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Investec Growth & Acquisition Finance (Investec) has provided a bespoke asset based & cashflow debt package to support the GBP75 million EmergeVest-backed buyout of Downton, a Gloucester-based national logistics group.
The funding package was designed to fund the acquisition while also catering for working capital and growth, and included a receivables revolver alongside a term lending structure.
The deal is the fifth Investec have backed with EmergeVest since backing the Hong Kong-based private equity house’s first UK deal in 2013.
Downton provides nationwide coverage from its fleet of 600 trucks and over 1,000 trailers which operate out of
Alternative investment firm Cerberus Capital Management has appointed Roberto Nicastro as a Senior Advisor to the firm. Nicastro will consult with Cerberus as it continues its focus on investment opportunities and strategic partnerships in the European financial services sector.
“Roberto is a leading figure in the European banking community with unique insights into market dynamics in Italy and across Europe. We are delighted to welcome him to our tenured team of senior investment advisors who assist us in our investment activity across Europe,” says Lee Millstein, President of Cerberus Global Investments.
David Teitelbaum, Head of Cerberus’s European Advisory Offices,
Beechbrook Capital is supporting further expansion at executive search and business intelligence firm Leathwaite.
The new investment by Beechbrook’s UK SME Credit fund will enable Leathwaite to accelerate its worldwide expansion, launch new business streams and invest in proprietary technology, while also providing equity to develop and attract talent.
Formed in 1999 by its current four partners: Andrew Wallace, Martin Phillips, Neil Ejje and James Rust, Leathwaite has offices in London, New York, Hong Kong and Zurich. Its team of more than 100 professionals has successfully delivered projects across Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Oceania.
The UK Business Angels Association has opened a new Angel Investment Hub in the heart of Bristol.
Housed in Brunel’s original station, dating back to 1841, the Bristol Angel Hub, in partnership with Engine Shed, is an exciting hub where investors, entrepreneurs, business leaders, academics and corporates can collaborate, inspire and be inspired.
The hub showcases the strengths and innovations of the Bristol and Bath city region and is located within a minute’s walk of Bristol Temple Meads, one of the UK’s most connected transport hubs.
Jenny Tooth, CEO of the UKBAA, says: “There is a lack of infrastructure which means that neither
Sandton Capital Partners, a special situations investments fund, has acquired the Aspin Group (Aspin), a provider of engineered solutions for the UK’s infrastructure sectors focused on rail and highways, for an undisclosed sum.
Established in 2000; Aspin operates across the UK and employs 220 people. Aspin’s head office is in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire which is supported by other centres in the Midlands, the North and Scotland. Aspin has a turnover exceeding GBP30million and works for organisations such as Network Rail, Highways England and major infrastructure contractors providing engineered solutions, consulting and design, foundations and piling and inspections and investigations.
Next Coast Ventures has added Jason Dorsey to its team as a Venture Partner. He will focus on helping Next Coast Ventures and its portfolio companies with consumer trends, brand building and customer acquisition.
“Jason and his firm’s research have a comprehensive, birds-eye view on big trends in the marketplace and how the world is changing,” says Michael Smerklo, co-founder and managing director of Next Coast Ventures. “Jason’s expertise on the Millennial and Gen Z generations – what we call ‘digital natives’ – will give our firm and our portfolio companies the most cutting-edge tools to understand and quantify the
Matillion, the makers of cloud data integration tools Matillion ETL for Amazon Redshift, Matillion ETL for Snowflake and Matillion ETL for Google BigQuery, has closed a USD20 million Series B round of funding led by Sapphire Ventures, existing investor Funds advised and managed by YFM Equity Partners (YFM), and new investor Scale Venture Partners.
The company, based in Altrincham, (Manchester, UK) and Manhattan (New York, US), was founded by Matthew Scullion in 2011, alongside Chief Technology Officer Ed Thompson and Commercial Director Peter McCord. Matillion has developed leading-edge software focused on allowing its customers to extract, load and transform data
Blockchain Capital, a venture capital firm focused exclusively on the blockchain technology sector and crypto ecosystem, has closed Blockchain Capital IV, LP a USD150 million fund.
The fund, which is the firm’s largest fund raised to date and brings assets under management to USD250 million, was oversubscribed at its hard cap with institutional limited partners representing fund of funds, foundations, strategic investors and family offices.
Since its inception in 2013, Blockchain Capital has invested in 72 companies, protocols, and tokens, including Coinbase, Ripple, Circle, Ethereum, 0x and Kraken. Blockchain Capital remains committed to working with the world’s best entrepreneurs
Nitesh Shah, director at ETF Securities, comments on the US Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates for the sixth time since the financial crisis…
In the first Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting with Jerome Powell as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, the US Central Bank has raised interest rates. A substantial upgrade in forecasts paves the way for potentially three more hikes (for a total of four this year). Coming into the meeting, the market had only fully priced in three in total for the year.
Median GDP forecasts for this year were increased to 2.7 per
Professor André Spicer, Cass Business School, comments on Cambridge Analytica and questions what the costs will be to big tech firms?
Recent revelations about Cambridge Analytica will put pressure on not just Facebook, but many large tech companies. They will be forced to expand their compliance, privacy and social responsibility functions. Big tech firms are going from being darlings to being devils in the public imagination.
Big tech firms have a Californian mindset: they assume that people will generally do the right thing but this is being challenged. Now, they’re having to stop focusing on the sunny side of human
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