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Electra Private Equity is to seek shareholder approval for a possible sale of its UK restaurant chain TGI Fridays. The move is part of a wider strategic review of the private equity firm’s business which could see its whole portfolio liquidated.
Electra has already disposed of its non-controlling stakes in PhotoBox and Knight Square and is now recommending shareholders back sales of both TGI Fridays and footwear chain Hotter Shoes.
Neil Johnson, Chairman of Electra Private Equity PLC, says: “The Board is pleased to announce agreement for the successful realisation of its larger non-controlled assets.
“Having carefully considered
Kuber Ventures, an alternative fund investment platform specialising in EIS and SEIS investments, has added two new SEIS funds to its offering, as well as new iterations of two existing funds.
The British Design Fund 2 and The British Robotics Sidecar Fund have joined the platform which has seen strong interest from advisors, intermediaries and private investors following the move into a genuine growth-orientated environment.
The British Design Fund 2 is focusing its investments in UK based early-stage companies that seek to lead the market in innovative product design and manufacturing. The fund aims to invest at least GBP100,000
City law firm Wedlake Bell has advised Global Risk Partners Group (GRP) on its acquisition of U-Sure Insurance Services Ltd (U-Sure), a firm specialising in property insurance.
The acquisition further strengthens GRP’s expanding Underwriting division. The deal has received regulatory approval and the deal value is undisclosed.
GRP is a specialist group with a focus on investing in brokers, managing general agents (MGAs) and teams trading in the UK retail and global, specialty insurance and reinsurance markets. The company’s Gross Written Premium (GWP) currently stands in excess of GBP700 million. This transaction marks GRP’s 34th acquisition since the Group’s
UBS Asset Management’s (UBS-AM) Real Estate & Private Markets (REPM) business has raised over EUR 850 million for its second European infrastructure debt fund, Archmore Infrastructure Debt Platform II (IDP II), surpassing the EUR700 million set target within six months of its launch.
The Fund will remain open to new subscriptions until year-end with a hard cap of EUR1 billion.
IDP II’s strategy targets private infrastructure debt opportunities of medium size in Western Europe, primarily through direct lending on senior secured projects, where it currently sees the most attractive risk-reward proposition. The asset class generates stable income from defensive
Law firm Paul Hastings has advised Saba Software, a portfolio company of Vector Capital, on its acquisition of Lumesse, a provider of talent acquisition, talent management and learning experience technology in Europe.
The Paul Hastings team was led by San Francisco partners Steve Camahort and Dana Kromm and also included partner Garrett Hayes and associate Sam Waite in London. Paul Hastings has advised Vector Capital and its portfolio companies on a number of recent transactions, including: Saba Software’s acquisition of Halogen Software; the acquisition of Experian’s Cross-Channel Marketing business to form Cheetah Digital; Cheetah Digital’s acquisition of Stellar Loyalty; and Allegro Development’s acquisition of Financial Engineering Associates.
Mid-market private equity investor LDC has completed the sale of Seabrook, the Yorkshire crisp brand, to leading snack brand Calbee (UK) Ltd for an undisclosed sum.
LDC backed the management buyout of the business in July 2015 to support its growth. Over the past three years, Seabrook has continued to invest in its manufacturing infrastructure, launch a number of new products and expand internationally.
The deal sees Seabrook join Calbee UK, a subsidiary of global snack company, Calbee Inc, which already boasts Yushoi, Rustiks and Harvest Snaps among its portfolio. It will see Seabrook operate as a standalone company,
Adams Street Partners, a private markets investment management firm with USD34 billion of assets under management, has held the close of Adams Street Venture Innovation Fund II with USD426 million in capital commitments.
The fund will focus primarily on early-stage venture fund managers globally.
Clients participating in the fundraise reflect the global nature of the firm, with commitments from both new and existing Adams Street investors located in United States, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, South Korea, and Thailand. Client types represented in this fundraise include institutional public and corporate pension plans, high net worth individuals, family offices, and
Graycliff Partners has completed the acquisition of Pebble Technology International (PebbleTec), a designer and manufacturer of high quality swimming pool finishes. Graycliff purchased the business from a small group of individual shareholders.
Based in Scottsdale, AZ, PebbleTec is the globally recognised brand leader in swimming pool finishes, specializing in high end aggregate finishes. The company sources premium stones of varying sizes and colours from across the globe (including New Zealand, Chile and Mexico), and has perfected a proprietary application process to produce custom finishes that last decades. The company serves applicators and pool builders worldwide through manufacturing and processing centres in
Arachnys, a specialist in Customer Risk Intelligence solutions for Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti Money Laundering (AML) and Enterprise Due Diligence (EDD), has completed a USD10 million Series A funding round led by QED and other investors.
Arachnys will use the proceeds to accelerate product R&D, expand go-to-market efforts and further develop strategic partnerships integrating its cloud platform within established compliance and onboarding platforms. The company will also establish a new delivery and implementation organisation to satisfy demand within its growing pipeline for global deployments of its Customer Risk Intelligence solutions.
Amias Gerety, Arachnys Board Member, Partner at QED
KKR has completed its acquisition of BMC, a specialist in IT solutions for digital enterprise, from a private investor group led by Bain Capital Private Equity and Golden Gate Capital together with GIC, Insight Venture Partners, and Elliott Management.
The terms of the agreement, which was previously announced in May 2018, have not been disclosed.
“As we embark on our next chapter with KKR, BMC continues to provide our customers with transformational solutions that help them manage and optimise information technology across cloud, hybrid, on-premise, and mainframe environments,” says Peter Leav, President and Chief Executive Officer of BMC. “With
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