Toby Mitchenall
The European mid-market firm has turned its attention to Central and Eastern Europe with the secondary buyout of a Polish manufacturer of rail freight buffers from Advent. The region is becoming a private equity hotspot, but IK will be proceeding with care.
The Norwegian private equity firm has exceeded its original target of €225m for Norvestor V after seven months of marketing.
Warsaw-based Enterprise Investors has taken a 60 percent stake in Polish bathroom retailer and wholesaler Wema in a deal that values the company at €77m. The acquisition follows figures last week showing that the flow of capital into emerging markets private equity is rapidly accelerating.
Having originally set out to raise €10m by the end of the year from both institutions and individuals, InReturn Capital is upping its target in response to strong demand.
Following the completion of its 19th acquisition this year, the mid-market specialist is lining up the launch of its fourth European fund.
The market responded to an upbeat Lehman Brothers Private Equity Partners update this morning with a marginal increase in the stock price. But shares in the Euronext-listed vehicle are still trading at a discount to net asset value.
3i-owned hedge fund administrator Fulcrum is merging with Butterfield Fund Services to form a combined platform worth $300m. Akshaya Bhargava, 3i’s former industrialist in residence and the current chief executive of Fulcrum, will take the helm at Butterfield Fulcrum Group.
The buyout firm is planning another close for its third Europe fund at the end of October, having already held a second close on €4.8bn.
Following a strong half year for the banking giant’s private equity advisory arm, Merrill Lynch has made a series of internal promotions, including Jeff Kaplan’s elevation to global head.
The French alternatives firm has smashed its initial fundraising target of €300m against a difficult market backdrop, a week after selling a stake in the management company to Spanish firm N+1.