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CEE-focused Mezzanine Management has fully exited its investment in European contract research organisation Optimapharm by selling it to The Rohatyn Group.
Mezzanine Management is an advisor to the AMC group of funds, whose total investments exceed EUR700 million. The investment advisory firm has been operating in Central Europe since 2000 from its offices in Vienna, Warsaw, Bucharest, Budapest and Prague.
The funds’ investment portfolio includes 53 transactions across 12 countries in the CEE region. The firm is also adding a direct lending strategy to its regional private debt platform to address the growing market in Central Europe, and to support local
Cathay Capital Private Equity (Cathay Capital) has raised USD850 million for its private equity fund, Midcap II. Founded in 2007, with offices in the US, Europe and China, Cathay Capital has completed over 140 buyouts, growth and venture capital investments. Midcap II represents Cathay Capital’s largest fund, an increase of USD325 million over its Midcap I fund which closed in 2014. With the new fund, Cathay Capital will have [USD3.8-plus billion] in assets under management.
“This significant increase in assets under management in the current environment reflects the renewed confidence of Cathay’s existing investors, as well as the many new partners attracted
UK Innovation funder Rocking Horse has announced a multi-million-pound partnership with London-based specialist investment firm Quilam Capital.The companies will look to assist the millions of UK SMEs who are eligible for around GBP22 billion worth of Government R&D tax credits or Innovate UK grant schemes, with advance funding to support their growth and development.
Rocking Horse provides unique loan solutions at competitive rates with no monthly capital payments to SME’s which are secured against R&D tax credits and Innovate UK grant regimes. The loans are then repaid when the funding comes through. It anticipates that the loans will range from GBP50k
Praetura Ventures, an investor in businesses in high-value sectors, has launched the Praetura EIS Growth Fund.As an ‘evergreen’ fund, the Praetura EIS Growth Fund is looking to raise up to GBP30 million per annum and will soft close twice a year with the funds raised being deployed to support the growth ambitions of businesses in the North and across the UK.
This will include early-stage businesses looking for smaller, seed-stage investments as well as capital and support for more developed businesses that are looking to scale.
David Foreman, managing director at Praetura Ventures, says: “We speak to entrepreneurs and
Specialist business advisory firm FRP has appointed Heath Snyder as a partner to its Manchester corporate finance team.With more than 25 years’ industry experience, Snyder has spent two decades at the Big Four, having held senior roles at PWC and Deloitte. He joins FRP from Shore Capital, where he was a director in the corporate broking and advisory division, and previously held roles at Cenkos Securities and as managing director of private equity at Babcock Brown Asia.
Synder specialises in advising owner-managers, private equity-backed and listed companies. He has extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, management buyouts, strategic options reviews,
Shamrock Capital, a Los Angeles-based investment firm, has appointed Laura Held and Jason Sklar as Partners of the firm.“We are very excited to have Laura and Jason join the partnership,” says Steve Royer, Partner at Shamrock Capital. “Both of them have shown tireless dedication to the firm, a keen understanding of their respective areas of expertise and the ability to identify investment opportunities that have been instrumental in Shamrock’s growth and success. I look forward to continuing to work with them, now as my partners.”
Held has been with Shamrock Capital for eight years and focuses on private equity
Thompson Street Capital Partners (TSCP), a private equity firm based in St Louis, has acquired PKWARE, a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based provider of data security software solutions. AGC Partners served as the exclusive financial advisor to PKWARE on this transaction. Terms have not been disclosed.
Founded in 1986, PKWARE (www.pkware.com) created the .ZIP file format and provides leading compression, encryption and data security platform solutions to highly regulated enterprises. The Company’s flagship data security platform, Smartcrypt, enables companies to protect sensitive data, meet compliance and regulatory requirements and manage risk.
Brandon Muirhead, Director, TSCP, says: “Enterprises have a critical need to protect sensitive
Apex Group Ltd, a global financial services provider, has appointed Jean-Daniel Zandona as Sales Director, based in Luxembourg.Effective 1 May, Zandona reports to Aman Bahel, European Head of Sales. He joins Apex with over two decades of experience in private asset markets.
Apex delivers a single-source solution to asset managers, capital markets and private clients via over 40 offices and 3,500 employees worldwide. Zandona will be responsible for continuing to grow the Group’s offering in Luxembourg, now one of the largest hubs for the group, with over 600 employees based locally and the home of the Group’s digital banking
Three more panellists – Christopher Sand, Director, Ardian, Piyush Sharma, Associate Partner, McKinsey & Company, and Omar Hassan, Principal, CFO/CCO, Cloverlay Partners – have been confirmed panel discussions at the forthcoming Private Equity Wire LIVE online seminar, which is taking place from 2-4 June.
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