Managers
DWS has held the first close of its new closed-ended European Direct Lending fund with commitments of more than EUR350 million from investors across Europe and Asia.
The fund is expected to be a third invested at first close and is targeting a final close of EUR500-700 million by the end of 2019.
DWS currently manages more than EUR130 billion across investment grade, hybrid, high yield and bank loan strategies. The Fund will co-invest alongside Buetsche Bank’s European Direct Lending business to senior European mid-market private loans. This will provide investors with access to Deutsche Bank’s pan-European network.
Resonance British Wind Energy Income II, an authorised, close-ended investment fund focused on the wind farm sector in the UK and Ireland, has been launched as a Guernsey Green Fund.
The fund is Resonance Asset Management’s third Guernsey fund, with the firm having previously launched a similar UK onshore wind fund as well as a fund focused on industrial water treatment, waste to energy and resource recovery infrastructure projects.
Resonance Asset Management is an alternative asset management firm focused on originating, distributing and managing real asset investment funds for institutional investors. It focuses on assets in growing and changing
Lovell Minnick Partners, a private equity firm focused on investments in the global financial services industry, has completed the acquisition of Billhighway, a provider of integrated software and payments solutions to membership-based organisations (MBOs).
Financial terms of the private transaction have not been disclosed.
Headquartered in Troy, Michigan, Billhighway provides SaaS-based accounting and transaction processing services to MBOs such as fraternities, sororities, unions and associations. MBOs use the Company’s technology suite for accounting, reconciliation and reporting while leveraging a full suite of electronic bill payment and presentment solutions. Billhighway improves the members’ experience while automating back-office functions and enhancing cash
Private investment firm KKR has acquired a majority stake in Hyperoptic Ltd, the UK’s largest residential gigabit broadband provider, from funds managed by Newlight Partners (Newlight) and Mubadala Investment Company.
Financial details of the transaction have not been disclosed.
Hyperoptic will continue to be led by Chief Executive Officer Dana Tobak, CBE and Executive Chairman Boris Ivanovic. Founded in 2011, Hyperoptic benefits from a full fibre network covering 43 towns and cities across the UK, with gigabit broadband services passing almost 400,000 homes and businesses.
Tobak says: “We are incredibly grateful to Newlight and Mubadala for their unwavering
Mogrify, a UK company aiming to transform the development of life-saving cell therapies, has held the initial close of its Series A funding round at USD16 million bringing the total investment to over USD20 million USD to date.
The funding will support internal cell therapy programs, and the development and out-license of novel IP relating to cell conversions of broad therapeutic interest. Mogrify is also actively recruiting, and will increase headcount to 60 scientific, operational and commercial staff located at its state-of-the-art facility on Cambridge Science Park.
The funding round was led by existing investor Ahren Innovation Capital (Ahren),
Hiro Capital has launched a EUR100 million venture capital fund, to back the future UK and EU specialists in the global games, e-sports and digital sports sectors.
The partners will use the fund to accelerate the growth of about 20 UK and European Games and Sports innovators.
Hiro Capital will generally invest at the post-seed stage, at Series A and B. The fund will back deep technology entrepreneurs and creative studios in Games, Esports and Digital Sports and in sector-specific applications of Cloud, Mobile, Streaming, Big Data, AI, Wearables, AR and VR technologies.
By covering all three sectors of
NorthEdge Capital has completed the acquisition of UK independent video game company Catalis Group in a deal that values the business at GBP90 million.
NorthEdge has invested GBP46.6 million through its acquisition vehicle Project Sword Bidco, whilst Vespa Capital, which has been a shareholder in Catalis since 2014, and CEO Dominic Wheatley have reinvested the majority of their shareholdings in Catalis as part of the transaction.
Catalis, which has been led by CEO Dominic Wheatley since 2012, provides a range of services into the high growth, global video games market through two divisions: Curve Digital; and Testronic. Curve is
BGF has successfully exited its investment in landscaping and grounds maintenance company, TCL Group. TCL has been acquired by idverde to create the UK’s largest provider of outdoor green services.
BGF first invested in TCL Group in May 2014 to exit an existing shareholder and provide funding for the acquisition of Burleys. As a minority equity partner, BGF has provided total investment of more than GBP16 million to the group, which now has regional hubs in Derby, Northampton, Dorking and Wiltshire.
Led by Executive Chairman Simon Cashmore, TCL has completed seven acquisitions since BGF’s investment, growing its UK presence
MUFG Investor Services, a global asset servicing arm of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), is to acquire select divisions of the fund administration business of Maitland, a privately owned global advisory, administration and family office firm.
Maitland personnel will join MUFG Investor Services offices in the Cayman Islands, Halifax, and Dublin.
When completed, the acquisition will add approximately USD20 billion in assets under administration (AUA) to MUFG Investor Services, bringing the total AUA to over USD600 billion and expanding the firm’s market share in major markets. The assets consist of hedge funds and private equity funds.
Additionally, new
Storm clouds are building on Europe’s M&A horizon, as record high valuations and rising economic macro risks sow seeds of caution among corporates.
As highlighted in a recent white paper by CMS, a full service global law firm, entitled “Storms brewing: European M&A Outlook 2019”, European M&A value over the last 12 months (Q3 2018 to Q2 2019) is down 22 per cent year-on-year to EUR652.2 billion. Only 27 per cent of respondents surveyed by CMS expect the level of M&A activity in Europe to increase over the next 12 months, compared to 65 per cent last year.
But against
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12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
