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Accountancy firm Saffery Champness has appointed Donald Forsyth as a partner based in the firm’s Inverness office, with effect from 1 April.
Forsyth was most recently managing partner at EY’s Inverness office. He previously spent 17 years with Scott-Moncrieff, where he served as a commercial partner leading the firm’s business advisory group and served on the executive and strategy board from 2011 to 2014.
Following the recent announcement by EY to reduce the size of the Inverness office, Saffery Champness and Forsyth have worked closely together to be able to offer a continued service for a number of local
Greg Carter, founder of SME finance platform Growth Street, has replaced James Sherwin-Smith as chief executive officer.
The appointment of Carter – who has been Growth Street’s chief risk officer since its launch – represents a return to the company’s original founder.
Carter founded Growth Street while working at Arts Alliance, the venture capital investors in Graze, Shazam and Lovefilm, before appointing Sherwin-Smith as CEO to launch the company in 2015.
Carter says: “I would like to thank James for all the hard work he put in over the last two years in growing Growth Street. We would
Gresham House, an asset manager focused on alternative investment strategies and illiquid asset classes, has appointed Andy Hampshire to the newly created role of chief technology officer.
Hampshire (pictured) will develop and drive the implementation of Gresham House’s technology strategy, including the creation of a distinctive co-investment platform. This platform will provide a high quality service for investors and facilitate co-investment opportunities for clients, which will materially enhance the group’s client service proposition.
He will also advise investee companies on the use of technology as a driver of shareholder value creation.
Hampshire has over 10 years of experience
Silverfleet Capital has appointed Karl Eidem as co-head of the Nordic region.
Eidem will work closely with Gareth Whiley, partner, who currently heads the region to further develop the firm’s capabilities and help to build on Silverfleet’s track record in Scandinavia, where the firm has made three investments and achieved one exit since 2013.
Eidem joins Silverfleet from Swedish national pension fund AP6, where he was an investment director overseeing the development of an international investment programme through mid to large cap private equity firms and co-investments. Prior to that, he was a senior principal at Doughty Hanson in Stockholm and
Vistra, a provider of international incorporations, trust, fiduciary, private office and fund administration services, has acquired optegra, a Germany-based specialist in auditing, tax consultancy, legal advisory, and management consultancy services.
With offices in Cologne, Hamburg and Munich, optegra has a staff of 120 professionals serving clients from a range of industries, including automotive, information technology, telecommunications, health care, private equity, real estate, renewable energy, and engineering.
It provides solutions surrounding financial and regulatory services, transaction support, payroll accounting, tax consultancy and administration, as well as start-up support.
The partners of optegra will all remain with the business post-completion
Private equity firm SFW Capital Partners has sold Essen BioScience, a specialist in the field of cell-based assays and instrumentation used for life sciences research, to Sartorius Group for USD320 million.
SFW acquired a controlling interest in Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Essen in May 2014.
SFW recruited Brett Williams to become Essen’s CEO and, throughout the investment, supported Williams and the Essen management team in executing a wide range of strategic, organisational, and operating initiatives to drive significant organic revenue growth and the adoption of Essen’s IncuCyte live cell analysis platform.
With SFW’s support, Essen made substantial investments in the
Peer-to-peer (P2P) finance platform Assetz Capital has provided GBP30 million in funds for the development of renewable energy projects throughout Britain.
With dedicated specialists in the green and renewable energy market, during the past three years, Assetz Capital has funded 39 green energy projects, predominantly in the onshore wind turbine energy space.
While projects have been located all over the UK, 20 of them have been based in Scotland. A further 11 are based in the North West of England, with the others scattered around Britain and Northern Ireland.
Traditionally funding for wind energy projects has been hard to
Executive recruitment firm The McLean Partnership has hired Edward King as a partner to develop its private equity franchise.
King joins from executives in Africa’s London office where he has forged strong links with private equity organisations looking to grow their business interests in the region.
He has worked extensively with portfolio companies across a wide range of sectors. Most recently, he has been responsible for C-suite hires in Ethiopia and West Africa in banking, insurance, pensions, real estate, FMCG and agri-business. King will build on The McLean Partnership’s private equity offering, working with clients in the UK and in
Private equity firm Alpine Creek has completed its equity financing of BioCorRx (BICX), an addiction treatment company.
The new round of funding will include the closing of nearly USD5 million investment from strategic investor Alpine Creek Capital.
The initial investment of USD2,500,000 received in June 2016 has allowed BioCorRx to reach major milestones and expand into the development of injectable naltrexone.
Lourdes Felix, CFO, COO and director, says: "We appreciate the support we have received from investors, as this financing strengthens our balance sheet while allowing us to continue to execute on our business plan. Preclinical studies of
HarbourVest Global Private Equity (HVPE) has appointed Francesca Barnes as a non-executive director of the company with effect from 3 April 2017.
Barnes brings a wealth of private equity, banking and finance experience to the HVPE Board.
Most recently she was non-executive director of Electra Private Equity, a FTSE 250 investment trust specialising in private equity investments – a position she held from 2013 to 2016.
Prior to this, Barnes spent 16 years at UBS, serving as global head of private equity for the latter seven years following on from senior positions in restructuring and loan portfolio management.
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