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An affiliate of private equity investment firm HIG Capital (HIG) has acquired BIC Graphic North America and the affiliated Asia sourcing operations (BIC Graphic) from Société BIC.
Founded in 1969 and headquartered in Clearwater, Florida, BIC Graphic, with sales over USD300 million, is one of the largest suppliers in the promotional products industry, specialising in customised writing instruments, hard goods and calendars. BIC Graphic’s quality, innovation, and service are highly regarded by tens of thousands of distributor customers. The Company operates three manufacturing facilities across the United States plus a highly strategic product sourcing operation in Hong Kong and mainland
Liberum Investment Banking has completed eight public market transactions during a busy five-week summer period, acting as financial adviser on two public offers, completing the IPO of a service provider to the film industry, and raising equity for five listed clients in the Real Estate, Healthcare and Telecoms sectors.
Steve Pearce, Co Head of Investing Banking Liberum Capital, says: “This is testament to Liberum’s exceptional capabilities in supporting their clients in achieving strategic goals across a wide range of sectors, using a broad range of funding mechanisms.”
Wholly-owned subsidiaries of Cosco Shipping Holdings and Shanghai International Port (Group) Co have made a voluntary cash offer to acquire Orient Overseas (International) Limited (Orient Overseas) in a deal worth up to USD6.3 billion.
Cosco ShippingHoldings, which was represented by law firm Paul Hastings in the acquisition, is the world’s fourth largest container shipping company and Orient Overseas is the world’s seventh largest container shipping company.
The proposed acquisition marks the latest consolidation in the global maritime industry and one of the largest M&A deals globally so far this year. The combined entity will become the world’s third largest container liner.
Yamibuy, an e-commerce site for Americans to purchase the best Asian snacks, beauty products, health supplements and home appliances, has closed a USD10 million Series A funding round led by GGV Capital, with participation from New Oriental Education & Technology Group, Inc. (NYSE: EDU) and K2VC.
The investment, the company’s first round of institutional funding, was announced at a Jpress conference at Sofitel Wanda Beijing Hotel in Beijing, China. Yamibuy founder and CEO Alex Zhou was joined by GGV Capital managing partner Hans Tung, New Oriental general manager of investment business department Zheng Zhao and K2VC managing partner Shiyu Wang.
Efforts to improve gender diversity at UK hedge funds and private equity firms and other investment partnerships is slowly paying off, according to executive search specialists DHR International.
The firm reports that the number of female partners has increased faster than male partners in the last year.
DHR International’s analysis of data* provided by the FCA shows that the number of female partners at hedge funds and private equity firms increased by 8 per cent in the last year, whilst the number of male partners rose by just 2 per cent- indicating the efforts to improve diversity are paying
Ilany Labdaoui (pictured), has joined the Infrastructure Equity team of AXA IM – Real Assets as an Analyst, reporting to Mark Gilligan, Head of Infrastructure Equity.
Based in Paris, Labdaoui will draw upon his experience in both the fields of engineering and finance to originate and analyse prospective investments for the infrastructure equity business of the company. His qualification in engineering, specialising in energy, will be an important technical resource within the team.
Labdaoui’s appointment continues the strategic build out of the Infrastructure Equity team and follows the appointments of Jeff Woodard (Principal, London), Julien Gailleton (Principal, Paris) and
United Group, a multi-play (Pay-TV, Broadband, Telephony, Mobile) operator in South East Europe, backed by KKR and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), is to acquire the Croatian and Slovenian media portfolio owned by CME (CETV).
The transaction is subject to the relevant regulatory approvals.
The portfolio of assets includes leading TV channels in Slovenia and Croatia, two economies estimated to post real GDP growth of over 2% annually between 2016 and 2018.
United Group, will invest in those channels to further build their local production capabilities and expand their reach beyond their respective local markets
Early-stage investor Rainbow Seed Fund today announces that Oxfordshire-based Cobalt Light Systems, a provider of highly differentiated Raman spectroscopic instruments, has been acquired by Agilent Technologies Inc.
Cobalt Light Systems, a spin-out from the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Rutherford Appleton Laboratory which was funded from the earliest stages by Rainbow Seed Fund, produces innovative products for non-invasive, through-barrier chemical analysis, for applications in airport security, hazardous chemical ID and pharmaceutical QC, using a technologically advanced Raman spectroscopy technique.
Cobalt Light Systems’s CEO Paul Loeffen will remain with Agilent as the Director of Raman Spectroscopy. The former Cobalt
John Whitehead has been appointed as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Exemplar Healthcare (Exemplar), a portfolio company of private equity firm Agilitas and a provider of nurse-led residential care for adults with disabilities.
Whitehead joins Exemplar from Allied Healthcare where he was interim Managing Director, having Joined the business in 2013 as CFO. In his most recent role he was pivotal in the successful turnaround of Allied Healthcare, following its acquisition by Saga. Previous career appointments include senior roles with BT, as CFO of its Global Services Division, and Group Finance Director for Siemens Business Services in the UK &
Funds managed by Alpina Partners have acquired the quality management software division from ASI DataMyte.
In the course of the carve-out of the American parent company, technology investment firm Alpina Partners (“Alpina”) acquired the quality management software division from ASI DataMyte. The existing management team around the managing director Sven Tetzlaff will remain with the company. The international software company will operate under the name QDA Solutions in the future.
Since its foundation in 1987, ASI DataMyte has developed into one of the leading providers of software Solutions in the area of CAQ (Computer Aided Quality Assurance). With
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