Latest news with #Aurelius
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
DCC to sell UK and Ireland info tech unit for €115m
DCC , the Irish conglomerate seeking to narrow its focus to energy, said it has agreed to sell its information technology distribution business in Ireland and Britain to German-based private equity group Aurelius for £100 million (€115 million). That leaves the larger unit in DCC's technology division, the North America-focused pro tech business which specialises in audiovisual equipment for events companies, still on the block. The information technology unit is being sold on a cash-free, debt free basis and had been the subject of restructuring in advance of the sale, DCC said in a statement on Monday. The net cash proceeds from the deal 'are not material', it said, reflecting working capital seasonality and the supply chain financing associated with the business. The company said that, in the year to end-March, the business recorded revenue of £2 billion and represented around 1 per cent of DCC's continuing operating profit. READ MORE 'The divestment of Info Tech in the UK and Ireland is a further material step in simplifying our group and focusing on our high growth, high return, energy business,' said DCC chief executive Donal Murphy . 'This transaction also represents a positive move for our team, providing new opportunities for growth, development, and long-term success.' Founded in 1976 by businessman Jim Flavin as a provider of venture capital for start-ups before floating almost two decades later, DCC revealed in November it was ditching its conglomerate roots with a plan to sell its healthcare division and review 'strategic options' for its technology business, in order to focus on its energy unit. The group agreed last month in April to sell the healthcare unit to HealthCo Investment, which is owned by funds run or advised by London-based private equity firm Investindustrial Advisors for £945 million in cash, plus £130 million in deferred payments. Leases, taxes owing and other liabilities transferring with the healthcare unit bring the total enterprise value of the transaction to £1.05 billion. Analysts had widely expected DCC to sell its technology operations in two transactions. The division booked a £52 million charge against the loss-making French and Iberian arms of its Exertis business, which distributes tech gadgets from home security cameras to wireless keyboards. It also agreed in April to sell two units for what it called 'a modest consideration', and exited small tech distribution businesses in the Middle East and Scandinavia. DCC also took an almost £74 million goodwill impairment hit against its UK information technology business. A profit recovery in the business 'has taken longer than expected', it said, with market conditions 'showing little signs of improving'. The bulk of £37 million in restructuring costs racked up by DCC last year covered large 'optimisation and integration' projects in its technology division in North America and the UK.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Wisdom From the 'Philosopher King'—75 Famous Quotes From Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius
Wisdom From the 'Philosopher King'—75 Famous Quotes From Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius originally appeared on Parade. Marcus Aurelius is known as the "Philosopher King," the last of Rome's "Five Good Emperors." The latter title, assigned by Machiavelli, refers to five leaders who wisely sought out suitable heirs, rather than automatically naming their own offspring. Aurelius reigned from 161 CE to 180 CE, the final Emperor of the Pax Romana (Roman peace). He led the Roman people through the utter devastation brought on by the Antonine plague, the Parthian War and ongoing battles with the German tribes. He was well-loved by the was also known for being a student of stoicism, an ancient Greek and Roman philosophy that encouraged using reason and logic to guide one's perception. Virtue and duty received particular emphasis. Its founder, Zeno of Citium, studied at Plato's of the quotes from Aurelius come directly from his own book, Meditations, considered one of the greatest philosophical works. Here are some of his best 1. "When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive—to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love."2. "You have power over your mind—not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength."3. "Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them. Think constantly on the changes of the elements into each other, for such thoughts wash away the dust of earthly life."4. "The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts."5. "Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth."6. "Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one."7. "How much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it."8. "The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury."9. "Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart."10. "The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts."11. "The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."12. "If it is not right, do not do it; if it is not true, do not say it."13. "Think of the life you have lived until now as over and, as a dead man, see what's left as a bonus and live it according to Nature. Love the hand that fate deals you and play it as your own, for what could be more fitting?"14. "Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself in your way of thinking."15. "Let men see, let them know, a real man, who lives as he was meant to live."Related: 16. "The memory of everything is very soon overwhelmed in time." 17. "Try praying differently, and see what happens: Instead of asking for 'a way to sleep with her,' try asking for 'a way to stop desiring to sleep with her.' Instead of 'a way to get rid of him,' try asking for 'a way to not crave his demise.' Instead of 'a way to not lose my child,' try asking for 'a way to lose my fear of it.'" 18. "Do not indulge in dreams of having what you have not, but reckon up the chief of the blessings you do possess, and then thankfully remember how you would crave for them if they were not yours." 19. "[I have learned] to read with diligence; not to rest satisfied with a light and superficial knowledge, nor quickly to assent to things commonly spoken of." 20. "You shouldn't give circumstances the power to rouse anger, for they don't care at all." 21. "It is the responsibility of leadership to work intelligently with what is given, and not waste time fantasizing about a world of flawless people and perfect choices." 22. "The mind freed from passions is an impenetrable fortress—a person has no more secure place of refuge for all time." 23. "That cucumber is bitter, so toss it out! There are thorns on the path, then keep away! Enough said. Why ponder the existence of nuisance?" 24. "A man's worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions." 25. "Let each thing you would do, say or intend, be like that of a dying person." 26. "The best answer to anger is silence." 27. "Give thyself leisure to learn some good thing, and cease roving and wandering to and fro." 28. "Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible." 29. "You have been formed of three parts—body, breath and mind. Of these, the first two are yours, insofar as they are only in your care. The third alone is truly yours." 30. "Don't return to philosophy as a task-master, but as patients seek out relief in a treatment of sore eyes, or a dressing for a burn, or from an ointment. Regarding it this way, you'll obey reason without putting it on display and rest easy in its care." 31. "Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present." 32. "The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing, because an artful life requires being prepared to meet and withstand sudden and unexpected attacks." 33. "No random actions, none not based on underlying principles." 34. "Keep a list before your mind of those who burned with anger and resentment about something, of even the most renowned for success, misfortune, evil deeds or any special distinction. Then ask yourself, how did that work out? Smoke and dust, the stuff of simple myth trying to be legend…" 35. "Whenever someone has done wrong by you, immediately consider what notion of good or evil they had in doing it. For when you see that, you'll feel compassion, instead of astonishment or rage." 36. "Choose not to be harmed, and you won't feel harmed. Don't feel harmed, and you haven't been." 37. "Stay calm and serene regardless of what life throws at you." 38. "Kindness is invincible, but only when it's sincere, with no hypocrisy or faking. For what can even the most malicious person do if you keep showing kindness and, if given the chance, you gently point out where they went wrong—right as they are trying to harm you?" 39. "How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself, to make it just and holy." 40. "If someone is able to show me that what I think or do is not right, I will happily change, for I seek the truth, by which no one was ever truly harmed. It is the person who continues in his self-deception and ignorance who is harmed."Related: 41. "Wherever a person can live, there one can also live well." 42. "All you need are these: certainty of judgment in the present moment: action for the common good in the present moment; and an attitude of gratitude in the present moment for anything that comes your way." 43. "It is essential for you to remember that the attention you give to any action should be in due proportion to its worth, for then you won't tire and give up, if you aren't busying yourself with lesser things beyond what should be allowed." 44. "Don't be ashamed of needing help. You have a duty to fulfill, just like a soldier on the wall of battle. So what if you are injured and can't climb up without another soldier's help?" 45. "Whatever anyone does or says, for my part, I'm bound to the good. In the same way, an emerald or gold or purple might always proclaim: 'whatever anyone does or says, I must be what I am and show my true colors." 46. "The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are." 47. "Pass through this brief patch of time in harmony with nature, and come to your final resting place gracefully, just as a ripened olive might drop, praising the earth that nourished it and grateful to the tree that gave it growth." 48. "I learned to read carefully and not be satisfied with a rough understanding of the whole, and not to agree too quickly with those who have a lot to say about something." 49. "Life is short—the fruit of this life is a good character and acts for the common good." 50. "Dig deep within yourself, for there is a fountain of goodness ever ready to flow if you will keep digging." 51. "That which isn't good for the hive, isn't good for the bee." 52. "Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart." 53. "Here is a rule to remember in future, when anything tempts you to feel bitter: not 'This is misfortune,' but 'To bear this worthily is good fortune.'" 54. "Live out your life in truth and justice, tolerant of those who are neither true nor just." 55. "We live only now. Everything else is either passed or is unknown." 56. "To love only what happens, what was destined. No greater harmony." 57. "Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good." 58. "It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live." 59. "What we do now echoes in eternity." 60. "Understand at last that you have something in you more powerful and divine than what causes the bodily passions and pulls you like a mere puppet. What thoughts now occupy my mind? Is it not fear, suspicion, desire or something like that?"Related: 61. "The universe is transformation; our life is what our thoughts make it." 62. "Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look." 63. "This is the mark of perfection of character—to spend each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, laziness or any pretending." 64. "Every living organism is fulfilled when it follows the right path for its own nature." 65. "It isn't manly to be enraged. Rather, gentleness and civility are more human, and therefore manlier. The nearer a man comes to a calm mind, the closer he is to strength." 66. "Begin each day by telling yourself: Today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will and selfishness – all of them due to the offenders' ignorance of what is good or evil." 67. "For it is in your power to retire into yourself whenever you choose." 68. "Your days are numbered. Use them to throw open the windows of your soul to the sun. If you do not, the sun will soon set, and you with it." 69. "Receive without conceit, release without struggle." 70. "You always own the option of having no opinion. There is never any need to get worked up or to trouble your soul about things you can't control. These things are not asking to be judged by you. Leave them alone." 71. "There is no nature which is inferior to art, for the arts imitate the nature of things." 72. "Frightened of change? But what can exist without it? What's closer to nature's heart? Can you take a hot bath and leave the firewood as it was? Eat food without transforming it? Can any vital process take place without something being changed? Can't you see? It's just the same with you—and just as vital to nature." 73. "Often, injustice lies in what you aren't doing, not only in what you are doing." 74. "Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself the following question: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?" 75. "If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment." Up Next:Wisdom From the 'Philosopher King'—75 Famous Quotes From Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius first appeared on Parade on Jul 6, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 6, 2025, where it first appeared.
Sky News
23-06-2025
- Business
- Sky News
Fragrances retailer Bodycare lines up debt funding package
A health and beauty retailer founded on a Lancashire market stall more than half a century ago is lining up a debt funding package three years after it was sold. Sky News understands that Bodycare, which trades from about 130 stores across the UK, is close to unveiling new financing provided by Aurelius, the private equity investor. City sources said the deal could be announced as soon as this week. Bodycare, which has been advised on the new funding by Interpath Advisory, is backed by Baaj Capital, which recently rescued In The Style - one of its existing companies - through a pre-pack administration. The size of the new financing package was unclear on Monday. Bodycare was established by Graham and Margaret Blackledge in Skelmersdale in 1970, and sells branded products made by the likes of L'Oreal, Nivea and Elizabeth Arden. The chain was profitable before the pandemic, but like many retailers lost millions of pounds in the financial years immediately after it hit. Bodycare received financial support from the taxpayer in the form of a multimillion pound loan issued under one of the Treasury's pandemic funding schemes. The chain is run by retail veteran Tony Brown, who held senior roles at BHS and Beales, the now-defunct department store groups.
Bloomberg
17-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
PE Firm Aurelius Is Said to Raise Over €800 Million for New Fund
Private equity firm Aurelius has raised more than €800 million ($922 million) for its new flagship fund that targets mid-market investments in Europe and North America, according to people familiar with the matter. Aurelius Opportunities Fund V was oversubscribed with the fundraising completed in five months, the people said, defying the challenges that some other buyout firms face in raising new funds as dealmaking has slowed significantly. Its size is bigger than its predecessor fund, which raised €540 million in 2021.
Mint
29-04-2025
- Business
- Mint
Sullivan Street Nears Deal for Senior's Aerostructures Unit
(Bloomberg) -- Investment firm Sullivan Street Partners is nearing a deal for British engineering group Senior Plc's aerostructures unit, which supplies components to Airbus SE and Boeing Co., people with knowledge of the matter said. London-based Sullivan Street could reach a final agreement with Senior in the coming weeks, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. A deal would value Senior's aerostructures operations at about £200 million ($268 million) including debt, the people said. Sullivan Street is poised to beat out other suitors including investment firm Aurelius, the people said. While talks are advanced, an agreement could still be delayed or fall apart, the people said. Representatives for Senior and Aurelius declined to comment. A spokesperson for Sullivan Street couldn't be reached for comment. Senior said last week that it had made 'further good progress' and 'detailed discussions with parties are ongoing.' A sale would end a long search by the company, which has been working with adviser Lazard Inc. to sell the aerostructures business since 2019. The divestment would leave Rickmansworth, England-based Senior focused on its fluid conveyance and thermal management businesses and sub-systems. It operates in 12 countries, according to its website. The board last week forecast 'good growth' for the group in 2025, helped by the aerospace business. The company has a market value of £560 million. Sullivan Street focuses on the lower mid-market and acquires controlling stakes in UK-based businesses, its website shows. The investment firm recently acquired three marine infrastructure companies in the UK. --With assistance from Swetha Gopinath. More stories like this are available on First Published: 30 Apr 2025, 03:05 AM IST
