Allocations
Middlefield is to merge the Energy IndexPlus Dividend Fund into Middlefield Global Infrastructure Mutual Fund effective on or about 17 June, 2015, with Global Infrastructure Fund being the continuing fund.
Given the relative illiquidity of the Fund's units on the Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX"), the Merger is expected to benefit the Fund's unitholders by providing an opportunity to hold units of Global Infrastructure Fund, a strong-performing mutual fund that offers daily redemptions at net asset value.
Completion of the Merger is expected to take place on or about 17 June, 2015, (the date of completion being the "Effective Date"), and
Ogier has advised Friends Life Group Limited, a London-listed Guernsey company, on its acquisition by Aviva, a deal which has created the UK's largest insurance, savings and asset management firm.
The combined group will have some 16 million UK customers – equivalent to about one in four households – and around GBP340 billion of assets under management. The GBP5.6 billion takeover of Friends Life is the largest insurance deal in the UK since the merger of CGU and Norwich Union in 2000, which created Aviva.
Ogier has been working with international law firm Linklaters LLP to bring the transaction
Newly formed investment group, DW3 Products Group (DW3), which is backed by private equity firm NorthEdge Capital, has acquired Window Widgets, and Eclectic Systems.
Window Widgets was founded in 2004 and has become the first port of call for key components for the window, door and conservatory sectors. Eclectic Systems is best known for developing the fast-growing, revolutionary Residence 9 (R9) window system. The two businesses have been acquired from Dan Gill, who will now take on the role of CEO of the DW3 Products Group Window Division and join the main DW3 Board.
The acquisitions bring the total
Law firm Howard Kennedy’s VCT team has advised on 27 offers in 2014/15 with a combined market value of GBP370m, which have so far raised GBP300m. Just 33 VCTs in total came to market in the 2014/15 tax year.
Keith Lassman, Partner and Head of Capital Markets at Howard Kennedy, says: “For the past 17 years we have led the market advising VCTs. This year we have advised on 27 of the 33 VCTs to come to market, representing over 80 per cent of the market. Howard Kennedy is the go to law firm and sponsor for VCTs.”
Howard Kennedy
HIG Europe (HIG) has acquired Fågelviksgruppen (FVG), a Nordic taxi services provider, which through its well-known and trusted brands and technology serves taxi firms in all the major cities in Sweden and Norway.
FVG has over 30 years built up a market leading position in all market segments – consumer, corporate and public contracts. It pioneered new technology such as apps and B2B process integration and expects to reach nearly SEK5,500 million turnover in the current financial year.
HIG will partner with the existing management team which will benefit from HIG’s operational, strategic and financial know-how as it continues to
Prosper Marketplace has secured a USD165 million Series D financing, led by Credit Suisse NEXT Investors, part of Credit Suisse Asset Management.
Additional participants included JP Morgan Asset Management, SunTrust Banks, a subsidiary of USAA, BBVA Ventures (BBVA’s representative office in San Francisco), Neuberger Berman Private Equity Funds, Passport Capital, Breyer Capital, and others. The latest funding will support the company’s continued growth, expansion, and development of a national brand as it builds new products and services for the marketplace’s borrowers and investors.
The funding comes on the heels of a record quarter, with nearly USD600 million in loans originated
Natixis has arranged a EUR350 million equity bridge financing transaction for funds managed by Antin Infrastructure Partners – the first transaction that is AIFMD compliant, in terms of leverage constraints.
The transaction provides the funds with a performance management tool, while complying with their debt constraint, managing capital calls from investors in an efficient and flexible manner by optimszing cash management.
Mooreland Partners acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Collection Localisation Satellites (CLS) on its acquisition of Horizon Marine, a provider of metocean forecasting services to the Gulf of Mexico offshore energy industry.
Based in Toulouse, France, CLS is a leading global operator of satellite systems for positioning, data collection, ocean observation, and surveillance.
"This transaction demonstrates how Mooreland successfully works with European companies that are looking for buy-side M&A advisory services in connection with their North American growth strategies," says Stephen Schweich, Managing Director, Mooreland Partners.
Founded in 1986, CLS is majority-owned by the French space agency, CNES, but
LBO France has entered exclusive negotiations with Roger Zannier to acquire IKKS, one of the leading French ready-to-wear brands with a unique position in the “casual chic” segment.
The IKKS Group has a portfolio of three complementary brands – IKKS, One Step and I.Code – offering creative, contemporary and wearable collections.
Starting in kids wear and renowned for its high quality, IKKS has successfully diversified into women’s and men’s fashion. The group covers all distribution channels including a wide retail network of 526 boutiques, primarily located in prime areas in city centres, 218 department store corners as well as
Pascal Menges (pictured), Manager of the Lombard Odier Global Energy Fund comments on Royal Dutch Shell’s offer for BG Group…
This shows that Big Oil’s growth strategy over the last ten years is bust. Having bet enormous sums on eye-wateringly expensive oil production from oil sands, ultra-deep water and arctic fields the supermajors are now ill-placed to cope with a low oil price.
What next? Shell’s purchase of BG Group heralds a scrabble by big oil to ‘high grade’ – improve the overall quality – of their portfolios. It didn’t have to be this way. Low oil prices in the early 2000s
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