I've been a business reporter for a while. I've covered Wall Street, venture capital and now private equity. I'm always looking for a scoop or something to talk about. I'm the eternal optimist and am still waiting for the Chicago Cubs to win the World Series. Yes, I believe.
Finstar Financial Group has acquired a 51 percent stake in Prestamos Prima. Financial terms weren’t announced. Presamos Prima, of Barcelona, has launched Viventor, a peer-to-peer investing platform open to investors from all over Europe.
3 min read · 18 February 2016
KKR has acquired a roughly 9.95 percent stake in Max Financial Services. Financial terms weren’t announced. KKR acquired its stake from a sponsor group led by Analjit Singh, Chairman Emeritus of the Max Group. Max Financial, part of the Max Group, owns a nearly 72 percent stake in Max Life, the private life insurance company in India.
3 min read · 18 February 2016
Datapath.io said it raised an investment of 965,000 euros ($1.1 million) from Target Partners and Speedinvest. Datapath.io, of Germany, is developing a network performance management solution for companies who wish to optimize access to their applications.
4 min read · 18 February 2016
Southern Tier Brewing Company and Victory Brewing Company will now operate under the same parent company, Artisanal Brewing Ventures. Financial terms weren’t announced. Wells Fargo's Beverage Finance group provided capital. Victory and Southern Tier will independently operate their breweries and have joint capacity of over 800,000 barrels of potential annual production. Artisanal Brewing and Southern Tier Brewing are backed by Ulysses Management. Arlington Capital Advisors advised Victory.
5 min read · 18 February 2016
1 min read · 17 February 2016
RxWiki Inc said Tuesday that it named Christopher Loughlin as its CEO and a member of its Board of Directors. Loughlin previously served as CEO of Travelzoo Inc. Donald Hackett, RxWiki’s founder and current CEO, will remain a member of the board. Austin-based RxWiki, which connects pharmacies and patients through a SaaS platform, is backed by LiveOak Venture Partners and Milestone Venture Partners.
4 min read · 17 February 2016
MNG Direct, a portfolio company of Insignia Capital, said Tuesday that it named Stephen Wray its CEO. It also promoted Chris Wiltshire to Chairman of the Board. Wray is the former CEO and President of Cadient.
3 min read · 17 February 2016
LumenOptix LLC has merged with and CeeLite Technologies LLC to form LumenOptix Inc. Financial terms weren’t announced. The Provco Group also provided a round of funding to LumenOptix. Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania-based LumenOptix makes LED lighting products in the commercial and industrial markets.
3 min read · 17 February 2016
FTV Capital has invested $76 million in StoneEagle Services. Andy Roberts was named StoneEagle’s CEO while existing StoneEagle management will continue with the business. Richardson, Texas-based StoneEagle provides a platform that distributes, administers and processes virtual and plastic cards, checks and ACH payments.
4 min read · 17 February 2016
GLP and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board have launched their second Japan development venture fund. GLP Japan Development Venture II, a 50:50 joint venture, has $873 million of equity commitments and is expected to reach $2 billion in over three years. GLP JDV II is expected to start construction of new developments in 2016. GLP JDV II is a follow-on venture to GLP Japan Development Venture I, which was launched in September 2011 and is 92 percent invested. M3 Capital Partners (HK) Limited was financial advisor to GLP.
4 min read · 17 February 2016
