Managers
Macfarlanes has advised private equity firm Epiris on the completion of the sale of TI Media, the large UK publisher previously known as Time Inc UK, to Bath-based media company Future.TI Media owns a diverse portfolio of publications including Ideal Home, Wallpaper and Horse & Hound, and sells over 350 million magazines every year.
Macfarlanes also advised Epiris on the purchase of TI Media from Meredith Corporation in February 2018. Since the purchase, Epiris has refocused the business, selling several titles and its portfolio of comics. This will be the first significant realisation of Epiris Fund II.
The Macfarlanes
TigerRisk Partners, a risk, capital and strategic adviser to the global insurance and reinsurance industry, has partnered with private equity firm Flexpoint Ford to enhance its ability to assist clients as well as provide additional capital and expertise in the current unprecedented market environment.TigerRisk’s management team, including CEO and co-founder Rod Fox, and president Rob Bredahl, will remain in their current roles. Current employees will remain significant shareholders in the company.
“Our partnership with Flexpoint Ford will provide us with the added resources to help our clients navigate this difficult period, capitalise on a dynamic competitive landscape and continue our
Alternative investment specialist, Aquila Capital, has secured further capital commitments for its infrastructure fund, ACIF. The fund’s volume now exceeds EUR200 million. The defensive fund, with a focus on Core and Core+ investments in OECD countries, achieved a further net growth of 9.5 per cent for the full year 2019. Since the fund’s launch, the ACIF has posted positive performance in each quarter, thereby avoiding the so-called ‘J-curve’.
The performance of the fund is mainly driven by positive financial contributions through direct and co-investments, appreciations as well as dividends from the target funds. The portfolio currently consists of more than 180
Global private equity secondary deal flow could fall by as much as 40 to 50 per cent this year, compared to 2019, as the repercussions of coronavirus play out over the next few quarters. But for those operating in the lower middle-market, discounted opportunities could be highly attractive.
Last year, transaction volumes exceeded USD85 billion, a jump of 7.2 per cent on 2018. But those numbers are going to look markedly different come the end of 2020, as the expected number of completed transactions fall over valuation gap fears.
Across the PE secondary landscape, it is possible that overall deal
European bolt-on activity grew rapidly in Q1 accounting for 63.4 per cent of deal volume – a new Q1 decade peak – as the Covid-19 effect has yet to show up in later quarters this year.
Private equity deal activity reached a new first quarter peak in Q1 2020, at 1,025 deals for a total of EUR132.9 billion— a year on year increase of 6.2 per cent and 40.4 per cent respectively, according to new data released by PitchBook in its latest Q1 European Private Equity Breakdown report.
We are yet to see a pandemic related slowdown in the remaining
Mid-market private equity firm Stirling Square Capital Partners has acquired Assistansbolaget Försäkring Sverige, a B2C roadside assistance provider.
The acquisition is the third platform investment in Stirling Square’s Fourth Fund, which closed at EUR950 million in January and focuses on the European mid-market. Founded by Stefano Bonfiglio and Gregorio Napoleone, Stirling Square’s portfolio includes Logent, Verescence and Vernet.
Assistansbolaget contracts directly with over 350,000 customers in an annual subscription-fee model to provide drivers with RSA services across Europe. It is a tech- and data-driven innovator operating in a stable and mature industry, the company said.
Founded in 2015, Assistansbolaget has
UK private equity house Maven Capital Partners has completed a GBP2.5 investment in Precursive, a maker of business management software. This investment by Maven will allow Precursive to pursue an ambitious growth strategy in both the UK and USA, including funding further product development and expanding its sales and marketing teams.
Founded in 2011, Precursive is a strategic partner of Salesforce, the world’s largest provider of customer relationship management software. The company helps businesses in the agency, consulting, technology, and professional services sectors operate more efficiently by automating processes such as resource management, project planning, accounting, forecasting, reporting, and client onboarding.
Private equity firm Foresight Group has sold the UK’s largest independent online retailer of golf equipment, Clubhouse Golf, to European ecommerce business, all4golf.Clubhouse has found a strong strategic partner in all4golf, and together they will look to become the pan-European market leader for golf equipment.
This represents the first exit for the GBP58 million Foresight Regional Investment fund, which supports small businesses in the North West of England and North Wales and which, since launch in 2016, has invested in 15 companies to date.
Since the fund made its original investment in February 2017, Clubhouse has more than doubled its
Private equity firm Sorfam Capital has acquired an American boatbuilding company, Century Boats, for an undisclosed amount. Sorfam purchased Century Boats’ parent company, All Craft Marine, and will continue operations at its headquarters in Zephyrhills, located just north of Tampa. Sorfam and All Craft Marine were both represented by Anchors Aweigh Capital, a boutique investment banking and consulting firm focused exclusively on the maritime industry.
Century Boats will now be led by president and CEO, Lloyd R ‘Skip’ Sorenson, who is also Sorfam’s managing partner and a fourth-generation shipbuilder who has been involved in a multitude of merger and acquisition transactions
Regionall focussed specialist asset manager Mercia Asset Management PLC (AIM: MERC), the proactive, regionally focused specialist asset manager, is pleased to announce that the British Business Bank (BBB) has allocated an additional GBP54.3 million to regionally focused specialist asset manager Mercia’s two existing investment mandates from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF).This takes Mercia’s total mandates from BBB to GBP186.3million and the Group’s total assets under management (AUM) to cGBP800million.
Mercia was first awarded investment mandates from NPIF in February 2017 across two funds; the GBP57.5million NPIF YHTV Equity fund and the GBP51.0million NPIF Y&H Debt fund. Since then, Mercia
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
