Managers
Peer-to-peer business lender Assetz Capital has announced its first ever rate rise across its access accounts.
The rate increase, which takes effect from 1 May 2018 until further notice, will take target interest rates for the Quick Access Account and 30-Day Access Account from 3.75 per cent to 4.10 per cent and from 4.25 per cent to 5.10 per cent respectively.
Both new and existing investors will benefit from the target interest rate boost, and it applies to both ISA-wrapped and non-ISA accounts.
Stuart Law, CEO at Assetz Capital, says: “Since we launched our access accounts we’ve kept
Private investment house Ardian has raised more than USD800 million for its first infrastructure fund dedicated to the US and other OECD American countries. The fund marks Ardian’s continued expansion into the American market.
The fundraising, which was completed in less than six months, attracted a substantial number of North American institutional investors within a diversified global mix that also included commitments from European and Asian pension funds, insurance companies and other institutions. This successful fundraising confirms the continued regional appetite for Ardian’s infrastructure investment and asset management strategies.
The fund will provide investors with opportunities to invest in
Arma Partners has acted as exclusive financial advisor to MeetingZone Limited on its sale by GMT Communications Partners and its management to LoopUp Group PLC.
MeetingZone is a UK-headquartered conferencing and UC services provider with approximately 6,000 customers worldwide and international operations in Germany, Sweden and North America. MeetingZone provides audio conferencing services, Cisco’s WebEx, Spark collaboration services and value-added audio services based around Microsoft Skype for Business.
With this acquisition, LoopUp will add significant scale and materially enhance earnings. The acquisition will constitute a reverse takeover under the AIM Rules for Companies.
This transaction further highlights Arma
Manna Development Group (Manna) has acquired 38 Panera Bread cafés in Colorado, expanding its operating footprint to over 130 Panera Bread outlets across seven states.
CapitalSpring, a leading private investment firm focused exclusively on the branded restaurant industry, structured and led the acquisition financing and recapitalisation, while Owl Rock Capital served as co‐lender and lead arranger.
Manna has grown continually from its inception in 2003 when Paul Saber and Patrick Rogers opened their first Panera café in San Diego. Through aggressive new store development and the successful integration of 6 additional acquisitions, Manna has grown to become one of
EQT funds, owners of Sivantos, and the Tøpholm and Westermann families, owners of Widex, have agreed terms to merge the two companies.
The ‘strategic merger of equals’ will create a major player in the global hearing aid market generating combined revenues of approximately EUR1.6 billion and employing more than 10,000 people worldwide. The transaction values the combined entity at an enterprise value of more than EUR7 billion.
The merger aims at accelerating growth, strengthening market penetration and enhancing efficiencies to enable additional investments into R&D and supply chain. This will allow the merged company to expand access to hearing
Hermes Investment Management (Hermes), the GBP33.0 billion manager, has launched the Hermes European Direct Lending Fund, which is managed by Patrick Marshall, Head of Private Debt & CLOs.
The European Fund follows the successful launch of the UK Direct Lending Fund in 2016.
The Fund offers access to the stable, low-correlated returns from high-quality, senior-secured loans to a diverse range of middle-market businesses in the UK and Europe, with a focus on Scandinavia, Germany, Benelux and Ireland.
Senior-secured transactions are originated through co-lending partnerships with Danske Bank, DZ Bank and KBC Bank, which sit alongside the existing UK
Idinvest Partners has held the final closing of its fourth direct lending Fund (Idinvest Private Debt IV), at EUR715 million, surpassing its initial target of EUR600 million. More than 60 per cent of the investors are from outside France.
Since its launch in 2016, the Idinvest Private Debt IV fund has invested 60 per cent of its total commitments across 17 companies, of which more than 40 per cent are based outside France.
Focusing on the European lower mid-market segment (enterprise value of between EUR35m and EUR250 million), Idinvest’s Private Debt team arranges primarily unitranche financings for tickets ranging
The European law firm Noerr has provided comprehensive advice on the sale of the eCommerce platform Daraz, a market leader in countries including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Nepal, to Alibaba.
The investors selling Daraz include Asia Pacific Internet Group (APACIG), a joint venture between the listed company Rocket Internet SE and the telecoms group Ooredoo (Qatar), which is likewise a listed company, the British sovereign wealth fund CDC, and the Tengelmann Group.
Prior to closing, the group was restructured across several jurisdictions under the lead of a Noerr team headed by the private equity partners Sascha Leske
Affiliates of Palladium Equity Partners have completed the sale of the parent of home care provider Jordan Health Services (Jordan), to Kelso & Company and Blue Wolf Capital Partners.
Jordan is being combined with Great Lakes Caring and National Home Health Care to create one of the largest US home-based care providers. The new company, which brings together three market leaders and creates a comprehensive care continuum of personal care, skilled home healthcare, and hospice care, will serve more than 63,000 patients and their families daily, employing over 31,000 caregivers across 15 states in 221 locations.
Following its acquisition
simplesurance, the provider of a smart insurance services platform, has raised USD24 million in its Series-C funding round, which will be used to push the continuing international roll-out of the platform.
The lead investor is global insurance group Allianz, who invested alongside Rheingau Founders, Rakuten Capital (the investment arm of Rakuten, Inc) and other investors. Drake Star Partners acted as the exclusive financial advisor to simplesurance throughout its fundraising efforts.
This is the largest funding round since simplesurance’s inception back in 2012 and will go towards the company’s expansion into new markets, with Japan as a possible first target.
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