Managers
Bridges Ventures is investing in Clothingsites.co.uk, a UK-based premium designer menswear e-commerce business.
Established in 2002 the business grew by 30 per cent last year.
It consists of: Woodhouse Clothing, an in-season premium menswear e-commerce retailer; Brown Bag, which sells out of season stock at discounted prices; and Trainerstation, which sells trainers and shoes.
Bridges’ investment will further fuel the business’ growth with the majority of capital being used for stock, recruitment, technical upgrades and the relocation to a new, larger warehouse.
Bridges identified Clothingsites as an attractive platform on which to scale up an already well-established
CDC Group, the UK’s development finance institution, is making a USD28m equity investment in Ratnakar Bank (RBL Bank) in India.
The investment, which sees CDC take a 4.8 per cent stake in the bank, will support RBL Bank’s expansion into new regions of India and is CDC’s first direct equity investment into a bank in India under its new strategy.
Founded in 1943, RBL Bank was traditionally concentrated in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Goa. In 2010, a new management team was brought in to pursue an expansion strategy focusing on financial inclusion, agribusiness financing and lending to small and medium-sized
Independent mobile solutions company Somo has received USD5.5m follow-on funding from MMC Ventures – including the MMC London Fund – and other private investors.
Somo was one the first beneficiaries of the MMC London Fund, which is overseen by the Mayor of London and intends to support the growth of London-based businesses.
Since taking the investment last year, Somo has grown by more than 100 per cent – having hired 60 additional staff, including mobile engineers, insights, loyalty and social specialists, while attracting several new clients including De Beers, British Gas, and Tesco.
In addition, Somo has worked
X2 Resources has secured USD2.50bn of committed equity capital funding and up to a further USD1.25bn of conditional equity capital funding from a group of five investors.
The committed equity capital is available for immediate draw down and will be used to finance the creation of a new mid-tier diversified mining and metals group.
The investors, who have contributed in equal amounts, comprise Noble Group, TPG Capital, sovereign wealth and pension fund investors.
X2 Resources is in discussions with a further select group of potential investors who are also seeking to benefit from opportunities in the natural resources
Schroder UK Property Fund has acquired Tata Steel’s UK distribution hub, The Steel Park, Wednesfield in Wolverhampton from Threadneedle Property Investments Management for GBP34.10m.
The 60 acre site comprises three industrial warehouses, a headquarters office building and a study centre totalling 761,614 sq ft.
The entire site is let to Tata Steel UK Limited by way of six co-terminus occupational leases. The leases have c.12 years unexpired and benefit from 2.5 per cent per annum increases compounded and receivable five yearly.
James Lass, fund manager of Schroder UK Property Fund, says: “This purchase forms a key part of
HIG Capital’s Brazilian affiliate has made a significant investment in Office Total, a Brazilian managed print services (MPS) provider.
Established in 1995 with headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, Office Total outsources and commercialises a wide range of office equipment from several suppliers and offers a wide range of leasing programmes to its clients.
The company operates regionally and has a client base spread over several industries. It has nearly 500 long-term outsourcing contracts and provides ongoing technical support and monitoring services.
Andre Vinicius, CEO of Office Total, says: “HIG’s partnership will enable the company to participate in larger
Enstar Group and Stone Point Capital have completed the acquisition of Torus Insurance, an A-rated global specialty insurer with six wholly owned insurance vehicles.
The purchasing entity is indirectly owned 60 per cent by an Enstar subsidiary and 40 per cent by Trident V and its affiliated co-investment funds, which are managed by Stone Point.
Enstar contributed approximately USD45.2m in cash and 1,898,326 of its ordinary voting shares and 714,015 newly created non-voting preferred shares towards the purchase price and related transaction expenses, with the Trident V funds contributing approximately USD260.8m in cash through their equity co-investment.
Dominic
Cinven has completed its acquisition of German life insurer Heidelberger Leben for a total consideration of EUR300m.
On 27 March 2014, the Heidelberger Leben Group announced that it had reached agreement to acquire Skandia Germany and Skandia Austria for EUR220m from Old Mutual plc.
The combination of Heidelberger Leben and Skandia Germany and Austria will create a strong basis for further consolidation with approximately EUR10bn assets under management and approximately one million policies. The group will invest substantially in its IT systems and operating platform to lower administration costs and further improve customer service levels for policyholders in Germany
Private equity fundraising has got off to a strong, if not spectacular, start in 2014,with USD67.8bn raised from investors through the final close of 135 private equity funds globally, according to data from PEI.
By comparison, USD78bn was raised by 162 funds in the equivalent period in 2013, when more capital was raised than in any year since the financial crisis.
With around 15 per cent more Q1 fund closes likely to be announced over the coming days, the final figure collected is likely to end close to last year’s Q1 total.
There are currently 1,842 private equity
Rockpool Investments has invested GBP10m in Aegis Data, a data centre park in the UK.
This is the largest investment Rockpool has made since it opened for business in 2011 and it brings the total invested by Rockpool to GBP50m.
It is also the first time Aegis Data has raised outside funding – made up of EIS qualifying shares and a secured loan.
Specifically, this investment will enable Aegis Data to complete the fit-out of Aegis One, a 30,000 square foot state of the art data centre facility on Aegis Data’s brand new 10 Megavolt Amperes (MVA) Surrey Data Park
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
