Kester Capital, a primary buyout specialist, is to sell a majority stake in Avania to global private equity firm, Astorg.  Avania is one of the leading global clinical CROs (Contract Research Organisations) dedicated to medical technology. Astorg’s Mid-Cap fund, alongside Kester – which intends to retain a minority stake – will actively support management’s plans to accelerate Avania’s development, organically and through M&A.   The sale of Avania will deliver a return of over 8x and is the fifth consecutive exit for Kester to achieve a return of over 3x.    The firm’s current fund, Kester Capital II, closed above

Funding Circle, one of the UK’s largest small business loan platforms, and a UK affiliate of alternative investment manager Magnetar Capital (Magnetar UK), have formed a lending partnership that is expected to provide more than £300 million of funding to small businesses over a three-year period. This partnership will see Magnetar UK support thousands of UK SMEs by leveraging Funding Circle’s technology and distribution platform. In turn, Funding Circle’s powerful machine learning models — driven by a decade of technology and data investment — will provide Magnetar UK with a highly efficient and cost-effective mechanism to deploy capital to the

Equistone Partners Europe has made its third exit of the year with the sale of OneOcean, a supplier of voyage compliance, safety and environmental solutions, to Lloyd’s Register (LR), a global provider of maritime professional services. The deals follows the sale of FirstPort, a residential property services company, and Team ITG, a technology-led, multichannel marketing activation business. OneOcean solutions are currently used by more than 16,000 vessels to support and optimise compliance, safety and environment, increasing transparency and simplifying complex regulations and tasks to enable teams to work more transparently for efficiency and enhanced decision making.   OneOcean was created

ECI Partners, a growth-focused mid-market private equity firm, has invested in BCN Group, one of the largest and fastest-growing independent Managed Service Providers in the north of England.  The investment represents a full realisation for Beech Tree Private Equity who invested in BCN Group in 2018.    BCN Group is a Microsoft Direct Tier 1 CSP and Gold Partner with bases in Manchester, Leeds, Runcorn and Bradford. It supports over 1,000 clients to deliver and manage business-critical technology solutions to over 30,000 users, with a customer retention rate of 98% and an industry-leading client satisfaction score of 89%.   BCN

Financial news and information provider Euromoney Institutional investor has received a £1.6 billion buyout proposal from private equity firms Astorg and Epiris, according to a report by The Financial Times. The FTSE 250-listed financial publisher is said to be in talks about a “possible cash offer” of £14.61 per share – the PE duo’s fifth offer to take the company private. The previous four offers are reported to have ranged in value from £11.75 to £13.50 per share. Euromoney is reported to have said in a statement on Monday that “there can be no certainty that an offer will be

All Seas Capital Fund I (All Seas Capital), a pan-European private capital fund that provides flexible long-term financing solutions to mid-cap companies, has made a growth investment in SoMeD Santé (SoMeD), a private medical centre group in France. SoMeD provides a multidisciplinary service, including GP, radiography and dental services, from its nine sites across France. Expert clinicians benefit from best in class medical equipment and centralised administrative infrastructure.   The investment from All Seas Capital will enable SoMeD’s ambitious management team, led by Yehoram Houri and Benedicte Gautreau, to accelerate its expansion strategy. The Company plans to quadruple the number

Miss Group, an international web hosting business backed by private equity investor Perwyn, has completed its fourth acquisition this year to date – Swedish VPN provider PrivateVPN. Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Sweden, the company provides VPN services to over 75,000 customers globally. In the 12 months to March 2022, PrivateVPN reported revenues of SEK29m. PrivateVPN is the fastest growing private VPN product worldwide, enabling customers to easily connect to high security servers to provide encrypted and safe communication. It also protects its customers’ IP from third party companies.    PrivateVPN founder Martin Müller will leave the business post