Catapult Venture Managers, which has offices in Leicester and Birmingham, has completed its sixth transaction this year with an investment into Liverpool-based molecular diagnostics company, Biofortuna. Catapult, alongside co-investor Enterprise Ventures (EV) - the venture and growth capital fund manager - have taken part in a £1.1m funding package which will be used to launch the company’s first genotyping products and allow it to continue development of its future product pipeline. Legal advice to EV and Catapult Venture Managers was provided by James Trevis and Jon Gill of Eversheds, and to the company by Craig Scott and Richard McKay of Halliwells.

In this week’s Talking Point, Insider’s weekly guest blog, Keith Pickering discusses the increased activity of private equity firms. Keith, a partner at Catalyst Corporate Finance, asks why companies have turned back into acquisition mode, and how long this confidence in the market will last. To read Keith’s blog, click here.

Severn Trent has nearly doubled its profit in the last year, according to annual results released this morning. Results for the year ending 31 March showed that profit before tax rose from £167.6m to £334.4m – a huge leap of 99.5 per cent on 2009 figures. Tony Wray, chief executive of Severn Trent, said: "These results demonstrate that we continue to deliver on our plans, focusing on raising standards, process and efficiency improvements, delivering the lowest possible bills for customers, developing our people and growing shareholder value.”

RSM Tenon, the Midlands-based business advisory firm, has been admitted to the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange. Trading in the company's ordinary shares on AIM was cancelled simultaneously with admission yesterday. The news comes in the wake of Tenon buying RSM Bentley Jennison last December – a move which created the seventh biggest financial advisory firm in the UK.

A full line-up of speakers has been confirmed for Insider’s Invest in North Staffordshire Breakfast, to be held in Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall on 16 June 2010. The event gives Manchester businesses chance to learn about the opportunities investing in the region could provide. The confirmed speakers are: Catherine Raines, North Staffordshire Regeneration Partnership; Tony Neill, Navman Wireless; Mike Smith, Genr8 Developments; and Greg Pepper, Greenway Pepper. For more information email Helen Attrill or call 0161 907 9704.

Warwickshire law firm Brethertons is celebrating after winning a series of awards in a short space of time. The awards included the Best Use of IT and Communications award from the Coventry Telegraph, the Solicitor of the Year from News on the Block Magazine, Young Professional of the Year from the same magazine and Litigation Team of the Year from Credit Today Magazine. Senior partner Richard Pell said: “These awards stand as testament to the strength, experience, expertise and enthusiasm we have at Brethertons across a variety of specialisms.”

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Tamworth-based affordable housing specialist Lovell has been chosen by West Mercia Housing Group to build a £4.5m affordable homes scheme at Longbridge, Birmingham. The scheme will include Birmingham’s first affordable zero-carbon homes, built to level 6 of the code for sustainable homes, the system for measuring the sustainable performance of new housing. The development in Thelbridge Road will create 48 new houses and apartments; 28 for affordable rent and 20 for shared ownership. It will be made up of 42 two-, three- and four-bedroom houses and six two-bedroom apartments. The development is set to be completed in June 2011.

Plans for a new £1.5m public square in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter have been submitted to Birmingham City Council. Reports in the property industry press say Capita Lovejoy – the land planning division of Capita Symonds – is leading a design team, which includes architects Bryant Priest Newman and engineers Ramboll. The idea of a public square in the JQ, which is home to more than 1500 businesses and 200 listed buildings, has long been mooted and is seen as a key component of Birmingham’s masterplan, the Big City Plan.

An agreement has been reached in principle over the sale of the ill-fated Donington park motor racing circuit. The owner of the site in Castle Donington, Leicestershire, Wheatcroft and Son, has reached an agreement with Worcestershire-based Adroit Group on a 25-year lease. Adroit plans to spend £1.5-2m on the track by the end of the year. The British Grand Prix was supposed to be held on the site, but funds depleted and work stopped in October 2009, before the track was completed. For Insider comment, click here.

Henley-in-Arden developer Opus Land has announced the first pre-let on the ten acre site in Erdington, Birmingham which it purchased two months ago. Selco Trade Centres – a trade only builders’ merchant, with a network of trade-only, self-select warehouses throughout England and Wales - has taken a 20-year lease on a 37,738 sq ft trade centre at £7.35 per sq ft at Omega Park, which is to be re-named Opus Aspect. Opus is to invest some £1.6m in the trade outlet, to be built to Selco’s corporate specifications and with planning permission already submitted; work is scheduled to begin in October. Opus Aspect - previously home to engineering giant GKN and later acquired by fellow developer Wilson Bowden - was sold to Opus by Clowes Development.

Work has begun on a £6m scheme to build 42 new affordable homes in the centre of Peterborough. Larkfleet Group, the development and construction company based in Bourne, is working alongside Longhurst and Havelok Homes housing association to complete the project, which will contain 24 houses and two blocks of nine flats. The properties, located behind South View Road and Lincoln Road, are due to be completed by March 2011.

James Villareal, chief executive officer of Glide Utilities, became the first contender from the entrepreneurial category to win Birmingham Young Professional of the Year (BYPY) at the event’s tenth anniversary awards ceremony last night. Villareal, 24, won the entrepreneurial category and went on to beat fellow category winners across another five sectors to win the BYPY crown. A panel of judges, chaired by Michelin starred chef Glynn Purnell, chose Villareal, who founded Glide Utilities in 2006 with business partner Sandeep Krishan. The pair offered a solution to splitting bills in shared accommodation by billing each tenant individually.