Managers
Forward Partners, a London-based venture capital firm, is to to seek admission of its shares to trading on AIM, a market of the London Stock Exchange (Admission).
Founded in 2013, Forward Partners is a well-established and respected London-based venture capital firm, specialising in supporting high growth, early-stage technology businesses. It brings together venture capital provider Forward Ventures, equity-free revenue-based financing through Forward Advances and highly specialised growth support from Forward Studio. This model supports founders to build stronger businesses and meet strategic goals faster – ultimately aiming to provide better outcomes for companies and investors alike.
Becoming a public company
The European private equity industry rebounded strongly in the 12 months to 30 June 2021 following the initial shock of Covid-induced lockdowns, according to the first provisional half-yearly data announcement from CMBOR, the Centre for Private Equity and MBO Research, since its re-establishment within Nottingham University Business School last month with support from Equistone Partners Europe.
CMBOR’s latest report has found that the volume of private-equity-backed acquisitions in Europe fell to its joint-lowest level since mid-2009 during the first wave of the pandemic. But after just 102 transactions were completed in Q2 2020, the industry quickly recovered to pre-Covid activity
Arma Partners has acted as exclusive financial advisor to Summa Equity on its acquisition of a majority stake in myneva, a European software provider for the social care sector, from BID Equity.
Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Hamburg, myneva offers dedicated SaaS solutions across the elderly, disabled, social and youth care sectors, helping care providers digitise their workflows, better manage increased demand for care and respond to evolving patient needs. myneva was formed through the merger of the Regas Group, Heimbas and Daarwin and the subsequent acquisition of six established and independent software specialists. Since then, the company has
The International Stock Exchange (TISE) has launched a new market segment, TISE Sustainable, and joined the United Nations’ Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative (UN SSE).
With sustainable finance gathering momentum, TISE is seeking to play a greater role in facilitating the financing of a sustainable future. TISE has established the new segment as a comprehensive and reputable enabler for increased capital allocation towards environmental, social or sustainable activities, while committing to promoting sustainability performance and transparency in the capital markets as part of becoming a Partner Exchange of the UN SSE.
Cees Vermaas, CEO of TISE, says: “TISE is committed
Global investment solutions provider Russell Investments has launched its second Private Markets Fund focusing on a growth strategy, following the successful closing of Russell Investments Private Markets Fund 2019 last year, which raised USD185 million.
Utilising Russell Investments’ open-architecture structure and fund selection capabilities, Private Markets Fund 2021 LLC will seek to provide UK professional investors including wealth managers, family offices, insurance companies and pension funds with opportunistic exposure to attractive private markets segments, predominantly in the US and Europe.
The Fund will be comprised of up to twenty “best-of-breed” opportunities across a range of private markets segments, each with
Project A co-invests in Perfect Drive Sports Group (PDSG), Europe’s largest eCommerce company for golf equipment.
PDSG consolidates two brands under one roof – Clubhouse Golf in the UK and All4Golf in Germany. The group is the leading online retailer of golf equipment in the UK and the German-speaking region.
Project A’s involvement in PDSG is a private equity co-investment, made in collaboration with Bregal Unternehmerkapital, which acquired a majority of PDSG earlier this year.
Ben Fischer, General Partner at Project A, states: “The Perfect Drive Sport Group has shown strong growth in the highly fragmented European market for golf
A new report from Invest Europe, an association representing Europe’s private equity, venture capital and infrastructure sectors, as well as their investors, shows that European private equity strongly outperformed listed equity benchmarks to the end of 2020, underlining the industry’s resilience during the Covid-19 crisis and its consistent ability to support the long-term investors that guarantee the pensions and savings of European citizens.
The Performance of European Private Equity Benchmark Report 2020, a transparent study of private equity returns, tracks Buy-Out, Growth Capital and Venture Capital funds over more than three decades to create a comprehensive picture of industry performance.
EXCEL Esports (EXCEL), a leading British esports franchise competing in League of Legends, Fortnite and VALORANT, has secured EUR20 million (GBP17 million) in new equity capital.
This financing round was led by investment firm JRJ Group which first acquired a majority shareholding in 2018 alongside TOMS Capital LLC, the family office of Noam Gottesman. Amongst the new investors joining them are IPGL Ltd, the family office of Michael Spencer; the family office of Alan Howard; and the international private equity firm TNF Investments.
EXCEL has rapidly grown into a top name in competitive gaming, most notably as a founding partner
StepEx, the only FCA-regulated fintech startup that provides affordable student finance based on future earnings rather than debt, has raised GBP1.1 million in pre-seed funding.
This follows an earlier angel investment of GBP270,000. Backed by BBVA Anthemis Venture Partnership, Triple Point Ventures, and prominent angel investors — including renowned fintech investor Chris Adelsbach — the money will primarily fund further development of the company’s machine learning model and user platform, as well as expansion of the senior team.
Only two per cent of the population can afford to take on the cost of pursuing a top postgraduate qualification. StepEx aims to widen
Certain funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management are to acquire a majority stake in Reno De Medici SpA (RDM), a leading producer of recycled cartonboard in Europe.
Apollo Funds will acquire approximately 67 per cent equity ownership in RDM from the Company’s top two shareholders, Cascades Inc. (TSX: CAS) and Caisse de dépot et placement du Québec for EUR1.45 per share (with no adjustments, save as further detailed below), representing a 24 per cent premium to the 90-day volume weighted average share price. The closing of the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions as further detailed
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm