Business news in brief: Strathberry | KPMG | Chargemaster

Strathberry – The maker of luxury handbags and other accessories is to open a store on Edinburgh’s Grassmarket after raising £500,000 from a group of private investors.

• KPMG – The number of people placed into permanent jobs by recruitment firms has hit a two–year high, according to a report from the accountant and the Recruitment & Employment Confederation.

• Chargemaster – Following its flotation on Aim, details of which will be released today, the electric vehicle charging specialist should have a market value of about £32 million.

• Bumi – Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is in talks to buy the Bakrie family’s 23.8 per cent stake in Indonesia–focused coal miner Bumi, according to a Sunday newspaper report.

• Shazam – The music recognition software firm, which is eyeing a flotation as early as next year, has secured a multi–million–pound investment from America Movil, the telecoms operator controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim.

• Equistone – A report from the investment firm, produced with the Centre for Management Buyout Research and Ernst & Young, shows that the value of private equity–backed IPOs so far this year has exceeded the total for the previous two years combined.