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The Wire

Private equity deal news and insights from the London newsroom

Oct 17, 2024

 

Riverside sees healthy 2025 for lower mid-market; Verdane buys into coffee software biz; Wendel wraps up 50% stake in Globeducate

Morning all, Craig McGlashan here with the Europe Wire from the London newsroom.

 

The lower mid-market is throwing up plenty of opportunities for investors – that’s according to the Riverside Company’s Jeremy Holland and Ali Al Alaf, whom PE Hub hosted in our London office yesterday.

 

Next we have a fresh deal that’s perfect for the morning. Verdane is taking a majority stake in a software provider for the coffee industry.

 

Finally we look at education, where Providence Equity Partners has completed the sale of a roughly 50 percent stake in Globeducate, an international K-12 education group, to French investment firm Wendel.

 

Primary pickings

While dealmaking at the upper end of the size scale might still have some way to go to return to the heights of 2021 and 2022, the lower mid-market has been in rude health – and will likely remain so into 2025. That was the takeaway from the Riverside Company’s Jeremy Holland and Ali Al Alaf, who visited our London newsroom yesterday.

 

Find out why, as well as Riverside's approach to internationalizing businesses and its views on generative AI, in the premium version of the Wire.

 

Pick-me-up

Now here’s the perfect deal for people reading the Wire over their breakfast – and with an AI element.

 

European growth investor Verdane has just announced that it’s taking a majority stake in Cropster, a software provider for the coffee industry.

 

More details in the premium version of the Wire.

 

Class over

Private equity has been big on education lately (check out Iris Dorbian’s deep dive into the sector for more) and one of the bigger deals of the year has just crossed the line.

 

Providence Equity Partners has completed the sale of a roughly 50 percent stake in Globeducate, an international K-12 education group, to French investment firm Wendel.

 

Right, that’s all from me today. Michael Schoeck will bring you the US Wire later today and Irien Joseph will be in the Europe chair tomorrow.

 

Cheers,

 

Craig

 

Read the full Wire commentary on PE Hub ...

Today's must reads

> Vista's Gnosis Freight aims to navigate the supply chain ecosystem More...
> Renovus considers technology 'a major differentiator' in legal services More...
> Quilvest helped grow Metro Franchising from 44 Dunkin' units to 105 More...
> Armen leverages Europe’s heterogeneous market to diversify GP stakes portfolio More...
> Car parking business is predictable and stable: KKR's Dash Lane on TPS More...

Also of note (may require subscriptions)

 

Q&A with Elizabeth Weymouth: ‘Stuck’ mid-market firms present co-invest opportunities. As mid-market and emerging managers struggle for a sip of a dwindling pool of capital, opportunities abound for investors who can co-invest alongside GPs. (Buyouts)

 

Multi-asset CVs show signs of earlier DPI compared with single-assets – Evercore. A study by the bank and the HEC School of Management has also reinforced earlier findings that single-asset CVs perform largely in line with buyout funds, while offering lower return dispersion. (Secondaries)

 

Southeast Asian energy transition stalling amid sparks of progress: Increased collaboration between ASEAN nations could be the solution to the shortfall in investment that the region faces. (Infrastructure Investor)

 

STP launches ComplianceAdvisor to meet increasing regulatory needs: The new service expands on services only offered to the admin’s institutional clients. (Private Funds CFO)

 

LGPS Central plans £100m a year in residential fund investments: The UK pension pool made the first investment for its newly launched UK Residential Indirect Property Partnership earlier this month. (PERE)

Deals

> Verdane invests in Cropster More...
> Providence wraps up sale of 50% stake in Globeducate to Wendel More...
> Vance Street-backed PDC acquires fluid flow products provider Resenex More...
> Thirty-5 Capital invests in performance gear and sports injury prevention products provider Yobow More...
> Muinzer snaps up student housing property Samford Square More...
> Vista's Gnosis Freight aims to navigate the supply chain ecosystem More...
People
> Lundy joins Percheron Capital as managing director and IR head More...
> Warburg Pincus names Francesco Granata and Axel Herberg as senior advisers More...
> Advent International taps Sharma as senior advisor More...

They said it

Cropster has “demonstrated how to develop a successful software tool for the benefit of their customers and how to adapt it to the needs of more and more market participants along the value chain in the coffee market.”

— Dominik Schwarz, partner at Verdane

 

Today's letter was prepared by Craig McGlashan

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