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searched for: recordBlackstone, CMS join forces to form new unit
Category: Deal News | Publishing date: 01 Dec 2008US buy-out giant The Blackstone Group and business and IT consultancy firm CMS Group have joined forces to form a new company in India. The new unit has been established by spinning out the IT Infrastructure Management and Outsourced Business Services divisions of CMS Computers. Rajiv Kaul, former CEO of Microsoft India, will be the new company's executive vice chairman and CEO.
3i to sell stake in Nordic digital TV operator Boxer
Category: Sweden | Publishing date: 19 Nov 2008Listed private equity firm 3i has agreed to divest its 30 per cent stake in Stockholm-based terrestrial digital television operator Boxer TV-Access to majority shareholder Teracom, the Swedish government-owned media operator. Financial details were not disclosed.
Venture capital investment in Europe dips five per cent to €1.2bn in Q3 from last year
Category: Deal News | Publishing date: 19 Nov 2008Europe saw only €1.18bn in venture capital invested across 209 deals in the third quarter of 2008, down from the €1.24bn invested in 245 deals during the same period last year, according to Dow Jones VentureSource.
Canadian venture capital investment activity remains slow in Q3
Category: Deal News | Publishing date: 18 Nov 2008A total of CAN$372m in venture capital was invested in Canada between July and September, down 26 per cent from the CAN$501m invested during the same period last year. The number of Canadian-based firms securing venture capital totalled 123 during the third quarter, 12 per cent down from the 140 companies financed in the same period a year ago, according to a report released by Canada's Venture Capital & Private Equity Association and Thomson Reuters.
UBS Global Assets Management, MerchantBridge join forces to invest in Middle East
Category: Deal News | Publishing date: 17 Nov 2008UBS Global Assets Management has teamed up with Middle East-focused direct investment and private equity firm MerchantBridge to form a 50/50 joint venture, MerchantBridge-UBS Private Equity. Based in Dubai, the venture will focus on private equity investment strategies in the Middle East region.
Bridges Ventures launches new social entrepreneurs fund
Category: Venture/Growth | Publishing date: 14 Nov 2008Bridges Ventures has launched the Bridges Social Entrepreneurs Fund with an initial £4.25m in committed capital. The fund is a Bridges Charitable Trust initiative.
RJD Partners hires turnaround specialist
Category: People News | Publishing date: 14 Nov 2008UK mid-market private equity firm RJD Partners has appointed turnaround specialist Paul Woodley as a consultant. Woodley will help the firm source, assess and manage turnaround opportunities. He will continue with existing commitments alongside working with RJD Partners.
Duke Street appoints Miles Cresswell-Turner as partner
Category: People News | Publishing date: 13 Nov 2008European mid-market private equity firm Duke Street has appointed Miles Cresswell-Turner as partner, specialising in financial services.
Wellcome Trust looks to sell off private equity assets
Category: United Kingdom | Publishing date: 11 Nov 2008The Wellcome Trust, the UK's largest charity, is reportedly looking to sell off its £3.8bn private equity portfolio in a bid to free up liquidity.
Mid-market private equity firm Horizon closes $390m private equity fund
Category: Fund News | Publishing date: 10 Nov 2008Horizon Capital has closed its latest fund, Emerging Europe Growth Fund II, with total capital commitments of $390m, well above the fund's $300m target. The fund will make investments in the Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus, ranging in size from $15m to $40m, focusing on expansion and buy-out opportunities.
Israeli high tech companies raise $600m in venture capital in Q3 2008
Category: Deal News | Publishing date: 10 Nov 2008124 Israeli high tech companies raised $600m from local and foreign venture investors in Q3 2008 - the highest reported figures in the last eight years, according to a report released by the Israel Venture Capital Research Center today.
Apax to expand into mainland China
Category: China | Publishing date: 07 Nov 2008Apax Partners is to open a new office in Shanghai later this year and a second office in Beijing in 2009 in a bid to expand its operations.
unquote” Private Equity Barometer Q3 2008
Category: Surveys | Publishing date: 05 Nov 2008In Q3, the total value of European private equity-backed transactions fell 35 per cent from the previous quarter as the industry faces a challenging time following the collapse of the banking sector. What is more, buy-out values fell by 32 per cent from Q2 to Q3, and almost 60 per cent year-on-year, according to the unquote" Private Equity Barometer Q3 2008, sponsored by Candover and Incisive Media.
US cleantech companies attract record $1.6bn in venture capital, surge in later stage financings in Q3
Category: Deal News | Publishing date: 31 Oct 2008Venture capital investments in US cleantech companies reached a record $1.6bn in the third quarter of this year, up 55 per cent from the previous quarter, according to an Ernst & Young analysis based on data from Dow Jones VentureSource.
Renewable Energy Investor Profile: Riccardo Cirillo, Atmos
Category: Energy | Publishing date: 28 Oct 2008Riccardo Cirillo on opportunities in marine energy, on the excess of money flooding the market, on investing in a young sector and on sourcing the jackpots of the future.
Swiss firm Capital Dynamics wins $150m mandate from West Midlands Pension Fund
Category: Deal News | Publishing date: 28 Oct 2008Capital Dynamics, a Zug-headquartered asset management firm with an exclusive focus on private equity, has won a $150m discretionary mandate from West Midlands Pension Fund, a £7.2bn pension plan in the UK. The firm said that its expertise and track record in Asia were key to winning the mandate.
European private equity firm Silverfleet hires Johannes Huttunen as executive
Category: People News | Publishing date: 24 Oct 2008European mid-market private equity firm Silverfleet Capital, formerly PPM Capital, has expanded its London investment team with the appointment of Johannes Huttunen as an executive.
Alchemy reportedly planning to raise £1bn for second distressed fund
Category: Fund News | Publishing date: 22 Oct 2008London-based mid-market private equity firm Alchemy Partners may soon be raising a new distressed and special situations fund with a £1bn target, according to reports.
Institutional Investor Profile: Mark Calnan CFA, Investment Consultant - Manager Research, Watson Wyatt Worldwide
Category: Europe | Publishing date: 21 Oct 2008Mark Calnan on Watson Wyatt's hybrid model, on composing tailor-made portfolios for clients and on the challenges facing the private equity industry.
Institutional Investor Profile: Saul Meyer, Partner, Aldus Equity
Category: North America | Publishing date: 15 Oct 2008Saul Meyer on the increasing attractiveness of mezzanine, on the appeal of first-time funds, on the importance of long-term relationships with fund managers and on building a good reputation for the private equity industry.
The Private Equity Industry within the European Economic Model
Category: Europe | Publishing date: 15 Oct 2008The past few years have seen a remarkable broadening and deepening of European financial markets. European private equity has ridden on the crest of this wave. The asset class grew four-fold in the space of a decade, said Charlie McCreevy, European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, at EVCA's European private equity and venture capital policy meeting in Brussels on 8 October 2008.
KPG Ventures hires online media specialist Dave Hills as general partner
Category: People News | Publishing date: 15 Oct 2008KPG Ventures, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm specialising in seed stage consumer internet companies, has appointed Dave Hills as general partner. Hills joins founder and managing partner Vince Vannelli at KPG.
Cleantech venture investment reaches record $2.6bn investment in Q3 2008
Category: Cleantech | Publishing date: 08 Oct 2008Cleantech venture investments in North America, Europe, China and India totalled a record $2.6bn across 158 companies, according to The Cleantech Group. The previous record quarter was Q2 2008, which saw $2.2bn invested. The total is a 37 per cent increase over the same period a year ago, and a 17 per cent increase over the previous quarter. Cleantech venture investments for the first three quarters of 2008 now total $6.6bn, exceeding 2007's full-year total of $6bn.
US private equity firms raise $222.6bn in first nine months of 2008
Category: United States | Publishing date: 08 Oct 2008While the public financial markets are in crisis, US private equity firms not only continue to stockpile capital but have picked up the pace of their fundraising. Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst reports that US private equity firms raised $222.6bn in 264 funds during the first three quarters of 2008, 11 per cent more than the $200.4bn raised by 298 funds during the same time last year. This is in contrast to the halfway point of this year, when fundraising slightly lagged against last year's pace, and is despite a slow-down in buy-out fundraising. The full year fundraising record of $313bn was set in 2007.
Gridiron Capital hires Joseph Saldutti as managing director
Category: People News | Publishing date: 07 Oct 2008US mid-market private equity firm Gridiron Capital has hired Joseph A Saldutti, Jr as managing director. In his new role at the firm he will be responsible for working on Gridiron's acquisitions and development efforts. He will also work closely with the firm's portfolio companies on strategic and operating initiatives.
Geraldine O'Keeffe joins LSP's investment team
Category: People News | Publishing date: 06 Oct 2008Pan-European life sciences investment group Life Sciences Partners has appointed Geraldine O'Keeffe as a senior investment manager. O'Keeffe will focus on investing in publicly-traded biotech companies. She joins LSP from Fortis, where she was responsible for European and US biotech research in her position as a senior equity analyst.
Venture capital investment in renewable energy exceeds $2.8bn in Q3
Category: Deal News | Publishing date: 02 Oct 2008Venture capital investment in green energy technologies exceeded $2.8bn in the third quarter of 2008, well above any previous quarter on record, according to Greentech Media's Venture Power Report. In comparison, the first quarter of this year saw $998m invested and the second quarter $1.3bn.
Private equity: capitalism's misunderstood entrepreneurs and catalysts for value creation
Category: Leading Edge | Publishing date: 01 Oct 2008Leveraged buy-out firms, which have grown rapidly in recent years, create economic value by curbing the resource waste and corporate malfeasance that can hold back or sink public companies. Unfortunately, ignorance about what they do, the threat they pose to incompetent corporate managers and poor money managers, and biases against highly profitable financial enterprises may provoke a legal and regulatory backlash that would discourage the economically beneficial activities that they and other types of private-equity partnerships undertake, according to this article from David Haarmeyer. It was originally published in the autumn 2008 issue of The Independent Review.
Trouble in Sand Hill Road: venture capital-backed liquidity drops 66 per cent to $4.6bn in 3Q 2008, lowest since 2003
Category: United States | Publishing date: 01 Oct 2008The troubles on Wall Street are not just being felt on Main Street, they are also taking a toll on the residents of Sand Hill Road and other venture capitalist enclaves. In the third quarter of 2008, venture-backed companies generated just $4.57bn in liquidity through IPOs and M&As, down 66 per cent from the $13.4bn generated in the third quarter of 2007, according to Dow Jones VentureSource.
Recent developments in the European private equity markets
Category: Venture Capital | Publishing date: 01 Oct 2008This paper from the Directorate-General Economic and Financial Affairs of the European Commission examines market developments in venture capital and buy-out investment in Europe and the US through the analysis of funds raised, investments and exits. It discusses the profitability differential of European venture capital investment in comparison with the US and suggests that it could originate in the different ways in which research is financed and the unequal supply of financing, notably from business angels, for young companies that are not sufficiently mature for venture capital financing.
