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Barclays buys into £600m Jerrold

Barclays Private Equity paid £113.5 million to acquire a minority stake in Manchester-based secured lending company Jerrold Holdings.

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Primary support for toy firm

Private equity house Primary Capital has taken a 50 per cent stake in toy seller Tobar Group, through a £42 million deal. The group, which already has an established presence in the online, mail order and high street retail markets, intends to use the cash to dramatically increase the scale of its operations.

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LDC secures Capital backing

London-focused The Capital Fund has invested £250,000, as part of a £350,000 total fundraising, in regional marketing information business The Local Data Company, which plans to use the cash to extend its geographical reach from 30 to 100 UK towns and city centres.

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Sleepless nights for worried workers

British workers are losing sleep due to work pressures and when they do manage to nod off work is invading their dreams. Alarmingly, a significant number have called their spouse by their boss’s name! These disturbing statistics have been brought to you through a survey from printer manufacturer Lexmark.

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Minimum wage laws flouted

British workers were underpaid to the tune of over £3 million by employers paying below the minimum wage last year, with some outrageous excuses (including ‘they are a total waste of space – they do not deserve it,’) being offered, according to HM Revenue & Customs.

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Biocare for AIM

Biocare Solutions, the developer and manufacturer of environmentally friendly household cleaning products, is seeking to raise £6.25 million ahead of an expected AIM float later this month. KBC Peel Hunt will act as broker and adviser.

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Skills crisis in Britain

One in three employers refuse to train their staff, according to a report from the Trades Union Congress (TUC), which claims this is creating a skills crisis in Britain and leaves over eight million untrained. The TUC report, 2020 Vision for Skills, reveals 8,377,200 workers have not been trained.

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TriVest’s special delivery

TriVest – the venture capital trust co-managed by private equity firms Matrix, Foresight and Nova – has completed a profitable exit from Secure Mail Services, the Northampton-based provider of specialist mail and package delivery services. On Matrix’s advice, TriVest backed the business in 2002 and has seen the value of its stake rise from an initial £1.3 million to £4.2 million in that time.

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Skills crisis in Britain

One in three employers refuse to train their staff, according to a report from the Trades Union Congress (TUC), which claims this is creating a skills crisis in Britain and leaves over eight million untrained. The TUC report, 2020 Vision for Skills, reveals 8,377,200 workers have not been trained.

News

TriVest’s special delivery

TriVest – the venture capital trust co-managed by private equity firms Matrix, Foresight and Nova – has completed a profitable exit from Secure Mail Services, the Northampton-based provider of specialist mail and package delivery services. On Matrix’s advice, TriVest backed the business in 2002 and has seen the value of its stake rise from an initial £1.3 million to £4.2 million in that time.

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£10m for Keronite

Keronite, the developer of new metal-coating process that hardens the surface of aluminium and magnesium alloys, has concluded a £10 million funding round backed by hi-tech VCT firm Quester (£1.3 million) and private investor network Hotbed (£2.7 million) among others.

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Rubicon heads to market

Rubicon Software, which develops customer relationship management applications for the financial services sector, is eyeing an AIM launch for 6 September – having raised £770,000 (£430,000 net of expenses) from investors with the aid of broker and adviser WH Ireland.

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Velosi looks to AIM

Velosi, which offers a range of services to the oil and gas sector, is currently in the throws of a £10 million share placing ahead of its imminent AIM arrival.

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Bridges catches Chill

Bridges Community Ventures has committed £3 million to a new project to build England’s first real snow Alpine village.