Latest News
Munich-based Fidelium Partners has held the successful closing of its debut special situations fund. The oversubscribed EUR 103m Fidelium Holdings Fund attracted a selected group of German business families.
The Fidelium team members have also made a significant financial commitment to the fund.
A spokesperson for Fidelium Partners says: “We are extremely excited and grateful for the support and confidence by our limited partners, entrusting us to steward and invest their capital. We now look forward to capitalising on our team’s extensive network and track record, targeting to build-up a portfolio of 10-15 attractive investments over the next years.”
River Associates Investments (RAI), a longstanding lower middle market private equity firm, has held the successful closing of its seventh committed capital investment fund, River VII, LP, with total commitments of USD285 million.
Raised in approximately eight months, the fund was oversubscribed and exceeded the original USD250 million target.
Commitments to River VII came from well-respected university endowments, public company pension plans, insurance companies and family offices, a number of whom were investors in previous River Associates’ funds. Consistent with prior funds, the partners of River Associates have made significant personal capital commitments to River VII.
River VII
Over half of private equity LPs expect their infrastructure to suffer a serious cyber-attack within five years – a sharp rise on the one in twenty LPs who have suffered attacks in recent years, according to Coller Capital’s latest Global Private Equity Barometer.
Heightened security concerns will also affect LPs’ relations with their GPs: around half of investors say they will require cyber risk assessments both for GP management companies and for fund portfolio companies within the next few years.
Most LPs concede that their private equity returns could be improved by making changes to their own organisations, with
European venture capital house Octopus Ventures is celebrating its tenth anniversary this month. Founded in 2007 with an initial fund of just GBP30 million, investing GBP10 million a year, Octopus Ventures now manages in excess of GBP660 million and invests GBP100 million per year.
Octopus Ventures invests across a range of sectors and specifically looks to back unusually talented entrepreneurs intent on building large, often global businesses. It now invests in businesses at differing phases of their lifecycle, from startups at the earliest stages of their formation through to companies in the later stages of growth and maturity.
Law firm Howard Kennedy has advised the selling shareholders, and separately the incoming and existing management team, on the multi-million-pound investment from Rutland Partners into the Aston Barclay Group.
The transaction paves the way for a significant investment in the business which will consolidate it as the UK’s leading national independent vehicle remarketing provider. The MBO was led by new chief executive officer Neil Hodson, with Glenn and David Scarborough, the former managing director and commercial director respectively, remaining shareholders and non-executive directors.
The Howard Kennedy team advising the selling shareholders was led by Corporate Partner Gillian White and
The Private Equity Wire Global Awards 2017, presented on 9 June in London, recognised the best private equity fund performers and service providers during 2016 in a range of categories covering the entire private equity space.
The winners of the awards, who were determined by readers of Private Equity Wire, are:
Best Debt Provider of The Year (Alternative) – Star Mountain Capital LLC
Best Debt Provider of The Year (Bank) – Investec
Best AIFM-Ready Fund Administrator – Augentius
Best Placement Agent of the Year – Asante Capital
Best Legal Adviser of the Year – Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Best Law Firm
Singapore Diamond Investment Exchange (SDiX), the world’s first commodity exchange for physically settled diamonds, has raised USD10 million in Series B+ financing.
The round, which closed on June, was led by existing investors Vertex Ventures and SDiX Chairman Alain Vandenborre (pictured). New investors in this round include Simon Murray, Chairman and founder of SMC and GEMS and former Group Managing Director of Hutchison Whampoa; and Richard Ji, co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of All-Stars Investment and former Asia-Pacific Head of Internet/media investment research at Morgan Stanley.
The new investment will support the continued execution of SDiX’s strategy to create
Synechron, a financial services consulting and technology service provider, is to join the Misys InFusion Partner Program. Synechron will develop two Centres of Excellence focused on Capital Markets and Corporate Banking to support clients across the United States, Europe, Middle-East and India.
The Capital Markets sites will cover the Misys FusionCapital suite of products for Treasury and Capital Markets. Corporate Banking will include the Misys FusionBanking solutions in Lending and Transaction Banking. This will complement Synechron’s prominent track record in these markets and its long-standing systems integration capability.
Brian Gibson (pictured), Vice President, Partners and Ecosystem at Misys, says:
Clifford Thames, a provider of data services to the global automotive aftermarket industry, has been acquired by OEConnection Holdings the US-based e-commerce technology group, from its private equity owner LDC.
Based in Chelmsford, Essex, Clifford Thames manages information on millions of car parts which is used by manufacturers and leasing companies to manage vehicle repairs and maintenance. Its customers include Ford, General Motors, Jaguar Land Rover, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Renault and VW Group.
Operating from offices in seven countries across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific and employing almost 500 people, the business was originally founded in 1948 as a publisher of local newspapers, including the Stoke Newington and Hackney Observer. It evolved into data services in
BGF has expanded its investment team into the Republic of Ireland with the appointment of Leo Casey who will officially join in September.
Casey joins from IBI Corporate Finance where he was a director and board member. Based in Dublin, he has more than 17 years’ experience and knowledge of the Irish mid-market, helping Irish owner managed and family businesses secure growth capital and unlock value. Last year Leo completed significant deals on behalf of Ireland’s Americk Packaging, Arconics and Retail InMotion.
Before IBI, Casey worked at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson in Paris, and began his career at PwC in
Special Reports
Featured
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
