Matt Stewart, a member of the private equity practice group at Fenwick & West, is today's guest blogger. Stewart explains who is actually in control in growth equity investments.
Standard Chartered's private equity arm is looking for more deals in Zimbabwe, writes Reuters. The British bank, whose private equity business has assets under management of about $4.5 billion, made an investment in Zimbabwean agri-business Ariston Holdings through one of its portfolio companies, Afrifresh Group, last year.
International equestrian fashion wholesaler Hypo Wholesale has joined forces with consumer-focused investor Vendis Capital in a management buyout. Livingstone acted as the exclusive financial advisor to the shareholders of Hypo Wholesale on the transaction. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Equistone Partners Europe has exchanged contracts on the realisation of its investment in Hydrasun Limited to Investcorp. Established in 1976, Hydrasun is a provider of integrated fluid transfer, power and control solutions to the global offshore oil and gas industry.
NBGI Private Equity, an investor in Aberdeen-based ATR Group, has acquired the Aberdeen and Norway operations of Cosalt Offshore. This will bring together Cosalt’s expertise in offshore lifting, combined with its comprehensive offshore inspection, testing and safety service with ATR’s global equipment rental service offering to the offshore maintenance sector. NBGI Private Equity launched in 2000 with a particular focus on investments in established businesses in the UK and Ireland.
The sales of H.J. Heinz and Dell helped boost the value of U.S. announced mergers by 509%, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Canadian pension fund manager the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec has invested around C$15 million of equity in Colabor Group Inc., a meat processor and distributor based in Boucherville,Québec. The investment was made by the Caisse in support of Colabor's expansion plans, which include the company's acquisition of all of the assets of T. Lauzon Ltd., a meat, poultry, fish, deli and grocery product wholesaler based in Montréal. The acquisition was priced at approximately C$15 million.
Opera Software is buying Skyfire Labs, a Mountain View, Calif.-based maker of software for mobile video optimization. The deal includes a mix of cash and stock and potential earn-out payments that could bring the total deal size to $155 million.
Investment bank Gleacher & Co Inc. said it agreed to sell its mortgage lending unit ClearPoint to Ocwen Financial Corp. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter, Reuters reported.
Accel-KKR will acquire Sage Nonprofit Solutions, a provider of accounting, donor and fundraising management, and grant management software. Terms of the deal were not released. Sage Nonprofit is based in Austin, Texas. The firm is buying Sage Nonprofit from The Sage Group plc.