Managers
LeapFrog Investments has acquired a majority stake in UT Life Insurance Company (UT Life), one of the key players in the life insurance sector in Ghana. This is LeapFrog’s third direct investment in Ghana, and second in the life insurance sector.
UT Life is a rapidly growing life insurer, with a significant market share in funeral and educational savings policies. It is focused on the mass market and seeks to reach over 1 million people by 2020. The Ghanaian market offers major opportunities for growth, as insurance penetration is below 2% of GDP.
UT Life was formerly controlled by
Corstone has held the closing of the Corstone Growth Strategy M&A Private Equity Fund, a KRW150 billion (USD124.5 million) fund managed primarily by Corstone Asia’s investment team located in Seoul, Korea.
The Fund’s mandate is to target M&A and growth equity investments in small to mid-sized companies domiciled in South Korea. Target companies may also be located outside of Korea, with the capability to support acquiring companies in the US. The Fund will seek companies in Corstone’s historically targeted industries. The Fund also has sidecar or parallel fund features to provide for increased investment.
The Fund’s cornerstone investors include
Sonovate, a UK-based Fintech recruitment contract finance provider, has raised GBP5 million in a Series A funding round led by Dawn Capital and supported by DN Capital, with a further GBP15 million in debt funding provided by Shawbrook Business Credit.
Richard Prime and Damon Chapple, former directors of a FTSE 250 recruitment agency, launched Sonovate to provide high-tech working capital solutions to UK recruitment companies. Unparalleled in the sector, Sonovate’s platform eliminates both the cashflow and administrative burden faced by recruitment companies working with contractors.
Sonovate CEO and co-founder Richard Prime, says: “Recruitment companies have always been early adopters
HighQ, a specialist in software-as-a-service collaboration and content management solutions, has completed of a USD50 million growth equity investment from One Peak Partners, Morgan Stanley Merchant Banking and Goldman Sachs Private Capital.
The investment will help HighQ expand its international footprint and support its product development initiatives, enabling it to further accelerate its growth trajectory.
HighQ’s team includes more than 180 employees globally with established operations in London, New York, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Sydney and Ahmedabad.
"This is a significant milestone in HighQ's history and the beginning of an exciting new era for the company", says Ajay Patel, CEO
Belcan, a supplier of engineering consultancy services and technical staffing solutions, is to acquire European-based East Kilbride Engineering Services (EKES), an engineering consultancy across a variety of disciplines and sectors.
Terms of the transaction, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2016, have not been disclosed.
EKES, founded in 1996 by former Rolls-Royce aero engineers, provides engineering solutions and recruitment services in the UK and Europe to engineering firms and manufacturers in a variety of sectors, including aerospace, marine, nuclear energy, and oil and gas. Belcan is owned by AE Industrial Partners (AEI), a private equity investor
Lightyear Capital (Lightyear), a New York-based private equity firm focused on financial services investing, today announced that
Investment funds affiliated with private equity firm Lightyear Capital and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments), are to acquire AIG Advisor Group, a subsidiary of American International Group (AIG).
Terms of the transaction, which is subject to customary regulatory and other approvals, have not been disclosed.
Advisor Group is one of the USA’s largest networks of independent financial advisors with more than 5,200 independent advisors and USD160 billion in client assets under administration. Advisor Group provides comprehensive broker-dealer services,
Global M&A activity in the insurance sector hit new highs in 2015, with EUR129.3 billion (USD143.5 billion) worth of transactions announced during the year, according to Towers Watson’s latest Insurance M&A Annual Report.
The reports says that this surge reflects a number of macro themes, including the continued availability both of cash on balance sheets and affordable capital in a post-financial crisis environment. Underlying these, there are some emerging themes that have been identified from our survey results:
The drive for top-line growth. Almost half of the insurers doing deals were seeking to enhance their market position and increase
Northleaf Venture Catalyst Fund (NVCF) has made commitments totalling USD30 million to two leading Canadian venture capital funds: iNovia Investment Fund 2015 and Information Venture Partners II.
These recent commitments are in addition to the commitments that NVCF has already made to a number of other top Canada-based/focused venture fund managers (including Georgian Partners, XPV Water Partners, Golden Venture Partners, VersionOne Ventures, Versant Ventures and Relay Ventures) and a number of direct co-investments in innovative, high-growth Canadian companies (including Wattpad, Silanis, eSentire, Vision Critical, FreshBooks, Scribble Technologies and Zymeworks).
“We are very pleased to be a lead investor in
Private equity firm Monomoy Capital Partners’ portfolio company, Katun Corporation has completed a successful USD52 million recapitalisation with HSBC and Comvest Capital.
The proceeds of the recapitalisation were used to repay Katun’s existing debt and to pay a substantial dividend to Katun’s shareholders.
Katun is one of the world’s leading providers of OEM-compatible imaging supplies, toner, photoreceptors, and parts for copiers, printers, and other imaging equipment. Today’s dividend returns all of Monomoy’s investment plus a substantial profit for Katun’s shareholders. Following the recapitalisation, Katun remains conservatively capitalised with the continued support of Monomoy, a private equity firm with over
Alternative assets fund managers hold a record USD7.4 trillion in combined assets under management (AUM) in 2015, up from USD6.9 trillion a year before, according to Preqin’s 2016 Global Alternatives Reports.
The private capital industry in particular has grown over the past year, as almost every constituent asset class saw its AUM increase. The industry as a whole added USD193 billion in AUM through H1 2015, more than the USD149 billion growth seen in the whole of 2014. The aggregate value of the portfolios of assets held by private capital fund managers is continuing to rise as GPs put more
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12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
