Features

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• How investors can improve their RoI, writes Coller IP Management CEO Jackie Maguire 13 Jan 2010. Source: Coller IP Management. Jackie Maguire. What factors do venture capitalists consider when deciding to invest in a company? This is the topic of a new report entitled Management, Management, Management - or what?. In the report, intellectual property specialist Coller IP Management suggests that a re-examination of due diligence processes by investors is needed in order to improve the returns on investments, writes Coller CEO Jackie Maguire.

• Former AVCA chairman Rotimi Oyekanmi on the African PE landscape 12 Jan 2010. Source: AltAssets. Rotimi Oyekanmi, CEO of Renaissance Group West Africa, chaired the African Venture Capital Association from March 2008 until his recent departure at the end of last year. Having worked in the industry for 18 years, Oyekanmi talked to AltAssets about the current state of private equity in Africa, the up-and-coming growth sectors, and how well the asset class is holding up on the continent in the face of the downturn.

• Corporate venturing, an overview from Taylor Wessing 08 Jan 2010. Source: Taylor Wessing. Simon Walker, Charles Fletcher. Politicians, commentators and analysts agree that innovation, especially in sectors such as clean technology, will be of crucial importance in the UK’s economic recovery. As businesses attempt to find growth opportunities to help them in the wake of the longest recession on record, one of the options to consider is corporate venturing, write partner Simon Walker and associate Charles Fletcher of law firm Taylor Wessing.

• New rules of taxation for carried interest unit holders in France: an unsatisfying reform for French managers of foreign investment funds 21 Dec 2009. Source: Mayer Brown. Laurent Borey. French administrative guidelines dated March 28 2002 historically provided for a specific tax regime for French holders of so-called “carried interest” units or shares issued by a French FCPR or SCR. According to said guidelines, the amounts received in respect of these units or shares could benefit, under conditions, from the favourable capital gain tax regime set forth under article 150-0A of the French Tax Code (i.e. based on current rates, an 18 per cent taxation plus social contributions at a 12.1 per cent rate).

• Founder of Allegis Capital Bob Ackerman on corporate venture issues and the move away from mega VC funds 01 Dec 2009. Source: AltAssets. Bob Ackerman, founder of Silicon Valley firm Allegis Capital and board member of The Entrepreneur’s Foundation recently spoke with AltAssets to discuss venture capital issues. In this second part of our conversation, Bob discusses how corporations have stepped back from funding their own innovation, why it makes sense for venture capital firms to have healthy working relationships with corporations, and which types of venture capital firms will succeed and which will fail during this unprecedented period of transition.

• Founder of Allegis Capital Bob Ackerman on the over-capitalisation of cleantech 18 Nov 2009. Source: AltAssets. Bob Ackerman, founder of Silicon Valley firm Allegis Capital and board member of The Entrepreneur's Foundation, recently spoke with AltAssets to discuss venture capital issues. In this first part of our conversation, Bob exposes the hype surrounding cleantech, the bubble that is currently growing around the sector and the dangers of blindly throwing capital at such investments without fully understanding them.

• The meaning of risk, writes Acrostic CEO Ray Maxwell 16 Nov 2009. Source: Acrostic. Ray Maxwell. As a member of the Monty Python generation, when discussions on investments turns to risk I’m reminded of Eric Idle’s Galaxy Song written for the film The Meaning of Life where he informs us that life is fragile and that we exist on a lump of rock in an infinite universe.

• The alternative to an IPO: an increasingly attractive option for VC and PE portfolio companies 06 Nov 2009. Source: Paragon Capital. Kevin Pollack. For the past two years the market for initial public offerings for promising private companies has been slow.  The number of US IPOs in 2008 plunged from 234 in 2007 to just 43, the slowest year for IPOs since 1978.  Venture-backed IPOs have fared far worse - according to Dow Jones VentureSource, US venture-backed IPOs dropped from 76 in 2007 to a mere seven in 2008, and 2009 is looking to be more like 2008 than 2007.  These disturbing statistics make very clear that private companies and their investors, especially venture-backed companies, have been left without a critical exit strategy and these companies have been deprived access to the critical growth capital that the public markets can provide them.

• IPOs: a real exit opportunity? - a view from SJ Berwin 04 Nov 2009. Source: SJ Berwin. Will Holder. A flurry of Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) in the US in September (including eight in one week) has heightened speculation about the prospects for European listings in 2010.  With the London market showing its best ever quarter, bankers have been making their pitch to many large private companies, writes Will Holder, a partner in SJ Berwin’s corporate department.

• Private equity: the staying power of long-term capital, by David Haarmeyer 26 Oct 2009. Source: David Haarmeyer. With refinancing activity in high gear, deal flow picking up and IPOs sprouting left and right, the reports of private equity’s demise appear to have been greatly exaggerated.

• Elly Livingstone of Pantheon Ventures talks secondaries 16 Oct 2009. Source: AltAssets. Elly Livingstone, partner and head of global secondary funds at Pantheon Ventures, talked to AltAssets about how the secondaries market has changed in the last 12 months, the closing gap between valuations and vendor pricing expectations, and the new type of secondary investor coming into the market.

• Viewpoint: private equity benefit – accountability, by David Haarmeyer 08 Oct 2009. Source: David Haarmeyer. The US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's recent review of whether to allow private equity investment in failed banks provided an opportunity to highlight that buy-out firms can bring not only fresh capital, but accountability into banking. David Haarmeyer highlights the historical importance of capital and reputation at risk, two key building blocks of private equity, in aligning management, investor and director incentives to foster accountability; engendering trust; and driving wealth creation.

• Louis van Pletsen of Denham Capital talks private equity energy and commodities investments 01 Oct 2009. Source: AltAssets. Louis van Pletsen is a partner with Denham Capital Management, a private equity firm with a specific focus on energy and commodities.  Louis sat down with AltAssets to talk about energy and commodities as a worthy investment area, the importance of treating LPs well, the attractiveness of Africa and the role private equity can play in the growth of sustainable energy production.

• Phil Alfieri of IMG Aurion Infrastructure on what he is seeing in the infrastructure space 22 Sep 2009. Source: AltAssets. IMG Aurion Infrastructure is a recent venture between Infrastructure Management Group, a US-based financial advisory firm, and Canadian fund manager Aurion Capital Management. IMG Aurion was recently formed to provide investors worldwide with infrastructure investment opportunities, infrastructure advisory expertise and strong governance to serve a growing need to access value-added, middle-market infrastructure investments.  The firm’s mandate is to deploy niche infrastructure strategies with direct investor mandates or through commingled funds predominantly in North America. Phil Alfieri, CEO and managing partner of the firm, spoke with AltAssets about what he is seeing in the market today.

• Peter Rip of Crosslink Capital on the opening window for venture-backed IPOs 15 Sep 2009. Source: AltAssets. Peter Rip, general partner at venture firm Crosslink Capital, spoke with AltAssets to share his view of the market for venture-backed IPOs. He outlines his perspective as to whether we are seeing an opening of the window for such companies to list on the public markets, and also touches on interesting investment areas for venture capitalists and the opportunity that the current climate presents.

• Institutional investors still confident secondary market is set to take off 08 Sep 2009. Source: Almeida Capital. Richard Sachar. The latest survey by Almeida Capital in association with AltAssets reveals that investor expectations of the secondary market remain high, writes Richard Sachar.

• Corinna Mitchell of law firm Dechert on covenant breaches and lenders granting waivers 27 Aug 2009. Source: AltAssets. The global recession continues to take its toll and businesses are feeling the pinch. Corinna Mitchell, a partner at international law firm Dechert, talked to AltAssets about her recent observations in this testing environment.

• Vikkram Singh, formerly with ILPA, on benchmarking the PE industry and issues LPs are facing 25 Aug 2009. Source: AltAssets. AltAssets recently spoke with Vikkram Singh who, until recently, was the director of research with The Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA).  Here he speaks on benchmarking the private equity industry, the shifting relationship between GPs and LPs, issues affecting limited partners today, and the value of placement agents.

• Former NVCA chairman Dixon Doll speaks on the 4-Pillar Plan to restore liquidity in the US VC industry 12 Aug 2009. Source: AltAssets. Dixon Doll, co-founder and general partner of international venture capital firm DCM and former chairman of the National Venture Capital Association, was instrumental in creating an initiative to restore liquidity in the US venture capital industry. The 4-Pillar Plan was devised by Doll in collaboration with the NVCA board and members to address the bleak environment that is being experienced by the industry since the financial downturn manifested itself across the US and globally.  AltAssets spoke with Doll about the 4-Pillar Plan, how it came to fruition, its purpose and the NVCA’s long-term goals.

• David de Weese of Paul Capital talks secondaries 06 Aug 2009. Source: AltAssets. David de Weese, a partner with private equity house Paul Capital who also leads the firm’s global secondary transaction sourcing activities, shared his time with AltAssets. In this interview David touches on how the secondaries market has evolved, picking up private equity from banks as they re-up and move away from the asset class, and the obstacles in the way of becoming a specialist secondaries buyer.

• It’s only an iceberg - Ray Maxwell, CEO of Acrostic, lends his thoughts on LBOs 22 Jul 2009. Source: Acrostic. Ray Maxwell. I was alerted to an article in the Financial Times dated 6 July 2009 entitled “Private equity deals are ‘not riskier’, study finds”.   Research carried out by the Credit Management Research Centre at Leeds University Business School and the Centre for Buy-out Research at Nottingham University commented that “private equity deals done after 2003 were no more likely to fail than other companies, after adjusting for leverage and other factors”.

• Venture capital's role in the UK’s economic recovery 16 Jul 2009. Source: Taylor Wessing. David Mardle and Charles Fletcher. With the onset of the credit crunch, the tide went out on our debt hungry economy. Devoid of the currents of leverage and securitisation, the limitations of the economy's manufacturing and exporting base, and its reliance on the City of London, were laid bare.  Regardless of how quickly the high water of debt finance is re-established, never has the need to invest real equity into the real economy been more visible – not to bail out outdated industries but, more importantly for our long-term prosperity, to create entirely new ones.

• Protecting Germany? - SJ Berwin's Tilman Siebert sizes up Germany's tightened rules on outside investments 14 Jul 2009. Source: SJ Berwin. Tilman Siebert. Following a long and intense debate, new rules came into force at the end of May which, in theory at least, could impose severe restrictions on investors into Germany from outside Europe.  Previously, the German government had power to prevent investment in the defence and cryptography sectors from investors outside the European Union. But an amendment to Germany's Foreign Trade Act (FTA) means that the law now goes much further, allowing the government to prohibit investment in German companies irrespective of industry sector where it is thought that the investment would "endanger the public security and order of the German state", writes Tilman Siebert, a partner in SJ Berwin’s Munich office.