Allocations
Authority Brands, a home services franchising platform backed by funds advised by Apax Partners, has acquired Clockwork, and certain of its affiliates from Direct Energy Group, a subsidiary of Centrica plc.
The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2019. The acquisition is the third home services add-on for Authority Brands since the company was acquired by funds advised by Apax Partners in September 2018.
Established in 1999, Clockwork delivers critical home services through three leading plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) providers across the United States. Its household-name brands – Benjamin Franklin Plumbing
Ÿnsect, an ag-tech innovator that specialises in breeding insects and transforming them into premium ingredients for fish feed, pet food and organic plant fertilisers, has raised USD125 million (EUR110m) in a Series C funding round to scale up production by building the world’s biggest insect farm in Amiens Metropole, Northern France.
Led by Astanor Ventures — and backed by established international funds including Bpifrance, Talis Capital, Idinvest Partners, Finasucre and Compagnie du Bois Sauvage — this investment is the largest-ever ag-tech funding deal outside of the United States.
With a mission to tap into the natural goodness of insects
iCON Infrastructure Partners II has completed the divestment of its interests in Beckton Energy Limited (Beckton) and Rothes CoRDe Limited (Rothes) to Arjun Infrastructure Partners (AIP). iCON’s co-investor at Beckton, Melquart Limited (Melquart), also sold its stake in the company.
Beckton is the owner of an 18MWe / 28MWth bio-liquids fired combined heat and power plant (CHP), which is strategically located in London and integrated with key infrastructure owned by the major utilities Cadent Gas Limited (formerly National Grid Gas Plc) and Thames Water Utilities Limited, to which Beckton provides heat and electricity respectively.
Rothes is the owner of
By Denise Davidson, Associate Partner, EY – Investor demand for long-term, non-correlated returns is driving convergence and competition, pitting traditionally distinct players against one another in a new alternatives middle ground.
Ten years ago, it would have been unusual to find a hedge fund and a private equity house crossing paths in the entrance to a beauty parade, not least because of their differing traits.
Traditionally, the people-driven, synergy-seeking psyche of private equity has seemed far removed from the quant-driven disposition of the hedge fund industry, but market convergence is blurring these lines.
Investor demand for customised products and outcome-oriented
Luxcara, an asset manager focussed on renewable energy investments, has acquired the Finnish wind power project Välikangas, which has a projected capacity of 100 MW.
The produced electricity will be sold to an off-taker on the basis of a power purchase agreement (PPA).
The wind farm has been developed by and will be built with ABO Wind as construction manager. Connection to the grid is envisaged for summer 2020.
“We continue to be convinced by wind power in the Nordics and are happy to realise this Finnish wind project on the basis of already established business partnerships thanks
French asset management company Anaxago Capital has launched FCPR ANAXAGO SocietyOne, a private equity real estate (PERE) fund specialising in real estate development and renovation.
The company aims to raise EUR30 million to invest in a portfolio of 20 to 40 real estate development, renovation and property trading operations. Its goal is to enable investors to achieve a target return of around 8 per cent (IRR net of all management fees) within a five-year investment horizon (renewable twice for one year at the decision of the management company)
The fund is open to retail investors with investments starting from
LiquidX, a global network for illiquid assets, transacted a record USD7.4 billion in 2018, as year-over-year trading volume soared 40 per cent. The platform handled four times as many unique credits in 2018 than in previous years.
“Our clients transacted hundreds of different credits in 2019, while using multiple structures across 25 different legal jurisdictions,” says Glenn Kocher (pictured), Head of Sales and Client Services at LiquidX. “Whether you are a corporate treasurer, a bank or an institutional investor, having that scope of execution in one place is extremely powerful.”
Novelis, the leading producer of flat-rolled aluminium products and
Mourant has advised a New York-based private equity firm on its takeover of AIM-listed GBGI Limited (GBG).
GBG is a provider of international benefits insurance, operating globally across 120 jurisdictions. Trading principally as GBG Insurance Group, GBG is a fully integrated insurance group providing services from policy sales to claim administration.
The takeover of GBG was undertaken by way of a Guernsey scheme of arrangement and was sanctioned by the Royal Court in Guernsey on Wednesday, 20 February 2019. The aim of the takeover was to return GBG to private ownership thereby enabling enhanced financial and operational flexibility, together
Israeli VC firm, Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), has closed its latest fund, JVP VIII, with USD220 million in commitments.
This new fund aims to invest in early through mid-stage technologies that are transforming key global markets, such as computer vision meets wellness, cybersecurity meets fintech and insurtech, artificial intelligence meets retail and media, big data meets healthcare IT and many more.
With investment hubs located in Jerusalem at the JVP Media Quarter in the heart of the city, home to JVP’s Corporate Headquarters, in Beer Sheva, the Southern Cyber-Epicenter, home to the JVP Labs alongside key universities and international
The SaaS video management platform, Imagen, which holds both current and archive footage for major sporting organisations and news outlets, including Premier League, World Tennis Association and the BBC, has secured GBP6.5 million in a Series B funding round led by Downing Ventures.
The round also included capital from Guinness Asset Management Ltd. and existing investor Cambridge Innovation Capital.
Imagen helps sports, media and enterprise businesses to manage their expanding video and content libraries on its cloud-based technology. Imagen announced 88 per cent year on year growth in 2018 driven by clients including Premier League, World Tennis Association, BP
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