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ThinCats, a fintech lender for mid-sized SMEs, has launched a new GBP100 million funding programme for private equity backed UK businesses.
ThinCats has close to GBP1 billion of capital to invest and is seeing increasing demand from private equity backed businesses to fund larger sized deals up to GBP15 million.
The new funding programme follows a series of recent loans facilitated by Dave Sherrington, Regional Head of Sales at ThinCats to businesses in partnership with leading private equity houses. In January, ThinCats provided a GBP5m funding package for Flat Iron, an award-winning restaurant chain backed by consumer brands specialist
An affiliate of One Rock Capital Partners (One Rock) is to acquire Newell Brands’ Process Solutions business.
Headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina, Process Solutions is a manufacturer and material sciences company that offers custom-designed plastic, nylon, monofilament and zinc products in the health care, consumer, and industrial end markets. By leveraging its value engineering and manufacturing technology, the business services a wide variety of commercial industries and customers, as well as governmental agencies globally. Process Solutions is also the primary supplier of copper-plated zinc penny blanks to the United States Mint as well as a supplier of coinage to other
WIT Fitness, a London-based sports retail business focusing on training footwear and apparel, has secured a GBP2m investment from growth capital investor VGC Partners.
This follows the explosion of global sneaker sales activated by ecommerce, a trend which has also been adopted by the consumer of the ever growing communities in functional fitness training programmes such as high intensity interval training (HIIT) and CrossFit.
Founded by former amateur athlete Dan Williams and sports retail expert Sam Kitching in London in 2015, WIT Fitness operates an online retail platform in both the UK and US markets, selling branded training footwear
Financial services-focused private equity firm Preservation Capital Partners (Preservation Capital) has completed its strategic investment in US construction-focused MGA Cove Programs (Cove) after receiving all necessary regulatory approvals.
Together with insurTech-driven cyber and specialty lines MGA Ascent Underwriting (Ascent), which Preservation Capital acquired an interest in last year, the deal has created one of the largest independently-owned specialty lines MGAs, managing more than USD200 million GWP.
Ascent and Cove will continue to operate under their respective market-leading brands. Each is a pioneer in speciality product development and distribution within their own markets, supported by best-in-class underwriting and claims teams. The
Packhelp, a Warsaw-based startup that allows users to design and order their own custom-branded packaging, has raised EUR8.5 million in one of the largest Series A rounds in the CEE region.
White Star Capital led the investment, along with the participation of existing investors. The raised capital will be used primarily to accelerate growth in Europe.
Packhelp was founded in 2015, as a solution for the painful experience of ordering custom-branded packaging. The company founders, who have a background in marketing, sales, printing and IT, decided to leverage their knowledge to disrupt the old fashioned industry. The result is
Luxcara, an asset manager specialising in renewable energy investments, and MEAG, the asset manager of Munich Re and ERGO, have initiated and structured a project bond to finance the Skinansfjellet und Gravdal wind farms in Norway.
Similar to the financing of the wind farm Eikeland-Steinsland in July 2018, a lower three-digit million euro amount of projects bonds has been privately placed with investors of the Munich Re group, the Austrian insurance company UNIQA and one further European insurance group. Equity is provided by a renewable energy fund for institutional investors, which is advised by Luxcara.
The wind farms Skinansfjellet and
innogy Innovation Hub, which is funded by innogy SE, a Germany energy company, to invest in and mentor technology start-ups, invested in 61 companies in 2018 through new and follow-on financing rounds, growing the value of its portfolio by more than 50 per cent.
Including co-investments and investments into other VC funds, the Innovation Hub has funded almost 90 start-ups.
At the same time, innogy Innovation Hub has continued to focus on supporting its portfolio, with a strategic focus on providing acceleration opportunities. In 2018, the Hub participated in 10 accelerator programmes globally, presenting opportunities for more than one-third
French group Evolucare, which is backed by Essling Expansion has acquired Axapa, a software publisher founded in 2012 by Olivier Rialland focused on the medico-social sector and in particular institutions dedicated to people with disabilities.
Axapa, whose revenue reached EUR4.5 million in 2018, serves 120 customers accounting for more than 2,500 institutions.
For Elie le Guicher, President of Evolucare, says: “The acquisition of Axapa allows the Group to change its scope in order to pursue its vigorous growth in France and abroad.”
“The Evolucare Group will provide significant support for our development, the related synergies are numerous,” says Rialland, President
Atrato Capital, the investment adviser to Supermarket Income REIT, has appointed Justin King, the former chief executive of J Sainsbury plc, as a senior adviser.
King is recognised as one of the UK’s most successful grocery sector leaders, having led J Sainsbury plc for 10 years until 2014. Prior to that, he was part of the leadership team at Marks & Spencer plc and previously held senior roles at Asda. He, therefore, brings a wealth of experience of the grocery sector and a deep understanding of grocery property strategy.
Supermarket Income REIT, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, owns six
Align Capital Partners’ (ACP) portfolio company Pleatco, a manufacturer of aftermarket cartridge filters for the pool and spa industry, has expanded into the industrial air filtration market with the acquisitions of APEL International (APEL) and Milton Manufacturing (Milton).
APEL designs and manufactures pleated filter cartridges, pleated bags, and other filtration products for mission-critical industrial air applications.
“APEL’s library of more than 5,000 custom and stock filters provide its distribution and OEM customers with the broadest range of aftermarket filtration products in the industry,” says Paul LaCroix, founder of APEL. “I’m excited to continue our legacy as a high-quality manufacturer
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