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.
Agrinnovation said Monday it raised $4 million in a round of funding led by Victor Smorgon Group from Australia. Other investors include Yissum Research Development Company and the Provident Fund of the Employees of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Agrinnovation is an investment fund focused on agricultural inventions. The fund said a group of Chinese-Israeli investors will also likely invest, boosting total funding to $6 million.
5 min read · 26 October 2015
MTG said Monday that it sold its Russian and international pay-TV channel businesses for $45 million. Sabiero Holdings Ltd, which is backed by private equity firm Baring Vostok, acquired the MTG’s international channels business. Sinerdzhi has acquired the Russian channels business. The Russian channel business comprises factual, movie and sports channels, while the international channel business includes pan-regional factual channels and the TV1000 movie channels.
3 min read · 26 October 2015
H.I.G. Capital LLC said Monday that it appointed David Hunter as a Senior Adviser for European Real Estate. Previously, Hunter set up his independent real estate advisory firm in 2005 and was also Managing Director of Aberdeen Asset Management’s property fund business.
3 min read · 26 October 2015
The Blackstone Group is buying MB Aerospace. Financial terms weren’t announced. Arlington Capital Partners is the seller. MB Aerospace is a Tier I engine component maker and repair business. Moelis advised Arlington.
3 min read · 26 October 2015
Quad-C Management has invested in VMG Health. Financial terms weren’t announced. Dallas-based VMG provides financial valuation and advisory services for the U.S. healthcare transaction market. Management will maintain significant ownership in the business.
3 min read · 26 October 2015
Highland Capital Management L.P. said Friday it had named Terry Jones its President of Institutional Products. Jones previously served as Lead Director of the Highland Funds.
3 min read · 26 October 2015
Simility said Friday that it closed a $5.7 million seed round which included Trinity Ventures along with angel investors. The round added $2.25 million to the $3.45 million that Simility previously announced in August. Palo Alto, California-based Simility provides fraud detection solutions.
3 min read · 26 October 2015
Takeda Ventures Inc, the venture arm of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd., has invested 3 million euros (US$3.3 million) in Univercells SA. Gosselies, Belgium-based Univercells designs single-use bioprocess solutions for use in biomanufacturing.
2 min read · 23 October 2015
Eric Fry is joining Lindsay Goldberg as a Partner. Fry was most recently with Morgan Stanley where he was a Managing Director in the firm’s private equity group.
2 min read · 23 October 2015
Sequana Medical AG said Friday that it raised CHF 9 million (US$9.3 million) in a Series C extension round. Existing investors including NeoMed Management AS, VI Partners AG, Biomed Invest AG, Capricorn Health-tech Fund, Entrepreneurs Fund and Life Science Partners participated for a total of CHF 5.3M, with a further CHF 3.7M raised from new investors including Salus Partners SA and Quest for Growth NV. Sequana Medical, of Zurich, is a medical device company.
6 min read · 23 October 2015
