Allocations
The Abraaj Group has sold its entire stake in Tunisian pharmaceutical company Opalia Pharma to Recordati, an international pharmaceutical company listed on the Italian stock exchange.
The Abraaj Group invested into Opalia in 2009 and the deal marks the group’s first realisation in the Tunisian market. Over the past four years, Abraaj’s involvement with Opalia helped increase sales by 2.5x.
In addition to Abraaj’s stake, Recordati has agreed to acquire a total of 90 per cent of Opalia.
Opalia Pharma is a Tunisian pharmaceutical company with headquarters in Ariana, a suburb of Tunis. The company was established in
Contego Fraud Solutions has raised GBP900,000 in the firm’s latest investment round, following early investment in 2012 by seed angels and the Cass Entrepreneurship Fund.
The total raised to date is GBP1.4m.
Investment has been secured from the Rainbow Seed Fund; the Angel CoFund; select business angel groups London Business Angels, Surrey 100 and Thames Valley Investment Network; and new angels who have joined existing angels following-on in this round. Matt Slatter and Howard Sarna, experienced angel investors, have both invested and will join the board.
Contego is a software platform that performs due diligence and risk analysis
Private equity investor New Mountain Capital is to acquire talent acquisition and management specialist Alexander Mann Solutions for GBP260m.
The transaction is subject to EU Competition Commission approval.
New Mountain is investing alongside management who have a significant ownership stake in the company. New Mountain will support Alexander Mann Solutions to further develop its integrated offering of outsourcing and consultancy services which help international organisations to attract, engage and retain their people.
Alexander Mann Solutions was founded in 1996 by Rosaleen Blair (pictured) who will remain as chief executive, supported by her management team.
“This is an
Video engagement specialist Rockabox has completed a series A funding round led by Notion Capital and supported by existing investors Frog Capital and fourteen17.
Video is the fastest growing part of the USD100bn digital advertising market and is expected to reach a 14.5 per cent share by 20161. Rockabox plans to use the new funding to expand into new markets, further develop its software-as-a-service platform and further consolidate its position as a leading provider of video engagement technology for brands, agencies, publishers and broadcasters.
Rockabox has grown rapidly since the company’s launch in 2008 with clients including leading
Water Street Healthcare Partners has sold its outsourced pharmaceutical services company AAIPharma Services to Cambridge Major Laboratories.
AAIPharma and CML have merged to form a provider of integrated chemistry, manufacturing and controls (CMC) services. The transaction marks Water Street’s fourth strategic transaction in the past three weeks.
Water Street acquired AAIPharma in 2009 when it was a division of a global corporation and transitioned it to a standalone company. Together with management, Water Street created and executed a strategic expansion programme that transformed AAIPharma into a leading independent provider of pharmaceutical development services. Over the past two years, AAIPharma
UK-based private equity firm Lonsdale Capital Partners has acquired a majority interest in Oteac Limited, the firm’s third deal in the last 12 months.
Oteac is a provider of integrated fire and safety services, both offshore in the oil and gas sector and onshore in the UK.
The tougher regulatory environment has led to much stricter requirements on the company’s clients for Oteac’s engineering services.
Oteac was acquired by Sandy Brown in 2007 and Bill Hogarty joined in 2009. Both will continue as directors and shareholders in Oteac. Hogarty will continue as CEO of the company and he,
Almost half of M&A executives in Europe expect a rise in transactions over the coming year, with the German-speaking countries remaining the driver of the market.
That is the conclusion of the M&A Outlook study, for which international commercial law firm CMS surveyed 225 representatives of companies, private equity houses and law firms in conjunction with analysis provider Mergermarket.
"The economy is slowly recovering from the financial crisis. This new growth also appears to be giving the M&A market a long-anticipated boost," says Thomas Meyding, CMS partner in Stuttgart and head of the CMS corporate group.
Although European
Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) is to acquire John Deere Landscapes (JDL), a unit of Deere & Company's agriculture and turf segment.
Deere will initially retain a 40 per cent ownership stake in the new standalone company. The carve-out transaction is valued at approximately USD465m.
With over USD1bn in annual revenue, JDL is the largest North American distributor of landscaping products sold primarily to professional landscape contractors for use in residential and commercial settings. JDL distributes wholesale irrigation, landscape lighting, nursery, and turf and maintenance supplies. Some turf and maintenance products are sold under the JDL-owned LESCO brand.
KKR has invested in wireless infrastructure businesses managed by Associated Partners.
Under the agreements, KKR has made minority investments in PEG Bandwidth, AP Wireless and AP Towers.
PEG Bandwidth designs, builds and operates Ethernet backhaul networks connecting wireless communications towers to the data fibre backbone, principally in rural geographies. The company’s networks, the need for which is driven by significant increases in wireless data usage, typically replace aging copper lines that connect cell sites to wireless carriers’ core networks.
AP Wireless acquires interests in cell site ground and rooftop leases in the US and internationally.
AP Towers
Mid-market private equity activity in the US improved in the third quarter, according to a report issued by BMO Harris Bank.
Deal activity picked up, particularly in healthcare and software sectors, buoyed by debt markets that are clearly open for business.
"It was a good quarter, punctuated by a fairly vibrant August and September, which are not traditionally the most active months of the year," says Dennis Robleski, group head for BMO Harris Bank's sponsor finance group. “While market activity is up, it's important to keep in mind that this is an improvement from what has been a relatively
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
