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Hutton Collins Partners has refinanced its portfolio company Windsor Limited, a Lloyds insurance broker.
The new senior debt facilities, provided by Clydesdale Bank, have enabled Windsor to repay the substantial majority of the capital used to finance the management’s take-private of the company in 2007.
Hutton Collins, which provided GBP15m of preferred equity capital to support the management buyout, will remain a shareholder. Management will retain its 78 per cent shareholding.
Douglas Oppenheim, partner at Hutton Collins, says: “This successful refinancing in a difficult lending market demonstrates the strengths of Windsor’s business model. A large part of the earnings growth
UK venture philanthropy firm Impetus Trust has appointed Louis Elson, managing partner and co-founder of Palamon Capital Partners, as its new chairman.
Elson has been a trustee of Impetus since July 2009 and will officially become Impetus chairman on 24 March 2010.
Elson co-founded Palamon in 1999 and prior to this was a London-based partner of Warburg Pincus. He is a trustee of Phillips Academy – Andover, in his native US, and is a member of the development board of The Prince’s Trust.
Elson will take over from Impetus co-founder Stephen Dawson, who announced his intention to step down
Private equity house GI Partners has backed the launch of Elystan Capital Advisers, a Munich-based investment firm targeting mortgage backed assets and the mortgage banking sector in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
GI Partners will provide investment capital from its recently closed third fund, GI Partners Fund III, which closed at USD1.9bn in October 2009.
Following recent developments in the financial markets, Elystan founders Keith Fischer, Dr. Robert Grassinger and Ulrich Kastner believe there is significant pressure on the banking industry to strengthen balance sheets and minimise exposure to certain non-core and non-performing assets.
It is expected that this pressure will
The Receivables Exchange, an online marketplace for real-time trading of accounts receivable, has closed USD17m in series C financing led by Bain Capital Ventures, with additional commitments from existing investors Redpoint Ventures and Prism Ventureworks.
The Receivables Exchange pioneered the online receivables financing marketplace in 2008 with the launch of its proprietary receivables trading platform.
The receivables finance industry represents a USD18trn marketplace.
Most companies have more than 60 per cent of their working capital tied up in accounts receivable, limiting their ability to fund the growth of their businesses and contribute to the growth of the US economy. On
A group of investors comprising eVenture Capital Partners, Holtzbrinck Ventures and Rocket Internet have invested EUR4m in mycitydeal.co.uk.
The site offers internet users the ability to combine their group buying power to obtain offers on local activities, restaurants and nights out at low prices.
The business is being introduced to the UK, starting with London and then rolling out across the country, following the success of the company’s similar ventures in the US and Germany.
The majority of the funding will be used for supporting the London-based sales teams and on financing a nationwide marketing offensive, with an emphasis
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Jonathan Grayer, former chairman and chief executive of Kaplan, have launched Weld North.
Weld North will identify acquisition opportunities and invest in and operate a variety of businesses in the consumer services, education, media, personal services and marketing sectors, among others.
Grayer (pictured) served as chief executive of Kaplan, a provider of educational services, from 1994 to 2008 during which time he oversaw the firm’s expansion from a USD80mi US-focused test preparation company into a for-profit education corporation with over USD2.3bn in revenues.
“The core lessons from the Kaplan experience were first and foremost that by
One of Peak Ridge Capital’s venture capital funds, the Peak Ridge AgTech Fund, has made its first equity investment in agricultural technology company Rapid Diagnostek.
The initial investment is a USD4m series B syndicated investment, of which the AgTech Fund was the lead investor.
Rapid Diagnostek is a privately-held diagnostics company based in Hudson, Wisconsin and focused on the use of proprietary microelectronic biosensor technology for initial use in animal and food diagnostics.
The testing device is a handheld instrument that can read a specimen sample and determine the presence of a given target bacteria or illness. Results are generated
Growth investor General Atlantic has agreed to make an equity investment in Markit, a financial information services company.
The companies say the addition of General Atlantic as a shareholder positions Markit for long-term growth and adds an investor in financial sector innovation to Markit’s existing shareholder base.
General Atlantic will assist Markit in developing its growth strategy further and executing value-creating acquisitions.
Lance Uggla (pictured), chief executive of Markit, says: "We are delighted to welcome General Atlantic as a shareholder in Markit. GA is one of the leading investment firms in financial services and having them as a partner
The market in 2009 offered distressed debt investors plenty of opportunities to cherry pick amongst troubled over-leveraged businesses and companies in distress, according to a report by Debwire.
Opinions gauged from respondents to this year’s European Distressed Debt survey, produced in association with Cadwalader, FTI and Rothschild, indicate that although there is light on the horizon, the challenge for distressed investors will be to find value in a rapidly moving market where surging debt prices and poor liquidity are both prevalent factors.
The majority of respondents expect European restructuring to peak during the first half of 2010, with covenant resets/amendments
The Central Valley Fund, a private investment fund focused on middle market California Central Valley companies, has made a mezzanine investment of USD3.75m in Quest Discovery Services.
The capital was used to refinance Quest’s previous subordinated debt holder and to provide funds for acquisitions.
Founded over 40 years ago, Quest offers outsourcing solutions for medical and public records acquisition, including process serving, document acquisition, copying and deposition reporting. The company primarily operates in California, but offers nationwide services to national accounts.
Ed McNulty, a partner with The Central Valley Fund, says: "We are pleased to be business partners with the
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