Allocations
Vistara Capital Partners has raised CAD80 million for its inaugural fund, well in excess of its initial CAD50 million minimum target, and within an 80 day period of commencing fundraising. Vistara is targeting an overall fund size of CAD100 million.
Vistara has been co-founded and will be managed by two well respected and seasoned technology and finance executives with over four decades of collective relevant experience: Fabio Banducci, most recently as CEO of Peer 1 Hosting where he led its turnaround and growth over 8-1/2 years through to exit for CAD650 million in 2013; and Randy Garg, most recently as
Private equity firms should go back to the future to deliver on investor demands for Alpha returns, according to Guy Hands.
Hands, Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of Terra Firma Capital Partners Limited, gave the keynote speech to a 500-strong audience at the Guernsey Funds Forum 2015 in London last week.
He said that the private equity industry is now split into two segments: the semi-public, listed companies such as Blackstone, Carlisle, CVC and Apax who represent about 85% of the money raised; and the remainder, which raises about 15% of the money but actually comprises the vast number of
The Pembani Remgro Infrastructure Fund has held a successful first closing at USD 245million. In addition, the fund has received a further commitment equal to 20 per cent of the fund size, capped at USD100 million, from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC).
The formal fundraising process commenced in May 2014, with the aim of achieving final close during 2015 at a target fund size of USD500 million. Apart from initial seed capital commitments made by Remgro and Phuthuma Nhleko as cornerstone investors, the fund has been anchored by a significant investment from CDC Group plc and received commitments from
Enterprise Therapeutics, a drug discovery company focused on new therapeutics for respiratory diseases, has secured an additional GBP2.4m (USD3.6m) in Series-A financing.
The funds are comprised of GBP2m by new investor, Imperial Innovations and GBP0.4m increase by founding investor Epidarex Capital, bringing the total Series-A round to GBP4m. The proceeds will consolidate and accelerate the drug discovery and target identification programs initiated by Enterprise Therapeutics earlier in 2015. The company is based at the Sussex Innovation Centre, University of Sussex.
Enterprise Therapeutics’ focus is the discovery of novel disease modifying medications that target key drivers of respiratory
The Motorist’s Organisation Limited (TMO) has successfully raised GBP750,000 of additional equity capital from private equity firm, Ashridge Capital.
TMO is an online platform allowing independent and franchised garages to provide consumers with like-for-like comparisons on a real-time availability and pricing basis for MOTs, car servicing and vehicle repairs.
This new capital will enable TMO to further develop and accelerate its penetration into the UK’s GBP10 billion aftersales market for vehicle maintenance. TMO was established by entrepreneur, Douglas Rotberg in 2012 and TMO’s online platform is the foundation for its recently announced partnership with The RAC, the UK automotive
VentureFounders, the UK-based equity crowdfunding platform, has launched a GBP500,000 crowdfunding campaign for freemarketFX, the peer-to-peer currency exchange, focused on the high-value B2B commercial spot FX market.
The innovative FX exchange platform reduces currency exchange costs to users up to 75 per cent by matching companies and individuals directly with their peers for a fixed commission charge of 0.2 per cent, thereby removing intermediaries and cutting out the financial and operating costs common to many traditional bank and FX broker models.
freemarketFX operates ‘scheduled exchanges’ to execute transfers at set times, rather than on an individual basis, to
Travel industry predictive analytics specialist bd4travel today has closed a USD4.2m Series A funding round, with participation from Talis Capital, Hoxton Ventures, Robin Klein and a number of prominent business angels.
The funding will be used to extend the product offering and accelerate international sales. Expedia founder, Simon Breakwell, has also been appointed as chairman of bd4travel.
Developed by an experienced team of travel industry veterans and pioneering data scientists, bd4travel provides online travel companies with an audience relationship management (ARM) platform. It's machine learning algorithms detect the detailed travel wishes of each unique user in real-time,
TRAFI, a public transport mobile app designed to accurately plan journeys using real-time data, has completed a successful Series A funding round totalling USD6.5m.
The round was led by Octopus Investments with the EBRD Venture Capital Investment Programme and BaltCap, who all join existing investors Practica Capital.
TRAFI, which was founded in Lithuania in 2013, provides precise journey planning information, using a mix of data collected from users and transit authorities. The team’s focus is on high-growth emerging markets, where they use predictive technology to look at local traffic patterns and then apply TRAFI’s algorithm to calculate exact journey times.
The average time taken to exit private equity-backed buyout investments has increased year-on-year since 2008. In this extract from the Preqin Private Equity Spotlight: May 2015, Anna Strumillo and Ciantelle Lawrence conduct an in-depth analysis of buyout holding periods.
Private equity investments are traditionally long-term investments with typical holding periods ranging between three and five years. Within this defined time period, the fund manager focuses on increasing the value of the portfolio company in order to sell it at a profit and distribute the proceeds to investors. This in turn determines how quickly and how much the investors can
Palatine Private Equity has completed the GBP13m management buyout of The Alchemist, as the Manchester bar and restaurant brand looks to roll out more sites across the UK.
The deal marks Palatine’s second investment with Living Ventures Group following its buyout of Gusto last year.
The Alchemist first opened its doors in Manchester in 2010 and currently operates two venues in the city centre, as well as sites in Leeds and London. The company, which currently employs 250 staff, achieved sales of GBP11.3m last year and was recently ranked the 20th fastest growing business in the UK by The
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
