Weekend Round-Up | 2 – 4 Aug 2025

Written By Allison Sabaroche

Captured from posts published between Friday 1 August and Monday 4 August 2025

Why it matters

In just three days the global corporate-finance ecosystem touched every corner of the deal spectrum: multi-billion public take-overs, quiet mid-market bolt-ons, sovereign-backed GP stakes, continuation-fund closes, fresh capital for seed-stage AI, and a torrent of senior hires that reshuffle the advisory league tables going into Q3. Below is the full, deal-by-deal ledger—law firms, banks and key professionals included—followed by the complete list of weekend people moves.

📝 Deal & Investment Highlights

  • Excellera Advisory Group → ICG (majority stake, value undisclosed)

    • Buy-side advisers: PedersoliGattai; Fineurop Soditic; Alvarez & Marsal; Bain & Co.

    • Sell-side advisers: Gatti Pavesi Bianchi Ludovici; BonelliErede; Eversheds Sutherland; CDR.

    • Financial advisers: Rothschild & Co — Alessandro Bertolini Clerici, Stefano Siccità, Ilaria Morelli, Riccardo Reffo, Giulio Strafurini; Alma; Deloitte.

  • Smart Communications → Cinven (Accel-KKR sells majority)

    • Lead financial adviser: Baird — Simon Pearson.

  • Wescom Group → Albion River (Sun European Partners exit)

    • Financial adviser: DC Advisory — Gary Hancock, Andrew Cunningham, Chris Oliver, Ciara O’Neill, Chris Gornall, Aiman Fauzi, James Stewart-Moore, Evie Pengelly, Prakrit Jayakumar.

  • MYLAPS Sports Technology → Garmin

    • Financial adviser: Lincoln International — Monika Nickl, Patrick von Herz.

  • MELLER (ES eyewear) → Lenskart

    • Exclusive financial adviser: Arcano Partners — Borja Oria, Juan Venegas, Luis Paradinas, Javier Rodríguez Garcia-Herrera, Lucas Adán Satrústegui.

  • Contract Resources → Cleanaway

    • Sell-side sponsor: SCF Partners — Andrew Waite.

  • Regional & City Airports → ICG Infrastructure

    • Investor team: Ivan Armani, Ludovic Laforge, Joel Ylänen, Tanvi Ahuja (ICG).

  • Preziosi Food → Foster Clark Products

    • Legal adviser: GA-Grimaldi Alliance — Riccardo Manfrini, Manuel Seminara; financial adviser: Houlihan Lokey — Shaun Browne.

  • FunkyPigeon.com → Card Factory (£24 m)

    • Sell-side legal adviser: TLT LLP — Andrew Webber, James Webb, Nicola Bilner.

  • Smithstown Light Engineering → Graham Partners

    • Financial adviser: Deloitte — Jan Fitzell, Richard Dennehy, Patrick Keane, Philippa Reynolds, Isabella Kirrane; vendor DD: John Durcan et al.

  • Oceanco super-yachts (acquired by Daniel Newell)

    • Legal advisers: 9Corporate — Jan-Paul van der Hoek; Foster Garvey PC.

  • 199 MW Spanish renewables portfolio → Encavis AG

    • Financial adviser to seller BayWa r.e.: Intesa Sanpaolo IMI CIB — Vedrana Jelusic Kasic, Marco Perelli-Rocco.

  • JD.com €2.2 bn cash bid for Ceconomy

    • Target counsel: Kirkland & Ellis — Tobias Larisch, Sebastian Pitz, Anna Schwander.

    • Buyer counsel: Baker McKenzie — Dirk Horcher, Christian Atzler, Christoph Wolf, Matthias Töke et al.

  • Viridium Gruppe €3.5 bn consortium buy-out (Allianz, BlackRock, T&D Holdings & others)

    • Advisers include: Sullivan & Cromwell (Stephen Kotran), Morgan Stanley, Skadden (Sebastian FitzGerald), UBS, A&O Shearman, Evercore, Hogan Lovells, Hengeler Mueller.

(40 + additional mid-market bolt-ons and JV deals captured in the full database.)

💸 Capital Raises & Structured Finance

  • Tikehau Capital continuation fund for Egis closes > €1 bn — fund structuring by Nathalie Duguay, Mélina Combeau (Willkie Farr & Gallagher).

  • Dextra Co-investment VII hits US $825 m hard-cap — Thomas Liaudet (Campbell Lutyens).

  • Caseflood.ai raises US $3.2 m seed — Y Combinator, Acquisition.com.

  • Shoulder Innovations secures US $42 m Series D — led by Gilde Healthcare.

  • Ramp closes US $500 m Series E-2 — ICONIQ

  • FNM SpA inks first €1 bn sustainability-linked loan — BonelliErede (Giuseppe Rumi, Stefano Micheli) & Ashurst.

  • Erayak Power completes US $7 m registered direct — Craft Capital (Barry Kiront) sole placement agent.

👤 Notable People Moves

  • Hoby Buvat — Global Head Corporate Private Solutions & Global Head Sovereign Wealth & Pensions, Deutsche Bank.

  • Phil Hare, William Tridimas, Dominic Emery — Managing Director appointments, Guggenheim Partners.

  • Christian Ulbrich (CEO, JLL) — becomes Board Chairman, Westbridge Advisory.

  • Nick Longley — Vice-President & 2025 Board Member, Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration.

  • Hiroshi Akiyama — Managing Director, Bankhaus Metzler (Tokyo).

  • Eiso Bos — Chief Transformation Officer, Rabobank (from Aug 2025).

  • David Marriott — joins Latham & Watkins, Global Antitrust & Competition.

  • Plus > 30 senior promotions across PwC, Deloitte, UBS, Moelis, Houlihan Lokey, Datasite, Bluebox CF and others (see database).

🔍 Sector Snapshots

  • AI & Software – SAP acquires SmartRecruiters; Capgemini buys WNS for US $3.3 bn; Acumera acquires Scale Computing; ARCHIMED acquires Arkstone AI diagnostics.

  • Energy & Infrastructure – Ørsted closes US $3.3 bn Changhua 2 wind financing (White & Case: Tim Fourteau); Brookfield brings Arjun & Interogo into Data4 data-centre platform (Sikander Rashid).

  • Healthcare & Life Sciences – Ardian takes majority stake in Dovida home-care; Viridium life run-off megadeal reshapes European closed-book space.

  • Consumer & Leisure – Lenskart scoops Spanish eyewear brand MELLER; Card Factory picks up FunkyPigeon; Active Travel Group acquires MV Luxury Travel.

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See you in the deal flow.

Allison Sabaroche