Albion Ventures invests £9.5 million in Radnor House School to fund acquisition of Combe Bank School

 Albion Ventures LLP ("Albion"), one of the largest independent venture capital investors in the UK, today announces that it is increasing its exposure to the independent education sector by investing up to £9.5 million in Radnor House School ("RHS") to fund the acquisition of Combe Bank School ("Combe Bank"), a co-educational independent school for students aged three to 18, located near Sevenoaks, Kent.

In 2010 Albion invested £8.7 million in Radnor House School, a new co-educational independent day school for students aged 7- 18 in Twickenham, South West London.   Since then the school has performed exceptionally well and has established an excellent reputation. Since opening its pupil intake has increased to 360 currently and this is predicted to rise to a near capacity 420 by September 2015.

In Combe Bank, Albion and the RHS management team have identified a unique opportunity to expand the Radnor House model by enhancing the school's culture of academic achievement and first-rate pastoral care, as well as making the necessary investment to provide new facilities and modernise existing ones where necessary.    

The development of Combe Bank will be driven by the experienced RHS management team, led by David Paton, Headmaster and founder of Radnor House, working closely with the existing Head of Combe Bank, Julie Tricks.  In addition to his achievements at RHS, David Paton has a proven track record at other schools having held senior positions at Dulwich College and the Harrodian School in Barnes.  He will be supported by an experienced Board of Directors chaired by Dr Colin Diggory. Dr Diggory is a former Headmaster of Alleyn's School in Dulwich and Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith.   Other members of the Board include Dr Yvonne Burne OBE, whose long career in education includes Headship positions at St Helen's, Northwood and The City of London School for Girls.

A NEW CHAPTER OF OBSESSION BEGINS: BGF invests £3.75m in British menswear brand Oliver Sweeney

BGF (Business Growth Fund) and Oliver Sweeney today announce the beginning of a new chapter for the British menswear brand, with an investment of £3.75m of growth capital from BGF. BGF, the independent company established to help the UK's growing businesses has taken a minority stake in the business

Led by an obsession for footwear that has fuelled the brand's expansion, Oliver Sweeney has become a British menswear success story, manufacturing and selling shoes, clothing and accessories that are an ingenious take on traditional craftsmanship. With a passionate team in London and a factory of craftsmen in the Italian Marche, the brand's signature blend of contemporary design, skilled manufacturing and superlative customer service has resulted in an obsessive customer base of stylish men searching for something different.

The business was founded in 1989 and was bought by its current owners Maurice Helfgott and Amery Capital in 2009. Amery has a focus on investment in retail and consumer related businesses.

The investment will be a significant boost to Oliver Sweeney, and will enable amongst other things a new marketing strategy as well as the introduction of Licensing as a principal channel.

NVM Private Equity supports CloserStill for the fifth time

NVM Private Equity (NVM) has supported the CloserStill management team for the fifth time over the past ten years. CloserStill, a rapidly expanding business-to-business (B2B) international events company, has been sold to Inflexion Private Equity for an undisclosed sum.

The sale represents a full exit for Phoenix Equity Partners who invested in 2012, and a partial exit for NVM - who will re-invest £5 million and continue as a shareholder of the events company.

2005: NVM supported the team's management buy-out of Ithaca Business Media with £2 million of investment.

2007: Ithaca Business Media is sold to United Business Media for £14.3 million generating a 3 times money multiple and an IRR of 60% on NVM's original investment.

2008: The Ithaca management team approached NVM again to help fund the launch of London-based CloserStill, to build-up a portfolio of B2B exhibitions and events companies. NVM invested £4 million.

2011: NVM invests a further £3 million to launch CloserStill's sister company, Closer2. This is another 'buy and build' platform created to seek out small businesses, launches and partnerships with entrepreneurs in the B2B events industry that can grow quickly.

2012: NVM partially exits CloserStill to Phoenix Equity Partners, in a deal valued at c£25 million, to support CEO Andy Center, Chairman Phil Soar and Directors, Phil Nelson and Michael Westcott's strategy to accelerate CloserStill's growth further through international expansion and UK-based organic growth. NVM rolls over its £3 million of investment from Closer2 into the new group.

Third of VCTs already closed with three weeks left before tax year-end deadline

Of 36 VCT offers this tax year, 11 have now closed and several others near fundraising targets

Low-cost investment broker Clubfinance says limited capacity means usual surge of late applications could see investors miss out on chosen VCT

Good Friday bank holiday falling on April 3 increases risk that last-minute applications could fail to meet deadline

With more than three weeks still left until the tax year-end almost a third of VCTs have already closed, prompting a warning that the usual surge of applications in the final few days before April 5th could see last-minute investors finding their chosen fund has shut.

Jeff Cornish, head of Portunus Investment Solutions, a tax-efficient investment specialist, comments: "It is not unusual for up to a quarter of a VCT's inflows to come in the final five days of the tax year.

"That's fine in a normal year but the limited market capacity this time, owing to some usually large fund raisers only issuing limited offers, or in some cases not at all, has resulted in popular offers closing far more quickly than usual - in the case of Baronsmead VCT 5, after just three days."

Philip Rhoden, director and co-founder of Clubfinance Ltd added: "It's unusual for a third of offers to be already closed at this stage. In addition to the 11 VCTs that are now shut, Octopus AIM VCT and ProVen Growth & Income VCT have already raised more than three quarters of their targets,  and Unicorn AIM VCT  and the British Smaller Companies VCTs have activated their over allotment facilities to increase capacity.

"Good Friday falling on April 3 this year also means there will be one less day for applications to be processed, which could affect last-minute investors."

Scottish Loan Fund to provide £0.7 million of funding to ExecSpace

The Scottish Loan Fund (SLF) is pleased to announce that it has committed £0.7 million of funding to the event services and management business, ExecSpace, to support its businesses growth strategy.

 The investment will provide a significant boost to the business as it looks to widen its geographic reach into London and capitalise on the strong sector dynamics and positive economic indicators which reflect ongoing growth in that market. Founded in 2008 by Emma Little, ExecSpace is a specialist event and accommodation booking agent for over 200 organisations across the UK, including Grant Thornton, Aggreko, Aegon and Nucleus, and has enjoyed year-on-year growth thanks to its customer centric focus.

Headquartered in Edinburgh and with a second office in Aberdeen, ExecSpace organises events across the UK securing top-rate venues at the best price possible for its clients. Maintaining the quality of its service is paramount to the business and each account manager regularly visits venues to ensure that they meet the expectations and requirements of clients.  This service extends to a bespoke accommodation booking service, providing an on-line booking tool tailored to their organisational requirements and policies.

ExecSpace also provides a comprehensive event management service. Events facilitated by the business can range from organising management meetings for 12 up to themed conferences for 800 people which require full event management expertise.

This investment is another example of how the SLF is helping companies like ExecSpace to exploit market opportunities and how it continues to be a valuable source of finance for established, growth-oriented SMEs. To date the SLF has committed £50m to businesses throughout Scotland to help them achieve their business plans and facilitate the next stage of growth.