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BGF has exited its investment in digital marketing company Zone following its acquisition by Cognizant (CTSH), one of the world’s leading professional services companies. The acquisition is expected to close in 2017.
Upon completion, Zone will become part of the Cognizant Digital Business Practice, enhancing the breadth and depth of its offering to existing and future clients in the UK and internationally.
BGF invested in Zone in February 2015, backing an organic and acquisitive growth strategy that has resulted in increased revenues and profitability. The funding has been used to support three acquisitions, strengthening Zone’s European presence, and investment
Céréa Capital II has acquired, from Azulis Capital, Store Novation (with its two main subsidiaries Sitour and Caractères), a French leader in point-of-sale advertising solutions (signage, price labelling, merchandising, and in-store theatre material), mainly for large-scale food retailers.
With sales of nearly EUR40 million and roughly 150 employees, Store Novation offers a wide range of over 3 500 products to more than 7 500 clients (distributers and advertisers). Specialised to accompany large food business brands and their distributors, the group is active in France and exports to more than 50 countries.
Store Novation has seen strong organic growth since the management
China Everbright and Walden International Group have launched Walden CEL Global Fund I, a specially designed private equity fund that will invest in companies operating in the semiconductor and industrial information technology sectors.
Chen Shuang, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of CEL, and Mr Hing Wong, Managing Director of Walden International Group, attended the launch ceremony.
Walden CEL Global Fund I will concentrate on investing in business entities along the semiconductor and electronic information supply chain including but not limited to microchips, artificial intelligence, as well as hardware and software integration. With a target size of USD500 million,
Epidarex Capital (Epidarex), an early-stage, transatlantic life science venture fund, has appointed Dr William R Sellers, William Burns and Dr. Frank M Armstrong to its advisory board.
Epidarex is a leading investor in high growth life science and health technologies in under-ventured markets. The advisory board provides strategic guidance and advice to Epidarex and its transatlantic portfolio of 14 early-stage life science companies.
Kyp Sirinakis, Managing Partner and co-founder of Epidarex, says: “As a leading, early-stage venture capital firm, Epidarex builds high-growth life science companies in under-ventured markets. We are delighted to welcome our new advisory board members and
Kayne Partners has held the final close of its latest growth private equity fund, Kayne Partners Fund IV at its hard cap of USD385 million.
The fund maintains the same focus as its three predecessor funds in providing growth capital to exceptional entrepreneurs and management teams of high growth enterprise software and technology-enabled businesses, and is primarily focused on companies serving the security & compliance, supply chain & logistics, business & financial services, industrials, healthcare and media & telecom industries.
Kayne Partners’ total cumulative commitments have now reached over USD740 million since inception.
“We are thrilled by the
LoHi Merchant Bank, a middle market investment bank, has completed the acquisition of Andrews Securities, a FINRA registered broker dealer with over 20 licensed representatives in 10 states.
The acquisition now brings together the two synergistic firms under the management of LoHi Merchant Bank co-founders Bobbi Babitz and Brett Story. The business, to be renamed LoHi Securities, offers tailored compliance services for independent investment bankers, banking teams and alternative investment funds.
The acquisition will further fuel LoHi Securities’ growth across the country and allow it to attract larger investment banking teams as well as top-tier placement agents working with
NewAlpha Asset Management, via its dedicated fintech venture capital fund, has acted as the lead investor in the Wiztopic’s USD4.4 million fund raising round – its first investment in a Franco-American company.
Created in Paris in 2014 by Jérôme Lascombe and Raphaël Labbé, Wiztopic is the publisher of an SaaS solution dedicated to corporate and financial communication executives. Wiztopic’s platform helps them to streamline content management, SEO, social and multichannel distribution, stakeholder relationships and performance assessment, in full compliance with their sectors’ constraints.
Alongside NewAlpha Asset Management, business angels from the financial sector also participated, namely Pierre-Antoine Dusoulier (Saxo
MMC Ventures’ MMC London Fund has secured more than GBP100 million of investment into a portfolio of 19 fast growing London businesses in the five years since its launch.
The MMC London Fund focuses on early-stage London-based businesses that can generate significant levels of economic growth and create jobs in the capital. The GBP14 million technology co-investment fund – of which GBP9 million was provided by the Mayor of London – was designed to be matched by private investors ensuring at least GBP28 million would be channelled into high-growth SMEs in London.
To date the Fund has directly invested GBP12.5
One Equity Partners’ portfolio company Lutech, a Italian IT system integration and solutions provider, has completed its acquisition of Milan-based system integration and IT infrastructure provider Sinergy.
Headquartered in Segrate, Milan, Sinergy focuses on data centres and providing complete solutions for the design, development and management of business-critical ICT infrastructure. Founded in 1994, the company has more than 20 years of experience and is among the leading system integration players in the Italian market. With its unique positioning concentrated entirely around data cetres, Sinergy offers vast expertise to help its customers prepare for the challenges facing modern IT systems.
United PF Partners (United PF), the largest Planet Fitness (NYSE: PLNT) franchisee, has completed two add-on acquisitions of Planet Fitness franchisees in the Phoenix and New Orleans markets, increasing its operating club count by 11 clubs to 78 across 10 states.
In November 2016, JLM Financial Partners (JLM) and Eagle Merchant Partners (Eagle) created United PF with 59 operating clubs.
Founded in 1992 in Dover, NH, Planet Fitness, home of the Judgement Free Zone, is one of the largest and fastest growing franchisors and operators of fitness clubs with more than 1,400 clubs and over 10 million members. Planet
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