Managers
Westbridge Capital has held the final close of WestBridge II (the Fund) having raised GBP140 million in fund commitments and associated earmarked co-investment monies.
The fund, which had a GBP100 million hard cap, was oversubscribed. Commitments were made by existing and new institutional investors and WestBridge’s industrialist Strategic Investor Group.
WestBridge II will typically invest between GBP10 million and GBP20 million in established, profitable and ambitious UK SMEs with enterprise values of between GBP15 million and GBP40 million. The fund is expected to invest in 10 to 12 companies.
Over the past nine months, WestBridge II has completed three
Northleaf Capital Partners’ (Northleaf) has held the final closing of the Northleaf Venture Catalyst Fund II (NVCF II) at its hard cap of USD300 million.
NVCF II is Northleaf’s third Canadian venture capital fund and forms part of the Government of Canada’s Venture Capital Catalyst Initiative.
In addition to initial capital commitments received in December 2018 from BDC Capital, the investment arm of the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), Sun Life and TD Bank Group, NVCF II received new commitments from Manulife, BMO Capital Partners, clients of BMO Private Bank Asia and other high net worth and
Private equity investor Mid Europa Partners (Mid Europa) is to sell Knjaz Miloš, a producer of mineral water and non-alcoholic beverages in Serbia and the surrounding region, to a joint venture between Karlovarské Minerální Vody (KMV) and PepsiCo.
The transaction is subject to customary competition authority clearance and is expected to close in Q3 2019.
Mid Europa acquired Knjaz Miloš together with Imlek and Bambi, the leading regional dairy and confectionery players, respectively, forming the consumer group – Moji Brendovi, in 2015. Following the acquisition and the appointment of a new management team, Knjaz Miloš, already a leading producer of
Groovy UK Limited (Groovy), a wholesale and giftware business, has received a GBP250,000 loan facility from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF), managed by Maven Capital Partners.
The business is a developer, wholesaler and distributer of giftware products and will use the funding to accelerate the company’s growth plans and invest in its product portfolio and licensing agreements.
Groovy sources and designs hard-to-get giftware products and supply them to major high street and online retailers. With experience in both designing and manufacturing a mix of original products, Groovy’s clients include the likes of Argos and Harrods. The company’s in-house design
DMC, a B2B print and document service provider backed by Horizon Capital, has acquired United Carlton, a customer-centric reseller of managed print services.
DMC has long held a strong position in Southern England following the acquisition of Canotec, BCL and First Office. This latest acquisition provides the group with a much stronger presence in the North of the UK. United Carlton has spent 30 years developing strong relationships with clients from its three offices in Gateshead, York and Warrington. The combined business will employ 250 staff supporting 4,500 customers.
DMC CEO, Simon Davey, says: “We agreed a clear acquisition strategy with
High Road Capital Partners has completed the acquisition of John Henry Foster Minnesota, marking the tenth platform acquisition for High Road Capital Partners Fund II.
Founded in 1938, John Henry Foster Minnesota (JHFoster) is a leading value-added distributor of motion control parts and accessories, compressed air systems, collaborative robots, industrial robotics, and electrical automation products to manufacturers in the Upper Midwest. The company is headquartered in Eagan, Minnesota.
JHFoster partners with premium suppliers to provide a wide product offering to customers across a diverse array of end markets, including industrial, food and beverage, healthcare, and consumer goods. The company
Foresight Group (Foresight) is to acquire the advisory mandate for John Laing Environmental Assets Group Limited (JLEN) from John Laing Capital Management (JLCM). The transaction, which will complete at the end of June, brings Foresight’s assets under management to GBP4 billion.
JLEN has a portfolio of 28 operational assets across a wide range of renewable generation, wastewater and waste management activities located in the UK and Europe. JLEN has a Gross Asset Value of GBP764 million and was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2014.
The Fund will further strengthen Foresight’s position as a leading renewables energy infrastructure asset
Lawyers from Carey Olsen’s corporate team in Guernsey have advised AnaCap Financial Partners (AnaCap), a specialist European financial services private equity firm on its acquisition of a majority stake in SundhedsGruppen A/S (SundhedsGruppen), which consists of Dansk Sundhedssikring AS, an independent Danish private health insurance provider, and PrimaCare A/S a provider of healthcare networks.
SundhedsGruppen provides health insurance and claims management services to clients’ employees and has built a market-leading technological infrastructure that also white labels to other providers in adjunct insurance areas.
The business currently provides insurance cover for approximately 250,000 individuals in Denmark, through a client list comprising
Libertine FPE Ltd, a Sheffield-based company which is developing ‘smart engines’ for electric vehicles, has raised a further GBP770,000 investment.
The latest funding round was led by NPIF – Mercia Equity Finance, which is managed by Mercia Fund Managers and is part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF), and included investment from Envestors and ShadowFoundr as well as several existing shareholders including Sir Robin Saxby. It will remain open to new investors until the end of June and brings the total raised by the company to over GBP4.8 million.
The new capital will enable the company to build
Leep Utilities (Leep) has completed its purchase of SSE Water, the New Appointments and Variations (NAV) company, from SSE plc.
The acquisition covers SSE’s water and sewerage networks and makes Leep the largest UK operator in the New Appointments (NAV) market and gives the business over 20,000 new customers across 28 sites in southern England and Wales.
As part of the transaction, Leep welcomes to its team six members of staff with over 130 years’ combined industry experience.
Leep Utilities is backed by Ancala Partners (Ancala), a mid-market infrastructure investment manager, and the Peel Group (“Peel”), one of the UK’s
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
