The Oxford Research Group has launched a new qualitative market research division to complement its extensive offering in quantitative research.
This represents a significant opportunity for The Oxford Research Group to build its offering and widen the range of services it offers to its existing clients.
Next Wave Partners LLP which manages the Next Wave Funds has recruited two investment professionals, Peter Wood and Nainish Bapna.
Peter joins Next Wave from PricewaterhouseCoopers Strategy Group where was consulting to mid-market PE firms such as Apax Partners, Doughty Hanson and Bridgepoint on their investment strategy and providing commercial advice on transactions. Peter’s experience spans more than 25 commercial due diligence and corporate strategy projects. At Next Wave, Peter will be responsible for investment appraisal and in-house commercial due diligence.
Nainish joins Next Wave from the Fund’s portfolio company ITI Energy which he joined in turn from Strand Partners, the corporate finance boutique, in April 2007. Nainish brings entrepreneurial and analytical expertise to the Next Wave team, drawing upon 5 years equity research at UBS Warburg and Nomura, followed by one year as Director of Operations at NCorp and then four years as Founder and Managing Director of the Pharmacy Channel which became the world’s largest in-pharmacy digital media network. Nainish will focus on portfolio management.
Crendo has acquired a local competitor, Vellinge, giving it a new presence in the Gothenburg area. The acquisition will give Crendo a base to further expand its service offering in the town and surrounding district. Terms were not disclosed.
Next Wave have backed the MBO of a leading independent market research group, The Oxford Research Agency. The MBO was led by Chris Sinclair and Andrew Tharme who are both experienced market researchers with a proven business development track record.
The Oxford Research Agency has a successful 25 year track record of delivering high quality market research insights to high profile global market leading FMCG clients, retailers and UK rail companies. The company is benefiting from the growing trend towards using on-line market research presence.
The investment will primarily be used to develop additional local “hubs” which act as the base for providing a full suite of facilities management services to properties in the area.
Crendo is a contracted provider of facilities management services to local authorities and property groups. Its services range from electrical repairs and maintenance through to snow clearing.
The business will continue to be managed by its CEO, Alf Sandberg, a highly experienced facilities management professional and proven entrepreneur. NWV have appointed Torben Carlsen, former COO of Gate Gourmet, as Crendo’s non-executive chairman.
The strategy will be to expand organically into towns where Crendo is not yet present, however we will also look to expand via bolt-on acquisitions.
The investment will be used to support the business as it grows and develops its pipeline of projects that will use ITI’s patented gasification technology.
ITI Energy is a groundbreaking cleantech company which targets two of the world’s major environmental concerns 1) Generation of clean energy and 2) Strategies to manage landfill waste.
ITI’s patented gasification technology, combined with the most up-to-date clean-up systems available means it is able to convert municipal waste into energy more efficiently than any technology currently known. ITI has a substantial pipeline of projects at different stages of the development process with huge potential for global expansion.
The company’s strategy is to provide a turnkey solution encompassing its gasification technology, feedstock handling and ultimately electricity generation equipment. In addition to providing the initial turnkey solution, ITI will also continue to own and operate its power plants along alongside its development partners.
ITI Energy is pleased to announce it has entered into an exclusive agreement with Scanship Environmental of Norway, whereby Scanship will promote, install and support ITI Marine Gasification technology. The agreement covers the full integration and use of ITI Marine Gasification in Scanship’s sustainable Clean Ship Solutions on-board cruise, passenger and naval ships and offshore platforms operating worldwide. The soon to be released gasification system is suitable for new build and retrofit markets, offshore and onshore based applications.
Scanship is a maritime industry leader in advanced technologies for processing and purifying waste water, food waste, solid waste and bio sludge, with approximately 40% of global market share. Scanship is a supplier to most cruise lines and major yards and its environmentally friendly products are increasingly being requested from the merchant fleet and offshore industry.
Henrik Badin, CEO of Scanship said “Cruise ships produce a considerable daily tonnage of waste; environmental constraints are making it increasingly difficult and costly to dispose of. ITI’s technology not only provides an ultra low emission thermal disposal treatment, but also produces a gas that can be fed into an internal combustion engine to generate a considerable amount of electricity, replacing part of the necessary diesel generation. At average conversion rates of over one megawatt of electricity from a tonne of dry waste, the operational savings for ship owners will be considerable, while also lowering their carbon footprint.”
Asgeir Wien, Scanship’s Chief Technology Officer, said “We have spent a considerable time assessing advanced thermal conversion technologies. We believe ITI’s gasification process offers superior efficiencies and robustness, which fits ideally with our integrated waste management philosophy. Initial conversations with ship owners have demonstrated great enthusiasm for this new approach to waste management.”
Miles Lewis, Deputy Chairman of ITI Energy, stated “We are delighted to have entered into this partnership with a company with the experience and expertise of Scanship. On-board waste management is necessarily more sophisticated and Scanship has provided solutions to many of the worlds most prestigious cruise vessels. Many of the integration skills readily translate to larger scale, onshore applications and we are pleased to say that Scanship is also already generating enquiries in Scandinavia for waste-to-energy projects.”
Next Wave, the independent private equity group has closed its NWV Fund 1 LP at £21.7m.
The fund was raised by the investment Partners, Stephen Walls and Jonathan Brod, to target an underserved niche in the investment market providing £1-5m of growth capital.
“We believe that our team, which draws together deep financial, management, entrepreneurial, strategic and investment skills, will add significant value to our portfolio companies and be a great attraction to management team’s looking for growth capital funding. Since its formation in 2002, Next Wave’s has seen clear evidence that the growth capital market in the £1-5m equity investment space, remains underserved and we plan to start to redress that.”
- Jonathan Brod, Partner
The Fund will provide investments in growth capital, buy & build, and pre IPO situations. It will focus on business services, consumer products and services and renewable energy sector investments.
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