Latest News
bfinance has made two new appointments to its investment teams – Witold Witkiewicz joins as a Director in Private Markets and John Amoasi joins as a Senior Associate in Fixed Income.
Prior to joining bfinance, Witold was a portfolio manager, co-managing the funds of Aeriance Investments, a European real estate debt platform with transactions in excess of EUR1bn. He also managed a discretionary long/short account of global REITs equities which was ranked in the top 10 globally in its category by BarclayHedge. Prior to that he was Head of European Credit at Woodbourne Investment Management, a US based hedge fund
Ogier has appointed three new partners to its team in Jersey and Guernsey – Sara Johns (pictured) and Jamie Bore in Jersey and Christopher Jones in Guernsey, effective from 1 April, bringing Ogier’s total number of partners to 49.
In Jersey Johns, who has more than 20 years’ experience in London and Jersey, has been promoted to partner. She is a Jersey Advocate specialising in mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings, joint ventures and capital markets transactions involving offshore vehicles. She also leads Ogier’s competition law practice in Jersey.
Most recently Johns, who joined Ogier in 2003, advised AbbVie on
Middle market private equity firm Irving Place Capital (IPC) has completed its acquisition of Bendon, Inc, a provider of non-licensed and licensed children’s colouring and activity products, from The Wicks Group.
Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
Bendon’s Chief Executive Officer, Ben Ferguson, says: "We have experienced strong growth with the Wicks team, and they have been a valuable partner to us throughout their ownership. We’ve built a better, more profitable business together, and we are excited to be teaming with IPC to continue our expansion, both organically and through acquisitions."
Bendon’s existing product portfolio includes colouring and
Private equity firm NorthEdge Capital has backed the management buyout of Total Fitness, a Wilmslow-based health and fitness business.
NorthEdge has backed the management team, led by Chief Executive Richard Millman together with Warwick Ley and Brian Davidson of RooGreen Ventures, who alongside a partial realisation of their equity have reinvested in the business as part of the buyout. The transaction will see the existing management team receive significant new investment to support their next stage growth plans, which begin with the re-opening of the Total Fitness club in Wrexham in early April after a GBP1m+ refurbishment.
The transaction
Acquisition of Branden solar park and Carscreugh and Wear Point wind farms
John Laing Environmental Assets Group (JLEN) has acquired three projects from John Laing Group for a cash consideration of GBP42.54 million – Branden solar park and Carscreugh and Wear Point wind farms.
The assets were acquired under JLEN’s First Offer Agreement with John Laing and were funded by a draw-down under the Company’s GBP50 million revolving credit facility.
Branden Solar comprises two separate solar parks located near Bodmin in Cornwall, with a total generating capacity of 14.7MW and is accredited for 2 ROCs. The sites have
UK mid-market buyout house Dunedin has taken a significant minority stake in Blackrock Programme Management (Blackrock PM), a provider of independent expert witness and construction consulting services for large, international construction projects.
The London based company has increased turnover tenfold from GBP1 million to GBP10 million between 2010 and 2014, and is expecting further significant growth in 2015.
Blackrock PM has a strong pipeline of high profile contracts and is currently advising on over USD4 billion of construction disputes. The company has advised on many high profile projects in London and globally including The Shard, Blackfriar’s Bridge, Heathrow
Bain Capital portfolio company Apex Tool Group has closed the acquisition of China-based Shanghai Yecen Auto Technology.
The deal, a highly strategic automotive sector acquisition in the Asia Pacific region for Apex’s SATA Tool (Shanghai) Limited subsidiary closed on 30 March and was financed with cash on hand in China.
Yecen’s wheel aligner and automotive lift product lines now will be part of Apex’s broad SATA brand portfolio; SATA is China’s number one brand in the professional hand tool industry and one of the major suppliers to the hand tool market in China. Yecen is a leading solutions provider
Weinberg Capital Partners has acquired French office supplies nd office furniture distributor Brunei from Argosyn.
Halisol Groupe and SGPA, two privately- held companies, have co-invested alongside with Weinberg Capital Partners. They will also support the management team in their growth strategy.
With a EUR300m turnover of which 60% through online sales, Bruneau is the French leader of e-commerce in the sector of B2B office supplies and office furniture. The Group employs around 800 people and has been able to seize strong market shares in France and Belgium.
With a range of 28,000 references in office furniture, consumable items,
Black Mountain Systems, a developer of data and process management solutions for asset managers and financial institutions, has completed a majority recapitalisation, led by existing management and funds managed by Stone Point Capital.
By combining Black Mountain's highly customisable Everest platform with Stone Point's relationships and expertise in financial services, Black Mountain is well positioned to advance its mission of bringing growth and innovation to investment professionals. Additionally, this transaction will enable Black Mountain to hasten its pace of expansion and allow its management team to deploy additional resources for a broader roll-out of its product- and service-based solution offerings.
Private equity firm San Francisco Equity Partners (SFEP) has acquired a majority stake in beauty company Japonesque.
SFEP is partnering with current Japonesque owner Karen McKay, an industry leader in the beauty tools category, to capitalise on the extraordinary momentum in the business.
Japonesque is a company with a deep heritage of creating cutting edge beauty products inspired by the professional makeup tools used in Kabuki theatre in Japan. Japonesque’s product line includes makeup brushes, eyelash curlers, tweezers, makeup cases and other beauty accessories. The company has recently launched into color cosmetics with great receptivity from retail partners, consumers
Special Reports
Featured
- Insight
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
