Market Commentary - Housing, Infrastructure, Construction and Services 22nd May 2017
There is little new news this morning. Civitas, the social housing REIT, has spent another £6m of its £350m equity fundraising. Mortice, a small quoted FM company has won two new contracts worth £2.3m pa in revenue. There is no further news on the proposed acquisition of Berendsen. News flow from AGM updates and March and September year ends flows strongly during the remainder of this week.
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4th and final satellite launched
Inmarsat’s high profile but somewhat beleaguered Global Express (GX) programme is now almost fully operational. The fourth and final satellite, I-5 F4, was successfully sent into orbit on 15 May. This is significant for the Aerospace and Defence industry because the Global Xpress network provides new bandwidth capacity for secure mobile communications from ships, aircraft and vehicles.
Read more...Market Commentary - Housing, Infrastructure, Construction and Services 18th May 2017
Balfour Beatty has its AGM today and the update wins the prize for the shortest statement so far this year. The surprise news today is that Elis SA has made a proposed offer to buy Berendsen comprising 440p in cash and 0.426 new shares in Elis SA for every Berendsen share.
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Read more...Market Commentary - Housing, Infrastructure, Construction and Services 17th May 2017
Countryside’s half year numbers are all that attracts attention this morning in the HICS area as they provide a steer on the housing market, following Crest’s update yesterday. One company that should attract attention is having a Capital Markets Day later, Blue Prism. Its software and products are termed Robotic Process Automation (RPA); essentially the company’s products tackle the routine rules based administration work that abounds in FM and many other areas of HICS sector companies everyday workload.
Read more...Oakley Capital Investments – acquisition of Schülerhilfe from Deutsche Beteiligungs
Third new investment for Oakley Capital Private Equity Fund III within three weeks
Oakley Capital Investments (OCL) has announced a new investment in private tutoring services provider Schülerhilfe via Oakley Capital Private Equity Fund III, which has agreed to acquire the business from DBAG Fund VI, managed by Deutsche Beteiligungs (DBAG). The transaction fits Oakley Capital’s model of partnering with entrepreneurs, with Schülerhilfe CEO Dieter Werkhausen investing in the deal alongside Fund III. OCL’s share of the equity investment is expected to be around €42m, dependent on the final capital structure at completion, with the transaction being partly funded by a debt facility from Alcentra. The investment in Schülerhilfe follows Oakley Capital’s acquisitions of intellectual property and technology services provider TechInsights, announced earlier this week, and web-server management software platform Plesk, announced two weeks ago.
Read more...Deutsche Beteiligungs – sale of Schülerhilfe to Oakley Capital
Strategically important first divestment by DBAG Fund VI
Deutsche Beteiligungs (DBAG) has announced the sale of private tutoring services provider Schülerhilfe to Oakley Capital Private Equity. The investment in Schülerhilfe was DBAG Fund VI’s first transaction in October 2013 and its sale marks the fund’s first divestment after less than four years. This is a strategically important transaction for DBAG as it represents the first realisation of an investment outside of the team’s traditional core sectors of expertise, confirming DBAG’s ability to complete deals successfully across a broader range of industries. The transaction price has not been disclosed but DBAG management has confirmed that the sale was at a premium to Schülerhilfe’s portfolio valuation and will contribute around €9m to DBAG’s net income in the third quarter of FY17.
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