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US private equity firms stepped up their acquisitions of UK businesses by 35% last year, from 134 acquisitions in 2021/22, to 181 in 2022/23, according to new research released by international law firm, Mayer Brown.
UK company valuations had already been relatively depressed in comparison to other European nations, following concerns over Brexit, but the fall in sterling following the last October’s Kwarteng budget, made them even more attractive to US investors.
Paul Rosen, Partner at Mayer Brown, says: “US PE houses still see the fall in sterling as an opportunity to try to acquire high quality assets in
Sullivan Street Partners, a UK-based mid-market private equity investor, is to acquire diagnostic services business Tracerco, alongside longstanding Sullivan Street investor, Scottish family office Souter Investments, from London Stock Exchange-listed firm Johnson Matthey for c£55 million.
The deal is expected to complete in the second half of 2023.
Tracerco is a global business providing specialised detection, diagnostic, and measurement solutions, operating out of sites in 16 countries to service over 50 jurisdictions. Tracerco uses innovative proprietary technologies developed in the UK and Intellectual Property in both nucleonics and chemical tracing.
Sullivan Street brings extensive carve-out and operational expertise
Laub Capital, a distressed asset investment fund with a focus on investment in European non-performing loans, has appointed Andrea Novak as chief financial officer based in the firm’s Budapest office.
Paul Hastings has appointed private equity lawyer Samantha McGonigle as a partner in the firm’s London office. McGonigle is a former private equity partner at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP and co-founder of a PE firm that invests in growth-focused enterprise technology companies across Europe.
Paul Hastings has grown its London office over the past 12 months with 10 lateral partners, including a Band 1 global finance team, top-ranked infrastructure and energy partners Jessamy Gallagher and Stuart Rowson, leading high-yield partner Patrick Bright, IP litigation partner Jason Raeburn, and private equity and M&A specialist Tom Cartwright, among others.
Globally, the
InvestX Markets, a private equity marketplace that empowers broker-dealers to invest in pre-IPO companies through single-issuer SPVs, multi-issuer funds and secondary market trading, has formed a new partnership with Caplight Technologies, to enhance data and improve price discovery through its trading platform, InvestX GEM.
Global law firm Jones Day has appointed Ted Powers as a partner in the firm’s newly structured corporate practice in New York where he will primarily focus on advising private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies.
Powers has more than 20 years of experience practicing corporate law, including private and public mergers and acquisitions, asset and stock transactions, minority investments and general corporate and securities matters.
He has played a lead role in negotiating, managing and implementing a number of high-stakes private equity, M&A and corporate transactions for clients in a wide range of industries.
Powers earned his law
Allied Industrial Partners, an operationally focused lower-middle market private equity firm based in Texas, has made three senior executive appointments at its Houston headquarters and one staff promotion.
Portfolio company valuations in the global private equity market remain at an elevated level meaning companies are having problems exiting their investments, according to Edwin Conway, global head of BlackRock Alternatives.
Kian Capital Partners, a lower-middle-market focused private investment firm, has held the final closing on its latest fund, Kian Growth Partners III, which was oversubscribed at $400 million.
African private capital markets experienced a record-high volume of deals in 2022, with deal volumes in the region recording a 46% year-over-year growth as a result, according to the African Private Capital Association 2022 African Private Capital Activity Report.
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