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Business Growth Fund (BGF), established to help the UK’s fast growing smaller and medium sized businesses, has invested GBP3.85 million of growth capital in Glasgow based technology business M Squared Lasers. BGF will take a minority stake in the business and will join the existing board.
This is BGF’s second investment in Scotland this year following its backing of STATS, an Aberdeen based oilfield service sector business, in March. It is also BGF’s second investment in a business that manufactures its own products.
M Squared Lasers designs and manufactures lasers and photonic optical instruments for applications in remote sensing,
Vahan Zerounian has joined WTAS as a Director in the Alternative Investment Funds Practice in the firm’s Los Angeles office. Prior to joining WTAS, Vahan was a Tax Director at Marcum LLP.
Vahan has more than 14 years of experience in professional tax and accounting services. His practice area focuses on tax consulting and compliance for alternative investment entities including hedge funds, private equity funds, venture capital funds, real estate funds, portfolio companies and management companies. He also has extensive experience involving domestic and foreign transactions, and formation and dissolution of entities.
"Vahan’s extensive experience with alternative investments will be a strong
Private equity investment firm Paine & Partners has formed a new advisory relationship with Steve Dubin and David Abramson of SDA Ventures LLC (SDA).
Paine & Partners and SDA will work together to identify and execute investment opportunities in the global human and animal food and nutritional products industries.
"We have long-standing relationships with Steve and David, are impressed by what they have accomplished in their careers, and are excited to be working with them," says Kevin Schwartz, a founding Partner at Paine & Partners. "Paine & Partners continues to focus on opportunities across the food and agribusiness value chain
Arsenal Capital Partners, a New York-based private equity firm that invests in middle-market specialty industrial, healthcare, and financial services companies, has acquired Plasticolors, Inc and Evonik Industries’ Colortrend global colourants business to create Chromaflo Technologies, the largest independent global pigment dispersion platform.
Headquartered in Ashtabula, Ohio, Plasticolors, Inc. was founded in 1970 and is a leading supplier of pigment and chemical dispersions to the thermoset composites and industrial paint and coatings industries. The company’s colorants can be found in a wide variety of products including industrial coatings, interior and exterior automotive components, epoxy flooring, electrical and appliance housings and a
Simmons & Co in Aberdeen has completed four deals in the first quarter of 2012 with a total deal value of GBP340million. The corporate finance advisers to the energy sector are also reporting one of the strongest pipeline of deals in its history in the UK.
Simmons & Co’s forecast for a high level of M&A activity in 2011 proved accurate as the Aberdeen office reported completing 22 deals worth almost $1billion last year. Globally the firm completed 46 M&A transactions and 16 equity and debt offerings.
Nick Dalgarno (pictured), managing director at Simmons, says: “With continued high
Law firm Mills & Reeve has advised Langholm Capital on the acquisition of 120-year-old family-run Purity Soft Drinks.
Langholm, the consumer sector mid-market private equity firm whose investments include Tyrrells Potato Crisps, The Bart Ingredient Company and Dorset Cereals, acquired Purity following a management buy-in.
Originally established in 1892 when horse drawn drays supplied soft drinks to the licensed trade around Wednesbury in the West Midlands, Purity has been run by the Cox family since 1944. Under its Masons brand it runs one of the last remaining returnable-bottle soft drinks operations in the UK while its Juice Burst brand
London based Just-Eat, the world’s largest online takeaway ordering service, has closed a financing round of USD64m (EUR48m) led by funds managed by Vitruvian Partners, a European private equity firm, with Index Ventures, Greylock Partners and Redpoint Ventures also participating.
This investment marks the Company’s third and largest funding round in less than two years.
The investment will be used to continue Just-Eat’s growth, entries into new countries and product innovation, further cementing its global leadership in the online takeaway category.
Klaus Nyengaard, Chief Executive Officer of Just-Eat, says: "This new investment will help our continued expansion. Takeaway e-commerce has
Boutique hotel guide and booking service Mr & Mrs Smith is seeking to raise capital to finance its future expansion plans by tapping into the nascent SME retail bond market. Leveraging its strong brand loyalty as a means of funding the next phase of its ambitious growth plan, the firm has invited its loyal customers, boutique hotel lovers and the wider UK retail investor market to register applications for the inaugural ‘Smith Bond’.
Paying a fixed rate of 7.5%, half yearly, the four-year Bond offers a highly competitive rate of interest compared to similar investments currently available, and is likely
Private equity advisory and fund of funds firm Altius Associates has appointed Reyno Norval to its global Infrastructure and Real Assets team. Reyno will be based in London, joining the global Infrastructure investment team headed by Brad Young (pictured).
Young says: “We are delighted to have secured Reyno to strengthen our global Infrastructure team. Client demand has expanded our business in the real assets space significantly in the past two years, and there is a sharp focus on Infrastructure, particularly in Europe. We look forward to welcoming Reyno to help support and develop our coverage in these markets.”
Norval
DNV, a global provider of risk management solutions, has increased its Arctic focus with the acquisition of oil-spill preparedness company Norwegian Petro Service (NPS).
According to Knut Ørbeck-Nilssen, DNV’s COO of the Norway, Russia and Finland division, the Arctic has large oil and gas resources and operations in this sensitive and harsh area will require efficient oil-spill preparedness solutions. “The acquisition of Norwegian Petro Services (NPS) in Norway and its recognised expertise will play an important role in our activities in this field,” he says.
Oil and gas operations in the Arctic introduce several new risk elements; the distances are
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