Allocations
Private equity funds managed by Blackstone have entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Sphera, a provider of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) software, data, and consulting services, from Genstar Capital. The investment, which values the company at approximately USD1.4 billion, would be made through Blackstone’s flagship private equity vehicle.
Through SaaS software, proprietary data and consulting services, Sphera’s experts work with organisations around the world to help them surface, manage, and mitigate ESG risk in the areas of Environment, Health, Safety & Sustainability, Operational Risk Management and Product Stewardship. The company has more than 3,000 customers in more
Arlington Capital Partners’ (Arlington) portfolio company, BlueHalo, a leading provider of advanced engineering solutions and technology to the national security community, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Design & Development Engineering Services Corporation (DDES).
DDES, based in Albuquerque, NM, designs and manufactures space-qualified electronic systems for exquisite, Class-A spacecraft serving the most demanding missions in austere environments across military and national security applications. DDES has decades of experience and critical expertise developing radiation-hardened, space-qualified systems and has developed a reputation of excellence across their customer set who depend on DDES’ high-reliability, high-performance systems.
BlueHalo is a rapidly expanding
Digital archiving platform Arkivum is raising a new round of growth equity through private equity investment firm Growthdeck as it seeks to help businesses preserve their data for the future, solving the growing problem of loss of valuable data through obsolescence and corruption.
Arkivum is a cloud-based secure digital archiving and preservation platform that allows businesses in highly-regulated industries to safeguard, use, read and audit their data for decades into the future.
Arkivum’s platform integrates with cloud-based platforms such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure, and allows businesses to preserve these valuable digital assets into the future,
CAPZA, an independent management company and specialist in private investments in European SMEs, has invested in the French HR Tech AssessFirst, an SaaS platform for predictive recruitment and talent development focused on soft skills.
AssessFirst has developed a proprietary platform that enables HR professionals to assess candidates based on three criteria: what they can do (their abilities), what they want to do (their motivations) and the way they behave (their personality). The solution also makes it possible to identify profiles able to integrate and evolve within a given team, function or environment. The assessment is based on a 30-minute questionnaire
M&A activity has surged in H1 2021, fuelled by both the availability of investment capital from Private Equity and the increased political and economic confidence prompted by the success of the global vaccination take-up.
In its latest report, Ciesco, a specialist M&A advisory firm operating in the tech, digital, media and marketing sectors, said there were 832 transactions announced in H1 2021, a 46 percent increase year-on-year from 2020. Of these, 59 percent of deals were in the UK and US.
The firm, which combines senior-level industry practitioners with sector-specialist investment bankers, also found that the overall disclosed value of
After a year of record growth, national courier company Speedy Freight has obtained an investment from BGF – the UK’s most active growth capital investor – to accelerate its ambitious expansion plans.
Over the last decade, Speedy Freight has grown year-on-year, and now provides dedicated same-day courier services to every postcode in the UK. The brand has more than 8,500 customers, and supports multiple industries with deliveries across the UK and abroad.
In the last year alone, Speedy Freight grew by 39 per cent, partly due to the increased demand for logistics support caused by Covid-19. As such,
Consulting M&A has supported its client RCG (The Renewables Consulting Group), a global market intelligence, management consulting, and technical advisory firm operating exclusively in the renewable energy sector through the sale process to the world’s largest pure-play sustainability advisory firm, ERM.
Sebastian Chivers, CEO at RCG, says: “We are delighted that we appointed CM&A – the team is highly professional and fun as well. Sincere thanks for their guidance, tenacity and hard work.” Bruce Ramsay, Managing Partner at CM&A, explains that the success of the RCG business was all about employing the best consultants, with expertise in a growing sector,
Morrisons is the latest well-known UK business to announce a potential sale to private equity following others such as the AA earlier in the year. Last year there were 25 take-private deals with a total value of GBP21.1 billion, according to professional services firm BDO.
Private equity’s interest in public markets has awakened some long-standing criticisms of the sector, but are these justified? What are the benefits of private equity ownership to businesses and how are private equity investment companies taking ESG factors into account? The Association of Investment Companies (AIC) has invited comments on these issues from investment company
QV Bioelectronics (QV) – a medical device start-up pioneering a first of its kind electric field therapy implant for the treatment of the most common and aggressive type of brain tumours, has closed a GBP735,000 seed funding round to advance the development of its innovative GRACE implant.
The round was significantly oversubscribed, attracting support from Consilience Ventures, SOSV, the GM & Cheshire Life Sciences Fund, managed by Catapult Ventures, and several angel investors. In Consilience Ventures – a VC that takes a very different approach to funding and service support as an integral part of its business model –
Business communications and technology solutions provider swcomms has acquired neighbouring ICT business, Taurus Clearer Communication.
Taurus has been trading in Exeter and the South West region since 1984 led by managing director Jonathan Sawyer. The merger of the two businesses will serve to extend their technical expertise and product portfolios.
Taurus’s current owners Jonathan and Jan Sawyer will step down and hand over the management to director Richard Whybra, who has been operationally running the company in recent years.
Brian Lodge, managing director of swcomms, says: “Taurus and swcomms have been working in the south west for many years and
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
