Allocations
Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners’ BioDiscovery 3 portfolio company, GlycoVaxyn has been acquired by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in an all-cash transaction valuing the company at approximately USD212 million.
GlycoVaxyn, founded in 2004, is a spin out of the Swiss Polytechnic Institute of Zürich. It has developed a biological conjugation platform which enables the development of a new generation of conjugate vaccines against major bacterial infections. Vaccines this type are protecting children and adults against several infections among others pneumonia, meningitides, and the role of vaccination to prevent bacterial infections is becoming increasingly important with the development of resistance to antibiotic treatments.
The number of European private equity backed deals rose by 10% in Q4 2014, from the 334 transactions seen in the previous three months to 366 transactions, according to SL Capital Partners.
The firm’s Private Equity Barometer for 2014 reveals that combined deal value also staged a recovery, rising by 19.
At EUR73m, the average deal value in the fourth quarter was 9% higher than that of the previous quarter and only 4% lower than the peak recorded during the last ten quarters (in Q2 2013).
Deal numbers rose to 137 in the fourth quarter, an increase of four from
Law firm Noerr has advised Rocket Internet AG on the acquisition of a 30 per cent stake in the internet platform Delivery Hero.
Delivery Hero is the world’s leading group for online and mobile food delivery services. Rocket acquired both existing and new shares with the transaction, which has a volume of approximately 496 million euros. Rocket Internet has been listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since October 2014 and regularly relies on Noerr to provide it with advice and support with respect to its activities.
Rocket is integrating this newly acquired stake in Delivery Hero into its recently established
Investment bank Greenhill & Co is to acquire Cogent Partners, a financial advisor to pension funds, endowments and other institutional investors on the secondary market for alternative assets.
Cogent advises such institutions on sales of interests in private equity and similar funds, as well as providing restructuring, financing, valuation and related advisory services. Cogent has advised on transactions involving thousands of limited partnership interests since its founding in 2002, and had revenues of approximately $45.8 million (unaudited) in 2014. The acquisition advances Greenhill's ambition to create the leading independent global financial advisory firm, with capabilities to advise clients on
Private equity firm Idinvest Partners has launched its third SME senior debt fund, Idinvest Dette Senior III (IDS III). The fund aims to raise EUR500 million.
With this new fund, Idinvest Partners is strengthening its private debt activities, where it now has more than EUR1.3 billion of assets under management. In 2014, Idinvest raised EUR395 million through its IDS II fund, of which 60% has now been invested. The first IDS fund, launched in 2013, had raised EUR281 million.
Commenting on this launch, Eric Gallerne, Partner, says: “The Idinvest Dette Senior III fund will invest in the acquisition debt instruments
Guernsey’s Chief Minister, Jonathan Le Tocq, has held a series of meetings in Washington to boost the Island’s reputation as a leading international finance centre.
A week after Guernsey and the USA signed an asset sharing agreement, the Chief Minister met with officials from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the American Bankers Association (ABA) and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA).
Dominic Wheatley, Chief Executive of Guernsey Finance – the promotional agency for the Island’s finance industry, says: “Guernsey’s finance industries have long had strong links with the USA and we very much welcome the Chief Minister’s visit.
The vote by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on 27 November 2014 to not reduce oil production levels was widely publicized and had a significant effect on managed futures and CTAs throughout Q4 2014, particularly on funds with a focus on trading oil. Throughout this period, the Brent Crude Oil price index fell by nearly 40%, from $94.80 at the close of September to $57.55 on 31 December. It is clear that the volatility of this commodity provided opportunities for funds implementing short strategies but exposed those unable to navigate the market.
As the chart below illustrates,
Lionpoint Group has launched a new service to help alternative investments clients address manager and investor requirements for greater transparency of underlying portfolio companies and investment holdings.
Primary services include process optimisation, operational efficiency improvements and the implementation of enabling technologies to support the collection, validation, normalisation, performance reporting and analytics associated with underlying holdings in Private Capital, with a focus on Private Equity, Real Estate and Infrastructure. Offerings also include support with risk and compliance monitoring as well as Portfolio Company and underlying investment valuations.
While remaining product agnostic, the Lionpoint Group team has solution expertise with products including AssetEye,
International investment bank Altium has rounded off another active year, completing over 50 deals and pushing the total deal value for the firm in the last three years past GBP9bn.
In the UK, the firm has seen exceptional levels of growth, with deal values up 94 per cent in 2014. Notable transactions from the period include The Riverside Company buying a majority stake in specialist accountancy firm Brookson and the sale of Scientific Analysis Laboratories (SAL) to the newly formed Concept Life Sciences, which is backed by Equistone. Most recently, Altium advised on the GBP303.7m takeover of Italian restaurant chain
NEXTracker, Inc., designer and manufacturer of single axis PV trackers, has completed USD25 million in equity and growth capital financing.
The funding round, which closed in December, includes investments from SJF Ventures, Tennenbaum Capital Partners and earlier investors Sigma Partners and DBL Investors. NEXTracker, based in Silicon Valley, provides state-of-the-art solar trackers that maximize system energy output while reducing installation and operating costs, resulting in substantially increased solar project profits.
“SJF Ventures is thrilled to partner with NEXTracker,” says managing director and co-founder Dave Kirkpatrick. “NEXTracker is led by successful solar veterans who have developed new tracking systems
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
