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Despite the global pandemic, private equity backed businesses completed a substantial number of add-ons in H1 2020, according to Silverfleet Capital’s European Buy & Build Monitor, highlighting the resilience of buy & build as a value creation strategy.The European Buy & Build Monitor, which tracks global add-on activity undertaken by European-headquartered companies backed by private equity, identified a provisional total1 of 253 add-ons in the first half of 2020, with the first quarter seeing 156 reported add-ons, and the second quarter seeing 81.
Unsurprisingly, in light of the current climate, this represents a decline from the 387 in H1 2019
A new report from Invest Europe, an association representing Europe’s private equity, venture capital and infrastructure sectors, has revealed a resilient private equity investment and fundraising environment, as investors and fund managers continue to actively invest in European businesses despite the disruption caused by Covid-19.According to ‘Investing in Europe: Private Equity Activity H1 2020’, a comprehensive report on private equity activity in Europe during the first half of the year, private equity funds raised EUR49 billion in the first half of 2020, in line with last year’s first half figure, putting the industry on track to raise a full-year total
Chartered accountants, haysmacintyre, has promoted Jon Dawson to Partner in the firm’s Creative, Media and Technology (CMT) team.Dawson trained and qualified at haysmacintyre, before specialising in the CMT sector, and has extensive experience working with entrepreneurial, scale-up businesses as well as listed groups. He has widespread experience working closely with clients as they go through a period of change, whether that be rapid growth, fundraising or an exit event. As well as acting as the Partner on audit engagements, Jon also manages a number of transactions for his clients within the CMT sector, including IPOs, acquisition due diligence, MBOs and
Gousto, a UK recipe box provider, has become only the fourth UK company in 2020 to achieve ‘Tech Unicorn’ status, following hot on the heels of Synk and fellow consumer-facing businesses Gymshark and Cazoo. Just eight years since launch, Gousto joins an elite group of 19 venture-backed UK businesses, including the likes of Deliveroo, that have achieved a valuation of at least USD1 billion.In its latest funding round, which closed on 30 Oct 2020, Gousto raised GBP25 million (USD 33m) of new equity from existing investors Perwyn and BGF at a valuation in excess of USD1 billion. The new equity
Eurazeo Capital, alongside IK Investment Partners, RAISE Investissement and the existing management team, has invested in Questel to acquire 100 per cent of its share capital. Eurazeo and the IK IX Fund will each invest an initial amount of nearly EUR200 million and together will hold a majority stake. Definitive financial information will be disclosed once the transaction has been completed.
Questel is a major intellectual property solutions provider that operates worldwide, developing SaaS products and an automated brand services and patent filing platform. The company works with close to 6,000 clients, including a number of large multinationals, offering end-to-end collaborative
KPMG’s Private Equity Group in the UK has appointed three new partners and one associate partner to the business as it looks to grow its market share advising investors across all aspects of the investment lifecycle.Neil Coomber joins KPMG from PwC where he was a partner in the transaction services team, working for a range of blue-chip corporate and private equity clients. During his career, he has led a significant number of high-profile, complex and multi-national transactions, including a number of years spent working in New York.
Luke Anderson joins KPMG from SAP where he led their EMEA Private
Mid-market private equity firm LDC has backed Rhino Products, Europe’s leading manufacturer of light commercial vehicle accessories, in a deal valued at GBP36 million, to support its international growth strategy.Headquartered in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, Rhino is a designer and manufacturer of premium external load carrying and restraint systems for light commercial vehicles. Its innovative products are designed to address health and safety concerns of major fleet owners as well as providing high quality and reliable products for SMEs. With two factories in the UK and further dedicated sites in The Netherlands, Poland and Sweden, Rhino is an internationally recognised brand,
AnaCap Financial Partners (AnaCap), a specialist mid-market private equity investor, has entered into exclusive negotiations for the purchase of a majority stake in Market Pay, an innovative end-to-end omnichannel payments platform operating in multiple countries, from the Carrefour Group (Carrefour) in a deal valued close to EUR300 million.
The transaction is subject to the consultation of works council and to the usual closing conditions (including regulatory and antitrust approvals).
The deal, expected to complete in H1 2021, would see Carrefour retaining a minority stake in what will be a working partnership to commercialise the offering outside Carrefour, diversify product lines and
ARQIS has advised on the merger of the fitness studio chain Ai Fitness with the Jumpers Group, a portfolio company of NORD Holding. The client of ARQIS was Ai Fitness founder and seller Marius Neugebauer, who is taking a significant stake in the new group and is moving to the advisory board.
The two entities together form a new platform, the ‘BestFit Group’, which will focus on the growing premium discount fitness sector in Germany. The new group is a leading provider with well over 210,000 members, 64 studios and a strong presence in southern and western Germany. A comprehensive
LBO France, through its Small Caps Opportunities II fund, has acquired a majority stake in the French company Prenax. This move relates to the acquisition of the subscription management operations of LM Information (LM), based in Finland, and the takeover of one of its US subsidiaries (LM Inc). This deal with the management team of Prenax, which is re-investing substantially with the support of Andera Partners, will make it the leading independent European company in the sector.
Prenax, a business process outsourcing company founded in 1993, serves its clients – mainly large companies, but also government and university stakeholders – by
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