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BGF has exited its investment in Setfords, a tech-enabled legal services provider, following its acquisition by private equity firm, Phoenix Equity Partners.
Setfords, an award-winning top 200 law firm based in Guildford, Surrey, was set up to disrupt the legal services sector with its consultancy network model, which brings together independent lawyers under a unified brand. The company was founded by Chris Setford and Guy Setford in 2006 and has since expanded rapidly, delivering 50 per cent compound annual revenue growth over the past 11 years.
BGF invested GBP3.75 million of growth capital into Setfords in 2016, to support
Asia Partners, a Singapore-based growth equity investment firm, has held the final close of its inaugural fund, Asia Partners I LP, at USD384,000,000 in commitments.
The Fund is the largest debut technology fund in history specifically focused on Southeast Asia, and one of the region’s largest debut funds across all industries.
Asia Partners is focused on the intersection of three key themes:
• The long-term growth potential of Southeast Asia, a region with almost 10 per cent of the world’s population.
• The rapid growth of innovative technology and technology-enabled businesses in the region, many of which are platforms with
Verdane has sold half of its majority investment in Desenio, a global wall art online retailer, through a private placement followed by a listing of the company’s shares on the NASDAQ First North Growth Market, valuing the company at SEK11 billion.
Verdane will retain half of its shareholding in Desenio, which amounted to 60 percent prior to the private placement, and remain the company’s largest shareholder.
Verdane is a growth equity investment firm and one of Europe’s most active specialist e-commerce investors. The firm first partnered with Desenio in 2016 via Verdane Capital IX, a SEK3.1bn 2016-vintage fund, to support
Avista Capital Partners (Avista), a New York-based healthcare private equity firm, has held the final closing of Avista Capital Partners V, which was over-subscribed, hit its hard-cap and substantially exceeded its target of USD775 million, closing with committed capital of USD1.2 billion.
Fund V is comprised of a diversified set of investors, including leading public pension funds, university endowments and foundations, family offices, insurance companies and asset managers across North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Avista received widespread support from its Fund IV investors and is also pleased to welcome a host of new and distinguished investors, including
Sideshow, an independent digital agency group, has taken significant investment from Waterland Private Equity (Waterland) to support its ambitious growth plans.
Sideshow Group aims to become a global leader in evidence-driven digital communications. The partnership will support Sideshow’s vision by accelerating investment in services that deliver meaningful and measurable impact to its clients, and by helping retain and attract the best people in the industry.
Sideshow Group offers clients a highly connected family of specialist agencies including Vertical Leap, Thinking Juice, Bunnyfoot and Conversion, that together provide digital services ranging from experience design to conversion rate optimisation. Sideshow’s evidence-driven proposition
TA Associates, a global growth private equity firm, has appointed Rafael Telahun as a Vice President in its Menlo Park office and as a member of the firm’s North America Services Group.
“It is a great pleasure to welcome Rafael to TA,” says Todd Crockett, a Managing Director at TA Associates and co-head of TA’s North America Services Group. “Rafael brings a wealth of private equity experience across a number of industry sectors. We are confident that his skills will prove valuable in helping TA source and analyse new growth investment opportunities in financial and tech-enabled services companies with high
Perfect Ward, a digital quality inspection platform designed to support the health and social sectors, has secured GBP4 million investment from the Development Capital team of Octopus Investments, part of Octopus Group.
Perfect Ward is used across a rapidly expanding base of hospitals, care homes and other health and social care organisations in the UK and internationally. The software helps customers to continually drive improvements in quality and care, through the digitalisation of quality inspections.
Timothy Bolot, Founder and CEO of Perfect Ward, says: “Perfect Ward’s software platform empowers frontline care staff to own quality improvement. It is quick and
Global workplace expert Unispace has been acquired by private equity firm PAG.
The investment will accelerate Unispace’s growth trajectory for its second decade in market as it sets the global standard for the future of workplace strategy, design and construction. As we move to a post-pandemic landscape, the focus has never been greater on the role of the office, its design and accompanying technology.
Under the agreement, the current shareholders of Unispace will sell 100 per cent of the privately held company to PAG and depart their executive roles. Other senior executives and management, including the recently appointed chief executive
OpenGate Capital’s portfolio company, Duraco Specialty Tapes, a manufacturer of pressure-sensitive tapes and specialty materials, has acquired Filmquest Group (Filmquest), a converter and supplier of polyester (PET) and specialty films, from a private seller.
Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
Filmquest, headquartered in Bolingbrook, Illinois, coats, converts and metallises all grades of PET film for use in the high-growth flexible packaging market under the trademarked Questar and Soft Touch product lines. Filmquest has a workforce of more than 50 employees and will continue to be led by current President, John Felinski, as part of Duraco.
The
ProPharma Group, a portfolio company of Odyssey Investment Partners, has acquired Diamond Pharma Services.
Diamond Pharma Services provides regulatory affairs, pharmacovigilance, and compliance & quality services to support pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in obtaining and maintaining medicinal product licenses throughout all stages of a product’s life cycle.
“We are excited to welcome Diamond Pharma Services into the ProPharma Group family,” says Dawn Sherman, ProPharma Group’s CEO. “This acquisition further solidifies ProPharma Group’s position as the leading global provider of regulatory, compliance, pharmacovigilance, and medical information services. With our mission and higher purpose of improving the health and safety
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