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Graphite Capital, a UK mid-market private equity specialist, has backed the management buy-out of Hanson Wade, a conference organiser and provider of information services, focused primarily on the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.
Hanson Wade’s management team is led by Tom Richardson, who has overseen a period of rapid expansion since being appointed chief executive in 2015. Between 2016 and 2018, the company’s portfolio of events almost doubled to 108 and its revenues increased by 117 per cent to GBP22.6 million.
Hanson Wade is based in London, but generates the overwhelming majority of its revenues in the United States, where
Independent fund servicing provider Ultimus Fund Solutions (Ultimus) has appointed Nickolaus Darsch as Senior Vice President of Business Development.
In this role, Darsch will be responsible for building and strengthening strategic relationships with investment managers that can benefit from the Ultimus offering.
Darsch will focus on aligning the Ultimus suite of services to meet the needs of registered fund sponsors, primarily in the range of USD5 billion and USD50 billion in assets under management. In addition, he will help Ultimus further cultivate its relationships with the community of consultants, audit and legal firms, and other centers of influence that work
Equistone Partners Europe (Equistone) is to acquire a majority stake in Omnicare, a pharmaceutical wholesaler operating throughout Germany, that primarily distributes finished medicinal products to compounding pharmacies for the patient-specific production of cancer drugs.
Omnicare is being bought from a consortium of shareholders which will retain a stake in the company. The existing management team, led by Managing Director, Oliver Tamimi, will continue to run the company following the deal. The financial terms of the transaction are undisclosed and the acquisition remains subject to clearance from the relevant competition authorities. The transaction is expected to be complete in Q4 2019.
A survey conducted on preparation for the FCA’s Senior Managers and Certification Regime, (SM&CR) has revealed that most firms have significant work to do, as they prepare for its extension to all authorised firms on 9 December.
From a pool of over 70 respondents, including asset managers, hedge funds, private equity firms, broker-dealers and wealth managers, the findings were as follows:
• Less than 2 per cent of firms confirmed they had completed sufficient preparation for SM&CR
• In equal measure, only 2 per cent of employees had a sufficient awareness of the new rules and their implications across the organisation
• More than a quarter
In this week’s newsletter there’s a look at the results of a new survey by due diligence specialist Corgentum Consulting suggesting that social media analysis is playing an increasingly important role in investment decisions made by private equity and hedge fund investors.
In deal news BlackRock’s Long Term Private Capital strategy has made an investment in brand development, marketing and entertainment company Authentic Brands Group, while we also have news of Mourant’s role in the EUR4.6 billion fundraising for CVC’s Strategic Opportunities II fund.
And finally, a reminder to have your say in the Private Equity Wire US Awards 2019
RSK, a UK-based integrated environmental, engineering and technical services consultancy, has acquired domestic subsidence investigation specialist Geocore Site Investigations Ltd.
The announcement marks the fifth acquisition for the fast-growing RSK group this financial year.
Geocore Site Investigations is a company of 30 people based in Redcar, North Yorkshire. Founded in 1998, the company specialises in the investigation of domestic subsidence, providing detailed site surveys with foundation inspections and drainage CCTV. Its services include trial pitting, window sampling, rotary drilling and cable percussion drilling. Geocore’s range of specialist drilling solutions will complement RSK’s existing drilling services.
“Geocore’s service provision complements RSK’s
Mourant has advised private equity firm, CVC Capital Partners (CVC), in connection with the establishment of CVC Strategic Opportunities II.
The fund exceeded its EUR4 billion target, reaching total commitments of EUR4.6 billion and reflecting the growing demand from large investors for longer-term opportunities in stable, high-quality businesses. It is CVC’s second fund targeting investments with scope for capital appreciation over a longer investment period than the firm’s traditional private equity strategies.
Mourant LP Partner, Felicia de Laat, says: “We were delighted to advise our long-standing client, CVC, as they built upon the success of their first Strategic Opportunities platform
Jaltek Systems, a manufacturer of complex, electronics assemblies, has secured a GBP1 million funding facility from Independent Growth Finance, as it continues to deliver on its rapid growth strategy and support its clients to push the boundaries of technological innovation.
The company provides a full suite of services to its clients, offering both design and manufacturing solutions to a diverse range of regulated sectors, from clean energy and aerospace, to space satellites.
The blue-chip electronics industry is always expanding, particularly driven by concepts such as the internet of things. To continue to stay ahead, Jaltek wanted an increased working
IRIS Software Group is to acquire FMP Global, a provider of payroll and HR services to international and UK based Small and Medium sized Enterprises.
Set to be the largest acquisition by IRIS to date, FMP Global is closely aligned with the Group’s mission to be the most trusted provider of mission critical software and services. In the UK, US and internationally, FMP supports over 1,750 businesses in 135 countries, providing international HR consultancy, outsourced global payroll services, and international money transfers.
Kevin Dady, CEO of IRIS Software Group, says: “As part of our acquisition strategy, we continue to
Almost two-thirds (62 per cent) of hedge fund and private equity investors have, within the last year, begun to search social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram as part of the pre-investment background investigation process.
That’s according to a new investor and operational due diligence (ODD) analyst survey by Corgentum Consulting.
Searches were on both the social media activities of the fund management company and individual employees. Some 38 per cent of respondents stated that they uncovered at least one negative item during social media searches that was omitted from more traditional investigations. Additionally, 73 per cent
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