Managers
Funds advised by CVC Capital Partners are to acquire Douglas AG (Douglas) from a holding jointly held by Advent International (Advent) and the Kreke family. The purchase price has not been disclosed.
The Kreke family has furthermore agreed with CVC to reinvest in Douglas AG through a joint holding company owned by CVC and the Kreke family. Dr Henning Kreke will continue to serve as CEO of Douglas.
Kreke says: “Over the past two years, Douglas has become the largest specialist beauty retailer in Europe. It is renowned for its clear customer focus, an innovative product portfolio and an impressive
BGF (Business Growth Fund) is launching the largest ever venture capital fund dedicated to earlier stage UK technology companies. The GBP200m fund will be run by a new, dedicated team based in London and will open for business in autumn 2015.
The initial team will be Rory Stirling and Harry Briggs, both of whom bring extensive venture experience from MMC Ventures and Balderton Capital respectively, and Simon Calver, former chief executive of LOVEFiLM. BGF will provide £200m of investable capital as well as support from its established regional platform, meaning the team can focus on investing in Britain’s best entrepreneurial
Neuberger Berman has formed a strategic partnership with Intesa Sanpaolo to pursue direct investments in Italian companies.
As part of this cooperation, Marco Cerrina Feroni and Fabio Canè, who previously led Intesa Sanpaolo’s merchant banking and private equity operations, and several members of their team, have joined Neuberger Berman together with Stefano Bontempelli, a former Managing Director at Neuberger Berman’s European Private Equity business who has rejoined the firm. The three senior partners and their team will continue to be based in Milan and they will be part of the global Private Equity Division headed by Anthony Tutrone, Global Head
The FiveTen Group has accepted an offer from ManpowerGroup Australia for its Australian and Singaporean recruitment business.
The FiveTen Group comprises five specialist recruitment brands – Antal Russia, EMR (Marketing, Digital & Communications), Laurence Simons (Legal & Compliance), Marks Sattin (Accountancy & Finance) and Greythorn (Technology).
The sale primarily includes its Greythorn operations across Australia – in Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney – as well as the Singapore business.
Mark Carriban, CEO, FiveTen Group, says: “The sale largely comprises our Greythorn technology recruitment business across Australia and Singapore, which addresses differing technology markets, and clients, than our remaining Greythorn
Begbies Traynor Group has launched BTG Global Advisory, an international alliance of independent insolvency, restructuring and financial advisory firms operating in key jurisdictions across the globe.
BTG Global Advisory advises leading banks, law firms, private equity and other funds, creditor committees, operating companies and other parties affected by distress, and has a particular focus on North America, Europe, Asia and Australasia. However full global coverage is assured via a comprehensive network of associate members.
The new alliance builds on the Group’s international network with a new structure, a new set of business objectives and the establishment of a core
ACG Capital has held the final closing of its FPCI Acto Mezzanine II, reaching EUR210 million, surpassing the initial target of EUR200 million.
The fund gathers equal proportions of existing investors and new partners building an investor base, comprising primarily institutions (insurance companies, funds of funds, banks), but also family offices and HNWI.
With six investment professionals, the ActoMezz team will pursue the strategy successfully initiated in 2007, which consists in supporting French SMEs willing to reinforce the equity structure, and in backing management teams wishing to enhance their capital stake. Acto Mezzanine II will invest EUR5m to EUR45m in
The current year is on track to be the best year for M&A ever. Since the beginning of the year, global M&A volumes have reached USD1800bn according to Bloomberg, the best first five months in twenty years. Such figures include announced, pending and completed deals and are thus subject to revisions. Overall, US deals dominate, accounting for 45 per cent of M&A activity year to date and in terms of sectors, health care is leading, followed by financials and communications.
By James Williams – Sovereign Wealth Funds are showing a lot of appetite for real estate assets as total AUM in this segment of the alternative funds space continues to build and investors look to diversify their portfolios.
North America remains the most favoured region, with 59 per cent of SWFs allocating to that market; down from 72 per cent in 2013 according to the latest research by Preqin in its 2015 Preqin Sovereign Wealth Fund Review.
Indeed, 57 per cent prefer a global approach, broadening out their portfolios to include trophy real estate assets as well as exposure to private
Following on from last week’s extract from the Preqin Hedge Fund Spotlight | May 2015, which focused on the largest hedge fund managers in the industry, Simon Dhadwal takes an in-depth look at the ‘USD1bn Club’ of institutional investors allocating at least USD1bn to hedge funds, including the significance of this group, investment preferences and new entrants to the Club.
The past 12 months have seen mediocre performance generated by the industry as a whole and a handful of high-profile pension funds publicly announced their intention to scale back their hedge fund allocations. Nevertheless, assets under management (AUM) across
Altor Fund IV and Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division partner are to acquire a majority stake in Hamlet Protein from Polaris Private Equity and the founder of the company, Ole K Hansen.
Hamlet Protein is a global provider of soy-based protein solutions used in high value-add animal feed for young animals. The company services more than 50 countries from its two production facilities in Horsens, Denmark and Findlay, Ohio.
“This is another important milestone for Hamlet Protein and we are very excited about our new partnership with Altor and Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division,” says Søren Munch,
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
