Dealmakers Awards 2024: Private Equity/Venture Capital Deal the Year
Private Equity/Venture Capital Deal the Year: Sale of a majority of Edinburgh Airport to VINCI Airports (Global Infrastructure Partners, Shepherd & Wedderburn, Weil, Gotshal & Manges, PwC, ICF, Willis Towers Watson, Ramboll, Charlotte Street Partners, JP Morgan, HSBC, Paul Hastings (Europe), Brodies). Sponsored by Hutcheon Mearns
In the first big UK airport transaction since the Covid-19 crisis, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) sold a 50.01 per cent stake in Edinburgh Airport Limited to VINCI Airports.
As part of the agreement, GIP and VINCI will jointly lead investment in, and the development of the airport; and establish a long-term strategic partnership for the the travel hub’s future development.
This investment is expected to increase the airport’s capacity to 20 million passengers a year, benefiting the capital city and the wider Scottish economy.
Shortlisted
Investment in Aveni by Puma Private Equity, Par Equity, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide, Scottish Enterprise and TriCapital Syndicate (Anderson Strathern, Shoosmiths, CRS, TLT, MBM, Confidas People, AAB, Brodies). This investment is expected to enable artificial intelligence specialist Aveni to extend its presence across the financial services sector and create a large language model.
Sale of a majority of Integrated Environmental Solutions to Apax Partners (KPMG, Scottish Enterprise, LEK, EY, Alantra, Travers Smith, CIL, Simon Kutcher, Crosslake). This deal provided early investors with an opportunity to exit, and partnered the management team with a global investor with expertise in rapidly scaling software companies. IES is now in a position to scale up rapidly with the support of Apax in developed and emerging markets.
Acquisition of ASCO Group by Endless (Piper Sandler, Ashurst, Deloitte, Walker Morris, KPMG, PwC, Lodestone, Jacksonbreen, Burness Paull). Following this deal, Endless plans to invest in logistics company ASCO through people, capital expenditure and meeting the changing needs of the international energy industry.
Investment in Kick ICT Group by LDC (PwC, Pinsent Masons, BDO, Armstrong, BGF, AAB, MBM Commercial, CMS). This investment provided an exit for previous Kick ICT backer BGF, and is set to enable Kick ICT to accelerate its growth through further acquisitions, and to invest more in the group’s technology and people.