Foresight Group has invested £500,000 into Oomf Limited through the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (“MEIF”). 

Originally based in Dorset, Oomf recently opened a new manufacturing site in Northampton, hiring several staff from the area. A premium high protein porridge brand, Oomf has two core product ranges, Protein Oats and Skinny Oats, which are currently sold through several major retail outlets including Sainsbury’s and Tesco.

BGF, a leading investor in high-growth UK businesses, has invested £10m of equity in Extentia Group, the property services business formed through the acquisitions of Styles & Wood Group PLC and Southerns Ltd.  BGF previously invested in Styles & Wood PLC in 2015 to support the management team’s successful growth strategy whilst listed on the AIM market.

Augnet Limited, the London-based technology start-up set to revolutionise the SMS and messaging space, has announced that Triple Point Venture Fund has led a £1.3 million investment into the company. Triple Point invests in Augnet alongside a number of industry experts and investors. The funds will be used by Augnet to further develop the platform, support the testing stage and invest in its sales and marketing channels.  Augnet has developed a unique technology that enables SMS messages to be tracked and ensures a 100% delivery rate through a patent-protected, encrypted solution. 

Deepbridge Capital has led a $2m (£1.52m) funding round in Thalia Design Automation, with renewed commitment from the company’s existing investor Development Bank of Wales.

The latest research from eFront, the leading financial software and solutions provider dedicated to Alternative Investments, has thrown into sharp relief the differences in deployment and distribution characteristics of US LBOs funds. 

Analysis shows that small cap LBO funds are more profitable than funds that focus on target companies of larger market capitalization. In addition, small cap funds deploy capital at a faster rate and reinvest a significantly higher proportion of fund sizes than other funds. They also continue to invest significantly until year eight of the fund cycle, against a normal investment period of five years, and distribute capital much earlier than medium, large and mega cap LBO funds.

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.

Award winning patisserie business La Crème Patisserie has acquired new premises near Newport following a £500,000 loan from the Development Bank of Wales.

The move into the 11,000 sq ft building, which is eight times larger than La Crème’s base at Baglan, comes as the company gears up for a new contract. They will be supplying cakes, desserts and afternoon teas to the new International Convention Centre Wales (ICCW) currently being built at the Celtic Manor Resort just outside Newport.

The investment by the development bank has already led to four new jobs being created, and the headcount is expected to be further increased to 30 over the next 6-18 months.

British Patient Capital (BPC) has appointed Hazel Moore, OBE as Non-Executive Director to the board of British Patient Capital Ltd.

Hazel is the co-founder and Chair of FirstCapital, an investment bank which provides mergers and acquisitions, private equity and growth capital advice to high growth technology companies. She also currently chairs the Innovation Finance Sub-Committee for Innovate UK, the UK’s national innovation agency, having been a Governing Board member of Innovate UK until 2018. Hazel is a member of the Future Fifty advisory panel and was previously on the Investment Advisory Panel of the North West Fun

Downing Ventures has led a £1.5 million funding in The Electrospinning Company, alongside VC firm MidVen, Newable Private Investing and the STFC.

Foresight Group has successfully exited its investment in Nottingham-based Mercia Power Response Limited (MPR), generating a return of 3.8x on the original investment for its Foresight Nottingham Fund.

Westbridge Capital has closed its latest fund, WestBridge II, having raised £140m in fund commitments and associated earmarked co-investment monies. 

Foresight Group has launched the FP Foresight Global Real Infrastructure Fund (“GRIF” or “the Fund”). The Fund, which has received FCA regulatory approval, will be actively managed and will invest directly into publicly listed companies that own and operate real infrastructure or renewable energy assets globally.  It is targeting a total return of more than 3% per annum above the rate of UK inflation (measured by UK CPI).