Managers
Verdant Leisure has acquired ts ninth leisure park. Queensberry Bay Holiday Park & Spa, on the Dumfries and Galloway coastline in south west Scotland is the fifth holiday park purchase in the last 28 months for the bespoke leisure park operator.
The purchase brings Verdant Leisure’s portfolio to nine parks across southern Scotland and north east England and marks the fifth bolt-on since the company was backed by Palatine Private Equity in April 2016. This deal will continue the company’s growth strategy to create a strong regional group with significant scale, and Verdant Leisure remains keen to add further parks
Seasoned private equity executives Jeremy Hand, Simon Hitchcock, Luke Kingston, Adam Lewis and Martin Squier have launched a new private equity firm, Horizon Capital a sector-focused investor, targeting Technology and Business Service deals.
The new firm will make equity investments of between GBP10 – GBP50 million in high growth businesses with a particular focus on creating value through buy-and-build strategies.
Horizon last week closed on a new fund, Horizon 2018 – a seven-year investment vehicle which secured GBP200 million of commitments from a group of blue-chip institutional investors led by Pantheon and Idinvest Partners alongside other investors including Lombard Odier,
Foresight Group has, via the Foresight Williams Technology EIS Fund, made a GBP1.7 million investment into FreeFlow Technologies Limited (FreeFlow).
FreeFlow is developing a patented e-bike system technology that promises to be lightweight and compact, providing a higher power density than existing solutions. The Company’s novel design will improve the ride experience and bike aesthetics as it can be packaged within the bicycle frame. The company has additionally developed an innovative mechanical transmission system for fixed wheel bikes that allows the rider to freewheel, whilst retaining the smooth ride quality of fixed wheel.
As part of the investment, Martin McCourt,
Private capital adviser Campbell Lutyens’ US team has advised on USD18 billion in fundraisings and secondary transactions for US clients since 2017.
Campbell Lutyens’ fund placement team has completed fundraisings for leading US private equity, infrastructure and private debt managers in the past 18 months. In mid-market private equity, Campbell Lutyens acted as exclusive global placement agent for Webster Capital and advisor for Gauge Capital on their successful final closes of USD875 million and USD500 million, respectively.
The firm acted as global placement agent for Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners’ third fund, which closed at USD7.2 billion, the largest North American-focused
Middle market private equity firm One Equity Partners (OEP) has entered into an agreement to acquire Orion Business Innovation (Orion), a fast-growing global digital transformation firm.
Financial terms of the private transaction have not been disclosed.
Headquartered in Edison, NJ and New York, Orion provides digital transformation and automation services to large enterprise customers across the financial and professional services, communications, media, professional sports, entertainment, education and healthcare industries. Orion has approximately 1,700 employees in 11 offices worldwide that are organised around serving four key areas of its customers’ needs: business transformation and automation, big data and analytics, cloud solutions
GP Bullhound has acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Namics, a specialist in digital transformation in Switzerland and Germany, on its sale to Merkle.
Namics provides further scale and depth to Merkle’s people-based marketing capabilities, in particular in the areas of business transformation strategy, digital consulting and technology implementation across Adobe Experience Cloud, Sitecore, Salesforce, SAP and other technology partners. The acquisition by Merkle is subject to the German Federal Cartel Office’s clearance.
Founded in 1995, Namics employs more than 550 people and is a leading full-service digital agency in Switzerland and Germany. Namics is a one-stop shop for strategic
Innovative staffing app, ROTA, has closed its latest funding round with an additional GBP1.8 million in investment.
Headquartered in London, the tech focused firm has revolutionised recruitment processes, through the supply of high-quality staff to leading venues in five major cities across the UK.
This latest funding round saw ROTA secure additional capital from current investors, many from the VC community, together with new investment from several High Net Worth individuals.
The GBP1.8 Million raised will enable the firm to expand its UK footprint and extend its existing service offering, whilst advancing current technologies.
A key focus will be the
TrustedHousesitters, a house and pet sitting platform, has secured a significant investment from private equity firm Rockpool Investments.
Founded by Andy Peck and Rachel Martin in 2010, TrustedHousesitters is the world’s largest house and pet sitting community operating in over 130 countries. Since launch, the platform has facilitated more than two million nights of house sitting, saving its members over GBP170 million in accommodation and pet care costs.
The pet services industry, which is estimated to be worth USD180 billion globally, is experiencing unprecedented growth. Tim Lyons, Managing Director at TrustedHousesitters says: “This is an exciting development in the
UK Private equity house Maven Capital Partners (Maven) has led the management buyout (MBO) of Acton Banks Limited (Acton Banks), a UK healthcare staffing business.
The transaction is Maven’s third investment from its buyout fund, having earlier this year led an investment in Manchester-based hardware designer and supplier UAP Limited and Glasgow-based John McGavigan Limited, a leader in decorative technology used in the automotive sector.
The transaction, which includes an investment of £9.65 million from Maven and a significant investment from the senior management team, will enable Acton Banks to continue to roll-out its highly efficient operating model, further
London-based babble cloud holdings limited, a UK provider of cloud-based communications technology, is strengthening its portfolio and doubling its industry footprint by acquiring Birmingham-based Arden Group for an undisclosed sum.
The deal will add strength in mobile and IT managed services to babble’s existing market-leadership in Unified Communication (UCaaS) and cloud-based Contact Centre solutions (CCaaS). It will also double babble’s revenue to nearly GBP20m and create a combined customer base of more than 1,200 customers.
The business has been backed by leading mid-market private equity firm LDC since October 2017 and this is the second acquisition babble has made this
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
