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European private equity firm, Cinven, is to sell in-vitro allergy diagnostics company Phadia Group to Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc for an enterprise value of EUR2.47 billion.
Having identified the diagnostic testing sector as a segment with strong growth characteristics, Cinven’s Healthcare team led the acquisition of Phadia in early 2007 for an enterprise value of EUR1.285 billion. Phadia’s position as the market leader in in-vitro allergy testing and European leadership in auto-immune testing provided the opportunity to create significant value through a programme of targeted investment in people, products and geographic expansion into previously under-developed, markets outside Europe.
Since
The acquisition last year (2010) of Mourant International Finance Administration, the alternative fund services arm of the Jersey-headquartered legal and financial services firm, is proving a highly successful move, according to State Street senior vice-president and head of private equity and real estate services Phil McGowan (pictured).
“We are expecting strong growth in Jersey and Guernsey, and we are thinking that private equity and real estate are extremely good places to be right now,” McGowan says. “That’s why we made the acquisition and are putting our resources into the Channel Islands.
“The people and skills that come with acquisitions are
Actis, the pan-emerging markets private equity investor, has reached an agreement with GAS NATURAL FENOSA, a leading multinational in the gas and electricity sector, to acquire a group of companies dedicated to the transportation and supply of electricity to 1.4m customers in Guatemala in a transaction worth USD345m plus assumed debt.
The core of the business lies in its two electricity distribution and supply companies, DEOCSA and DEORSA; together these businesses supply electricity to 20 of the 22 departments in Guatemala, covering 94% of the land mass and serving the country’s large rural population.
GAS NATURAL FENOSA has built
Earlybird Venture Capital has sold its portfolio company BridgeCo Inc to SMSC, a semiconductor company enabling content rich connectivity systems. BridgeCo’s JukeBlox technology connects tablets, smartphones, PCs, Macs and other consumer electronics products to a new world of audio entertainment.
Earlybird invested in BridgeCo in 2000 as the company’s first institutional investor. In addition to providing BridgeCo with capital in the early stage of the company’s development, Earlybird also worked alongside the seasoned management team to identify the best sources of later stage capital requirements and aided them in their successful internationalization strategy.
With the industry’s only system-on-a-chip (SoC) and
Exponent Private Equity has acquired Pattonair, the supply chain division of Umeco plc. Pattonair is a leading international provider of value-added distribution and supply chain outsourcing services to customers in the aerospace and defence market, specialising in the supply of small and medium value components. Customers include Rolls-Royce plc, BAE Systems, Safran Group, Parker Aerospace, Goodrich, Thales Aerospace, Turbomeca and Eaton.
Pattonair now has over 680 employees, plans to establish its head office in the UK within its Derby facility, with other facilities based in France, Italy, Germany, Singapore, China and the US. For the year ended 31 March 2010,
Mark Davis (pictured) and Russell Van Praagh have both agreed to join Dewey & LeBoeuf in London as partners in the firm’s Private Equity Practice Group. Davis and Van Praagh both join the firm from Taylor Wessing, where Davis was head of the Private Equity Group.
London M&A Practice Head Stephen Horvath says: "We are really pleased to welcome Mark and Russell to the firm. Their arrival will help to consolidate our existing private equity capabilities in London and across our European and Middle Eastern network and fortify our relationships with our funds clients. With private equity activity very much on
Lisa Le Gresley (pictured) has recently joined Jersey Trust Company (JTC) as a Director in the Corporate Services Division and will focus on developing JTC’s fund services and real estate client base.
Le Gresley is a Chartered Accountant and holds an MBA. She will be responsible for building relationships with the local funds’ industry, developing new business opportunities and acting as client director on a portfolio of international fund clients.
Having previously worked as a director in the Corporate Fiduciary Funds Division at Kleinwort Benson, Le Gresley has over 10 years’ funds industry experience with specific expertise in offshore structuring
Alison Hyde (pictured), technology fund manager at Cavendish Asset Management, assesses the impact and implications of LinkedIn’s successful IPO. The social networking site aimed at professionals and the business community, which became the first major company from the much-vaunted social media sector to go public when it began trading on the New York Stock Exchange this week, raised USD352.8m after upping the expected price range by 30 per cent from USD32-35 to USD42-45 a share and selling 7.84m shares. This gives the company a high market valuation of USD4.25bn, over 200 times its earnings for the last year.
The runaway
Neuberger Berman has named David Eckert as global head of infrastructure, effective 1 June. Eckert, who has 18 years of corporate technology and operations experience, comes to Neuberger Berman from ING, where he was global chief operating officer/chief information officer for its investment management and insurance business.
At Neuberger Berman, Eckert, 45, will report to Andrew Komaroff, chief operating officer, and work closely with the existing senior leadership of the firm’s information technology and operations groups.
“David Eckert brings deep and highly relevant experience to Neuberger Berman, supporting our mission of partnering with clients to achieve their unique investment objectives,’’
Washington DC-based private equity firm Monument Capital Group (MCG) has acquired Persistent Sentinel LLC, a provider of enhanced security and surveillance software products that automatically detect and analyse threats and protect assets.
Founded by former Carlyle executive Robert Dunn and former White House Special Assistant Douglas Baker. MCG focuses on investments in the homeland security and defence sectors. The acquisition of Persistent Sentinel will serve as a cornerstone of the firm’s overall efforts to bring leading edge security technologies to the global market.
Persistent Sentinel’s products are in use throughout the world by the military, international governments, and commercial entities
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