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Deepbridge Capital has appointed two new Business Development Managers (BDMs) covering both the North West and North East regions.
Donna Battersby joins Deepbridge as BDM for the North West. Don Battersby na worked most recently within the tax-efficient investment space with Ingenious, following two decades of financial services experience with the likes of NatWest, Zurich and Aegon.
Matt Nelson joins as BDM for the North East. Nelson has previously worked with Deepbridge as an independent consultant but now joins the team in a full-time role. Matt’s previous experience includes roles with companies such as AXALife Invest and Ascentric.
Both will
Macfarlanes has advised a fund managed by secondary private equity firm Glendower Capital on the acquisition of a circa 40 per cent stake in the famous London department store Liberty in a deal valuing the business at around GBP300 million.
Liberty, which was founded in 1875, is a world-renowned store focusing on luxury items such as fabrics, jewellery and perfume.
Glendower Capital is leading the private equity-led consortium purchasing this stake from Bluegem Capital who invested in Liberty in 2010.
The Macfarlanes team was led by corporate and M&A partners Luke Powell and Stephen Pike with assistance from senior
Keensight Capital is to acquire a majority stake in Smile, a European specialist in digital and open source.
Keensight Capital, which has built a strong partnership with Smile over the years having first invested in the company from 2013 to 2017, will replace Eurazeo PME as majority shareholder. Eurazeo PME will also be reinvesting in the company, alongside the management team and the employees.
Founded in 1991, Smile has been a technology pioneer and is now the European market leader in digital based projects on open source technologies. The company combines technical and business expertise in areas ranging from digital technology,
Eurazeo has held the final closing of the EUR2.5 billion Eurazeo Capital IV investment programme, with Investment partners providing circa EUR700 million in funds, close to 40 per cent more than for the previous fund, Eurazeo Capital III.
In line with previous programmes, Eurazeo Capital IV enables Eurazeo to invest in mid-cap companies with strong growth potential both in Europe and the United States. Under this programme, Eurazeo Capital has already completed major investments in Europe (Iberchem, Albingia and DORC) as well as in the United States (Trader Interactive and Worldstrides).
This fundraising was subscribed by blue-chip international institutional
Mid-market private equity firm Equistone Partners Europe (Equistone) is to acquire Heras, a Netherlands-based provider of perimeter protection solutions.
The company’s management team will also acquire a minority stake in the business. Heras will continue to be led by Gilles Rabot, who joined the business in 2015. The financial terms of the transaction are undisclosed and the acquisition remains subject to clearance from the relevant competition authorities.
Founded in 1952, Heras provides mobile and permanent perimeter protection systems and products including fencing systems, manual and automated gates, hostile vehicle mitigation barriers and electronic perimeter detection products.
The company’s
Duff & Phelps, has appointed Paul Martin as a managing director and leader of the firm’s UK Transaction Advisory Services practice, based in London.
Martin has over 25 years of experience providing clients with financial and operational deal advice, with a focus on private equity and large corporates. Highly regarded in the private equity industry, Martin has led projects and teams across all aspects of the deal life cycle from origination, due diligence execution, post-deal control, performance improvement, exit readiness, sell-side support through to exit. In addition, he has worked with clients across the world and has advised on cross-border
Investec has appointed Ajeeth Narayan as Global Head of Investec Aviation Finance. Mike Francis will be executive lead of the Aviation Finance franchise, and Celia Britt will become Chief Operating officer.
Narayan and Francis were two of the four founders of the Investec Aviation Finance franchise in 2002, and have been with Investec ever since. Britt joined Investec in 2005, and most recently managed the aviation portfolio.
Investec Aviation Finance has grown to USD6 billion of aircraft assets under management and in 2018 launched a new aircraft leasing equity fund. Investec has also pioneered the aviation debt fund product,
In this week’s newsletter, Liz Pfeuti provides a second instalment on the mechanics of co-investing, in which she explains how to avoid some of the common pitfalls. One key aspect, as Liz touches on, is to define all the rules and governance issues at the pre-deal stage.
On the fundraising side, two more multi-billion funds have come to market: Alcentra’s European direct lending strategy raised EUR5.5 billion, while CVC announced it had closed its Strategic Opportunities II Fund with EUR4.9 billion. This week, we also profile how to fund raise in the United Arab Emirates, with insights from TMF Group.
SRS Acquiom has appointed Scott C Ganeles, an accomplished financial services executive, to the company’s Board of Directors.
Ganeles previously served as Chief Executive Officer of Ipreo Holdings (Ipreo), a financial services solutions and data provider for capital market participants. Under Scott’s leadership, Ipreo’s business and market share grew significantly and attracted notable equity investors including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co LP (KKR), Blackstone (NYSE: BX) and the Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division. Ipreo was acquired in 2018 by IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO), a leading critical information, analytics and solutions company.
Ganeles began his career as President of the
Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurants, an lifestyle brand centred around food and wine, has secured an investment by a fund managed by the Private Equity Group of Ares Management Corporation (ARES). Terms of the investment have not been disclosed.
Since its founding in 2005, Cooper’s Hawk has built the world’s largest wine club and a highly differentiated and experiential restaurant concept. Today, the company has nearly 400,000 wine club members across its 36 restaurants and tasting rooms. The concept was created with a vision to create memorable moments that enrich lives by bringing a wine country experience to local communities,
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