Deals, Deals, Deals

UK & Ireland

• MHA, a UK accounting firm with revenues of c.£150m, has announced its intention to float on AIM, seeking to raise £125m to fund acquisitions.

• Harmony Energy Income Trust, a publicly listed investment fund focused on energy storage assets, has received a takeover offer from Foresight Group at a c.£190m valuation.

• Xeinadin, a UK-headquartered Anglo-Irish accountancy group, has acquired London-based accounting firm Raffingers Stuart.

• Ethos Partners is going to market with Water Direct, a UK emergency and alternative water services provider. The business may be marketed off £8m - £10m EBITDA.

• Apollo is also set to acquire a 25% non-controlling stake in bp TANAP, owner of major gas transmission networks, for $1bn.

• ALT21, a UK fintech providing multi-currency account solutions, has secured $12.5m in an oversubscribed Series A funding round from a group of angel investors.

• HLB Ireland, the Irish accounting firm, has merged with FutureRange Group following an equity investment from Cardinal Capital. 

• The Arch Company’s co-owner Blackstone Group has acquired full ownership of the UK property company by purchasing TT Group’s 50% stake in the joint venture. The deal values The Arch Company at £2bn.

• Brentford Football Club has attracted several offers for minority stakes, with a full club valuation of £400m.

• MidEuropa’s UK-based ophthalmology clinic chain Optegra is being marketed at an EBITDA of c.£70m.

• WPP, the UK-based advertising and PR group, is considering a sale of Spafax, its in-flight video entertainment and advertising subsidiary. WPP hopes to receive £50m - £75m for the business.

• Thames Water has received additional preliminary bids for equity investment. FitzWalter Capital, in partnership with other investors, has offered a minority investment. Stonepeak has also joined the list of potential investors.

• Partners Group has agreed to sell Greenlink Interconnector, which links Great Britain and Ireland with 504 MW capacity, to Baltic Cable and Equitix for an enterprise value of €1bn.

• Apollo has acquired a majority stake in OEG Energy Group, a leading offshore energy solutions business, from Oaktree. The deal values OEG at over $1bn, with Oaktree retaining a minority stake.

• Vista Equity Partners has launched the sale of Finastra’s Treasury and Capital Markets (TCM) unit. The asset could be valued at over $2bn.

• HSBC Holdings plans to issue SGD 800m (c.€552m) in perpetual subordinated contingent convertible securities.

• Maxion Therapeutics, a biotechnology company, has secured $72m in Series A funding, led by General Catalyst.

• Windward, a maritime AI company, has been acquired by FTV Capital, a sector-focused growth equity investor.

• Energean, the UK-based gas company, has terminated its strategic sale agreement with Carlyle for its Egypt, Italy, and Croatia portfolio after failing to receive regulatory approvals.

Central & Northern Europe

• Klarna has filed for a New York IPO, with an estimated valuation of €13.2bn.

• Nodica Group, the Swedish technology firm formerly known as Scandinova Systems, is preparing for a public listing. Nodica posted €58m turnover and €5.8m operating profit in 2023.

• ZEISS Group has sold Carl Zeiss Automated Inspection to Callista Private Equity.

• French fund Mirova, a subsidiary of Natixis Investment Managers, is set to invest over €50m in GreenWay Holding, an electromobility services provider operating throughout Central and Eastern Europe.

• Investcorp is close to acquiring a majority stake in German logistics consultancy Miebach Logistik Holding, with an enterprise value of €150m.

• Araris Biotech, the Swiss biotech developing next-generation antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), is being acquired by Otsuka Holding’s Taiho Pharmaceutical for $1.1bn.

• Thyssenkrupp has cancelled the partial sale of its naval division to Rheinmetall.

• Gerry Weber, the owner of a portfolio of German womenswear brands, is reportedly up for sale. The business expects €196m in revenues in 2024.

• Cerralvo Capital, a Tampa-based PE investor, has acquired a significant minority stake in Innovative Building Technology, the parent company of German industrial warehouse firm Herchenbach Industrial Buildings.

• Asker, a European medical products provider, has launched a €770m IPO.

• A consortium of Warburg Pincus and KKR has submitted a non-binding offer to acquire Gerresheimer AG, valuing the German packaging manufacturer at €3.1bn.

• Evalueserve, the Swiss data and insights analytics provider, is on the market seeking a new owner. EBITDA is c.€45m in 2024.

• A majority of the supervisory board of German media group ProSiebenSat.1 Media opposes the proposed sale of a 10% stake to General Atlantic, citing deal terms as too expensive.

• Befesa, the German steel dust and aluminium recycling services provider, has received further investment from Triton Equity Partners, which acquired a stake of less than 5% in the Frankfurt-listed company.

• Doinstruct, the German compliance platform for frontline worker training, has raised €16.5m in a Series A funding round led by HV Capital.

• Wabtec has agreed to acquire Dellner Couplers, a provider of train connection systems, from EQT for €890m.

• EQT-backed Karo Healthcare has shortlisted Blackstone, KKR, and PAI for the second round of its large-cap auction process.

• Triton Partners is preparing the sale of Glamox, a Norwegian professional lighting specialist. Glamox reported c.€69m EBITDA in 2024.

• Vaeridion, the German aerotech start-up, is in talks to raise €75m in its upcoming financing round.

• Swedish investor Nalka Invest is preparing to sell Avoki, a Swedish technical services company, which generated $110m in sales in 2023.

• Buynomics, the German retailtech start-up, has secured €27.5m in Series B funding, led by Forestay Capital with participation from VI Partners.

• Strabag investor family Haselsteiner is selling a 1.7% stake, valued at €151m.

• AirHelp, the air passenger rights and compensation management company, has received a minority investment from Abry Partners, valuing the business at c.€330m.

• Axel Springer is contemplating the sale of its Awin unit, which employs 1,400 staff and could be valued at €400m.

• HSBC is in advanced talks to sell Inka, its fund administration unit in Germany, to BlackFin Capital Partners.

• Jutro Medical, a Polish medical services company, has raised €12m in a Series A round led by Kaya VC and Rio ASI.

• Swedish start-up evroc has closed a €50m+ Series A, the largest tech Series A round in the Nordics, led by blisce/. The company focuses on Europe’s hyperscale cloud and critical AI infrastructure.

• German media group ProSiebenSat.1 is selling Verivox to Italy’s Moltiply Group, in a deal based on an enterprise value of €232m, including an earn-out of up to €60m. Verivox posted €185m revenue and €34m EBITDA in 2024.

Western & Southern Europe

• Bpifrance and Lac1 are set to acquire a stake in Veolia for €800m.

• Nexans has entered into exclusive negotiations to sell its industrial cable division Lynxeo to Latour Capital, a France-based private equity fund, for an enterprise value of €525m.

• Portugal-based insurance group Fidelidade is looking to sell a minority stake in hospital operator Luz Saude, aiming for a valuation of over €1bn.

• Argos has acquired Hexvia (Demeco), the leading integrated player in the French moving services market, with the support of Bpifrance.

• Iveco Defence Vehicles (IDV), a division of Italian heavy vehicles group Iveco, has attracted interest from leading European arms manufacturers. IDV is valued at over €1bn, with €1.1bn in 2024 revenues.

• The bidders for the concession to run Lotto, Italy's state lottery, have been confirmed as International Game Technology (current concession holder) and Sisal, which is owned by Flutter.

• Italian energy group Eni has received four non-binding offers for up to a 49% stake in Enibioch4in, its biomethane subsidiary.

• Dutch PE firm Waterland is working on the divestment of its stakes in radar technology companies Intersoft and Advionics, which have combined revenues of c.€46m.

• A majority stake in Dutch software company Cenosco has been acquired by US-based investor Summit Partners.

• Blackstone and EQT are leading the race to acquire Urbaser, the Spanish waste management and environmental services company, with an expected enterprise value of more than €5.1bn.

• Bain Capital, owner of Italmatch Chemicals, is planning to launch a sale of the business in H2 2024. Italmatch posted c.€130m EBITDA this year.

• SER Group, a German enterprise content management software developer backed by TA Associates, has acquired Dutch software company Klippa.

• Weinberg Capital Partners and Groupe Philippe Gineste are preparing to sell their majority stake in French footwear retailer Besson Chaussures, which has c.€50m EBITDA.

• Carlyle, owner of Spanish winemaker Codorniu, is considering exit options including a direct sale or a market listing.

• Banks have initiated a €7.45bn debt offering to back CD&R's purchase of Sanofi's Opella stake.

• ITAGO, private equity owner of Operamed, expects binding offers for the Italian turnkey medical systems supplier by the end of April.

• Varde Partners is looking to sell its 33% stake in Guber Banca, an Italian digital financial institution. The stake is estimated to be worth c.€60m.

• French telecom company Prizz has acquired Soon THD, a fibre-to-the-home (FttO) infrastructure operator, from Banque des Territoires (CDC) and Vinci Energies.

• Unilever is set to sell The Vegetarian Butcher (2023 revenue of c.€200m) to Vivera, part of Brazilian group JBS.

• Cinven is considering a bid for Italian financial software provider Objectway, with first-round bids due at the end of March.

• The owners of Recharge, the Dutch provider of digital vouchers and prepaid solutions, are exploring sale options. The company has c.€18m EBITDA.

• MyUnisoft, a French provider of cloud-based accounting solutions with €10m+ ARR, has received investment from Hg.

• GSO Capital Partners, the credit arm of Blackstone, has sold its majority stake in French precast concrete systems maker KP1 to JAV Investissement. The deal is rumored to value KP1 at €150m - €200m.

• Spain-based platform Playtomic, for booking padel and tennis courts, has raised €65m in a new financing round.

• TPG has made an €850m offer for the inter-banking operations of Italian payment services firm Nexi.

• PE firm Clessidra is considering an exit from Italian wine producer Argea, which generates c.€500m in revenues.

• Italian insurance broker Baroncini has been acquired by domestic peer Wide Group, backed by Pollen Street Capital.

• Spanish unicorn Factorial, specializing in SME management software, has secured a €110m investment from General Catalyst.

• Two bidders remain for BT Italia, the Italian subsidiary of BT Group: Ultranet, owned by HGM Holding, and Retelit, an Italian fiber network business controlled by Asterion Industrial Partners.

Fresh Powder

• ICG has announced the final close of its second European Mid-Market fund programme, ICG Europe Mid-Market Fund II, raising €3bn in commitments.

• Pantheon, the global private markets investor, has closed Pantheon Secondary Opportunities Fund II (PSOF II) and related vehicles with total commitments of $1.1bn, focused on secondary investments.

• Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners has launched its fifth flagship fund with over €12bn in total commitments.

• COFIDES has launched the Kuali Fund, a Spanish impact investment fund focused on climate mitigation and adaptation, targeting over €200m.

• Health Sciences VC Sofinnova Partners has announced the final close of Sofinnova Biovelocita II, raising €165m.

• Adara Ventures has reached a first close of €100m for Fund 4, focusing on early-stage companies in AI and other high-impact sectors.