Latest news with #exits
Times
18-07-2025
- Business
- Times
Bridgepoint returns £2.6bn to investors
The owner of Burger King UK has shrugged off reports of indigestion in parts of the private equity industry, saying it was confident of 'a strong pipeline' of planned exits over the next 18 months. Bridgepoint returned €2.6 billion to fundholders by successfully crystallising investments in private companies in the first half and expects to achieve 'multiple exits' in the second half and in 2026, it said. Alongside Burger King's master franchise for Britain, Bridgepoint's investments also include a cruise holidays booking platform and Cambridge Education Group, the private schools operator. Outside the UK, its assets include Rovensa, a Spanish agricultural biotech business, and Vermaat, the Dutch restaurants and catering group. Bridgepoint reports results in sterling, assets in dollars and some fundraisings in euros. It posted a 39 per cent fall in pro forma pre-tax profits to £60.6 million in the first six months of 2025, after adjusting for the £835 million acquisition of the energy infrastructure fund manager Energy Capital Partners (ECP) last year. Assets under management increased by 20 per cent to $86.6 billion. Some private equity groups are struggling to exit investments through flotations because of a lack of appetite from listed world investors and are increasingly relying on trade sales and so-called secondary deals — passing on businesses to another private equity house or just switching them to a new fund. Raoul Hughes, chief executive, said that while the backdrop was 'challenging', Bridgepoint rarely opted for flotations, the last mainstream one being Safestore in 2007. He said he expected to announce some asset sales imminently, while others were still being dusted off. 'We're getting them ready,' he said. He detected strong potential buyer interest and 'at good earnings multiples', adding: 'Buyer appetite is there.' Bridgepoint, a member of the FTSE 250, traces its roots to the private equity division of NatWest. It floated in 2021 and manages assets including private credit and energy projects as well as its mainstream private equity division, which specialises in mid-sized companies in Britain and Europe. The group also announced good progress in raising fresh funds from new and existing clients. It was confident of meeting its target of €24 billion by the end of 2026. Hughes said the tilt towards Europe and away from the US since the Trump 'liberation day' tariffs shock should increase appetite for European private equity. He was pleased by the performance of ECP in its first year under Bridgepoint ownership. While there were headwinds from the decline in values of renewable energy assets, the division was well positioned to take advantage of the push to modernise America's electricity supply infrastructure. The shares slipped 4¾p, or 1.4 per cent, to 350p in afternoon trading on Friday. Bridgepoint was floated at a 350p issue price but investors have had a shaky ride after the shares dropped to as low as 169p in 2023. Analysts at Investec said it was 'overall a strong first half'. An interim dividend of 4.7p was in line with expectations, with Bridgepoint guiding to a final payout of at least 4.7p as well.
Wall Street Journal
10-07-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Europe Leads the Way in Private-Equity Deal Activity This Year
Private-equity firms are flocking to Europe, making it the most active exit market by number of transactions this year and the only region that saw deal activity rise in the second quarter, according to preliminary data. Research firm PitchBook Data tracked 515 exits in Europe in the first half of 2025, compared with 494 exits in North America. In all of 2024, Europe had 1,517 exits, compared with 1,432 in North America.
Bloomberg
05-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
CapitalG's Sturdy & Accel's Wong on the VC Landscape
Venture capitalists Laela Sturdy, Managing Partner at CapitalG and Rich Wong, Partner at Accel share an update on where private capital is flowing and how market volatility is changing the path for exits this year with Bloomberg's Katie Roof at Bloomberg Tech in San Francisco. (Source: Bloomberg)
Bloomberg
30-05-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Pursuing AI Growth Opportunities
Patrick McGoldrick, managing partner at JPMorgan Private Capital's Growth Equity Partners, discusses opportunities in AI investing and when he thinks exits will pick up. McGoldrick joins Ed Ludlow on "Bloomberg Technology." (Source: Bloomberg)
Entrepreneur
07-05-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
IPOs to Remain a Hopeful Avenue for Investors Post 7x Surge
Sectors such as consumer/retail, fintech, and healthcare saw significant exit growth during the period. Meanwhile, strong public market exits helped balance the sharp decline in strategic sales, according to a Bain & Company-IVCA report. Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. The number of exits increased marginally by approximately 4 per cent to USD 6.8 billion in 2024, as several tech-focused companies recorded significant revenue growth and positive profitability trends, benefiting from improving macroeconomic conditions, said a joint report by Bain & Company and Indian Venture Capital Association (IVCA). Sectors such as consumer/retail, fintech, and healthcare saw significant exit growth during the period. Meanwhile, strong public market exits helped balance the sharp decline in strategic sales, according to the report. The report highlighted that public markets dominated exits in 2024, comprising three-fourths of the total exit value. Initial public offering (IPO) saw a strong comeback, growing 7x in exit value, driven by rising investor confidence due to increasing liquidity, recovery in valuations of key tech stocks, and supported by a favorable mix of regulatory reforms, macroeconomic improvements, and deferred IPOs from previous years. In 2024, India's venture ecosystem exhibited a promising revival in IPO activity, with 10 VC backed listings, up from 4 in 2023 but still below the 2021 peaks, said Karan Mehta, Venture Principal, Green Frontier Capital. "Notably, IPOs represented only 26 per cent of the total exit value, as strategic and secondary sales dominated the landscape, contributing over 84 per cent. This scenario highlights a significant opportunity for venture capitalists: while IPOs can generate impressive value creation, they often involve long timelines and elevated risks in volatile markets." "To navigate this environment effectively, venture capital firms should prioritize enhancing their investment banking capabilities. Focusing on secondary transactions and strategic mergers and acquisitions can yield quicker, more dependable returns, which are vital for delivering distributions to limited partners (DPI). Adopting a pragmatic and opportunistic approach towards exits is essential. Relying on ideal market conditions for IPOs may hinder timely returns and increase portfolio risk. Instead, VCs should concentrate on facilitating liquidity events that resonate with current market dynamics, sector interests, and buyer motivations," said Mehta. According to the report, the Indian IPO market outpaced global peers, with the US market remaining steady with 40 IPOs, similar to 202,3, and China seeing close to a 50 per cent decline vs. 2023. The report indicated that the market is likely to sustain momentum in 2025, with several notable IPOs in the pipeline like Zetwerk, Urban Company, Meesho, and CarDekho. Increased liquidity, regulatory reforms, and deferred IPOs further supported the growing trend. Increased retail participation and robust mutual fund investments helped bolster liquidity, while initiatives like T+3 listings, a reduced lock-in period under the IGP program, and IPOs deferred from 2022–23 drove fresh IPO activity. Major tech stocks also recovered in India during the 2023-24 period, helping increase investor confidence in public markets. Anil Joshi, Founder and Managing Partner, Unicorn Ventures, member-VC Council at IVCA, said that FY25–26 looks promising from an exit standpoint, especially through the IPO route. "While current geopolitical conditions may create short-term headwinds, we believe this phase will be temporary and markets will stabilise soon after. We expect several companies to explore IPOs as a preferred exit strategy—at Unicorn, we foresee a couple of IPOs from our Fund II portfolio over the next few years. Overall, the outlook for both PE/VC investments and IPO activity remains strong," said Joshi. Notable consumer tech exits maintained momentum, led by key notable exits like Zomato's USD 910 million public trade, including Swiggy, Firstcry, and Lenskart's USD 200 million secondary exit. Pearl Agarwal, Founder and Managing Partner, Eximius Ventures, said that IPOs continue to remain a very strong avenue to exit for both VCs as well as founders, with the markets being a bit more volatile since September of last year.
