Managers
Private equity firm Mid Europa Partners is to take full ownership of Walmark after agreeing to buy out the founding Walach family. The transaction is subject to anti-trust clearance.
Mid Europa originally acquired a 50 per cent stake in the consumer healthcare company in December 2012.
Michelle Capiod (pictured), Partner at Mid Europa, says: "We would like to thank the Walach family for our excellent partnership and wish them great success in their future endeavours. We have jointly transformed Walmark from the leading dietary supplements business in Central and Eastern Europe into a focused consumer healthcare platform with an
Highland Europe has raised a new EUR332 million tech growth fund, Highland Europe Technology Growth II.
This follows Highland Europe’s 2012 EUR250 million Highland Europe Technology Growth I fund that invested in 15 technology companies including WeTransfer, AMCS, GetYourGuide, Outfittery, SocialPoint, Finanzcheck, TalentSoft, eGym, Intersec, NewVoiceMedia, Brandwatch, Matches Fashion, Jampp, LoveCrafts, and Malwarebytes.
Highland Europe’s partners – Fergal Mullen, Laurence Garrett, Irena Goldenberg, Sam Brooks and Tony Zappala (pictured)– intend to continue investing this second fund with the same laser-focused growth-stage investment strategy: targeting rapidly emerging internet, mobile and software companies. These companies are led by inspiring entrepreneurs who
Dunedin has joined the Alliance for Global Growth, a newly launched global network of lower mid-market private equity firms and the first of its kind to operate across Europe and the USA.
The Alliance for Global Growth currently includes ten members drawn from Western Europe and the United States. In addition to Dunedin, which targets buyouts of market-leading companies headquartered in the UK with a deal size of GBP20 -100 million, the network includes Nordic mid market specialist, Axcel; Finatem, a German private equity fund focused on the “Mittelstand”; French mid market house Nixen; Nazca, a leading Spanish mid-market firm;
Swander Pace Capital, a private equity firm specialising in investments in consumer products companies, has acquired Voortman Cookies, a manufacturer and marketer of cookies and wafers.
Based out of Burlington, Ontario, Voortman Cookies products are sold in retailers throughout the world.
“For over 60 years, Voortman Cookies has remained one of the most well-known brands in Canada and has grown its footprint throughout North America and across the world,” says Andrew Richards (pictured), managing director at Swander Pace Capital. “We see a huge opportunity to help the company expand even further through increased investment in product innovation, distribution and
The Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GSFC) has signed MoUs with both the SFC and HKMA regarding consultation, cooperation and the exchange of information related to the supervision of AIFMD entities.
CEO of the GFSC, Samantha Barrass, says: “Signing the AIFMD MoUs with the two Hong Kong regulators is an important development for us. It supports open, strong cooperation with the SFC and the HKMA in our regulation of AIFMD establishments, and is a very useful tool for us as a regulator”.
These are very welcome agreements for the GFSC, especially following the recent marketing initiative to Hong Kong by
PwC has teamed up with IncuBus Ventures to launch Future of Work, a 12 week incubator programme that will focus on startups in AI, Cyber Security and Smart Office solutions.
The programme starts on 11 January 2016 and will look to develop early stage startups with an MVP ready for the world’s best accelerators and further funding.
This is done through nine hours of programme content (mentor sessions, skills based workshops and office hours) a week, plus additional services and activities to help develop a strong foundation for the startups to continue growth beyond the programme.
Applications are
Dry powder held by Europe-focused funds currently stands at a high of USD42 billion, led by particularly strong direct lending fundraising since 2013. As banking regulation and quantitative easing in the Eurozone have just begun to come into effect, managers in the region are increasingly dedicating resources and efforts to access lending opportunities in the underserved middle-market segment. This trend is expected to continue, fuelled by capital from institutional investors seeking strong returns through senior-focused vehicles in the direct lending segment.
Fifty-five percent of Europe-based investors are allocating to the asset class from private equity allocations, a figure which has
An affiliate of Sun European Partners is to acquire Finlays Horticulture Investments Ltd and Finlays Horticulture Holdings Ltd and its subsidiary companies (“Finlays Horticulture”) from James Finlay Limited.
The value of the deal has not been disclosed.
The transaction includes the acquisition of Finlay Flowers UK, Finlays Fresh Produce UK, Finlays Horticulture Kenya, Finlays Horticulture Tanzania, Omniflora, Finlay Flowers BV, FV SeleQt, Dudutech and Finlays Horticulture South Africa. Finlays will retain its flower farm business in Kericho, Finlay Flowers, located within its tea estates in Kenya.
Finlays Horticulture focuses on the growing, processing, packaging, marketing and distribution of
Highland Europe has raised a new EUR332m tech growth fund, Highland Europe Technology Growth II.
This follows Highland Europe’s 2012 EUR250m Highland Europe Technology Growth I fund that invested in 15 technology companies including WeTransfer, AMCS, GetYourGuide, Outfittery, SocialPoint, Finanzcheck, TalentSoft, eGym, Intersec, NewVoiceMedia, Brandwatch, Matches Fashion, Jampp, LoveCrafts, and Malwarebytes.
Highland Europe’s partners – Fergal Mullen (pictured), Laurence Garrett, Irena Goldenberg, Sam Brooks and Tony Zappala – intend to continue investing this second fund with the same laser-focused growth-stage investment strategy: targeting rapidly emerging internet, mobile and software companies. These companies are led by inspiring entrepreneurs who have demonstrated resourcefulness by achieving substantial revenue scale in a relatively short period of time, and on a capital-efficient basis. The companies are always
Victor Basta (pictured), managing partner at Magister Advisors, M&A advisors to the technology industry, comments on the Dell/EMC deal…
This is the largest ever pure-play technology deal but it is not about technology. It is about industrial concentration rather than transformation, which says a great deal about soaring valuations in the tech industry. You would expect a $67 billion deal to shift the plate tectonics of the industry, but this is far from that.
Neither Dell/EMC nor the recently announced Avago/Broadcom deal is about significant transformation, as was IBM’s move into software years ago. In fact EMC’s VMWare software business
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
