Brexit vote helps private equity giant raise €4.5bn for mid-cap fund targeting continental Europe September 14, 2016 Private equity giant Ardian has announced the launch of a new fund worth €4.5bn (£3.8bn), with fundraising thought to have been boosted by Brexit. Paris-based Ardian’s LBO VI is the biggest European mid-cap fund of 2016 and was raised in four months. Read more: UK private equity firm's shares leap after £1bn US takeover offer [...]
Go Compare deal to kick off strong IPO activity September 13, 2016 Insurance outfit Esure has confirmed it will spin off its price comparison website Go Compare in a post-referendum boost to London's IPO market. Go Compare could be valued at up to £650m when it floats on the London Stock Exchange later this year, just 18 months after Esure took full control of the group in a deal [...]
Canada firm to buy Dell-EMC unit for $1.62bn September 12, 2016 Opentext Corp, a Canadian business software maker, is buying Dell-EMC’s enterprise content division for $1.62bn (£1.21bn). The move is one of the last remaining non-core asset disposals Dell needs to make following its deal to acquire data storage company EMC for $63bn last year, the largest tech deal in history. Opentext is looking to expand its [...]
UK private equity firm’s shares leap after £1bn US takeover offer September 12, 2016 UK private equity company SVG Capital’s share price jumped 15 per cent today after US rival HarbourVest made a more than £1bn takeover offer. The all-cash offer of 650p per share values existing issued share capital at around £1.015bn. The company said the offer is “highly attractive”, saying it represents a 14.7 per cent premium on SVG’s [...]
Who knew printers were still a billion dollar business? HP and Samsung, that’s who September 12, 2016 Apparently, we haven't gone fully down the digital rabbit hole yet and still need to print things out on dead trees. It's a business worth at least $1.05bn (£792m), in fact, as HP snapped up Samsung's printer business for just that amount in a major deal on Monday morning. Samsung will spin off the business as part of its efforts to [...]
Go Compare to go its own way in Esure demerger September 11, 2016 Go Compare will be spun off from its parent company, Esure, in a £500m demerger to be announced this week, according to reports. Sky News reported this evening the board of insurance group Esure will approve the deal to offload Go Compare and make a formal announcement to the stock market within the next few days. The move follows [...]
Sumo Digital bought by small and medium-sized business investment specialist September 11, 2016 A private equity fund focussed on investing in the north of England made a healthy return by selling the video game developer behind Sonic and Sega All Star Racing. NorthEdge sold Sumo Digital to London-based private equity house Perwyn. Read more: Struggling retailer Game Digital's stock dips after new chairman appointed The sale sees NorthEdge realise a return that [...]
UK bidder urges government to keep Green Investment Bank in British hands as it faces battle with Australia’s Macquarie September 11, 2016 A UK investment banking group is hoping to convince the government that the Green Investment Bank (GIB) should remain in British hands as the bidding process moves into a two-horse race. Sustainable Development Capital (SDC) is understood to be in competition with Australian bank Macquarie as the government prepares to privatise the £4bn-valued GIB. Read [...]
Micro Focus’s HP deal hailed as post-Brexit statement of confidence from British business September 8, 2016 British company Micro Focus revealed an $8.8bn (£6.6bn) takeover of the software division of US giant Hewlett Packard yesterday, with the audacious swoop hailed as an assertion of post-Brexit confidence and a landmark deal for the UK tech sector. City analysts said the deal also signalled a “change from the post-Brexit dialogue of UK businesses [...]
Steinhoff buys South African shoe shop Tekkie Town and increases annual profits September 8, 2016 The new owner of Poundland has bought a South African shoe shop chain and reported a 32 per cent rise in annual operating profit. Steinhoff announced on Wednesday that it had agreed to buy Tekkie Town, a retailer with 302 stores across South Africa, but it did not disclose how much it paid for the business. The deal is expected to complete by [...]