Cypher Capital, a venture capital firm located in the UAE, is allocating $5 million to invest in Ocean Protocol projects. Ocean Protocol is a platform for data exchange and monetisation that builds on Ethereum and other EVM-compatible blockchains. The open-source protocol facilitates the exchange and monetisation of data and data-based services, allowing people to buy and share information securely while preserving privacy. Ocean Protocol makes use of “datatokens” to give businesses and individuals access to data, where tokens can be redeemed to access information. Ocean Protocol aims to build a new Data Economy powered by a dynamic group of builders and

Global alternative investment firm Värde Partners has agreed to sell its 31.7% stake in Lamda Malls to the company’s majority shareholder, Lamda Development, for €109 million. Lamda Malls owns two major shopping centres in Greece, the Golden Hall in Athens and Mediterranean Cosmos in Thessaloniki.   Värde Partners initially bought its stake in 2017 for €61.3 million. Since that time, the company has executed a series of value creation initiatives, including securing a long-term extension of Mediterranean Cosmos’ ground lease and completing a substantial redevelopment of Golden Hall’s western wing to add approximately 11,500 square meters of gross leasable area.

Pivotal Growth has agreed to acquire The Loan Partnership Limited (TLP), a specialist second charge mortgage and bridging finance broker based in Hemel Hempstead.

Phatisa, together with a consortium of leading development finance institutions (DFIs), has acquired a significant minority stake in South Africa-based citrus and fresh-produce exporter, Lona Group (Lona), for an undisclosed sum. The investment will be used as expansion capital.   The DFI co-investors are British International Investment (BII – formerly known as CDC Group), Norfund, and Finnfund – all of whom are also investors in Phatisa Food Fund 2, raised last year.    The investment – led by Phatisa’s US$143 million Food Fund 2 – comes a week after Phatisa announced its successful exit from Côte d’Ivoire bottler Continental Beverage Company,

Palamon Capital Partners (Palamon) are to sell DD Group (DD), formerly branded Dental Directory, a UK and Ireland-focused dental and medical aesthetics distributor and service provider, to an affiliate of Sun European Partners. The terms of the private transaction, which is expected to complete in June, have not been disclosed. The sale concludes phase one of Palamon’s investment plan to return IDH to a pure-play dental services company, following the Firm’s reported £700 million deal, in partnership with the management team of IDH, to acquire The Carlyle Group’s majority position in August 2021.  The proceeds from the divestment will significantly

Foursan Group, a Middle Eastern private equity firm, has acquired a 21% stake in software development house MenaITech.

Vespa Capital has partnered with the leadership team at Origo to establish the fintech as a fully independent company. Origo is the infrastructure fintech provider to the pensions and lifetime savings industry. It was established in 1989 as a non-profit organisation owned by twelve pensions providers and investment management firms with a mandate to develop technology solutions to solve inefficiencies and process pain points across the industry. Since inception, Edinburgh-based Origo has developed several market leading technology products across its two brands, Origo and Unipass, helping to transform the industry as well as connecting the market for the benefit of

Shore Capital Partners (Shore Capital) has completed a partnership with AA Medical, a provider of sustainable solutions to both the new and resale medical device equipment market. AA Medical was founded in 2012 by Ron Plantz to help doctors and surgeons across the world access high quality pre-owned medical equipment at an affordable price. AA Medical partners with equipment manufacturers, banks, and medical facilities to buy pre-owned equipment, unlocking the residual value to help facilities maximise resources to improve patient care and optimise clinical asset purchases. To support AA Medical’s growth, Shore has assembled a talented Board of Directors led

Redbird Capital Partners has overcome competition from Investcorp in the race to sign Italy’s AC Milan, according to a report by Bloomberg. Redbird has agreed in principal to buy the seven-times European champions from US investment fund Elliott Management Corp in a trading that values the club at roughly €1.3 billion ($1.4 billion). The report quotes unnamed sources as reveal that Elliott is to retain a minority holding in AC Milan, although no formal agreement has yet been signed and the deal could still be delayed.  New York-based Redbird, which was founded by Gerald Cardinale, manages about $6 billion, according

Proptech startup Predium has successfully closed its €1.6 million pre-seed funding round. Lead investors are btov Partners and 2bX.