Invest-IQ

Polish early-stage VC fund hardGAMMA has grabbed the opportunity to invest in Springboard, a start-up accelerator program based in London. The investment made in the program is a part of hardGAMMA’s long-term vision to be a major player on the European start-up scenario, and will give them front-row access to invest early in London start-up [...]

Estonian intellectual property research startup company CrowdIPR has bagged a USD 135,000 round of funding from British PE funds Northstar Ventures andIP Group. The research platform using crowd-sourcing as its mode of operation and has, to date, completed more than 20 IP research projects for companies and universities in Russia, the UK and Estonia. CrowdIPR [...]

Ukrainian venture capital firm TA Venture has co-invested in Tailored, a US-based personalized online bridal wear shopping platform. Other investors in the startup include Jose Martin and Fabrice Grinda.   TA Venture (www.taventure.com) TA Venture is an early-stage web technology focused venture capital firm that focuses on startups in Ukraine, Russia, CIS countries, Europe and [...]

Pamplona Capital Management, the London based private equity firm, has submitted a bid for Bulgarian telecom operator Vivacom. The Sofia-based Vivacom is a so-called quadruple play phone operator that offers fixed-line, mobile service, broadband and television services in one bill. The company had reported an EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) of 343 [...]

Former investor in the Russian Union and Eastern Europe, Salford Capital Partners, has quit the dairy business in the form of an exit from Imlek and Mlekara Subotica. Salford’s stake in the dairy producers will be bought out by Dutch group FrieslandCampina according to the memorandum of understanding signed between the two parties. Imlek’s 79 [...]

British insurance major Aviva has sold its life insurance and pensions business in Romania and life insurance business in Hungary and the Czech Republic to MetLife Inc. The businesses had combined assets of EUR 57 million at the end of H1, 2011. The deal is expected to be completed before the end of 2012, subject [...]

London based Information Technology firm has landed USD 1.8 million in funding from a handful strategic investors led by Prague-based Credo Ventures. Apart from existing investors Sherry Coutu and Dave Mclure, venture capital firms Estag Capital and Atlas Venture also participated in the funding round. The company plans to use the money to add new [...]

Amidst a flurry of deals in Poland’s banking sector, UK-based PE fund Apax Partners has partnered with European banking behemoth Banco Santander to acquire an 80 percent stake in KBC’s Kredyt Bank. The Polish bank’s shares will come at a price of USD 1 bln. The deal follows on the heels of an earlier proposal [...]

Italian insurance company Generali’s buyout offspring PPF is seeking to raise GBP 518 million from Russian precious metal mining group Polymetal. Polymetal is rumored to be eyeing a spot on FTSE 100 as well as a full listing on the coveted LSE. The company plans to issue 50 mln shares in the price range of GBP 9.10 [...]

Credo Ventures has invested USD 3 mln in an event management and cashless solutions company called Intellitix that uses RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology to reduce queue times, fraud attempts and erroneous ticket resales at large events such as music festivals. The capital, which was raised via the issue of new shares, will be used [...]

In a strategic acquisition bid, Impax Asset Management has acquired a 100MW power portfolio in Poland and France from European power company Eolia, through its Impax New Energy Investors II fund. While the French assets have contributed towards the expansion of their Paris-based Epuron project, the Polish acquisition, a single 6MW facility, marks its foray [...]

Credo Ventures has led a six-figure investment into Beepl, a new expertise platform technology company. Credo Ventures targets early-development Internet or IT companies in the Central Eastern Europe (CEE) region. This investment is considered seed money for product development and launching. Beepl (www.beepl.com) Beepl was established in April 2011, with Steve O’Hear, formally of Tech [...]

Vision Capital, a UK based private equity firm, has made a deal with Paragon Secondary Partners to acquire three of its Germany based companies. In partnership with Rubicon Partners, an industrial management group with experience in the German market, Vision Capital purchased ABL Technic, Metallwarenfabrik Gemmingen, and Gensets. The total 2010 revenues for these three [...]

Something’s up at Badoo; something that has caused Sequoia Capital’s Michael Moritz to make a recent trip to London for a meeting with Andrey Andreev, Badoo’s founder. Speculation abounds that Badoo’s valuation is being discussed between them – perhaps in the neighborhood of USD 2 billion – as well as consideration of a possible IPO. [...]

UK private equity firm BC Partners has beaten industry forecasts with a €4 billion first close of its latest buyout fund. When the fund was first announced it was expected to raise only €2.5 billion to €3 billion at first close. The significantly higher yield is testament to the firm’s fund raising efforts, which was [...]

Plastic Logic, a U.S.-based electronics technology company, announced an investment deal in November 2010 which would give the Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies (RUSNANO) a 25% stake in the company. The value of RUSNANO’s investment was recently revealed to be USD 150 million. Further details of the deal indicate that RUSNANO will also help Plastic Logic [...]

The Netherlands’ Meat Processing Systems Holding BV (MPS) has a new majority owner after Steadfast Capital sold its stake to the U.K.’s Barclays Private Equity (BPE). The Steadfast Capital exit means Barclays now owns 75% of the company, while MPS management retains the remaining 25%. The deal comes as BPE plans a future spin-off from [...]

Britain’s Plastic Logic is raising eyebrows in the U.K. business community after it was revealed the company was engaged in advanced-stage talks with Russia’s sate-owned Rusnano. The talks are believed to be aimed at a cash infusion which would give Rusnano a controlling stake in Plastic Logic. Of concern in the U.K. is the fact [...]

U.S. based Advent International is poised to complete a takeover of Central and Eastern European drug maker Ozone. The companies are now in the final talks that would give Advent, also the owner of LaborMed, full ownership of Ozone’s product lines. The buyout offer had been accepted by Ozone earlier this month, giving control of [...]

British private equity firm Lion Capital has announced a deal to invest in U.S. based clothing manufacturer American Apparel, Inc. The USD 80 million deal will be made via secured second lien notes maturing at the end of 2013, with detachable warrants. As part of the deal Lion also receives further detachable warrants that potentially [...]