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The UK government’s announcement of an additional GBP1.25 billion to help support early stage businesses yesterday has been welcomed by SMEs, but some businesses are affected by a loophole in the scheme.
Private equity firm Sorfam Capital has acquired an American boatbuilding company, Century Boats, for an undisclosed amount. Sorfam purchased Century Boats’ parent company, All Craft Marine, and will continue operations at its headquarters in Zephyrhills, located just north of Tampa. Sorfam and All Craft Marine were both represented by Anchors Aweigh Capital, a boutique investment banking and consulting firm focused exclusively on the maritime industry.
Century Boats will now be led by president and CEO, Lloyd R ‘Skip’ Sorenson, who is also Sorfam’s managing partner and a fourth-generation shipbuilder who has been involved in a multitude of merger and acquisition transactions
Regionall focussed specialist asset manager Mercia Asset Management PLC (AIM: MERC), the proactive, regionally focused specialist asset manager, is pleased to announce that the British Business Bank (BBB) has allocated an additional GBP54.3 million to regionally focused specialist asset manager Mercia’s two existing investment mandates from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF).This takes Mercia’s total mandates from BBB to GBP186.3million and the Group’s total assets under management (AUM) to cGBP800million.
Mercia was first awarded investment mandates from NPIF in February 2017 across two funds; the GBP57.5million NPIF YHTV Equity fund and the GBP51.0million NPIF Y&H Debt fund. Since then, Mercia
The Global Health Investment Fund’s (GHIF) portfolio company Atomo Diagnostics Limited (AT1) has commenced trading on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) following an oversubscribed initial public offering (IPO). The Australian rapid blood test company intends to use the net proceeds from the IPO to support the planned expansion of its production capacity as the company prepares to utilise its rapid test devices to help detect Covid-19 and expand its commercial efforts for HIV and pregnancy self testing. Atomo has already entered into a binding COVID-19 supply agreement with NG Biotech, including two initial orders totalling nearly 950,000 devices, and is in
Tech start-up Blueprint has secured a GBP1million seed investment led by Magnus Rausing’s MAHR Projects and including Founders Factory and Hambro Perks. At a time when worldwide ecommerce adoption and digital payments are accelerating, Blueprint is ramping up the development of the first true conversational commerce platform which allows consumers to purchase products and speak to brands through a single SMS or WhatsApp message.
Blueprint aims to disrupt the retail process that has been built on email or online communication and traditional, clunky checkout systems. Using a mix of sophisticated natural language processing and machine learning in combination with real-world customer
A UK company, which is developing the next generation of spinal implants, has raised GBP830,000 in a funding round led by asset manager Mercia, to launch trials of its product in the US. Axis Spine has spent three years developing its technology, which could improve the success of spinal surgery and help people in chronic pain. It expects to secure clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) next month.
The latest funding, which comes from Mercia’s enterprise investment scheme (EIS) funds and two private investors, and has been completed in the midst of the lockdown, will allow it to
Legal firm Orrick has appointed French M&A and private equity advisor Olivier Jouffroy as a partner, based in Paris. Jouffroy joins Orrick from Clifford Chance.“Olivier is an up-and-coming M&A talent. His practice and experience are an excellent match for our focus in Paris and globally on serving the tech and innovation, energy and infrastructure, and finance sectors,” says Patrick Tardivy, co-head of Orrick’s Paris office.
Jouffroy advises on domestic and cross-border M&A transactions in the energy, infrastructure, finance, and real estate sectors. He acts for listed companies and financial institutions on both public and private M&A matters, corporate reorganisations and
Sofinnova Partners, a European life sciences venture capital firm based in Paris, London and Milan, has made an investment in Genespire, a Milan-based gene-therapy company developing best-in-class therapies for patients affected by genetic diseases. This is the third investment for the Sofinnova Telethon Fund, bringing the total financing of Italian startups by Sofinnova Partners to EUR25 million over the past six months. The Sofinnova Telethon Fund is the largest fund in Italy dedicated to biotechnologies, making early-stage investments in Italian companies targeting cures for rare and genetic diseases.
Genespire was spearheaded by the renowned gene therapy pioneer Professor Luigi Naldini. This
YFM Equity Partners-advised funds have sold their shareholding in GroupBC to Bentley Systems Incorporated, a global provider of software and digital twins services for advancing the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure, generating a return well in excess of three-tims its original investment.GroupBC is a leading provider of enterprise-scale information management systems for construction-related projects and asset owners. Its UK-hosted Common Data Environment makes it easy for teams to collaborate, manage and share documents and data from a central, secure cloud-based platform.
YFM has been supporting the transformational growth of UK SMEs since 1982. GroupBC was backed by British Smaller
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