Managers
M&A valuations are soaring, with rich valuations and intense competition for many digital or technology-based assets driving global deals activity, according to PwC’s latest Global M&A Industry Trends analysis.
Covering the last six months of 2020, the analysis examines global deals activity and incorporates insights from PwC’s deals industry specialists to identify the key trends driving M&A activity, and anticipated investment hotspots in 2021.
In spite of the uncertainty created by COVID-19, the second half of 2020 saw a surge in M&A activity.
“Covid-19 gave companies a rare glimpse into their future, and many did not like what they saw.
European private debt manager Pemberton has provided financing alongside Partners Group to support CapVest’s acquisition of Inspired Pet Nutrition (IPN), a FMCG pet food company based in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom.
Founded in 1923, IPN has grown into a leading independent pet food company in the United Kingdom, providing premium, natural products at an affordable price point. The company owns two of the top three dry dog food brands in the UK, Harringtons and Wagg, and has a strong private label offering supplying leading pet specialist retailers and grocers.
IPN has an outstanding track record of
Foresight Group (Foresight), an independent infrastructure and private equity investment manager, has made a GBP4.5 million investment in iMist Holdings Limited (iMist), a manufacturer and installer of water mist fire protection systems for homes and residential buildings.
iMist was founded in 2015 by Tony Sims (Managing Director) who has over 20 years’ engineering experience. The Company has developed its own range of high-pressure water mist fire suppression systems, specifically for domestic and larger residential properties. Their proprietary solution offers a number of benefits over traditional fire sprinkler and lower pressure water mist products including more efficient use of water, ease
Christchurch biotechnology company PharmaZen has raised USD14.0 million from an international agri-technology fund to expand its operations amid surging global demand for its nutraceutical products.
Its portfolio of ingredients covers joint, bone, muscle and digestive health, along with marine and bovine collagen and animal nutrition. Many of these value-add ingredients are by-products of the food industry that would otherwise go to waste, improving the efficiency of food production. PharmaZen trades under the name Waitaki Biosciences.
The Cibus Fund, advised by ADM Capital Europe, invests growth capital into sustainably run food and agriculture companies across the globe. The Cibus Fund
British low-alcohol spirits startup CleanCo has raised GBP7 million from existing and new investors including Ursula Burns, board member of Uber and former board member of Diageo, and Stonebridge, a digital-first consumer brand investment firm set up by DTC entrepreneur James Cox.
Shippeo, a specialist in real-time transportation visibility (RTTV), has secured USD32 million in an investment round co-led by Battery Ventures, a global, technology focused investment firm and existing investors (NGP Capital, ETF Partners, Partech and Bpifrance Digital Venture).
Shippeo will use the investment to strengthen its market-leading position and continue delivering on product innovation.
The Covid-19 crisis has highlighted the need for supply-chain visibility, with major shippers across industries needing enhanced transparency more than ever before. With many countries in lockdown and with unpredictable border closures, companies with advanced visibility solutions managed to mitigate transport delays and the associated operational
Pamlico Capital (Pamlico) has made a growth investment in Protera Technologies (Protera), a provider of public cloud-centric application management and migration services for SAP software, as well as other enterprise IT outsourcing services.
CEO Dean Adamopoulos, CTO Patrick Osterhaus, and the management team will maintain significant ownership in Protera and continue to manage the growth of the Company. The partnership with Pamlico will provide Protera with capital and resources to expand its market reach and service offering. Further transaction details were not disclosed.
Founded in 1998, Protera has a differentiated combination of talent, expertise, and technology to deliver unparalleled service
Memsource, an AI-powered translation management system, together with its majority shareholder The Carlyle Group, has acquired Phrase, a leading software localisation platform.
Headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic, Memsource is a translation technology provider that assists global corporations and the language services industry in automating the localisation of large volumes of multilingual content. The company is a leader in AI-powered translation technology, which makes localisation easier, faster, and more cost-effective. Memsource translation software is used by leaders in their respective industries, such as Uber, Zendesk, Supercell, and Vistaprint.
Headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, the Phrase platform provides cloud-based localisation for software,
Ironwood Capital portfolio company, Ironwave Technologies (Ironwave), has purchased a majority interest in Syntonics, a manufacturer and research and development company focused on advanced radio frequency (RF) systems and subsystems such as RF over fibre, Software Defined Radio, Tracking Tagging and Location (TLL) and Expendable Data Exfiltration (EDEX) technologies.
Harness, a platform for software delivery, has raised USD115 million in financing, reaching a valuation of USD1.7 billion in just three years after launching from stealth.
Alkeon Capital led a USD85 million Series C round, along with new investors Battery Ventures, Citi Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, Sorenson Capital, and Thomvest Ventures. The total funding includes a USD30 million Series B-1 funding round, led by existing investors Menlo Ventures, IVP, and Unusual Ventures. With a total of USD195 million in financing to date, Harness will use the funding to grow its world-class engineering team, support global expansion plans, and extend its
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