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R&R Ice Cream has completed its acquisition of Peters Food Group, a manufacturer of take-home ice cream in Australia.
Peters, based in Mulgrave in Melbourne, manufactures iconic brands such as Drumstick cones and Connoisseur tubs and sticks, and has been acquired for an enterprise value of circa AUD440 million (approximately EUR305 million).
It achieved an adjusted EBITDA of AUD51 million (approximately EUR35.5 million) for the 12 months ended 31 March 2014.
For the same period R&R, the second largest manufacturer of take home ice cream in Europe, achieved an adjusted EBITDA of EUR95 million.
R&R chief executive
Techniwood Group has raised EUR5m from Electranova Capital, the cleantech investment fund managed by Idinvest Partners in partnership with EDF, one of the world’s largest utility companies.
The capital raised will be used to support the growth of Techniwood’s industrial business, both in France and internationally.
Techniwood is a widely recognised player within the sustainable building sector in France. The company’s flagship product PANOBLOC was awarded the Gold Trophy for Innovation at the BATIMAT 2013 in Paris. The new industrial construction system, based on a high-efficiency wood/insulation composite, is designed for sustainable construction and building renovations.
François Pelissier,
European sector-focused private equity firm HgCapital has made 15 internal promotions.
In the service team, Andrew Land has been promoted to partner, and both Simon Cottle and Thorsten Toepfer have been promoted to director.
Land joined the firm in 2011 from Och-Ziff Capital Management and has spent the last 15 years in European private equity. He led HgCapital’s recent acquisitions of Zenith and Leasedrive and sits on the boards of Voyage Care and Relay Software.
Cottle joined the firm in 2011 from Cognetas, having worked previously at Deutsche Bank. He currently sits on the boards of Parts Alliance
Rutland Partners has completes a GBP85 million investment in Maplin Electronics, the UK electronics retail chain.
Having started in 1972 as a small mail order business, Maplin has grown considerably over the years and has established itself as a national electronics chain with over 210 stores across the UK and Ireland.
After a challenging few years, a new management team was introduced in 2012, led by John Cleland, chief executive, to reposition the business. In particular, they have refreshed the store experience, invested in a new web platform and refocused the business on innovation and 'first in, last out'
A private equity consortium led by Ethos Private Equity has acquired approximately 80 per cent of the RTT Group for an undisclosed sum.
Other key shareholders in the consortium are African Development Partners II, a private equity fund advised by Development Partners International (DPI), and the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), represented by the Public Investment Corporation (PIC).
RTT’s current senior management team and a black empowerment staff trust will hold the remainder of RTT’s share capital.
Freddy Moore, RTT Group chief executive, says: “My management team and I are delighted to be partnering with our new shareholders.
Rakuten Ventures has launched a USD100 million global investment fund which will target investments in start-ups and companies in Israel, Asia Pacific, and the US.
The fund builds on the Southeast Asia fund, which was originally launched in 2013 and counts Carousell, Visenze, Coda Payments and Send Anywhere among its investment portfolio.
The larger global fund gives Rakuten Ventures the opportunity to empower the start-up ecosystem beyond Japan and Southeast Asia. It also supports Rakuten Ventures’ broader goal of long-term investments with start-ups that have the technology and potential to enable better user experience and facilitation. Over time, this
Private equity and real estate secondary manager Landmark Partners has hired Geoffrey Mullen as a principal with the firm.
Mullen joins Landmark to enhance and expand the firm’s business development and investor relations team.
Most recently, he was a managing director at Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners, where he led institutional business development, marketing, and distribution.
“Understanding our investor’s objectives and delivering strong performance have been key to Landmark’s growth and success for almost three decades,” says Landmark managing partner Tim Haviland. “Geoff has extensive industry knowledge and experience working with institutional investors. He has built and led
Last year, 26 out of 32 specialised funds, designed to invest in small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) and provide a much-needed alternative source of funding, launched to invest in Europe. This would suggest that Europe represents a significant opportunity for asset managers and shows that the loan and private debt market is really starting to build traction.
These (typically) closed-ended vehicles now account for 40 per cent of the funds dedicated to financing European companies.
At least that is according to a report released this spring by Bologna-headquartered Prometeia; a 400-person consulting company specialising in business consulting, risk management,
Arma Partners acted as exclusive financial advisor to Rule Financial on its sale to GFT Technologies, a Frankfurt Stock Exchange-listed provider of IT services to the financial services industry.
Rule is a specialist in the provision of business consultancy, IT consultancy and IT services to the global investment banking industry.
Rule’s clients include nine of the top 10 global investment banks.
Rule has over 800 employees around the world focused on servicing the needs of the financial services sector.
The Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry (ALFI) and the Asset Management Association of China (AMAC) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) designed to deepen their collaboration.
The agreement focuses on developing activities to create mutually beneficial opportunities for the fund industries in both countries.
Luxembourg is the second largest investment fund industry in the world after the US and a valuable partner for the Chinese asset management industry in its strive to diversify internationally.
The agreement was signed in Beijing by Marc Saluzzi, chairman of ALFI, and Sun Jie, chairman of AMAC, on the sidelines of
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