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Palatine Private Equity has exchanged contracts for the sale of national independent financial adviser Wren Sterling to the management team supported by investment funds affiliated with Lightyear Capital LLC (Lightyear), which is making a majority investment in the firm.
Wren Sterling was created in 2015 through the Palatine-backed management buyout of Towergate Financial. Over the subsequent six years, Palatine’s investment has driven strong growth at the firm, growing its assets under management significantly to GBP4.6 billion and achieving a substantial increase in profitability.
Drawing on Palatine’s expertise in successful buy and build strategies, Wren Sterling has completed eight bolt-on acquisitions
Capstar Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm, has closed its inaugural Fund I with USD41.3 million in capital commitments.
Founded by Kathryn Cavanaugh in 2019, Capstar Ventures invests nationwide in innovative consumer companies. The USD41.3 million was raised from an experienced group of individuals, family offices, and institutions including Capital Creek Partners, Tiger Partners, and JPMorgan. Capstar Ventures is the first fund to close as part of JPMorgan Asset Management’s Project Spark—a new initiative in which JPMorgan invests balance sheet capital in diverse, emerging alternatives fund managers, including minority-led and women-led venture capital funds.
“Kathryn embodies the type of fund
Bright Spaces has raised EUR1.5 million in a seed funding round led by French VC Axeleo Capital, with participation from Pi Labs, Sparking Capital, Growceanu and a group of international angels.
Bright Spaces’ solution allows future tenants to visualise and interact digitally with an office space in 3D, discover its main tech specs, surroundings, main points of interest as well as to request an offer or book a live tour. On the other hand, landlords benefit from an integrated, easy-to-use Admin Panel that provides data on closed deals, vacancy, potential customers and their specific requirements (desired parking spaces, storage etc)
Bridgepoint has seen its share price rise to 440 pence on the London Stock Exchange today (21 July), a 26 per cent increase on the 350 pence per share set for its IPO, during Wednesday morning trading.
Based on the offer price, Bridgepoint’s total market capitalisation at the start of dealings on the main market of the London Stock Exchange was close to GBP2,881 million.
The private equity firm’s shares – whose investments include UK restaurant chain Itsu, Burger King’s France and UK branches and Wiggle – quickly rose 21 per cent during early trading hours and have continued
Female wellness brand her1 has closed a Series A investment of EUR5.5 million, led by leading FoodTech investor Five Seasons Ventures.
The direct-to-consumer company provides natural and plant-based products to boost gut health and aid women’s health and beauty from within. The latest investment will enable the company to grow in the European market, develop new products for different life stages, and expand the team.
Previous seed investors in her1, Rheingau Founders and IBB Ventures have also reinvested in the company’s Series A. To date, her1 has raised EUR9M in funding. In the past year, the company has grown by
CAPZA, an independent management company and leading player in private investments in European SMEs, has invested in the NORCAN Group, a European specialist in modular solutions based on aluminium profiles and the French leader in autonomous mobile robots for industry via its subsidiary Sherpa Mobile Robotics (SMR).
CAPZA’s investment in NORCAN is made through its CAPZA Transition fund, alongside management and the Group’s historical shareholders: Bpifrance and Capital Grand Est.
Based in Haguenau (in the French region of Bas-Rhin), NORCAN is one of the European leaders in customised modular equipment designed to secure and improve the performance of working environments,
Yapily, an open banking infrastructure provider, has held the first closing of its USD51m Series B funding round (second closing subject to regulatory approvals), taking its total investment to date to USD69 million.
The company will use the funding to expand across Europe, extending open banking to cover 95 per cent of the continent by the end of the year; and will continue to invest in its market-leading infrastructure to pave the way for open finance, creating financial inclusion for all.
The investment is led by Sapphire Ventures, a leading venture capital firm that partners with visionary teams and
An affiliate of Sun Capital Partners (Sun Capital) has completed the acquisition of Environmental Infrastructure Solutions (EIS), a provider of mission-critical environmental and infrastructure services, including abatement, decontamination and remediation, from O2 Investment Partners. Terms of the private transaction have not been disclosed.
Founded in 2018 via the combination of five leading environmental services firms and headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, with more than 750 employees and 24 offices, EIS provides federally-mandated services to over 1,400 customers across the US, making spaces safe from environmental and structural hazards. EIS clients include leading private and public sector institutions, across a variety
After having acquired French-based AxPharma and US-based DS InPharmatics, PLG has continued teh expansion of its international footprint with the acquisition of ELC.
Summa Equity Fund II (Summa) has acquired a majority stake in G-CON, a leading US-based manufacturer of prefabricated cleanrooms used for manufacturing within the pharmaceuticals industry.
G-CON designs, builds and installs turnkey cGMP (Current Good Manufacturing Practice) compliant suites called PODs, for a global biopharma customer base focused on biologics, pharma, CDMO (contract development and manufacturing), and cell and gene therapy manufacturing.
Founded in 2009 in College Station, Texas, G -CON has developed a unique prefabricated cleanroom solution, which differs from traditional cleanroom facility structures due to the ease of scalability, mobility, and the ability to repurpose the PODs once
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