Managers
Par Equity is celebrating a record-breaking year despite the challenges inflicted by Covid-19 on much of the economy. Par deployed more than GBP17 million of capital – 48 per cent more than last year – into its portfolio companies, which in turn raised a further GBP26 million from third party investors. Specialising in investing in young, high-growth businesses, Par was the “lead investor” for more than 75 per cent of those transactions.
Over the last 13 years, Par has backed some of the most exciting technology companies across the North of the UK. Its Edinburgh-based investment team identifies and backs
Tech-focused investment bank, ICON Corporate Finance, has advised Swindon-headquartered Retrac Group – one of the UK’s advanced manufacturing specialists in the Formula 1, Formula E, aerospace and defence sectors – enabling its employees to acquire the business in an eight-figure deal.
ICON acted as lead adviser to Retrac, enabling the staff to acquire the business through an Employees Ownership Trust. Under the deal, five decades of ownership by the Carter family, has been transferred to the 115-strong workforce, who will be the beneficiaries of the company’s future success.
In a dual announcement, experienced automotive and motorsport executive Dan Walmsley has
Consolis, a European manufacturer of precast construction solutions, has received a binding offer for its French civil works division Bonna Sabla from EIM Capital, a private equity firm focused on the acquisition, transformation and development of companies of tomorrow in need of a new impetus.
The French civil works division Bonna Sabla consists of a portfolio of brands and activities that are leaders in their respective markets, including MPB, ABM, and a funeral business.
This project remains subject to consultation with employees’ representatives. Consolis will continue to own and operate Bonna Sabla until completion of the transaction, which is
LSL has formed a joint venture with Pollen Street Capital (PSC) to establish Pivotal Growth, a vehicle seeking to become a leading mortgage broker powered by market leading technology, first class regulatory compliance and exemplary customer service.
It is planned that at least GBP200 million will be made available by way of equity and debt to fund acquisitions. LSL has committed up to GBP33.5 million and PSC up to GBP62.4 million to support the acquisitions to be made by Pivotal Growth. The investment by LSL and PSC will be supplemented with external debt finance in Pivotal Growth to fund purchases,
O’Melveny has advised client Kayne Partners, the growth equity strategy of Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, on two consecutive healthcare IT exits.
In the first deal, O’Melveny advised Kayne Partners’ portfolio company rfXcel Corporation, a global leader in digital supply chain traceability solutions, in its acquisition by Antares Vision Group. Headquartered in Reno, Nevada, rfXcel provides leading-edge software solutions to help companies build and manage their digital supply chain, lower costs, and protect their products and brand reputation. Antares is an Italy-based global provider of intelligent track & trace, inspection and smart data management solutions for the life science and food
MidCap Financial, a credit solutions firm focused on serving the middle market, has raised more than USD800 million of new equity from a diverse group of global investors that included Apollo clients, including Athene, as well as pensions, sovereign wealth funds and other leading institutions.
Proceeds from the raise will be used to fund business growth and for general corporate purposes. MidCap primarily focuses on senior debt solutions to companies across all industries, and as of 31 December, 2020 has provided management or other services for approximately USD29.8 billion of commitments, of which USD5 billion is managed by MidCap Financial
EQT is pleased to announce that EQT Infrastructure has agreed to acquire First Student and First Transit, two North American subsidiaries of the UK publicly listed company, FirstGroup plc for USD4.6 billion.
Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, First Student and First Transit are market leading providers of essential transportation services to schools and communities in North America.
First Student is the largest student transportation service provider in North America, providing over 900 million student journeys a year to approximately 1,000 school districts. Student transportation is a critical component of the educational ecosystem, with student success metrics and funding directly correlated to
By Steve Phillips, CFO, and Somil Goyal, Investment Lead, at GovGrant – The UK has a rich history of scientific discovery and research. Of the top 100 prescription medicines used around the world today, about 25 per cent were discovered in the UK. The country also has recognised expertise in sectors like AI and machine learning developing around leading universities.
But despite the UK’s strengths, Research & Development (R&D) spending lags many peers and draws attention to the opportunity to invest smarter and benefit from the economic recovery. Government support, eg, through R&D tax credits, is a timely lever to help
The month of March proved to be an extremely successful one for Newable Ventures, the UK’s leading early stage investment network, which deployed circa GBP2 million in six companies to round off a busy financial year, which also saw the group secure GBP10 million from British Business Investment’s Regional Angel Programme.
Closing these six deals in March saw a “record level” of angel participation according to Newable Ventures Director Sanjeev Gordhan who comments: “such strong levels of participation in the early stage investment market bodes well for the Fund and angel network moving forward”.
Among the investments is QLM.
Deep Instinct, the first company to apply end-to-end deep learning, based on the only purpose-built deep learning framework for cybersecurity, has raised USD100 million in Series D funding.
The Deep Instinct platform can predict, prevent, and analyse cyberattacks at any touchpoint of the organisation from the endpoint through to the network. This round was led by funds and accounts managed from BlackRock, with participation from Untitled Investments, The Tudor Group, an investment by Anne Wojcicki, and existing investors, including Millennium, Unbound, and Coatue Management, among others. This new capital doubles the investment to date, bringing the total funding to
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
