Checkstep, a UK startup providing Artificial Intelligence (AI) products for contextual content moderation to social media and enterprise platforms, has closed a $5m seed round, following a $1.8m pre-seed round less than a year ago. The round was co-led by Dawn Capital, Europe’s largest B2B technology investor, and Form Ventures, a newly created fund focused on regulatory changes, with participation from founders of GoCardLess, Indeed and Redbus Media Group.    The latest round will be used to further develop Checkstep’s technology, expanding its capabilities so it can continue to provide a one-stop-shop for addressing a platform’s trust and safety needs.

Funds affiliated with Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), a global private investment firm, and TPG Capital, the private equity platform of global alternative asset management firm TPG (TPG), are to acquire Covetrus, a specialist in animal-health technology and services, for $21.00 per share in cash, representing an enterprise value of approximately $4 billion. CD&R and its affiliates currently beneficially own approximately 24% of the Company’s outstanding shares of common stock. The transaction delivers significant value to Covetrus’ shareholders and represents a 39% premium to Covetrus’ 30-day volume weighted average price per share as of the unaffected stock price as of

Bain Capital Private Equity has acquired a 55% stake in House of HR. House of HR Management, Naxicap and founder Conny Vandendriessche will hold the remaining equity. The new strategic partnership will maintain the Company’s entrepreneurial spirit, help House of HR scale its unique platform into new markets and increase digital investments.

Atlantic BidCo, a non-controlled company indirectly held by funds which are respectively managed and advised by Advent International Corporation (Advent), Centerbridge Partners  (Centerbridge) and CPP Investment Board Europe, a wholly owned subsidiary of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP), as well as further minority shareholders, has exceeded the minimum acceptance threshold in its voluntary public takeover of Aareal Bank, securing a total of 74.62% of the shares after the end of the initial acceptance period. Upon closing of the transaction, the Bidder will become the majority shareholder in Aareal Bank.   Aareal Bank shareholders who have not yet accepted the

Ambienta’s platform Company Cap Vert, a French specialist in the green space management market, has completed the acquisition of Createck – Négoplantes (Createck) and Caussat, two French groups specialised in the creation and maintenance of green spaces. Createck was founded in 2001 in the Southwest of France, in the Bordeaux region. Half of its sales come from creating and maintaining green spaces while the remainder comes from plant wholesale – activity that will enable Cap Vert to improve its plants’ purchasing conditions.  Createck and Cap Vert group have a long-standing relationship as they have been working together for years. Createck

London-listed infrastructure investment company 3i Infrastructure has agreed to to sell its 16.9% stake in offshore emergency-vessels provider ESVAGT to 3i Aura, a newly-established vehicle managed by 3i Investments and funded by three unnamed investors for €105.5 million, according to a report by Investment & Pension Europe. 3i Infrastructure’s stake in ESVAGT will reduce to 83.1% in completion of the deal, with proceeds set to be used to repay part of the company’s outstanding revolving credit facility balance.

Inflexion has made a minority investment in Alcumus, a UK-based specialist in risk management solutions. The investment is being made by Inflexion’s dedicated minority investment fund, Partnership Capital II. Alcumus is the UK market leader in risk management solutions with a growing presence in the large, high growth, North American market. The Cardiff-based business provides a range of health & safety accreditation and software solutions which help to manage risk across enterprise customers’ sites, employee bases and third-party contractors. Inflexion backed Cardiff-based Alcumus in late 2015 and supported the management team to build a scalable platform providing a unified solution

Broadcom Inc, a global technology specialist that designs, develops, and supplies semiconductor and infrastructure software solutions, has agreed to acquire VMware Inc, an specialist in enterprise software, for approximately $61 billion.

Copley Equity Partners (Copley), a private investment firm focused on lower middle-market companies with strong growth opportunities, has made an investment in industry-leading advisory firm FMG Leading (FMG). Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed. Founded in 1984, FMG has been advising clients for three decades on building values-driven organisations. Copley brings a track record of assisting similar companies build out the functional areas necessary to scale a professional services business.

London-based consultancy firm, GRAPH Strategy, has provided Commercial Due Diligence to support two private equity firms with investments into rapidly growing technology businesses. In March 2022, Farview Equity Partners, a European growth equity investor, made an equity investment in Amplience, the  leading commerce experience platform. Amplience was founded in 2008, and since then has made its mark by simplifying how content and commerce teams at the world’s best brands and retailers manage and deliver omnichannel commerce experiences. The company has experienced rapid growth in customers, partners, users and revenue and has further expanded into North America, EMEA and APAC