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Navitas Capital, a venture capital firm investing in green technology solutions for the built environment, has participated in a USD60m series C investment in Serious Materials.
According to an Ernst & Young analysis based on data from Dow Jones VentureSource, this transaction represents one of the largest US venture capital deals year-to-date in 2009 and is the largest cleantech deal in the energy efficiency category.
Serious Materials develops and manufactures sustainable green building materials that considerably reduce the energy consumption and the environmental impact of the built environment.
The new funding was led by Mesirow Financial Capital and included New
Lion Capital and The Blackstone Group International have received from Suntory Holdings a binding offer regarding the future ownership of the Orangina Schweppes Group.
Orangina Schweppes Group will now undertake the appropriate communication and consultation with relevant employee representatives.
The Blackstone Group and Lion Capital will only be able to take a decision as to whether they accept this offer once the necessary social, legal and regulatory steps will have been completed.
Lion Capital and Blackstone have been majority investment partners in Orangina Schweppes since 2006. Under their ownership and led by a largely new management team recruited by Blackstone
Aurora Capital, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm, has signed a definitive agreement with HLTH to acquire its wholly owned subsidiary, Porex.
The transaction is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year.
Founded in 1961, Porex is a global developer, manufacturer and distributor of porous plastic products. The company primarily serves the healthcare and surgical end markets, and also supports high-performance applications in the consumer and industrial sectors.
Porex products serve filtration, venting, wicking, and diffusing functions in applications such as blood filters, catheter vents, fuel filters,
Mistral Equity Partners, a private equity firm focused on the consumer and media sectors, has made an investment in WorldLynx Wireless, a company formed to acquire 10 Bell Mobility independent wireless dealers across Canada.
Worldlynx Wireless will have a national geographic footprint in both retail and small/medium business market coverage, including 53 retail locations and a substantial SMB-focused sales force.
“This is a tremendous investment opportunity for Mistral as the Canadian wireless industry is poised for significant growth in the coming years, with Bell Mobility particularly well positioned to benefit,” says William Phoenix, managing director of Mistral Equity Partners. “Worldlynx
Jonathan Aberman, managing director of Amplifier Venture Partners, has published a white paper discussing the problems and challenges to the private venture capital model and offering policy recommendations to the Federal Government to address these challenges.
In the White Paper, "The Decline of the United States Venture Capital Industry: What the Federal Government Should Do About It", Aberman argues that addressing the shrinkage of the private venture capital industry and the loss of countless experienced company builders is a matter of urgent national economic policy.
The venture capital industry is becoming configured to make larger investments in less innovative companies,
Silverfleet Capital, the European mid-market private equity house, has increased the size of its investment team in Paris with the appointment of Frédéric Chiche as an executive.
Chiche joins the team from Providence Equity Partners where he worked as a senior associate, based in their London office.
Prior to Providence Equity, he worked in M&A at Morgan Stanley and Rothschild & Cie, both in Paris.
Neil MacDougall, managing partner, says: “Frédéric’s appointment underlines the importance to Silverfleet Capital of mid-sized buyouts in France. We are very pleased with the strong performance of our French portfolio company Histoire d’Or and
Octopus Ventures, an investor in early-stage and expanding companies, has invested GBP1.355m into GetOptics.
This investment facilitates the acquisition of GetLenses and PostOptics, creating GetOptics.
The combination of the two companies under the new brand GetOptics creates the UK’s largest online contact lens and eye care product business. The newly combined company has over 100,000 existing customers, pro forma sales of GBP6m and a white label online contact lens contract with one of the UK’s largest retailers. The company has projected growth of 33 per cent for the year following completion.
The UK eye care market is worth
The hedge fund and private equity industries contribute EUR9bn (GBP7.9bn) in tax revenues to European Union governments, according to a survey by independent think tank Open Europe.
Open Europe said the EUR9b tax contribution would be enough to fund the EU’s entire overseas aid budget for 12 years. The tax contribution also matches the value of the EU’s Cohesion and Aid Programmes for Poland and is just short of the subsidy that France receives each year under the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy, according to Open Europe.
“Alternative investment fund managers provide investments and create growth, jobs and more efficient markets
London West End-based agency broker Hoare Capital is expanding its credit, ABS and inflation teams as it gears up into quarter three.
Among those joining is Richard Gathercole, who will head the corporate credit sales team concentrating on high yield and distressed debt. Gathercole has 27 years of experience and joins from the Bank of Scotland where he held a similar capital markets role.
Sergio Marques joins as a senior credit sales specialist for France and Iberia, after a sales role at Bank of America in London.
Mark Rogers has joined Hoare Capital as head of ABS sales. He has
Denver Investments, a USD7bn asset management firm, and GRT Capital Partners, a multi-strategy alternative investment firm, have formed Denver Alternatives.
As the new alternative asset division of Denver Investments, Denver Alternatives will serve pension funds, endowments, family offices and other institutional investors.
"The two ingredients for success in the alternatives space are talent and discipline," says Todger Anderson (pictured), chairman of Denver Investments. "GRT’s strategies are managed by professionals with decades of experience at leading institutions and strong historical track records – all backed by excellent research. This relationship allows the firm’s current investment teams to stay 100 per cent
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