Brad Meikle

Phildrew Ventures and UBS Capital announced in October their acquisition of the majority of FKI plc’s Automotive Division. The deal is due to complete in December. A new company, Trident Automotive, was formed to effect the acquisition, for $157.5 million cash (ecu 141.4 million), subject to a possible adjustment based on net assets at completion. […]

The buy-in of Sogepas/Util of Turin is the most recent investment in Italy by NatWest Equity Partners (NWEP), which next year plans to raise its first LP fund for buyouts in Western Europe (story, page 10). NWEP backed Franco De Gennaro, the former managing director of DEA who previously was general manager of Sandretto Industrie, […]

The Alpha Group has ended 1997 on a high note, with five deal completions announced since mid-September. These took the firm’s tally of investments for the year to seven, involving direct investment of FFr 340 million (ecu 51.4 million) by Alpha Group funds alongside FFr 643 million of co-investment by its fund participants. The group’s […]

ACT Venture Capital in November completed the IRGBP 18 million (ecu 23.6 million) buyout of Lifestyle Sport, a major deal in the context of the Irish buyout market. Lifestyle Sport is the largest sportswear retail chain in Ireland, with 49 shops operating throughout both the Republic and in Northern Ireland, and a leading market position […]

Hickson International of the UK in October sold its Netherlands-based lacquer systems division, including a German subsidiary, Hickson Coatings Deutschland, to a Gilde-led buyout. The group has been renamed Doelfray and Macostan Coatings (D&M Coatings). The price paid for the company, which increased its turnover from DFl 45 million to DFl 50 million (ecu 22.5 […]

Abingworth Management of the UK linked with GIMV of Belgium to make its first Continental European investment through its new $100 million fund, Abingworth Bioventures II. The two groups have provided $8.5 million (ecu 7.6 million) backing to Devgen, a Ghent-based drug development and genomics company. Devgen centres its research around the C. elegans worm, […]

Prelude Trust led a o2.5 million (ecu 3.7 million) second funding round for Zylepsis, a young company applying its proprietary biotransformation technology to the discovery of natural ingredients for the food and personal care industries. Zylepsis’s biotransformation technology uses enzyme systems as catalysts for the conversion of raw materials into high-added-value natural or nature-identical products. […]

Following the closing of its $650 million Apax Europe III fund (EVCJ, October/November 1997, page 8), Apax Partners is strengthening its European biotechnology and healthcare investment team. Dr Stephen Thompson, an immunologist and molecular biologist from Cantab Pharmaceuticals, will join ApaxOs London office to work alongside Dr Hamish Hale, Dr Paul Haycock and Dr Jeremy […]

The most popularly recognised features of Italian business in the UK press have deservedly been the contribution that Italian footballers have made to the quality of the game in the Premier League, Italy’s inability to defeat England in Rome, the Ferrari-Williams duel in Formula 1 and the improved quality and reliability of the new Alfa […]

Headline numbers from the first Investment Benchmarks Report: International Private Equity were announced at Venture Forum Europe ’97. The study, which was carried out jointly by Venture Economics and Bannock Consulting, with the full co-operation of the EVCA, shows an overall annual net IRR to investors of 18.6% on mature venture funds formed since 1980. […]