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GCI has secured a GBP50 million acquisition growth fund to support its strategic objectives.
The fund was facilitated via the Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC in a deal led by GCI’s chief financial officer Mark Allen and brokered with the support of KPMG.
Allen says: “GCI has come a long way over the last nine months. At the start of the year we took a long hard look at our operation, and our marketplace, and set about finessing an organisation that has been 16 years in the making. The securing of this GBP50 million fund is another step
Cairngorm Capital Partners’ portfolio company Polyframe Group has acquired The Window Bureau (WB Group).
Established in 1981, WB Group is a manufacturer of a range of GRP composite doors and PVCu doors and windows, which it supplies to the UK trade sector.
The company operates from a 70,000 square foot production facility in Birtley, Durham employing just over 100 people.
The transaction was prompted by the retirement of WB Group’s founder and chairman, Kevin Craggs. It is the first since Cairngorm Capital supported the management led buy-out of Polyframe in July 2016.
WB Group aligns with Polyframe’s
A fund managed by BlackRock Real Assets has completed the refinancing of five operational wind projects in England with ING, which provided a GBP55 million long term debt facility.
The 46MW wind portfolio is located throughout England and the projects have been operational for three years on average.
The projects benefit from a 15-year power purchase agreement and long-term operations and maintenance arrangements.
“We are very pleased to refinance this wind portfolio on behalf of our clients. This transaction represents our continued focus on enhancing the value of our renewable power investments, where BlackRock has over USD2.5 billion
The Greater Manchester Loan Fund (GMLF), managed by Maven Capital Partners, has supported Bury-based UK Creative Media (UKCM) with a GBP150,000 funding package.
This will enable the business to accelerate the roll-out of its personalised card and gift franchises.
UKCM has developed ‘Creation Express’, a range of units through which customers can create, within minutes, fully personalised cards and gifts, including ceramics such as mugs, money boxes and candle holders, which are sold to local high street stores including card and gift shops and local convenience stores.
The units have the infrastructure required to complete the whole production
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), established by the Government of India with the support of RDIF, have agreed to set up a USD1 billion Russia-India Investment Fund.
The partners will work together to identify attractive investment opportunities that promote economic, trade and investment co-operation between the two countries.
Under the agreement, RDIF and NIIF will each invest up to USD500 million into the new fund.
The signing ceremony took place in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the
Gymbox has secured a GBP39 million funding package to continue its expansion plans.
BGF (Business Growth Fund), an existing Gymbox shareholder, has provided an additional GBP13 million of equity finance while HSBC, which has banked the company for over 13 years, is providing a debt package totalling GBP26 million.
This latest round of funding brings BGF’s total investment to GBP25 million.
Gymbox will roll-out further new sites across London within the next 12 months. This includes its largest gym to date, which is under construction in Farringdon. The new 42,000 sq ft gym will feature a three lane
Funds advised by Cinven, Permira and Mid Europa are to acquire Polish online marketplace Allegro Group from Naspers for USD3.253 billion.
Established in 1999, Allegro has more than 20 million registered users who carry out 14 million transactions monthly.
In addition, the group operates Ceneo, a price comparison platform in Poland.
It is headquartered in Poznan, Poland and employs 1,275 people.
David Barker, partner at Cinven, says: “Allegro is a great business. It is a clear market leader and extremely well positioned to benefit from structural e-commerce drivers with a strong technology platform and strong reputation with
Benhamou Global Ventures’ (BGV) BGV III fund has made its second investment in Webscale Networks, in syndication with Mohr Davidow Ventures (MDV) and Grotech Ventures.
Extending the strategy of fund BGV II, BGV III will focus on enterprise IT sectors including cyber security, cloud-based services and applications, web scale infrastructure, advanced analytics and industrial Internet of Things.
Webscale Networks aims to to capitalise on the transition of the Application Delivery Control (Layer 4-7) market to the cloud by delivering an integrated cloud application delivery solution for the broader mid-market. The company's technology removes the appliance lock-in and performance limitations
Direct Online Services, a UK-based online retailer of solid wooden kitchen worktops, has secured a GBP3 million investment from BGF (Business Growth Fund) to support its growth in the UK and overseas.
The company plans to expand its European coverage across Germany and into France, increase its range of products and invest further in its marketing activities.
In 2009, father and son Martyn and Will Rees launched Direct Online Services’ flagship brand Worktop Express and opened its first showroom in Gloucester. Since then, the business has expanded its portfolio to include Solid Wood Kitchen Cabinets, deTerra and WEX Trade.
It now manages nine individually
European jewellery retailer Thom Europe has acquired Stroili in Italy and is in the process of acquiring another jewellery chain in Germany.
Stroili, which has over 370 stores and sales of EUR213 million, was acquired from a shareholder consortium led by Investindustrial and L Catterton (formerly L Capital) and including 21 Investimenti, Ergon Capital, Wise and Neuberger Berman.
Thom Europe is also in the process of buying the German jewellery chain Oro Vivo from Christian Bernard, providing it with a foothold in the German market. Oro Vivo reported sales of EUR18 million in 2015 and has 38 sales outlets.
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