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Alexandra Dupont has joined BNP Paribas Private Equity as investment director responsible for the origination, realisation and follow-up of growth and transmission deals.
In addition, Nicolas Schwindenhammer (pictured) has been promoted to investment director.
Dupont was previously an investment manager at Cognetas and, before that, 21 Centrale Partners. She will work on the roll-out of BNP Paribas Private Equity’s growth strategy in the small-cap segment, in France and Benelux.
Schwindenhammer spent the past two years as an account manager within BNP Paribas Private Equity’s direct investment team. He was previously with Deloitte Finance’s transaction service department.
JackRabbit Systems, a developer of online travel software for destination and travel portal websites, has closed a round of USD1.33m private equity funding co-led by Kickstart Seed Fund and Sun Mountain Capital.
The funding will support the national growth plans of the company.
"JackRabbit Systems combines a savvy, high-quality entrepreneur in Andrew and a disruptive technology in the online travel space," says Gavin Christensen, managing director of Kickstart Seed Fund. "We are impressed with the revenue traction and customer wins that the company has achieved within a short amount of time and with very little capital."
Originating four million leads
An affiliate of Castle Harlan Partners V has signed a definitive agreement to acquire IDQ, a manufacturer of branded automotive aftermarket products for servicing and repairing automotive air conditioners.
The transaction is expected to close in June and is subject to the satisfaction of various conditions.
The company will continue to operate under the IDQ name. IDQ products, such as air conditioning recharge and retrofit kits, refrigerant blends, specialty chemicals, straight refrigerants, and a wide range of complimentary DIY and professional use items, are sold to consumers through a blue-chip customer base representing approximately 25,000 retail stores.
These include national
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Environmental Defense Fund say the Green Portfolio Program has achieved USD160m in savings after just two years.
The programme, launched in 2008, harnesses innovation to improve financial and environmental performance of KKR’s portfolio companies.
The programme focuses on several key environmental performance areas, including greenhouse gas emissions, waste, water, forest resources, and priority chemicals.
“Today’s impressive results clearly link good environmental practices with superior business performance,” says Tom Murray (pictured), managing director for corporate partnerships at Environmental Defense Fund. “They also illustrate the important role that KKR and the private equity sector can play in driving
Wheb Ventures, a European clean technology private equity firm, has held the final closing of its second clean technology fund, Wheb Ventures Private Equity Fund 2, at GBP105.4m (equivalent to EUR125m or USD154m).
The investors are a mix of institutions and family offices.
The institutional investors include the European Investment Fund, the Environmental Innovation Fund managed by Hermes GPE and a US fund of pension funds.
The family offices comprise a range of industrial and financial families including the Bamfords (who own JCB), the Goldsmiths, Lord Jacob Rothschild (chairman of RIT) and Simon Robertson (chairman of Rolls Royce).
James
JonesTrading Institutional Services, an agency brokerage which provides institutions with block trading in securities, has appointed Andrew Tuthill as managing director and head of its capital markets group and a member of the executive committee.
JonesTrading Capital Markets provides liquidity to the corporate and private equity communities and is in part a response to the increased demand by institutions for an unconflicted agency model in secondary offerings.
Tuthill brings 17 years of experience in investment banking, trading and equity capital markets to the position.
Most recently he was managing director – head of special situations for the equity capital markets
Private equity firm Avista Capital Partners has committed to invest USD48.5m in OptiNose, which has developed a nasal drug delivery technology that enables administration of drugs deep in the nasal cavity, enabling the treatment of both local and systemic disease.
In conjunction with this investment, OptiNose will reincorporate in the US and move its headquarters from Oslo, Norway to Yardley, Pennsylvania.
OptiNose, which was founded by Dr. Per Djupesland in 2000, has tested its nasal drug delivery device under the leadership of the current chief executive Helena Kyttari Djupesland.
The company recently completed phase II clinical studies for chronic rhinosinusitis
Reply.com, an online marketing company, has entered into a loan agreement with Hercules Technology Growth Capital which provides it with up to USD15m in venture debt.
Hercules Technology Growth Capital primarily finances privately-held companies backed by venture capital and private equity firms.
"We are pleased and excited to announce this new relationship with Hercules," says Reply.com founder and chief executive Payam Zamani. "This loan facility allows us to more proactively consider relevant opportunities for acquisition."
Reply.com has also acquired certain assets of Contractors.com to further enhance its home improvement-related offerings.
"With the addition of Contractors.com to our family of offerings,
Healthcare company Grifols has entered into an agreement to acquire Cerberus Capital Management’s portfolio company Talecris Biotherapeutics for a combination of cash and newly issued Grifols non-voting shares.
Cerberus controls an affiliate that owns approximately 49 per cent of the outstanding common stock of Talecris, a biotherapeutic and biotechnology company.
"We are excited about the prospect of becoming shareholders of Grifols. Led by Victor Grifols, Grifols has long been known as a leading innovator in the plasma-derived protein therapeutics field," says W. Brett Ingersoll, co-head of private equity at Cerberus. "Victor Grifols and his management team have over 30 years
Red Fort Capital’s affordable housing portfolio has generated revenues in excess of USD450m with over 4,000 units sold since mid-2009.
The firm is currently harvesting investments in three affordable housing projects located in India’s National Capital Region and Chennai.
Subhash Bedi (pictured), managing director of Red Fort Capital, says: "Demand for Red Fort’s value-oriented projects has proven to be end-user driven and based on India’s robust long-term growth trends including sustained six to eight per cent annual GDP growth, increasing urbanisation, job creation across sectors and a burgeoning middle class with high savings and net worth."
Over the past year,
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