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Global Processing Services (GPS), a payments issuer processor, has secured a strategic investment from long-standing partner Visa Inc to accelerate its global expansion. GPS powers next generation fintech payment companies and sits behind many of the world’s most exciting fintech companies and digital banks including Revolut and Starling Bank. Details of the investment have not been disclosed.
GPS was backed by UK private equity firm Dunedin in June 2018, in what was the largest B2B fintech financing in the first half of 2018. Since then, it has achieved spectacular growth with its operations expanding from the UK into Europe and
A consortium led by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets’ (MIRA) Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 6 (MEIF6) is to acquire a portfolio of Romanian power assets owned by ČEZ Group.The integrated energy infrastructure portfolio is comprised of an 86,665 kilometre regulated electricity distribution network and an electricity and gas supply business with 1.4 million residential and industrial connections in the South West of Romania. The acquired assets also include a renewable energy platform, with 622 MW of primarily onshore wind farms and plans to develop its portfolio further.
Leigh Harrison, Head of MIRA EMEA, says: “Romania is one of Europe’s most
Funds advised by Equistone Partners Europe (Equistone) are to sell their majority stake in Group of Butchers, a manufacturer and supplier of artisanal specialty meat products based in Tilburg in the Netherlands, to Dutch investment firm Parcom Private Equity (Parcom). Equistone acquired Group of Butchers in 2017 and since then has supported the company’s growth strategy through a range of targeted acquisitions. The financial terms of the transaction are undisclosed and the transaction remains subject to approval from the relevant competition authorities.
Founded in Tilburg in 1997, Group of Butchers has developed into a Dutch market leader for high-quality artisanal
The second quarter of this year saw two potentially worrying trends in US corporate credit: the number of public filers carrying debt of more than 7x going into Q3 had risen to 35 per cent (compared to 14 per cent in Q4 2018), while the percentage of leveraged loan defaults rose sharply from 2 per cent at the start of the year to north of 4 per cent, by March.
Those numbers, recently conveyed by S&P Global Market Intelligence and based on the S&P/LSTA Loan Index, were symptomatic of the early stages of the lockdown. It is perhaps unsurprising to
Less than three months since launching its pilot program, e-bike subscription service DANCE has closed a EUR15 million Series A funding round. Led by Eric Quidenus-Wahlforss, Alexander Ljung and Christian Springub, DANCE has ambitions to offer its all-inclusive service subscription package into expanded markets across Europe and eventually the US.
E-bikes are the fastest and most efficient means of urban transport on routes up to 10 kilometres (6.2 miles). As city commuters and consumers alike look to greener and more reliable transport alternatives for all aspects of their daily lives, DANCE offers a new model.
“The goal of DANCE is to
Global private equity firm Levine Leichtman Capital Partners (LLCP), has acquired NMi Certin (NMi) from First Dutch Innovations (FDI).With its origin in the Dutch government since 1937, NMi (het Nederlands Meetinstituut) is the leading independent specialist for legal metrology testing and inspection services in Europe and a trusted brand globally. NMi specialises in type approval & certification, verification & calibration and consultancy services covering a broad range of advice on complex regulations and accreditations. NMi is headquartered in Delft, the Netherlands and has cultivated the industry’s most experienced and knowledgeable workforce.
Erik van de Graaf, Managing Director of NMi, says:
Synamedia, an independent video software provider backed by the Permira funds and Sky, has appointed Paul Segre as CEO, with immediate effect. Previously CEO of Genesys, Segre succeeds the departing CEO Yves Padrines, who presided over Synamedia’s successful first two years as a customer-focused leader in the expansion of pay-TV with OTT distribution, and the development of innovative solutions to protect revenues from streaming piracy and develop new revenue streams from addressable advertising. Paul will be based in London.
Segre’s software and telecoms software industry pedigree and his experience building high-growth businesses make him the right choice to lead Synamedia’s
Innova Capital, a private equity firm operating from Poland, has agreed to buy PayPoint Romania from LSE-listed PayPoint plc. The sale is subject to competition and regulatory approvals, as well as other conditions precedent, and therefore completion is anticipated to take place on 31 March 2021.
PayPoint Romania is a market leading consumer payments operator in Romania, collecting over 100 m bill payments for 85 per cent of Romanian utility and telecom providers through a wide network of retail sites. Its payment points are located within 500 meters of 81 per cent of customers. Its services aim to meet the needs
ACA Aponix, part of the ACA Compliance Group (ACA), has launched PortCo Defend, a cybersecurity risk management program and dashboard, designed to help private equity firms assess and centrally monitor security threats to their portfolio companies (PortCos). Available now, PortCo Defend gives private markets a holistic view of their their PortCos’ cybersecurity risk and provides oversight to track the progress of all their PortCos’ efforts to remediate gaps and achieve their cybersecurity targets.
With 46 per cent of businesses reporting at least one security incident since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, firms globally are challenged with a continued stream of
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