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An affiliate of private equity firm CI Capital Partners is to acquire Maroon Incorporated, which has changed its name to Maroon Group, a North American distributor of specialty chemicals based in Avon, Ohio.
Maroon’s management team retains a significant equity interest in the company. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Founded in 1977, Maroon has become a leader in the specialty chemical distribution industry. Through a network of distribution centres across North America, Maroon supplies nearly 900 customers with more than 30 million pounds of specialty additives, resins and pigments annually, with a focus on the plastics, coatings,
Mutual funds continue to grow as the vehicle of choice for accessing alternative strategies, according to the eighth annual alternative investment survey by Morningstar and Barron’s.
“2013 marked the strongest asset flows into alternative funds and the largest number of fund launches on record," says Josh Charlson, director of manager research, alternative strategies. "For the fourth year in a row, long-short strategies garnered the most interest, but growing apprehension toward the bond market has also contributed to blistering growth in non-traditional bond funds."
Organic growth rates for mutual funds rose to eye-popping levels. Long-short equity funds rose by more
Taliance, a global analytics provider serving the alternative investments marketplace, has sold its back office-focused accounting and transactional solutions to asset management software provider Cassiopae.
Taliance now intends to concentrate on the rapidly-growing and evolving alternative investments space.
Cassiopae, which has a global focus on back office solutions for the real estate market, will acquire Taliance’s staff, software and clients dedicated to back-office operations. The senior management team of the firm will remain with Taliance. The two companies will collaborate moving forward and work together closely to share market expertise and development opportunities where synergies exist for the mutual benefit
The management team at Oxford company bChannels Limited has completed an equity backed buyout of the business.
Led by chief executive Matt Rowland-Jones, the four-strong team has acquired a majority stake in the company following a GBP3.5 million secondary buyout from RCapital.
The deal, backed by private equity house WestBridge Capital, also includes a significant amount of development capital to enable bChannels to pursue ambitious plans for further growth.
The business, which outsourced marketing services and customer engagement strategies to global technology companies, employs 126 staff at its headquarters in Oxford and has offices in the USA and
Funds advised by Triton are to acquire Scandinavian Business Seating, a manufacturer of Scandinavian-designed ergonomic swivel and meeting chairs for office use.
The transaction is funded by the Triton IV fund, has an enterprise value of NOK1,925 million, and includes all assets of Scandinavian Business Seating.
The transaction is subject to approval by the relevant anti-trust authorities.
“Scandinavian Business Seating has potential to benefit from growth in its current Western geographies and its Asian hubs. We are confident that the management team in partnership with Triton will take Scandinavian Business Seating to the next level,” says Peder Prahl,
Mid-market advisory firm Clearwater International has completed its first deal since its merger, advising boutique gym chain Gymbox on its GBP10m investment of growth capital from Business Growth Fund (BGF).
This comes after Clearwater Corporate Finance merged with Danish firm Advizer and IMAP Lynx, based in Spain and Portugal, forming Clearwater International.
Gymbox currently has five clubs across London and will use BGF’s capital to continue its site roll-out in the capital with three additional sites already secured. Beyond these, the company now has the funding in place to open several further gyms in London, and in other UK cities.
Traity, which enables individuals to own their own online reputation, has secured a USD4.7 million Series A investment led by ACTIVE Venture Partners.
The investment was led by ACTIVE Venture Partners through its Amerigo Innvierte Spain Ventures Fund , together with Horizons Ventures, the venture investment arm of Li Ka-Shing; KRW Schindler Private Ventures with Philipp Schindler as a cornerstone investor; Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments (BDMI); Lanta Digital Ventures; 500 Startups; Lisa Gansky, US entrepreneur; Juan Lopez, chief digital officer at Pearson; Matthew Bothner, chair of HR and leadership at ESMT; and Dalibor Siroky, Australian entrepreneur.
Traity’s purpose is to
The AIM-quoted investment group Adamas Finance Asia (ADAM) is to invest a further USD300,000 into the BRJ China Private Credit Fund following an initial investment of USD500,000 last April.
The BRJ Fund provides capital for operationally-sound Chinese SMEs in need of short-term bridging finance not easily available within the People’s Republic of China.
It has already achieved successful exits from three early investments, yielding gross IRRs of 27.26 per cent, 31.83 per cent and 57.04 per cent on fully-repaid loans of USD2.1 million, USD2.4 million, and USD4.8 million, respectively.
The BRJ Fund was launched by Adamas Asset Management
Altor held a single close of Altor Fund IV on 3 July 2014 at its target size and hard cap of EUR2 billion.
Altor was advised on the fund’s formation by Ashurst.
"This has been a remarkable fundraising," says Ashurst funds partner Piers Warburton. "It has been characterised by enormously strong demand from investors and the adoption of a new onshore fund structure, but also by the continuation of the business model and core fund terms that have driven Altor's previous success. By adopting an onshore structure for the new fund, with a fund manager regulated in Sweden, Altor
London-based house builder London Square has been sold by private equity firm Graphite Capital to Ares Management in a joint investment by its private equity and real estate funds, for GBP110 million.
Adam Lawrence, chief executive of London Square, says: “London Square has grown into one of London’s leading house builders with the invaluable support of Graphite which backed us at a challenging time for the property market. As we move on to the next stage in our plans for growth, the backing of Ares Management is a tremendous vote of confidence to support our expansion – and the delivery
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