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The recent IPO of online building products retailer CMO Group PLC rounded off a busy and productive 12 months for private equity firm Key Capital Partners(KCP). The flotation represented the firm’s third high-value exit in the last 12 months; coming hot on the heels of the sale of nursing business Routes Healthcare (North) to Palatine Private Equity in June and IT training and consultancy firm Sparta Global to Inflexion in October.
In aggregate, the three exits delivered total proceeds of GBP96 million to the firm’s eighth fund; a combined money multiple of 5.8-times KCP’s total investment in the three deals.
Global investment firm Carlyle (NASDAQ: CG) has acquired LiveU, a specialist in live video streaming and remote production solutions, from Francisco Partners, a global investment firm that specialises in partnering with technology businesses.
Details of the transaction, which is subject to regulatory approvals, have not been disclosed.
Founded in 2006, LiveU is the pioneer of a bonded cellular technology-based live video transmission platform, offered to major live broadcast news networks and sports content owners globally. LiveU’s technology enables customers to apply innovation and automation to the entire production workflow. LiveU provides an end-to-end solution combining mission-critical acquisition, cloud production
Vantage Health has been acquired by Northgate Public Services (NPS), a leading software and services provider to the public sector in the UK and a wholly owned subsidiary of NEC Corporation.
NPS has a market leading screening software for diabetes and hearing. It has helped to screen 10 million babies for the Newborn Hearing Screening Program in England and Northern Ireland, tested 500,000 patients with diabetes for retina damage and supports a number of medical registries such as the National Joint Registry (NJR), the largest orthopaedics registry in the world, and the international spinal registry platform, Spine Tango to help
Law firm Stephenson Harwood LLP has strengthened its private equity capabilities with the appointment of Sarah de Ste Croix as partner in its London office.
De Ste Croix specialises in the establishment and operation of closed-ended investment funds. She has 15 years’ experience advising both sponsors and cornerstone investors across the full life-cycle of closed ended investment funds. De Ste Croix specialises in fund formation, GP-led secondaries, LP portfolio sales and complex fund-related transactions, including GP removals.
“We’re witnessing record levels of activity, not only private equity transactions but also fund raisings and secondary transactions,” says Jonathan Pittal, head
EQT’s EQT Exeter Europe Logistics Value Fund IV has held its final close at its hard cap of EUR2.1 billion in fee-paying assets under management.
Demand from both existing and new investors was exceptional resulting in the Fund being significantly oversubscribed with commitments coming from a diversified group of high-quality investors across North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
The fund will pursue a value-add strategy to acquire, develop, redevelop, lease, operate and sell supply chain and e-commerce focused big box warehouse, last mile and light industrial properties serving major markets throughout Europe. EQT Exeter has employed similar value-add
HIG WhiteHorse, the credit affiliate of HIG Capital (HIG), has closed its latest direct lending strategy, HIG WhiteHorse Direct Lending Fund – 2020.
The fund closed with aggregate capital commitments of approximately USD1.65 billion, well exceeding its target. The Fund will continue HIG’s successful investment strategy of originating tailored senior secured financing solutions to primarily non-sponsor owned companies in the US.
Sami Mnaymneh and Tony Tamer, Co-CEOs of HIG, says: “We are delighted with the success of HIG WhiteHorse. The strong response from our investors reflects their confidence in the capability of our team and our differentiated strategy.”
Stuart Aronson, Head
Funds managed by Lindsay Goldberg, a private investment firm that focuses on partnering with families, are to sell Big Ass Fans, a specialist in high volume, low speed and connected fan categories, to Madison Industries’ Indoor Air Quality vertical (Madison IAQ).
Financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
Big Ass Fans provides branded air flow solutions that drive energy efficiency, thermal comfort and workplace safety and productivity. Serving the industrial, commercial and residential markets, the Company’s products are sold in over 150 countries, and its blue-chip customer base includes more than 80 per cent of companies listed
Klar, a leading digital financial services platform providing a transparent, free and secure alternative to traditional debit and credit services in Mexico, has closed its Series B funding round, subject to applicable regulatory approvals, including clearance of the Mexican Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV) and the Mexican Economic Competition Commission (COFECE).
General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm, led the round with participation from existing investors Prosus Ventures, Quona Capital, Mouro Capital, International Finance Corporation and WTI. The funding will be used to strengthen Klar’s efforts to broaden access to consumer credit as Mexico’s transition to a digital economy
The number of first-time funding rounds into UK seed-stage startups declined for a second consecutive year in 2020, to 36 per cent below the 2018 peak for such deals, according to new research commissioned by SFC Capital.
The data also points to reductions both to the amount of money available for first-time rounds and the number of funds equipped to make such investments. SFC Capital is therefore calling for urgent action to reinvigorate seed-stage investment and secure the future of the next generation of companies that will drive the UK Government’s “levelling up” and “science superpower” economic agendas.
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Kester Capital, a primary buyout specialist, has made two further additions to its investment team – Thomas Holroyd joins as Principal and Rob Henderson as Vice President.
Holroyd brings a wealth of prior investment experience having spent seven years working in private equity for Vitruvian Partners and Chiltern Capital as well as a number of years at mid-market advisory firm, Arrowpoint Advisory (previously Livingstone Partners). Holtoyd began his career at PwC, where he qualified as an accountant.
Henderson has spent the last six years in private equity and venture capital with Albion Capital and Root Capital. Prior to that,
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