Allocations
MJ Hudson and MW Cornish & Co have merged their respective private equity and hedge funds practices with immediate effect.
The merged firm, known as MJ Hudson, will be committed to providing a specialist legal service to the global alternative assets industry.
The merger is the latest milestone in MJ Hudson’s growth trajectory which, earlier this year, saw the firm merge with Jersey-based legal practice VerrasLaw to provide a one stop onshore/offshore offering to clients, as well as bolster its M&A and venture capital team with an additional two senior lateral hires.
MJ Hudson managing partner Eamon Devlin
Guardian Capital Group is to acquire a specialist boutique emerging market equity investment firm in London, providing the firm with an international platform to expand its asset management business.
Guardian has agreed to acquire London-based Zephyr Management (UK) Ltd, manager of the Zephyr Aurora Fund, an emerging market equity fund led by the experienced emerging market equity portfolio management team of Steve Bates and Clive Lloyd.
Bates (pictured), portfolio manager and chief investment officer for the Zephyr Aurora Fund, has led the Zephyr Management (UK) Ltd investment operations since 2002, following a successful career as head of JP Morgan
Aetna has agreed to acquire UK-based InterGlobal from a group led by its majority shareholder Alchemy Partners.
InterGlobal has more than 65,000 medical members worldwide, and specialises in international private medical insurance for groups and individuals in the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe.
The terms of the transaction, which are not material to Aetna, were not disclosed. Aetna expects to finance the acquisition from available resources. The transaction is expected to close during the first half of 2014 and be neutral to Aetna's financial results in 2014.
“The addition of InterGlobal to Aetna’s international business will expand
Peer-to-business lending platform rebuildingsociety.com has passed the GBP1m borrowing milestone following a surge in interest from small and medium sized business (SME) borrowers.
Strong growth in lending and demand from UK small businesses in the past three months has enabled rebuildingsociety.com to pass the milestone and facilitate nearly GBP1.2m of loans to SMEs in a nine month period.
The rapid growth has encouraged rebuildingsociety.com to target GBP20m of borrowing by the end of 2014.
Average loans to SMEs are now GBP61,000 and the Leeds-based firm has received 50 per cent more loan requests from businesses in the three
Dolphin Venture Fund I, a seed fund organised under the laws of Delaware, is raising up to USD100m to seed fund start-ups and early stage ventures in Greece, the US, and the Philippines.
The fund has over USD12m in investor commitments. Investors are expecting an annual ROI of 34 per cent, but based on the progress made by some hedge funds in Greece, Dolphin Venture Fund believes the number could be much higher.
The company has about a dozen start-ups and ongoing companies in its portfolio, notably a start-up in the Philippines, called Pakwan Intl that creates call centres
Alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group has held the final close of Carlyle Partners VI, a USD13bn fund that invests in US corporate buyouts and strategic minority investments across six industries.
A total of 269 investors from 43 countries committed capital to the fund. The team began fundraising in late 2011 with a USD10bn target.
Allan Holt, managing director and co-head of the US buyout group, says: "We are grateful for the support of our fund investors, many of whom are repeat investors. Institutional and individual investors across the globe understand the value of having a proven buyout fund
Canadian venture capital (VC) investment rose sharply in Q3 2013, while Canadian buyout and related private equity (PE) deal-making showed continued moderate decline over the same period in 2012.
These were among the key findings from data released by CVCA – Canada's Venture Capital & Private Equity Association and research partner Thomson Reuters.
Investment activity in Canada's VC market rose sharply in terms of both deals and dollars in the third quarter of 2013. Disbursements by VC funds totalled CAD541m between July and September, up 48 per cent from the CAD366m invested at the same time in 2012. In
Risk Capital Partners, the private equity firm chaired by Luke Johnson, has backed management to acquire Neilson Active Holidays Ltd from the Thomas Cook Group for an undisclosed sum.
The transaction is expected to complete in early December.
This is Risk Capital Partners’ second deal this year in the travel industry.
Neilson delivers sailing, skiing and beach holidays to 90,000 customers a year and generated revenues of GBP70m last year. Established in 1978, Neilson sells its holidays direct to customers from its website www.neilson.co.uk and its own dedicated call centre based in Brighton Marina, as well as supporting
Thames Valley accountants and business advisors James Cowper has advised global engineering consultancy Roughton Group on a restructuring and refinancing.
James Cowper has advised Roughton Group shareholders since 2011 to deliver an exit for two retiring shareholder directors. The advice has included a refinancing of the group with its bank and a restructuring of the equity.
Roughton Group is a multidisciplinary engineering consultancy based in Southampton delivering projects in Africa, Asia, Europe, UK, Latin America, the Caribbean, Mekong and the South Pacific with a particular specialism in advising on transport and infrastructure projects
Bernard Obika, chief executive,
Swedfund, the Swedish state’s venture capital company, and The Africa Health Fund through The Abraaj Group, an investor operating in global growth markets, have invested in The Nairobi Women’s Hospital.
The hospital is a private healthcare provider for women and their families in East Africa.
The investment in The Nairobi Women’s Hospital totals USD6.5m. It is the largest single foreign direct equity investment in private healthcare in Kenya this year. In 2010, the then newly formed Africa Health Fund invested in The Nairobi Women’s Hospital.
The objective of The Africa Health Fund is to increase access to, affordability
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