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Montagu Private Equity has close its fifth fund (Montagu V) at EUR2.75 billion, reaching the hard cap set for the fund.
Montagu V has been able to attract a broad mix of investors by type and geographical mix, including increased commitments from pension funds, insurance companies and sovereign wealth funds across the USA, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
The first close for the fund was held on 30 June 2015 having reached EUR2.2bn in investor commitments.
Jason Gatenby (pictured), Chief Executive of Montagu Private Equity, says: “We are delighted to have completed the fundraising in such a timely manner,
A new study reveals that seven in ten (69 per cent) European institutional investors believe there will be an increase in the issuance of SME finance-related asset backed securitisations (ABS) over the next two years.
The research was commissioned by Amicus Finance Plc (“Amicus”), a leading specialist in short term lending solutions which last week completed a GBP100 million short-term mortgage-backed securitisation. The study showed that three-quarters (73 per cent) of institutions believe there will be growing appetite for investing in securitisations providing access to SMEs’ underlying cash flow assets.
Investor types most attracted to SME securitisations are likely
Omnes Capital has invested EUR9 million in Bimedia, a provider of software solutions for local retailers, via a primary LBO (leveraged buyout) alongside management, A Plus Finance and Idinvest, which also provided the unitranche debt.
Founded in La Roche-sur-Yon (Vendée department) in 2002, Bimedia provides software solutions and point-of-sale terminals to almost 6,000 local retailers (newsagents, tobacconists, bakers). Other key strengths of the company include telephony sales, electronic payment systems and digital advertising sales across its network.
The management team, led by its Chief Executive Officer Olivier Kimmerling, is taking over from the founders Jean-Baptiste Pondevy, Dominique Chabot, Antoine
DreamBox Learning has closed USD10 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Owl Ventures and includes investment from Tao Capital Partners.
The company also announced the addition of Tory Patterson (pictured), co-founder and managing partner of Owl Ventures, to its Board of Directors. Patterson currently serves on the board of directors of other prominent EdTech companies including Newsela, MasteryConnect, and LearnZillion. Patterson joins an impressive group of current DreamBox Learning Board of Directors, which includes: Reed Hastings, Co-founder, Chairman and CEO of Netflix; Kevin Hall, CEO and President of the Charter School Growth Fund; Paul Holland, General
Aurelius Mittelstandskapital (Aurelius), the SME focussed investment arm of Aurelius Group, has acquired the privately owned company, Emsdetten-based ARBAprocessing Group for an undisclosed sum.
ARBAprocessing Group is a leading European manufacturer of containers and collection vehicles for the dairy industry. Long-serving Managing Director and majority shareholder Reinhold Barlian will step down with immediate effect. The transaction is subject to the completion of regulatory clearances.
The ARBAprocessing Group consists of two operating units:
Schwarte and Milfor brands – This unit engineers, designs and produces storage and process containers for the dairy, food, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals industries. Working out of five locations
In a decisive shareholder victory, the Delaware Court of Chancery has found that the two most senior officers of Dole Food Co breached their fiduciary duties in structuring a 2013 buyout of the iconic producer of fresh fruits and vegetables that drastically undervalued the company to the detriment of stockholders.
Vice Chancellor Travis Laster held that Dole CEO David Murdock, along with the company’s chief operating officer and general counsel Michael Carter undermined shareholders and misled the board of directors in their handling of Dole’s privatized buyout, which closed in November 2013 in an all-cash deal valued at USD1.2 billion.
Mid-market private equity house LDC has exited its investment in oil and gas engineering business Bifold Group to Rotork.
Bifold is a designer, manufacturer and distributor of valves and pumps to the oil and gas sector with sites in Manchester and Taunton, as well as Houston and Singapore. The GBP125m transaction delivers a 2.4x money return for LDC.
In 2014, Bifold moved into new ‘state-of-the-art’ 30,000 sq ft manufacturing facilities in Oldham, Greater Manchester, to increase capacity and its technical capabilities. It completed the acquisition of Orange Instruments, which offers the business access to a range of specialist control system
MagicCube announced has raised USD2.2 million in a seed round of funding from Azure Capital, Epic Ventures, as well as Bialla Venture Partners and private investors.
MagicCube’s software-only technology secures digital transactions on any mobile device, independent of its hardware or operating system, stopping digital transaction fraud where most vulnerabilities can be found today – at the endpoint.
“Commerce is rapidly evolving and migrating to digital channels. As innovation continues to accelerate, the traditional approach of securing devices with hardware-based solutions has become impractical and costly for the entire ecosystem,” says Sam Shawki (pictured), CEO and co-founder of MagicCube.
A record 290 companies in Central and Eastern Europe received private equity and venture capital investment in 2014, as capital invested by funds across the region increased by 66 per cent on previous year to EUR1.3 billion.
That’s according to new data released by the European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (EVCA), which reveals that fundraising increased in 2014 more than threefold to EUR1.5 billion and exits stood at EUR1.3 billion (measured at original cost), up 32 per cent on previous year.
The figures come from the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) Statistics 2014 report, a 50-page paper
Tony Wang Has joined O’Melveney & Myers as a partner in the firm’s Newport Beach office.
Wang’s practice focuses on corporate and securities law, with an emphasis on private equity, venture capital, merger and acquisition, and Asia-related media and entertainment transactions. Having spent his legal career in Silicon Valley and Shanghai, Wang is experienced in transactions with US and Chinese companies, an invaluable asset in today’s global economy.
A versatile lawyer, Wang will work closely with O’Melveny’s China offices to serve technology, media, and telecommunications clients exploring the growing opportunities for cross-border business in that sector. He also has
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