UK - Exponent portfolio company Trainline makes £18.7m acquisition

Exponent Private Equity portfolio company Trainline, an online retailer of train tickets, has acquired Advanced Smartcard Technologies Plc (AST). The public-to-private deal values the share capital of AST at ТЃ18.7m. AST was founded in 2000 and listed on AIM in 2005. It specialises in software for smartcard systems and has technology that will enable flexibility in markets such as transport, payment protection and identity protection.