Managers
Exponent Private Equity and Electra Partners are to acquire Photobox Group, the personalised products and gifts company behind brands such as Moonpig, PaperShaker, Sticky9, Hofmann, Posterjack and posterXXL.
Under the terms of the acquisition offer, Exponent and Electra Private Equity would be the principal shareholders, with Photobox Group management team reinvesting part of their proceeds.
The current Photobox Group executive management team, led by Stan Laurent, would continue in their roles. The offer is subject to certain conditions including consultation with employee representatives and anti-trust clearance.
This proposed transaction would provide Photobox Group with a new simplified and
Prices for corporate acquisitions have risen sharply in the German M&A market in recent months, with some sectors moving beyond reach of potential buyers. Corporate M&A experts currently see few attractive takeover targets, while consulting firms report full order books.
Those are the key findings of the latest survey of the M&A panel polled three times a year by commercial law firm CMS Germany and FINANCE magazine. The heads of the M&A departments at German companies plus leading investment bankers and M&A consultants provide anonymous assessments of the market for the survey.
M&A experts from companies and investment banks
Arthouse a suppliers of wallcoverings and home decoration products to the likes of B&Q, Wilkinsons, Homebase, The Range and B&M, has completed a second management buyout with the backing of NorthEdge Capital.
The Rossendale headquartered company took itself independent in 2007, securing backing from the team at Total Capital Partners, an independent firm that specialises in providing combined equity and debt funding for small and medium-sized businesses in the UK. Moving forward, the management team will be backed by NorthEdge, which has acquired a majority stake in the business.
This marks the fourth and final exit for Total Capital’s first fund,
With investments on a healthy upward trend, returns and money multiples growing, innovation hubs emerging, and serial entrepreneurs flourishing the European venture capital VC market may seem to be in rude health.
But according to a new report from The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and IESE Business School, European fund-raising has steadily slowed, while US investment in European ventures is on a sharp upward trend.
The report challenges the conventional wisdom about the European VC scene, which holds that:
the top VC performers' returns can't compete with those in other asset classes; the investor mix is skewed far too
StreetHub, a network of independent retailers, has closed a USD2.6 million (GBP1.7m) funding round led by Octopus Ventures, investors in SecretEscapes, Swoon Editions and SwiftKey).
This second funding round also attracted further investment from Index Ventures (Farfetch, Net-a-Porter, ASOS), Playfair Capital (Appear Here) and a group of Angel investors. The investment will be used to support the launch and promotion of StreetHub’s new brand and website Trouva, as well as to build out the StreetHub platform.
Trouva brings together a selection of boutiques from StreetHub’s network of 350 independent retailers, who have come together to use e-commerce to compete
SNCF is targeting start-up investments in the ‘digital ecosystem’ with its new EUR30 million SNCF Digital Ventures investment fund,
Under the management of Hi Inov, the venture capital unit of family-owned investment company Dentressangle Initiatives, SNCF Digital Ventures will focus on France and other European countries primarily, but will also look to the US and Israel to source investments in the EUR500,000-EUR4 million range
The fund will cover a wide spectrum of technologies – the Internet of Things, surveillance drones, big data, mobile customer service and information apps, the sharing economy, digital tools for SNCF employees and more. It
Morgenthaler Private Equity (MPE) has recapitalised Trachte, a manufacturer of preassembled and modularised control buildings.
The company's custom buildings house critical electrical components that control and protect electrical infrastructure, such as transmission & distribution substations. In addition, Trachte buildings are used extensively in industrial applications to house equipment, such as switchgear, motor controls, and pumps. Trachte serves utilities, OEMs, and other channel partners in the power generation, energy, chemical processing, data centre, and general industrial end markets.
MPE partnered in the transaction with the existing shareholders, including retiring President Randy Trachte and retiring VP of Sales Ron Trachte, as well
Concept Life Sciences, a scientific laboratory and consultancy group, has acquired pharmaceutical testing business Agenda1 Analytical Services Ltd.
This marks the second bolt-on acquisition for the company since it was formed in July 2014 through the simultaneous acquisition of three companies, following investment from Equistone Partners Europe.
Established in 2006 by Dr Simon Bristow and Ian Siragher, Bradford-based Agenda1 is a specialist contract analytical company, delivering high quality support services to pharmaceutical, healthcare and medical device companies. The team will continue to be led by Bristow and Siragher, along with Dr Caroline German (Site Operations Director) and Dr Eleanor
Jersey is successfully leveraging its appeal as a leading alternative funds domicile to attract innovative technology and software businesses that support the European asset manager community.
TORA, a technology and financial services company focusing on the investment management space, is the latest company to relocate to Jersey this summer and underlines Jersey’s position as a centre for both financial and digital services.
Having been founded in 2004, TORA has grown a strong international institutional client base and is now establishing a presence in Jersey in order to build out its European business. The new business in Jersey will be
Community Intervention Services (CIS), a portfolio company of HIG Growth Partners, has completed the acquisition of Northstar Psychological Services (NPS).
CIS was established by HIG in partnership with behavioural healthcare executive Kevin Sheehan, to acquire, develop and operate a national network of specialised behavioural health treatment facilities and programs. NPS marks CIS's seventh acquisition and further expands the Company’s geographic footprint into Georgia.
Headquartered in Alpharetta, GA, NPS was founded in 2000 and has since grown into a leading provider of community-based behavioural health services to individuals and families across Georgia. Over its 15-year operating history NPS has developed
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
