Allocations
BGF, the UK and Ireland’s most active investor in growing businesses, has welcomed the Australian Government’s announcement to establish an Australian Business Growth Fund that will help boost the growth of small and medium businesses.
This is as a result of an in-principle agreement between the Government and leading banks; NAB, CBA, Westpac and ANZ, together with HSBC Australia, NAB said it was pleased to support a new way for Australian small and medium businesses to access long-term equity capital.
Welcoming the news, Stephen Welton, CEO of the UK BGF, says: “This is a huge milestone in the international expansion
Shinhan Investment Corp (Shinhan), Samtan Co (Samtan), EIP Investment Co (EIP Investment) and KDB KIAMCO, a South Korean-based consortium of infrastructure investors, has acquired a 50 per cent ownership interest in the Utopia Pipeline (Utopia) from investment funds affiliated with Riverstone Holdings.
Originating in Harrison County, Ohio and delivering to the Sarnia petrochemical market in Ontario, Canada, Utopia is a recently-constructed 268-mile pipeline that transports ethane sourced from the Marcellus and Utica shales. In 2016, Riverstone formed a joint venture with Kinder Morgan Inc. (Kinder Morgan) to construct Utopia. Kinder Morgan will remain the pipeline’s operator and continue its ownership
European venture capital activity saw EUR5.9 billion invested across 296 rounds during the third quarter of 2019, the strongest quarter on record according to research by Refinitiv.
During the first nine months of 2019, total venture capital investments reached EUR17.4 billion across 1,113 rounds, a 52 per cent increase by investment value compared to a year ago and higher than any annual total save for 2000, the height of the dot-com era.
Greg Beaman, Manager, Private Equity Contributions at Refinitiv, says: “Instead of returning to previous levels following a substantial start to the year, the pace of European venture
Data visualisation, reporting and analytics software developer Panintelligence, has secured backing from YFM Equity Partners and Comhar Capital in a Series A fundraising.
The Panintelligence ‘Pi’ suite of software enables businesses to use data in almost any format to trigger bespoke reports, and visualise trends in real-time, helping businesses to lower costs and inform strategic decisions.
The business, led by CEO Zandra Moore, CTO Ken Miller and operations director Charlotte Bailey, was established in 2014 and employs 40 staff at its Leeds head office.
Originally developed in the credit and banking sectors, the software has a security-first ethos that
By Paul Bryant – Research by BDO shows take-private deal value more than tripling in one year to GBP14 billion in 2018/19, up from GBP 3.7 billion the year before.
A newly created Carlyle Group-managed fund, together with T&D, have partnered to acquire a 76.6 per cent ownership interest in Fortitude Group Holdings, whose group companies operate as Fortitude Re, from AIG for approximately USD1.8 billion.
After closing, ownership interests in Fortitude Re will include Carlyle and its fund investors at 71.5 per cent (including the 19.9 per cent stake previously acquired by Carlyle in November 2018), T&D at 25 per cent and AIG at 3.5 per cent. AIG will receive a USD500 million non-pro-rata distribution, which if not paid by the later of 13 May, 2020 or transaction close
Banco Sabadell, through its investment vehicle Sabadell Venture Capital, has led a funding round for Openbravo, in partnership with current principal shareholders of the Spanish technology company.
Openbravo offers retail and restaurant chains a cloud-based omnichannel platform which enables them to accelerate the integration of all sales channels and fully support the new role of physical stores in omnichannel retail by facilitating more fluid and personalised customer experiences. Current international clients include Decathlon, Cirque du Soleil, Sharaf DG, and Nike Factory Stores Indonesia, as well as Spanish customers such as Toys “R” Us, Outlet PC, Deporvillage and Patadon.
With over
New Ventures Funds, a healthcare venture platform targeting companies that accelerate the industry, has raised the firm’s third fund, New Ventures III.
The Fund raised a total of USD90 million and closed on 15 June, 2019 and has made twelve investments so far. New Ventures III follows in the footsteps of the two previous funds, New Ventures I and New Ventures Select with an investment strategy of focusing on investments in a diversified portfolio of early to mid-stage therapeutics, digital medicine opportunities, and pharmaceutical royalties.
Mark Finn, General Partner, says: “The success of our third fund’s fundraising efforts validates the
IK Investment Partners’ (IK) IK Small Cap II Fund is to acquire Mabtech, a specialist in immune monitoring. The founders and management team will continue to be invested in the business, while Merieux Equity Partners (MxEP) will also acquire a minority stake.
Financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
Founded in Sweden in 1986, Mabtech has gained worldwide recognition for its monoclonal antibodies and technical innovation capabilities and is viewed as a pioneer within the growing detection platform techniques of ELISpot and FluoroSpot. To complement its offering, the Company successfully entered the instruments market by launching its first
Global growth private equity firm TA Associates has completed its previously announced strategic growth investment in premium tea provider Gong cha. Financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
Founded in 2006 in Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan, Gong cha is one of the most recognised Taiwanese tea brands in the world. Gong cha, which translates to “tribute tea for the emperor,” provides quality tea, products and services, sourcing ingredients from selected suppliers and offering customers freshly brewed tea. The Company’s leading product is its famous Taiwanese-style bubble tea, which is sweet milk tea infused with pearl-shaped tapioca. Utilising primarily
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
