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Fondo Agroalimentare Italiano I (FAI I) has acquired a stake in Agrimola, a European leader in the manufacturing, processing and marketing of chestnuts and transformed fruits, alongside Luca Sassi, the company’s CEO and majority shareholder.
Founded in 1978, Agrimola leads the European fresh chestnut market. It’s the ideal partner for large Italian and European supermarket chains and supplies a wide range of high quality fresh, frozen or aseptic, mainly organic fruits, to a broad base of more than 50 international distributor clients for use in marmalades, desserts, ice creams and dairy. The Group handles about 40,000 tons of fruits, half
Hamilton Lane (NASDAQ: HLNE) has expanded its presence in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, hiring Martina Schliemann as a Principal and Head of Business Development for that region.
Schliemann’s last role was country manager for Germany and Austria at Muzinich & Co, Ltd. She was previously a Managing Director and Co-Head of Pensions and Insurance clients at Deutsche Asset Management. Martina will be based locally in the German market.
“As in other regions around the world, the private markets landscape throughout Germany, Austria and Switzerland continues to evolve, and we believe investors are increasingly looking to work with partners like
Talis Capital (Talis), a London-based venture capital firm focussed on technology companies, has made an investment of USD2.5million into Learning People, the UK’s leading online training company, and SkillsFox, its B2B arm serving corporate training and development needs.
The investment comes at a time when the corporate e-learning market is worth USD12 billion and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11 per cent until 2020, with companies’ demanding specialist skill sets such as cyber-crime prevention for current and potential employees.
The Talis investment will be used to fuel the companies’ geographical expansion, developing an engaging, user-centric platform
Private equity investment platform Seedrs, has appointed Ian McCaig and Mark Brooker as non-executive directors. The appointments follow three C-suite level hires at Seedrs in the last 18 months as the company continues to grow rapidly.
This announcement comes shortly after Seedrs released its 2017 accounts, recording 87 per cent growth in revenue from 2016 to 2017. The company’s turnover rose to GBP2.02 million in 2017 up from GBP1.08 million in 2016, attributed to a 43 per cent increase in investment on the platform and a 59 per cent increase in the average size of campaigns.
McCaig is the
Pan-European private equity firm Agilitas’ portfolio company Recover Nordic has acquired JK Kloakservice (JKK).
Recover Nordic is a leading Nordic provider of damage control, emergency response and environmental services. The JKK acquisition brings the total number of add-on acquisitions to fifteen since Agilitas’ buyout of Recover Nordic in 2013.
JKK will work closely with Recover Nordic’s existing damage control and environmental services business in Denmark, expanding the environmental services footprint of the group which was established earlier this year through the acquisition of Sydslam.
The acquisition of JKK, which provides nationwide coverage from its Zealand base, expands Recover
Octopus Investments, part of Octopus Group and the largest provider of venture capital trusts (VCTs) in the UK, has opened fundraising for Octopus Titan VCT (Titan).
Octopus is targeting another GBP120 million fundraise for its flagship VCT, following last year’s record-breaking fundraise when Titan raised a total of GBP200 million. If fully subscribed, the total fund size could rise to over GBP800 million AUM, providing significant capital for investment in early stage businesses across the UK.
Titan offers investors, comfortable with the risks of smaller company investing, attractive tax incentives that accompany a VCT and access to a well-established and
Tosca Debt Capital (TDC), the UK’s only regionally-based and SME-focused debt fund, has appointed a new Assistant Portfolio Director, bringing the Manchester-based lender’s total headcount to 10.
Polly Tames joins the team at TDC from Bench, having spent 13 years with the British streetwear brand. In her new role, Polly will work with TDC’s Portfolio Director, Victoria Daly, in managing its growing investment portfolio.
TDC’s latest appointment lays the foundation for continued deal making in regional markets, with a particular focus on unlocking the potential of SMEs within the Northern Powerhouse.
Richard Williams, Partner at TDC, says: “Polly
Nexxus Iberia’s Nexxus Iberia Private Equity Fund I has completed its second investment with the acquisition of a minority stake, in conjunction with Capzanine, Dorsia, Eva and Origen, a franchise business operating in women’s health in Spain.
The consortium made of Capzanine and Nexxus Iberia will provide financial and strategic support to the founders, Manuel and Jorge Fernandez, who will remain the majority shareholders of the group and will continue to manage the business. The Group operates three brands being Dorsia (aesthetic surgery and medicine treatments), Eva Fertility (assisted reproduction and fertility services in Spain), and Origen (mental health therapies).
Big Issue Invest has appointed Danyal Sattar as its new Chief Executive Officer. Sattar joins the social investment arm of The Big Issue from The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, where he held the role of Head of Social Investment.
In his time at The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Danyal cemented a reputation as one of the most respected leaders in the impact investment sector. During his tenure, the organisation allocated GBP15 million to directly invest in charities and social enterprises, in line with their UK poverty-solving mission.
He was one of the six co-conveners of the Social Impact Investors Group, which
By Ian Kelly (pictured), Augentius – The heatwave that has gripped much of the Northern hemisphere over the summer months provides a neat metaphor for the current state of the global private equity and real estate industry. Just as Europe and North America have sweltered under record temperatures and aridity, ‘very hot and exceedingly dry’ more or less summarises the state of the alternative investment market.
Despite a slight ebb in Q2 of 2018, firms are raising money at a pace and level not seen since before the financial crash. According to Preqin, 2017 saw a massive 20 per cent
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