Prominent businesses and entrepreneurs have completed a series of investments and acquisitions across the North West recently.
The region's deals sector has continued its high level of activity since the turn of the year, with BusinessLive's inbox inundated with announcements.
Among those featured in this week's round up are new Dragon's Den star Steven Bartlett, fast fashion giant Boohoo, discount retailer B&M and Everton.
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Do you have a deal you would like featured in our next round up? Please email jon.robinson@reachplc.com.
Here, BusinessLive rounds up the latest deals from across the North West that we feel you should not miss:
Boohoo
One of the largest shareholders in fast fashion giant Boohoo has slashed its stake by more than half.
Jupiter Fund Management has reduced its holdings in the Manchester-headquartered company from 9.99% to 4.7%, according to new documents filed with the London Stock Exchange.
The firm was the second largest institutional investor in Boohoo, behind T. Rowe Price International.
It has now swapped places with Invesco Advisers which has a holding of 4.84%.
Everton
Everton majority owner Farhad Moshiri has invested a further £100m in the Premier League club.
The move has seen him acquire an additional 33,333 shares in the club, through Blue Haven Holdings Limited. The deal takes his shareholding in Everton to 94.1%.
The club said the acquisition represents the capitalisation of previous loans made by Mr Moshiri - "greatly strengthening" their balance sheet.
Steven Bartlett
A marketing consultancy co-founded by Dragons' Den star Steven Bartlett has acquired a PR agency whose clients include dating apps Tinder and Hinge.
Flight Story, which launched towards the end of 2021 and was co-foundered by Oliver Yonchev, has snapped up London-based R. Agency for an undisclosed sum.
The firm was set up by Rebecca Ridge in 2013 and currently employs 25 members of staff.
B&M
The Arora family's investment vehicle has completed the sale of a £234m stake in discount retail giant B&M.
SSA Investments has disposed of 40 million shares in the company, bringing its holdings down from almost 11% to just under 7%.
The seller is controlled by Simon and Bobby Arora, B&M's CEO and trading director respectively.
Roma Finance
An independent lender which specialises in property finance has secured a £15m boost from British Business Investments.
Roma Finance, which is headquartered in Manchester, will use the funding to support smaller housebuilders with money to help with the construction of new residential homes.
The company has invested more than £30m in the North West in the last three years.
UA92
UA92, which was set up by Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Phil Neville and Nicky Butt, has secured a £2m boost to support the development of a digital learning academy.
University Academy 92, which is backed by Lancaster University, has received the funding from the Office for Students, the independent regulator for higher education in England.
The funding has been awarded to support the development of a digital learning academy at the UA92 campus in Old Trafford, and is scheduled to open in September.
EFS Global
One of the North West's largest import/export and haulage groups is now eyeing a turnover of £100m after completing the acquisitions to two counterparts.
Burnley-based EFS Global has snapped up Gees Haulage, which is located in Wakefield, and Gateshead-based Tyneside Express Transport.
As a result of the deals, 235 vehicles - including trailers - and 115,000 sq ft of warehousing space have been added to the firm’s portfolio. The values of the transactions have not been disclosed.
JD Sports
The boss of JD Sports has sold 10 million shares in the retail giant, days after revealing it now expects full-year profits of at least £875m following a bumper Black Friday and Christmas period.
Peter Cowgill, who is the Greater Manchester-headquartered company's executive chairman, has disposed of the shares at an average price of 213.2p each.
Following the move, Mr Cowgill now has a total interest in 9,714,670 shares, representing 0.19% of the issued share capital of the company.
Express Solicitors
Manchester-based personal injury law firm Express Solicitors has signed a revolving credit agreement with The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) worth £8m.
The RBS funding will support the firm and give it the flexibility to achieve its growth plans, the company said.
It will help finance a strategy based on both organic and acquisition-based expansion, as well as make funds available for increased marketing spend and the recruitment of more employees from graduates to partners.
Go Auction
Bidpath Inc , a provider of auction technology, has acquired Cheshire-based Go Auction.
The Nantwich firm is a provider of tools that support auctioneers’ expansion into online auctions through the use of an auction-specific content management system and accounting/back office technology.
Go Auction was founded in 2017 by Nikki Robinson and has been acquired for an undisclosed sum.
My First Five Years
My First Five Years, the personalised parenting guidance start-up, has raised £1.4m.
The Manchester start-up will use the funds to develop its early years education technology app, as the business targets 250,000 users in the next three years.
The business was founded in 2021 by Jennie Johnson and Alistair Bryce-Clegg. It previously raised £200,000 seed funding in 2021.
Ventcroft
Ventcroft, a family-owned manufacturer of fire performance cables based in Runcorn, Cheshire, has been acquired.
The firm, which was founded in 1989 by chairman Frank Rotheram, operates from a 107,000 sq ft facility, supplying customers across the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa through a network of specialist electrical and fire and security product wholesalers and distributors.
It has been bought by NKT, a Denmark-headquartered group focused on the design, manufacture, and installation of low, medium and high-voltage cable solutions.
RSM UK Corporate Finance LLP advised on the sale.
Cryoniss
A Cheshire-based storage and logistics management services business has secured a £500,000 investment.
Cryoniss has received the backing from NPIF Maven Equity Finance, managed by Maven Capital Partners and part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF).
The funding will enable the business to create new jobs, expand its service offering and invest in green technology as it seeks to create new jobs in the North West and grow its customer base initially in the UK and Europe.
