Managers
Venture capital investor Albion Ventures has launched the Albion VCTs Top Up Offers which are seeking to raise up to GBP25.5 million across its six venture capital trusts (VCTs).
The Offers are targeting a monthly tax-free income of around 6% (should investors choose to invest equally across all Offers), equivalent to approximately 8.5% on the net cost of investment after up-front tax relief at 30%. Investors in the Offers also have the option to boost their capital growth by participating in the dividend reinvestment scheme (“DRIS”), under which dividends are reinvested in the form of new shares in the Albion
US private equity firms and their funds have grown investments in the life insurance sector over the past several years, says Fitch Ratings.
However, that growth is expected to moderate as the high-value opportunities in the sector that manifested themselves the aftermath of the financial crisis have largely dried up. Heightened scrutiny by state insurance regulators will also be a headwind on private equity's further penetration in the life sector, at least over the short term.
Private equity's expansion into the life sector has helped certain European and Canadian insurers in their efforts to exit or pull back from the
MarketNet Services, a client of Mergers & Acquisition advisor Generational Equity, has been acquired by a Private Investor.
MarketNet Services provides specialty sales lead processing, nurturing, and management services. MarketNet helps its client's manage their sales leads using its proprietary web-base platform and marketing automation tools. The Company's proprietary web-base platform collects and scores sales leads and then distributes specific lead to the respective sales organisations.
Managing Director Doug Smith and his team, including affiliate Jim Hines and Vice President Musa Jagne, led the Generational Equity deal team that advised MarketNet Services on the transaction.
Increased infrastructure investment would drive economic growth and bolster the UK's competitiveness, according to Standard & Poor’s.
Standard & Poor’s currently expects real GDP to grow by 2%-3% per year over the next several years – yet it estimates that each additional GBP1 spent on infrastructure in one year (in real terms) would lift real GDP by GBP1.90 over a three-year period. It also projects a strong effect on job creation, with each extra 1% of GDP spent on infrastructure adding over 200,000 jobs in that year.
“The benefits of infrastructure investment do not stop at the short-term boost
Although much maligned for sub-par performance since the dot-com crash, venture capital returns for more recent funds have picked up significantly – one-year horizon returns are among the best in the entire private equity industry. Preqin’s latest special report examines the drivers of this recent success, and uncovers the impact of improved performance on LP attitudes towards the asset class and the prospects for future fundraising.
Following a rapid reversal of fortunes at the turn of the millennium, the venture capital industry has experienced largely lacklustre returns which have led to tough fundraising conditions for all but a select group
By Adrian Jones (pictured) corporate partner, and Roger Clarke, banking and finance partner, at law firm Trowers & Hamlins – Distressed loan portfolios secured by property assets have proved an attractive investment class for private equity investors. In its June 2014 Financial Stability Report[1] the Bank of England noted that UK banks non-performing loans stood at around GBP165 billion in 2013. It is perhaps unlikely that the level of non-performing loans will decline significantly once interest rates start to rise and more bank borrowers fall into default and therefore the supply looks likely to continue for some time.
Why buy such assets?
Over a period of three years to March 2014, venture capital funds have produced average returns of 12.7%, on par with the “All Private Equity” benchmark over the same period, according to research by Preqin.
More capital was invested in companies by venture capital firms in Q2 2014 than in any other quarter, with USD23bn of funding across the quarter.
USD38bn has been raised by 220 venture capital funds reaching a final close in 2014 YTD (as at 14 October), already surpassing the USD31bn raised by 274 funds that closed in 2013.
More than half (56%) of venture
Kensington Capital Partners (Kensington) has launched the Kensington Venture Fund with an initial closing of investor commitments totalling CAD160 million.
This marks the next step in the Government of Canada's Venture Capital Action Plan (VCAP).
This new fund of funds will invest in promising VC funds and companies in the technology, cleantech, IT, telecommunications, and digital media sectors. The announcement will occur at the Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX) today in Toronto.
Following an exhaustive review process, Kensington was selected to managethis large scale fund of funds. Kensington was chosen because of its financial performance in venture capital, the strength of
Bain Capital is combining three of its fresh food portfolio businesses – M&J Seafood, Pauleys and Wild Harvest – to form a new company, Fresh Direct.
The new company will be jointly owned by Bain Capital & Nigel Harris. Current Fresh Direct owners, Nigel & Colin Harris will continue to take an active role in the future success of the New Company.
The new Company will create an "all-in-one" fresh food destination for chefs and caterers, for their produce, fish and seafood, meat and exclusive fine dining product requirements.
The New Company and management team will be led
ArchOver, a FinTech company offering secured and insured loans to investors, has formed a partnership with online private shares marketplace, Asset Match to provide a secondary marketplace for its loans.
This is the first time Asset Match has partnered with a crowdlender.
ArchOver’s CEO, Angus Dent, says: “We believe that the loans we offer are the safest on the Internet worldwide; certainly, they are as close to zero risk as we can make them but none of us know when we might need access to money we have saved. Our partnership with Asset Match gives our lenders the potential
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