Private equity firm Graphite Capital is selling the British business of budget hotel group Golden Tulip to Whitbread, owner of the Premier Travel Inn and Brewers Fayre brands.
Over a third of small and medium-sized enterprises with dealings of greater than £500,000 a year in foreign currencies 'do nothing' to manage the risks involved, according to a survey conducted by HSBC.
Aquarius Media, an investor in the public relations and marketing services sector, has raised £50,000 with its initial public offering onto PLUS Markets.
Hasgrove has bought Pavilion Communication Services for up to £9.9 million and Western & Oriental acquires luxury villa operator Villa Select for an initial £1.86 million.
Social housing maintenance business Connaught is to expand its compliance division with the acquisition of health and safety specialist National Britannia.
Luxury travel group Western & Oriental has added a European villa offering to its business after buying Villa Select in a cash and share deal. The initial consideration is some £2.4 million, with a deferred sum due equivalent to the pre-tax profits of the business next year, if agreed targets are achieved.
A group of venture capital funds with total assets of US$150 million (£74.5 million) has been launched to invest in start-ups in the former USSR. DFJ-VTB Aurora is a joint venture between technology-focused venture capitalist Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), based in the US, and Russian commercial banking group VTB.
