Managers
Boost Communications has raised an additional GBP1m in funding from Norwegian state-owned venture capital fund Investinor and the private venture capital fund Norsk Innvasjonskapital (NIK), following the previous GBP3.7m invested between 2012 and 2013.
A leading player in the mobile web and marketing space, Boost Communications was established in Norway in 2000 and produces software that makes it easier to succeed in mobile advertising and marketing.
Boost assists large international agencies and brands in producing mobile campaigns, media buying and reporting, which has resulted in strong, organic growth and international expansion across Europe and the Middle East, opening up offices in London and Krakow in 2013.
European private equity firm Cinven has acquired a majority investment in Medpace for a total consideration of USD915m from CCMP Capital Advisors.
Medpace is a global contract research organisation (CRO) business providing management services to the R&D departments of pharma, biotech and medical device clients to help plan and oversee their clinical trials.
The group focuses on small to mid-size companies and has significant expertise in therapeutic areas such as metabolic, cardiovascular, oncology, anti-viral/anti-infective, central nervous system and medical devices.
Cinven’s healthcare team has been focused for some time on the CRO industry as an attractive market in
Private equity fund manager Calculus Capital has invested GBP2m – via its EIS Fund – into a digital administration services provider of low-cost solutions for the pensions, savings and investment industries.
Through its proprietary technology platform, Quai provides white-label administration services for personal savings products at a fraction of the costs currently borne by traditional providers.
Quai was established in 2011 by a team of former Legal and General, Brewin Dolphin and BNP Paribas Securities Services executives. The founders recognised that legislative and regulatory changes such as auto-enrolment, the Retail Distribution Review and the Solvency II Directive would fundamentally
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy has represented Swiss private equity firm Partners Group in making a majority investment in Mexico’s leading gas infrastructure firm, valued at approximately USD750m.
Partners Group is acquiring a majority stake in Fermaca, which owns and operates gas pipelines and related energy assets in Mexico.
Fermaca pipelines have capacity to ship one-fifth of Mexico’s natural gas needs, including supplies originating in the US.
Spurred by Mexico’s recent initiatives easing restrictions on foreign investment in its natural resources, Partners Group says it expects Fermaca to expand its gas transmission activities.
Based in
The German market for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) looks set to burst into life, with an increase in deal activity expected.
Corporate transaction managers are flush with cash and coming under growing pressure to invest, but also face tougher competition from the private equity camp.
These are the key findings of the latest survey of the M&A panel polled now for the tenth time by CMS Hasche Sigle 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.
Following the
Iluka Resources has concluded an investment agreement with the private UK-based Metalysis Limited for an interest of 18.3 per cent of the company.
Metalysis has demonstrated that it is able to produce titanium powder directly from Iluka’s main high grade titanium feedstock products of rutile.
Iluka’s managing director David Robb says: “Iluka’s involvement as a major shareholder and funding partner provides Iluka shareholders with access to a new, potentially disruptive technology which is close to commercialisation, and the potential benefits of a new source of high grade titanium dioxide feedstock demand, as well as a commercial involvement in a
Ardian, formerly AXA Private Equity, has acquired a 49 per cent stake in Micropross, a provider of smart card testing solutions and communicating objects.
The transaction was completed alongside Philippe Bacle, CEO, and Max-André Lepoutre, managing director, who continue to lead the company and retain a majority stake in the company.
Founded in 1979 in Lille, France, Micropross supplies products and solutions for the smartcard industry.
Following a 2008 management buy-out led by Bacle and Lepoutre, Micropross has enjoyed a strong period of growth. Eighty per cent of the group’s sales now achieved outside France.
Bacle says:
Polaris Private Equity has signed an agreement to acquire Louis Poulsen Lighting, a supplier of architectural lighting, and the company’s subsidiaries.
Louis Poulsen manufactures and sells lighting fixtures – including the iconic “PH” lamps – to private consumers and professionals.
The company’s current owner – Italian Targetti Sankey Group – acquired Louis Poulsen in 2007 from shareholders including Polaris, which had owned the company since 1999.
“We are pleased that, in Polaris, we have a financially strong owner with extensive knowledge of our business and the ability to give Louis Poulsen the best conditions for focusing on continued
Private equity fund manager Kerogen Capital has published its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Policy Statement.
The statement details the company’s commitment to good governance, to high environmental standards and to positive engagement on social issues.
Kerogen believes that adherence to ESG principles is a central commercial priority in creating sustainable value for its portfolio of companies and its investors.
The Policy Statement demonstrates to stakeholders the role that the private equity model can play in promoting ESG considerations in the oil and gas industry and the value that can be unlocked through implementing them.
Kerogen is
Facebook’s announced acquisition of WhatsApp for USD16 billion is a simultaneously offensive and defensive move that will send a shiver up the spines of social platforms and telcos worldwide, according to Victor Basta (pictured), managing director of Global M&A advisory firm Magister Advisors…
Under Facebook’s ownership we can expect WhatsApp to ramp even faster, and extend its international reach even more aggressively. With the parallel sale of Viber to Rakuten, this means that two major ‘over the top’ messaging companies have traded hands into much larger players.
The WhatsApp deal is a conquest of another emerging platform by Facebook
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
