...
Close VCT achieves AAA rating
Close Venture Management’s C share issue of Close Technology & General VCT is still open to investors and one of only two VCTs currently open for subscription with a triple A rating from Allenbridge Group, the leading VCT analyst. The VCT has already...
Bridgepoint sells wind farm stake to Acciona
Bridgepoint has sold its stake in Spanish wind farm developer CESA following an offer for the entire business by Spanish construction and energy group Acciona which values the business at EUR 1.47bn. The transaction is subject to approval from Spanish...
BPE buys Robinia from LDC
Barclays Private Equity, the pan-European mid-market private equity house, today acquired Robinia, one of the specialists in the provision of intensive support services for adults and young people with learning difficulties, in a secondary management...
Inflexion backs MBO of Viking Moorings
Inflexion Private Equity, the mid-market private equity investor, has led the £22m MBO of Viking Moorings (formerly Balmoral Marine), the market leader in the design, hire and sale of mooring systems and associated products to the North Sea offshore...
Barclays Ventures buys Accura from Nova
Barclays Ventures has acquired Accura Support Services from Nova Capital Management for £11.9m in a buy-in management buy-out (BIMBO). Senior debt was provided by Bank of Scotland Corporate.
Eqvitec provides mezzanine financing to Swedish Hedson Technologies
Eqvitec Technology Mezzanine Fund II has provided a mezzanine loan of EUR4.7m to Swedish Hedson Technologies AB.
Austrian startup RF-iT receives EUR 4m from PONTIS and Truffle
Vienna-based PONTIS Venture Partners, alongside Parisian Truffle Venture has arranged a first round of funding for Infineon spin-off RF-iT Solutions. Public leverage came from the federal agency Austria Wirtschaftsservice (AWS) which complemented the...
TNT set to acquire TG+
TNT, a global provider of mail, express and logistics services, has announced that its express division will acquire TG+, a Spanish domestic distribution company. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close early this year....
BC Partners in lucrative Galbani sale
Groupe Lactalis, a French milk and cheese producer, is reported to have acquired Italian rival Galbani from UK-based buyout firm BC Partners. Although financing terms have not been revealed, the price is estimated to be in the region of EUR 1.5bn.
IPTV start-up Edgeware receives funding from Creandum
Swedish Edgeware has announced the successful conclusion of a series A financing round with Creandum.
ECI makes 8x multiple on ClarityBlue sale
ECI Partners, a UK mid-market buyout specialist, has sold ClarityBlue to Experian, a subsidiary of GUS Plc, for £85m. This represents an 8x multiple on ECI’s investment in two and a half years.
3i acquires Spanish cafe chain
3i has signed an agreement to buy a 47% stake in the coffee shop chain Café & Té from the founder Gustavo Ron, who will retain a 51% interest in the business.
Advent invests in Airwide Solutions
Airwide Solutions, a global leader in providing mobile infrastructure software to enable, enhance and ensure mobile communications for wireless operators, today announced it has secured $25m in Series D funding. The financing was led by a new investor,...
Sofinnova Partners and Apax invest EUR 12m in DBV Technologies
Sofinnova Partners has announced a EUR 7m investment as lead investor in a EUR 12.3m round of financing in DBV Technologies, a French biopharmaceutical company that specialises in the development of allergy therapies and diagnostic tests. Apax Partners...
Iqua attracts funding from Eqvitec
Finnish mobile communications company Iqua Inc has raised its EUR 2m first round of financing from Eqvitec
Riverside closes third acquisition of the year
Opening up a flow of business into the chemical and pharmaceutical industries in Europe and China, The Riverside Company has announced the purchase of ITT Richter Chemie-Technik GmbH, a leading supplier of pumps, valves, controls and related services...
US VC investing steady at $22bn in 2005
Venture capitalist matched 2004 by investing $21.7bn in 2,939 deals in 2005, according to the MoneyTree Survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Thomson Venture Economics and the National Venture Capital Association. Full-year 2004’s $21.6bn marked the first...
Abingworth hires Sandham as venture partner
Abingworth Management, the life sciences investment group, has appointed Andy Sandham as a venture partner. In this role he will identify and create new businesses and provide strategic and operational support for existing companies within the Abingworth...
Baronsmead set to enter AIM VCT segment
ISIS Equity Partners has announced that it is set to launch its first Venture Capital Trust (VCT) focused on companies traded on AIM. Operating under the Baronsmead brand, ISIS Equity Partners is currently the market leading manager of generalist VCTs...