Allocations
SME funding partner, Ultimate Finance, has reached a new lending milestone, with almost GBP200 million available to small and medium-sized businesses across the UK.
The figures from the first half of 2018 show a 42.3 per cent increase in cash to customers for the alternative finance specialist, which has recorded growth of 150 per cent since it was acquired by independent investment firm Tavistock Group, in July 2015.
Ultimate Finance has seen particularly strong developments across a number of its specialist products with Bridging Finance increasing by 260 per cent, and now sitting at almost GBP30 million of funds
Clyde Blowers Capital (CBC) is to sell precision motion control expert, Cone Drive, to The Timken Company (TKR), subject to customary government and regulatory approvals.
Since acquiring Cone Drive in 2012, CBC has repositioned Cone Drive from an industrial gearing company operating largely out of North America to a globally integrated business with operations on three continents serving a wide range of precision motion control technology markets.
The acquisition of H-Fang, based in Jiangyin, China, in 2014 represented a key milestone in the geographic expansion of the business and also provided Cone Drive access to the fast growing China
Aurelius Alpha Limited, a subsidiary of Aurelius Equity Opportunities SE & Co (Aurelius), has acquired Ideal Shopping Direct (ISD), one of the UK’s leading multi-channel home shopping retailers, from Blackstone.
Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
With over 600,000 customers and FY17 revenues of GBP145 million, Ideal Shopping Direct sources, designs and sells lifestyle and crafting products to consumers via a variety of dedicated interaction channels including TV shopping channels, social media platforms, websites and live events. The company has two flagship channels, Ideal World and Create & Craft which deliver video content across both the
Town & Country Holdings (T&C), a portfolio company of HIG Capital, has acquired Home Dynamix (HDX), a wholesaler of floor rugs, mats and bedding, headquartered in North Arlington, New Jersey, and Amalgamated Textiles USA (ATI), a supplier of window treatments and hardware, headquartered in Montreal, Quebec.
T&C, a provider of table linens, kitchen textiles, rugs, and innovative solution-based home products, will now offer additional home textiles products spanning across floor and accent rugs, bedding, pet beds, decorative pillows, window treatments, and window hardware.
David Beyda, Chairman of Town and Country Holdings, and CEO of the combined entity, says: “We
ICV Partners (ICV), an investment firm focused on lower middle market companies, has successfully completed the final closing for ICV Partners IV (Fund IV) with USD585 million of committed capital.
ICV currently manages usd1.3 billion of AUM.
ICV’s Fund IV meaningfully exceeded the firm’s target and represents an approximately 50 per cent increase in capital commitments compared to Fund III. Investors include a diverse group of leading endowments, foundations, state pension plans, family offices, gatekeepers, insurance companies and fund of funds.
Willie Woods, President of ICV Partners, says: “We are grateful for the immense support we’ve had from
KPS Capital Partners (KPS), through an affiliate, is to sell Expera Specialty Solutions (Expera) to Ahlstrom-Munksjö Oyj (Ahlstrom-Munksjö), of Finland, a specialist in fibre-based materials, for USD615 million.
Expera is a leading North American manufacturer of specialty paper products for the industrial & technical, food and pressure-sensitive release liner segments. Headquartered in Wisconsin, Expera employs approximately 1,800 people. KPS created Expera in June 2013 by completing two discrete and highly synergistic acquisitions: the technical and specialty paper businesses of Wausau Paper Corp. and Packaging Dynamics Corporation, respectively.
Raquel Palmer, a Partner of KPS, says: “The success of our investment
UK private equity investor Graphite Capital, has completed the fundraising for its ninth fund, Graphite Capital Partners IX, securing capital commitments of over GBP470 million, slightly more than the GBP450m raised for its previous fund.
Graphite was able to reach its target quickly, with existing investors providing 75 per cent of the capital raised. In total, 25 investors have committed to the fund of which nine are new, attracted by Graphite’s strong performance over the past decade, its long-term track record and the stability of its team. The fund has a broad geographical spread, with 44 per cent of commitments
Arkessa, an Internet-of-Things (IoT) managed services provider, has completed a management buyout backed by ECI Partners. Arkessa enables Enterprises to develop and optimise their businesses by helping them adopt, integrate and scale IoT enabled services.
Founded in Cambridge in 2009, Arkessa’s goal is to ‘future proof’ customers’ connections to the IoT. Since pioneering the aggregation of multiple mobile networks and technologies into a single managed service, Arkessa now sells software and services to IoT solution providers around the world.
Led by Andrew Orrock, CEO, John Freeman, CTO, and Phil McDermott, CCO, Arkessa operates in a large and rapidly growing
Balance Point Capital (Balance Point), in conjunction with its affiliated funds, Balance Point Capital Partners II, and Balance Point Capital Partners III, has invested in Two-Twenty Records Management (Two-Twenty), a portfolio company of private equity firm Topspin Partners (Topspin).
Continuing with its theme of providing long-term, partnership-oriented capital, Balance Point arranged and led a USD124 million debt financing to fund acquisitions by Two-Twenty and Topspin. The financing was also used to retire existing debt and provides significant available capital for future growth investments. Balance Point’s creativity and leadership enabled a structure that promotes the Company’s strategic initiatives while optimising its
Wren House Infrastructure Management (Wren House), a London-based global infrastructure investor, is to acquire North Sea Midstream Partners (NSMP) from private equity firm and affiliate ArcLight Capital Partners (ArcLight).
Wren House has agreed to acquire ArcLight’s entire stake in the company.
NSMP has interests in and operates four large scale natural gas transportation and processing assets in and around the North Sea. The assets, which form a key part of the UK’s gas infrastructure, include a 67 per cent operated interest in the Shetland Island Regional Gas Export System pipeline (SIRGE), which transports natural gas from the prolific West
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
