Deals
Polaris Private Equity IV (Polaris) is to acquire a majority stake in the Danish interior design company Menu A/S (Menu) from the Hansen Family.
Menu, which today supplies high-quality furniture, accessories and lighting to more than 40 countries, is headquartered in Copenhagen’s Nordhavn and has 63 employees.
Menu was established in 1978 and since 2012 has undergone significant repositioning, aimed at creating a stronger and broader interior design brand. Menu has transformed its product portfolio from solely catering to the retail segment by adding a range of furniture and lighting fixtures as well as modern accessories in the growing
Blackstone’s (NYSE:BX) Strategic Capital Holdings Fund has acquired a passive minority stake in PAG, a leading Asia-focused alternative investment firm.
Blackstone’s Strategic Capital Holdings Fund is part of Blackstone Alternative Asset Management (BAAM), and specialises in minority partnerships with leading alternative asset managers.
PAG, based in Hong Kong, is one of the largest independent alternative asset firms in Asia, with more than USD20 billion in capital under management in private equity, absolute return and real estate strategies.
Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
“We welcome this investment in our business by Blackstone’s Strategic Capital Holdings
An affiliate of Sun European Partners has completed the sale of its investment in Albéa, a specialist in in the BPC packaging sector, to funds advised by PAI Partners.
Albéa was acquired by an affiliate of Sun European Partners in 2010. During such ownership there was a step change in performance, with significant capital expenditure leading to profitability improvement by over 80 per cent, along with a 600 basis point lift in margins. This was achieved through business growth with customers as well as continuous improvement, procurement and other operating initiatives.
Jerome Nomme, Managing Director of Sun European Partners,
Private equity investor Equistone Partners Europe (Equistone) is to acquire a majority stake in Small World Financial Services (Small World), an international, UK-headquartered, multi-channel, cross-border payment service provider.
Small World’s investors, including FPE Capital and MMC Ventures, will sell their shareholdings in the Company as part of the transaction, with management reinvesting for a minority stake. The financial terms of the deal are undisclosed and, as Small World is regulated in multiple countries, completion of the transaction remains subject to regulatory approvals.
Small World’s technology-driven platform allows customers to make cross-border payments via its physical network of over 6,000
Blackstone’s Strategic Capital Holdings Fund has acquired a passive, minority equity interest in Kohlberg & Company.
Blackstone’s Strategic Capital Holdings Fund is part of Blackstone Alternative Asset Management (BAAM), the firm’s hedge fund solutions business, and specialises in acquiring stakes in leading alternative asset managers. Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
Based in Mt Kisco, New York, Kohlberg is a leading private equity firm specialising in middle market investing. The minority investment from Blackstone will help provide long term capital to support Kohlberg’s investing platforms.
Sam Frieder, Managing Partner of Kohlberg, says: “We are proud to
Investec Growth & Acquisition Finance (Investec) has provided a bespoke asset based & cashflow debt package to support the GBP75 million EmergeVest-backed buyout of Downton, a Gloucester-based national logistics group.
The funding package was designed to fund the acquisition while also catering for working capital and growth, and included a receivables revolver alongside a term lending structure.
The deal is the fifth Investec have backed with EmergeVest since backing the Hong Kong-based private equity house’s first UK deal in 2013.
Downton provides nationwide coverage from its fleet of 600 trucks and over 1,000 trailers which operate out of
Beechbrook Capital is supporting further expansion at executive search and business intelligence firm Leathwaite.
The new investment by Beechbrook’s UK SME Credit fund will enable Leathwaite to accelerate its worldwide expansion, launch new business streams and invest in proprietary technology, while also providing equity to develop and attract talent.
Formed in 1999 by its current four partners: Andrew Wallace, Martin Phillips, Neil Ejje and James Rust, Leathwaite has offices in London, New York, Hong Kong and Zurich. Its team of more than 100 professionals has successfully delivered projects across Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Oceania.
Sandton Capital Partners, a special situations investments fund, has acquired the Aspin Group (Aspin), a provider of engineered solutions for the UK’s infrastructure sectors focused on rail and highways, for an undisclosed sum.
Established in 2000; Aspin operates across the UK and employs 220 people. Aspin’s head office is in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire which is supported by other centres in the Midlands, the North and Scotland. Aspin has a turnover exceeding GBP30million and works for organisations such as Network Rail, Highways England and major infrastructure contractors providing engineered solutions, consulting and design, foundations and piling and inspections and investigations.
Matillion, the makers of cloud data integration tools Matillion ETL for Amazon Redshift, Matillion ETL for Snowflake and Matillion ETL for Google BigQuery, has closed a USD20 million Series B round of funding led by Sapphire Ventures, existing investor Funds advised and managed by YFM Equity Partners (YFM), and new investor Scale Venture Partners.
The company, based in Altrincham, (Manchester, UK) and Manhattan (New York, US), was founded by Matthew Scullion in 2011, alongside Chief Technology Officer Ed Thompson and Commercial Director Peter McCord. Matillion has developed leading-edge software focused on allowing its customers to extract, load and transform data
Averys, a European manufacturer of industrial storage systems, racking and metal furniture, backed by private equity firm Equistone Partners Europe since 2015, has acquired Storax from Ramada Aços Group SA.
Founded over 50 years ago in Porto, Storax is a leading provider of industrial racking and shelving systems and is a well-known and active brand in the materials handling sector. As well as its home market in Portugal, Storax has significant activities in Belgium, France and the UK. The Group generated total revenues of circa EUR80 million in 2017.
The acquisition provides Averys with a complementary industrial base in
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