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Bravo Inns, an operator of community pubs in the North West of England backed by Albion Ventures, has acquired its 30th pub to date, the Albion Hotel in Clayton-le-Moors, Accrington.
The Albion Hotel was acquired closed, but Bravo has invested in a refurbishment that aims to make the pub, which is next to a canal and has a large beer garden, play a central role in the community.
Bravo was formed in 2007 with the support of Albion Ventures, one of the largest independent venture capital investors in the UK. Since then Bravo has demonstrated its ability to turn around
Amidst concern about slowing growth in China and other emerging markets, Ken Stuzin (pictured), fund manager of the Brown Advisory US Equity Growth Fund says at least one company is bucking the trend…
We believe Estée Lauder is positioned at the sweet spot of several secular growth trends. Skin care and cosmetics are among the strongest growth categories in emerging markets, particularly China and Brazil. Prestige beauty, an affordable luxury, is taking share from mass brands, and Estee Lauder’s marketing strategy is driving this trend. Female employment growth and aging populations are providing additional boosts in developed markets.
The iconic
Tech Coast Angels (TCA) raised more than USD10m of total investment in 17 companies, including USD4,571,000 of direct TCA investment, during the first half of 2012 via the group’s five networks in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, Central Coast, and Inland Empire.
The investment portfolio for the period spans a wide spectrum of young, innovative companies, from mobile advertising platforms and social loyalty marketing, to biopharmaceuticals and organic plant food.
Companies funded by TCA in the first six months of 2012 are: Active Life Scientific, Cadence Biomedical, Cashie Commerce, Cognition Therapeutics, Emerald Logic, ExtendCredit, Gemmus Pharma, GridTest Systems, H2scan,
Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), a later-stage venture capital and growth equity firm, has selected IntraLinks Connect to support fundraising for IVP XIV, a USD1bn fund.
This is the largest fund in the firm’s 32-year history.
IVP first started using IntraLinks Connect for limited partner communications, including dissemination of quarterly fund updates, investor account information, presentation materials, and more.
Several funds ago, the firm used regular email for fundraising. It was hard to verify who actually received information and the company had to track processes manually, which took valuable time away from its workforce. IVP’s decision to fundraise using IntraLinks Connect
Maven Capital Partners has appointed Alan Robertson as investment manager.
He will work alongside David Milroy in Maven’s Central Scotland team, and will be based out of the Edinburgh office.
Robertson (pictured) will focus on sourcing and executing new investment opportunities for the Scottish Loan Fund (SLF) as well as supporting new private equity transactions in Scotland.
The SLF, which is managed by Maven, was established by the Scottish Investment Bank to address the demand for finance from eligible SMEs, and has a focus on supporting growth and export businesses that have an established presence in Scotland.
Robertson joins from
An affiliate of Lightyear Fund III has completed its acquisition of the Healthcare Benefit Solutions business from FIS.
Lightyear previously announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire the business on 25 June 2012.
The new company has been renamed and will operate as Alegeus Technologies. Alegeus is provides benefits administration and payment processing for consumer directed healthcare accounts.
Robert Natt will be Alegeus’ full time executive chairman and Thomas Torre will be its chief executive officer.
“There is tremendous opportunity to grow and expand this business, and we look forward to working closely with Bob Natt, Tom Torre
The social media land grab is over and the market reaction to the Facebook IPO spells the end for listings of social media businesses, according to analysis by Magister Advisors, M&A advisers to the global technology industry.
Magister Advisors forecasts the social media ecosystem will now see accelerated consolidation as smaller, specialized social media players combine to gain scale rather than going alone via an IPO. The “grand-daddy” of this trend could well be a sale of Facebook itself, with Google being perhaps the best buyer if Facebook’s market value continues to fall.
Victor Basta, managing director of Magister
The Carlyle Group and Getty Images management have formed a partnership to acquire Getty Images, a creator and distributor of still imagery, video and multimedia products, from Hellman & Friedman for USD3.3bn.
Carlyle will acquire a controlling stake in Getty Images, while Getty Images co-founder and chairman Mark Getty and the Getty family will roll substantially all of their ownership interests into the transaction.
Getty Images management, including co-founder and chief executive officer Jonathan Klein (pictured), will also invest significant equity in the company.
“Getty Images consistently demonstrates growth, leadership and prominence as one of the world’s leading media companies.
CAI Private Equity has appointed Allan Weinstein as a managing partner.
Weinstein will lead the firm’s US investment effort, which is focused on energy and utility services, business and financial services, specialty/niche manufacturing, aerospace and healthcare. He will be based in CAI’s New York office.
Tracey McVicar, managing partner, says: "I’m particularly pleased to welcome Allan into our partnership and look forward to collaborating with him to grow the firm for the next generation."
With nearly 18 years of experience in private equity investing, Weinstein most recently served as managing director at Lincolnshire Management, a middle market private equity firm.
Venture capital funding in the life sciences sector, which includes the biotechnology and medical device industries, decreased 39 per cent in dollars and 22 per cent in number of deals during the second quarter of 2012 from the same quarter of last year, according to a new PwC US report.
“Dollar drought" includes data from the PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP/National Venture Capital Association MoneyTree Report, based on data from Thomson Reuters.
Venture capitalists invested a total of USD1.4bn during the second quarter, the lowest level since the fourth quarter of 2010. Deal volume was also down, dropping six per cent from Q1
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