Amlin Corporate Services Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Amlin plc, Wednesday completed its purchase of J R Clare Underwriting Agencies Ltd (JCUA) from John Clare. JCUA is a managing general agent which sources approximately £30 million of UK household and commercial insurance premium income. Under the terms of the deal, Amlin UK would underwrite 100 per cent of JCUA's business going forward.
Playtech Wednesday announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the entire issued share capital of Intelligent Gaming Solutions (IGS). Playtech is the leading provider of software to the online, mobile and land-based gaming sector. IGS is a rapidly growing provider of software based casino management systems to land-based casinos and has installed systems in nine casinos, including the Aspers Group properties in the UK and the Regency Casinos in Greece.
Frutarom Industries Ltd Tuesday acquired the activity and assets of the British East Anglian Food Ingredients Ltd (EAFI). The investment is for a consideration of approximately US$ 4.8 million (£3 million).
The acquisition will be self-financed. Frutarom estimates that the deal will be completed within a number of weeks.
Datatec Limited (DTC), the international Information and Communications Technology group, Monday announced that its subsidiary Logicalis Group Limited agreed to acquire Direct Visual Limited, a Tandberg (now part of Cisco) Platinum Partner based in the UK, for a cash consideration.
As it seeks further expansion in the UK, US based online retail giant Amazon Inc. reported it is to acquire UK based film and games subscription service Lovefilm. According to Amazon, the investment is targeted at enhancing its video streaming and rental capabilities. Amazon announced its plans Thursday, with the investment expected to close in the first quarter of 2011. However, the investment is still subject to closing conditions and regulatory approvals.
In a posting to the London Stock Exchange, Regal Petroleum Plc noted that Heamoor Limited (Cyprus) and Geo Alliance (Kyiv), confirmed willingness to acquire Regal Petroleum plc (UK), the oil and gas company with assets in Ukraine, Romania and Egypt.
The UK’s foremost Payday Lending business, Fortress Group (UK) Ltd has been acquired by Texas, US, based Think Finance Inc. In an announcement made by its directors, Fortress Group’s Kieran Moulden and Stuart Carter noted the firm has been sold to the US firm.
Meggitt PLC is to acquire Pacific Scientific Aerospace (PSA) from Danaher Corporation (Danaher) for $685 million in cash (Acquisition). Meggitt announced it had reached an agreement for the acquisition with PSA. The Acquisition will be funded in part by an equity placing of up to 69.8 million new ordinary shares, representing less than 10% of Meggitt's current issued share capital; the balance will be funded from existing debt facilities.
Smartcool Systems Inc announced Tuesday that it has entered into a Letter of Intent for the acquisition of Smartcool Systems UK Ltd., a distributor of Smartcool technology.
Under the terms of the proposed acquisition, Smartcool Systems EMEA Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Smartcool Systems Inc., will acquire all issued and outstanding shares in the capital of Smartcool Systems UK as well as assuming the obligations of all the company’s employment agreements.
Sirius Minerals Plc announced Monday the acquisition of York Potash Ltd; and the appointment of York Potash’s founder, Chris Fraser, as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Sirius.
ICON plc Friday announced the expansion of its Late Phase and Outcomes Research services through the acquisition of Oxford Outcomes, a leading international health outcomes consultancy. Icon Plc is a global provider of outsourced development services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries. Elizabeth Thiele, formerly ICON’s Executive Vice President of Business Development, has been appointed President of this specialized service unit.
RockYou announced Friday the acquisition of Manchester based social game developer Playdemic. Under the terms of the deal, Playdemic will operate independently as Playdemic, a RockYou studio, and develop Facebook games for the mainstream audience.
Morrisons announced it has entered into a conditional agreement with Asda to acquire 120,000 square feet of additional selling space through the purchase of 16 former Netto UK stores at a cost of £28.1 million. These stores will fit very well into Morrisons’ portfolio of 437 existing stores, said the firm. The additional selling space is incremental to the 500,000 square feet target already outlined by the firm for 2011/12.
GE announced Wednesday it has acquired the UK’s Remote Energy Monitoring Ltd. Remote Energy Monitoring Ltd has operations in the United Kingdom and Australia. This acquisition enhances GE’s ability to address the European Union’s goals for a lower-emission, higher efficiency energy infrastructure, said the firm. Remote Energy Monitoring’s software and hardware technologies allow consumers and utilities to better monitor and manage their energy usage.
The UK’s leading investor in non-core acquisitions, special situations and turnarounds, Endless LLP announced it has purchased Niagara Lasalle (UK) Limited from its US parent organization Niagara Corporation with total committed funds to the deal of £27.0 million.
ThermaSys Corporation, a leading U.S. manufacturer of highly engineered copper, brass and aluminum heat exchanger components and assemblies, announced Monday that it has acquired Covrad Holdings and Serck Heat Transfer, two U.K.-based manufacturers of heat transfer products. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
TAKE Solutions announced Friday the 100 % acquisition of UK headquartered WCI Consulting Group through its subsidiary. TAKE Solutions is an international business technology company with products and solutions backed by a strong domain expertise in Life Sciences and Supply Chain Management. TAKE has been looking to establish a greater capability in Patient Safety and to establish Business Consulting capability to complement their portfolio of IP based business solutions and services.
Harris Tea, a division of Harris Freeman along with Jay Tea, a division of Madhu Jayanti, announces that it has completed the acquisition of Keith Spicer Ltd in Dorset, UK. Keith Spicer has been supplying teas to the UK market since 1934.
The Board and shareholders of ATG (AT Group Ltd) announced Thursday they had agreed to the sale of the entire share capital of the Company to Bilfinger Berger Industrial Services (UK) Ltd, with effect from 4th January 2011. Going forward, the Company will shortly change its name to trade as BIS ATG.
Intrinsic Technology announced the purchase of the trade, certain assets and goodwill of Dataplex Systems Ltd in a bid to enhance its solutions portfolio. Dataplex Systems Ltd is an industry leader in desktop and server virtualization; storage solutions; core infrastructure optimization and converged infrastructure with offices in Manchester and Oxford.
The Midwich Group, made up of several UK and European distribution companies, has acquired Ubiqz Limited, a distributor of security systems.
Anand Subbiah, Ubiqz's general manager reiterated that he was excited at the prospect of developing the firm’s business with the support of such a large group. As a specialist distributor, Midwich will continue to focus on the security sector but the acquisition will significantly improve customer service, product choice, stock availability and performance across all aspects of its business.
The Sunday Times reported that e-commerce major, Amazon, is considering an expansion of its online business empire in the UK. The US based e-commerce giant is currently believed to be in talks with a potential target takeover firm to necessitate the expansion, stated the Sunday Times report.
Dollar Financial announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Dollar Financial U.K., has entered into an agreement to acquire Purpose U.K. Holdings Limited, a provider of online payday loans in the United Kingdom operating under the brand name PaydayUK. The anticipated purchase price of the acquisition is $195 million. The trailing twelve months EBITDA for Purpose is currently approximately $32 million.
Sahara India's subsidiary Aamby Valley announced it had bought London's Grosvenor House Hotel from the Royal Bank of Scotland for 470 million pounds, approx Rs.3,300 Crore. The acquisition is expected to enable Sahara group establish its foothold in the international luxury hotel market. It plans to add restaurants, including Indian restaurant Namak, a business centre, a night club and other facilities to the property.