Appital, the Equity Capital Marketplace, today announced it has secured an additional £1.7 million investment from Frontline Ventures and various angel investors. The investment follows last year’s £2.5 million round led by Frontline Ventures and additional funding from angel investors, bringing the total investment raised to date to £4.85 million. The fundraising comes ahead of Appoital’s launch of the world’s first algorithmic bookbuilding platform in partnership with Turquoise, the pan-European MTF, majority owned by London Stock Exchange Group. The Appital platform enables the buyside community to originate and participate in liquidity discovery, price formation and execution opportunities in multiple days

Chimera Investment (Chimera), an Abu Dhabi-based private investment firm managing a diversified portfolio of local and international investments, has acquired a majority stake in Beltone Financial Holding SAE (Beltone), an Egypt-based financial services provider.

White & Case LLP, a global law firm, has advised GRIDSERVE on a £200 million initial investment from Infracapital, the infrastructure equity investment arm of M&G Plc. Mitsubishi HC Capital UK Plc and TPG Rise – TPG’s global impact investing platform, have also increased their shareholding in the company as part of the Infracapital transaction.     GRIDSERVE is a tech-enabled sustainable energy business providing advanced hybrid solar and battery farms, electric vehicle charging infrastructure and an electric vehicle leasing platform. The company will use the investment from Infracapital to, among other things, deliver over 5,000 high power chargers across its

StepStone Group Inc, a global private markets investment firm, has made the final closing of StepStone Capital Partners Fund V (SCP V), its fifth dedicated co-investment fund, raising $2.36 billion of commitments. Through SCP V, StepStone seeks to build a diversified portfolio of co-investments alongside leading private equity firms, in select transactions according to their areas of expertise. The Fund will invest in Buyout, Growth Equity, and Recapitalization transactions across a diverse set of managers, geographies, industries, vintage years, and sizes.  A diverse group of sophisticated limited partners from around the world comprises the Fund’s investor base.

Perwyn has co-led, together with Verlinvest, a $22 million Series A funding round in the direct-to-consumer health and fresh cat food brand KatKin. KatKin has grown significantly in recent years in line with growing demand for its industry-first fresh-cooked cat food. Perwyn and Verlinvest join Octopus Ventures and angels as investors in KatKin.   As creator and champion of the new ‘fresh’ cat food category, KatKin is the rebel in a fast-growing market, challenging the pet food industry to do better for cats. Led by co-founders and siblings Brett and Nikki O’Farrell, KatKin’s fresh recipes have been formulated by a

FloWorks International (FloWorks), a specialty flow control distribution platform backed by Clearlake Capital Group, has acquired Flotech, a value-added distributor and servicer of industrial valves. Financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.   Founded in 1961, Flotech is a distributor and servicer of industrial valves and automation solution.   Together with Flotech, FloWorks will now have over 50 global branches, all strategically located in key markets to support customers focused on the chemical, sanitary, utility, refining, integrated circuit fabrication, pulp and paper, power generation, municipal, microelectronics, life sciences, food & beverage, agriculture, and general industrial end markets.

YFM Equity Partners (YFM) has made an additional multi-million pound investment in the UK-headquartered film and TV visual effects company Outpost VFX through its British Smaller Companies VCTs. This will enable the business to continue its rapid scale-up by investing in high calibre artistic talent, company culture and its tech infrastructure. Since YFM first backed Outpost VFX in February 2021, the business has seen rapid growth, delivering 150% revenue uplift in its first full year of trading since investment. It has continued to build its team which has increased almost four-fold to service continuing growth, including strengthening its management with

NB Renaissance and Chequers Capital are to sell the Biolchim Group (Biolchim), an Italy-based global producer and distributor of a specialty fertilisers, to JM Huber Corporation, one of the largest US family-owned companies whose products are used in a broad range of applications including agriculture, food and beverage, personal care, building materials and other.

Abris Capital Partners (Abris), an ESG transformation specialist private equity investor, has supported GreenGroup, a central European circular economy specialist, in acquiring UAB Ecso, a Lithuanian LDPE (Low Density Polyethylene) recycling company. Part of an ambitious M&A strategy, this acquisition marks GreenGroup’s entry into the polyolefin recycling market and creates the platform for further expansion in this sector across the CEE region. Over the next few years, GreenGroup will invest EUR 150 million to EUR200 million to further consolidate its position as the largest integrated recycling group in CEE through capex investments and bolt-on acquisitions.  UAB Ecso is GreenGroup’s second

QinetiQ US, a wholly owned subsidiary of QinetiQ Group and a leading defence company is to acquire Avantus Federal (Avantus) from NewSpring Holdings for an enterprise value of $590 million. The combination of QinetiQ US and Avantus will create a powerful growth platform to address the complex and large scale intelligence and defense challenges government customers face today. The closing of the acquisition is subject to customary conditions, including regulatory approvals, and is expected to close by end of calendar year 2022. Avantus is a provider of mission-focused cyber, data analytics, and software development solutions to the Department of Defense,