FORWARD FEATURES CALENDAR

Managers

Middle market private equity fund Calera Capital has held the final close of its fifth fund, Calera Capital Partners V. The Fund closed well above its original USD500 million target, with USD555 million of total capital commitments. “Calera Capital appreciates the continued strong support of its existing institutional partners and welcomes a select group of new high-quality investors,” says Jim Farrell, Managing Partner at Calera. “The strength of this close is a validation of our 26-year strategy of investing alongside and partnering with strong, existing management teams and founders in the business services, industrial sectors and other related industries.”  
Homelyfe, a new type of insurance company using technology to make buying and managing insurance easier for consumers, has raised GBP2.4 million in a super seed round led by Talis Capital and Peterson Ventures. The investment follows Homelyfe’s launch earlier in October, offering the first policy – Home Buyer’s Insurance, in response to the fact that one-in-10 people looking to buy a home in the next two years will get gazumped.   Homelyfe will add multiple general insurance lines over the coming year, starting with Home Insurance in early 2018, and will ultimately allow consumers to manage all of their insurance requirements within
Houston Exponential has launched the Houston region’s first venture capital (VC) fund of funds, the HX Venture Fund.   The fund of funds aims to achieve an attractive return for investors, appeal to leading venture capital firms to offer their expertise and risk capital to the region, and create a pathway for innovation and information to flow among corporations, startups and innovators.   An investment committee and fund manager are in place to evaluate venture firms for placement of the funds. Guillermo Borda, a seasoned fund of funds manager, will serve as fund manager.  Borda has held a variety of venture
Middle market private equity firm Stellex Capital Management has partnered with Bruce Swift, a senior executive in the automotive industry, to create a niche manufacturing platform. With over 30 years of senior management experience within the automotive industry, Swift was most recently Chief Executive Officer of Diversified Machine, Inc., a leading vertically-integrated supplier of fully engineered chassis and powertrain components and modules for the automotive OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers. During his tenure at Diversified Machine, the company realised six-fold growth, enabling a local Detroit company to become a global player within their industry, through organic growth and strategic global
US public pension plans tracked by eVestment’s Public Plan IQ made 72 investment commitments to private equity funds in Q3 2017, the No1 allocation choice for public plans during the quarter. Allocations to real assets came in at No2, at 66 during Q3 2017. Public Plan IQ’s Q3 results mirror allocation trends seen in the past few quarters.   These recent allocations represent a small fraction of the trillions of dollars institutional investors invest across traditional and alternative asset classes. However, they highlight how these asset classes are increasingly gaining favoru with public pensions and other institutional investors.   Public
Dominic Wheatley, Guernsey Finance
Guernsey continues to see a growth in inward migration of companies after the best quarter of growth this year, according to the latest figures. The Guernsey Registry, which is responsible for tracking migrations both in and out of the island, reports that 23 companies migrated to Guernsey during the third quarter of 2017. With just four companies migrating out, it represents a net inward migration of 19 companies moving their domicile to Guernsey in one quarter alone.   That means the net migration of companies to Guernsey in 2017 stands at 36, as at the end of Q3. The latest
GCA Altium has acted as exclusive financial adviser to TeamSport, the UK’s largest indoor go-karting operator, on its sale to Duke Street Capital. Founded in 1992, TeamSport has grown into the UK’s largest operator of go-kart tracks and the second largest globally. In 2013, the company completed a GBP10 million management buyout led by Dominic Gaynor and backed by Connection Capital. Since the buyout, TeamSport has achieved impressive growth through a combination of like-for-like sales improvement, new site openings and enhanced performance from acquired tracks.   The company now operates 23 tracks across the UK, including five in London, and
Innova Capital, a Central European private equity fund, is to acquire a 75 per cent stake in Inelo and OCRK, a specialist in drivers’ work time management systems for the transportation industry. As a result of this transaction, the fund will also gain exposure to the attractive telematics space.   On 20 October 2017, funds managed by Innova Capital signed an agreement to purchase 75 per cent of shares in Inelo and OCRK. The founders of Inelo and OCRK, Jakub Gieruszczak and Mirosław Stocerz respectively, will partially roll-over their holdings into minority shareholders. This has been the eleventh “Founder Succession”
Monroe Capital has acted as sole lead arranger and administrative agent on the funding of a senior credit facility to support the acquisition of TRP Construction Group (TRP) by private equity sponsor MSouth Equity Partners. Based in Ft Worth, Texas, TRP is a leading provider of thermoplastic striping, painting and markers, rumble strips and traffic control services, including: delineation devices, warning signs and maintenance and consulting services. The majority of the company’s revenue is derived directly or indirectly from the Texas Department of Transportation and local municipalities.   TRP serves its customer base via two strategically located facilities in Ft.
Ridgemont Equity Partners, a middle market private equity firm, has closed an investment in Service Management Group (SMG), a global customer experience management technology platform based in Kansas City. Financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed. Founded by Andy Fromm and Bill Fromm in 1991, SMG provides customer experience, employee engagement and brand research software solutions and services to clients in the restaurant, retail, grocery, convenience, travel and entertainment, professional services and healthcare industries. The company collects consumer feedback data via more than 200 million surveys annually across location, online, contact centre and social channels. Combining feedback and

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12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am

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