Bluegem Capital Partners, the European mid-market fund focused on consumer brands,has announced the acquisition of Pool Service, the leading Italian professional hair care group and owner of the iconic Medavita brand, from the private equity house Accord Management and the Cattaneo family. 

BGF, the UK and Ireland’s most active investor in growing businesses, has invested £6.25m into Christopher Ward, the Maidenhead-based premium British watch brand, to accelerate growth.  Founded in 2005 by Mike France, Chris Ward and Peter Ellis, Christopher Ward has grown to become the UK’s leading direct-to-consumer watch brand, with customers in more than 100 countries.  Christopher Ward creates high-quality timepieces that combine British style and innovation with Swiss watchmaking skills. The brand specialises in mechanical and quartz watches, that are designed in the UK and manufactured in the home of horology, Biel, Switzerland.

Bluegem II LP, a European mid-market fund focused on consumer brands, exited from its participation in Liberty, the British iconic brand and flagship store, in a secondary recapitalisation led by Glendower Capital, a global secondary private equity manager.

The transaction valuing the company at ca. GBP 300 million enterprise value reflects the work that Bluegem started nine years ago to transform Liberty from a loss-making department store into a vibrant brand and an iconic destination for the most discerning customers in London.

Maven Capital Partners, has led a £650,000 investment in Manchester-headquartered passenger transfers booking platform Ski-Lifts Limited.  A total of £500,000 has been invested by NPIF – Maven Equity Finance, part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund and a £150,000 was provided by the Greater Manchester Loan Fund, also managed by Maven.

A British games and Jukebox entrepreneur, Alexander Walder-Smith, has acquired Rock-Ola, the last authentic American Jukebox manufacturing company and one of the world's most iconic Jukebox brands. Rock-Ola famously inspired the term 'Rock and Roll', and has been manufacturing games and Jukeboxes since 1927, starting out in Chicago and later moving to California's West coast, seen by many as the jukebox's spiritual home.

MEIF Debt Finance, managed by Maven Capital Partners has backed pop-up retail specialists, Rapid Retail Limited (“Rapid Retail”), with a £300,000 business loan. The loan will enable the Worcestershire company to accelerate its growth plans by expanding its portfolio of products, exploiting new growth opportunities overseas and support the creation of new jobs.

Stuffstr, the game-changing solution to consumer waste, has raised a total of $2.9 million in its seed funding round, led by Mustard Seed, with co-investors adidas Ventures and London Co-investment Fund.

adidas’ investment comes on the back of including Stuffstr in its sports accelerator program, Platform A, which launched in January at Station F in Paris.  It also aligns with adidas’ FUTURECRAFT.LOOP vision for sustainability, which aims to end the concept of “waste” entirely.

Maven Capital Partners has led a £3 million funding round in Manchester-based DigitalBridge, a Guided Design platform for kitchen and bathroom retailers. Today’s transaction comprises a £1.5 million package from Maven’s Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) and £1.5 million from the NPIF Maven Equity Finance, a regional development fund managed by Maven which forms part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund. The funding will support the roll-out of DigitalBridge’s platform and the creation of 15 new jobs. It will also enable the company to create additional products and penetrate new markets, particularly the US.  DigitalBridge has been working with Kingfisher Plc (owners of B&Q and Castorama) since 2017. 

Foresight Group has made a £5 million growth capital investment into Fourth Wall Creative Limited, a technology-led merchandising business servicing the football industry.

Based in Bromborough, Merseyside, FWC was founded in 2010 by CEO Anton Botes and Joe Moroney who identified the need for an improved service for design and sourcing of merchandise within the football market. Since then the business has established itself as a market leader in the design and fulfilment of branded merchandise for football clubs.

Palamon Capital Partners, a European growth buyout private equity firm, has signed an agreement to sell Il Bisonte to Tokyo Stock exchange-listed fashion distribution specialist, Look Holdings Inc.  The transaction will value Il Bisonte at an Enterprise Value of €100 million, 3 times the entry price paid by Palamon, producing a 26% Gross IRR for Palamon European Equity III.

Ocado has announced a £17 million investment into the vertical farming industry, including an investment into Jones Food, Europe’s largest vertical farm. The investment into Jones Food, represents one of the largest investments into a UK agritech company so far this year. Law firm, Ashfords, advised Guinness Asset Management, the majority shareholder of Jones Food, in the transaction.

The Riverside Company has acquired La Galvanina S.p.A, a fourth generation, family-owned, Italian producer of premium private label and branded mineral water and traditional and organic soft drinks. Galvanina sells its products to a global customer base comprised of leading retailers, department stores and wholesalers in more than 35 countries, with the U.S., Italy and Canada representing its largest markets in 2018.