Managers
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
Carey Olsen has advised the Scott family on the sale of its privately-owned car dealership to an investor grouping led by Guernsey-based investment fund Bailiwick Investments Limited.
The deal, which is subject to approval by the Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority and the Jersey Financial Services Commission, includes the sale of the Jacksons and Motor Mall car dealerships in Guernsey and Jersey, St Martin's Tyres in Guernsey, Trinity Tyres in Jersey as well as the Jacksons CI group's other assets for a total consideration of GBP41.7 million.
The Scott family will retain an interest in the group with Tom Scott
Preqin examines the recent surge in European fundraising, including the growth of debt and distressed strategies and the increasing flow of international capital into the region.
European fundraising has improved dramatically over the last year, reflecting growing investor appetite for the region. Almost 90% of Europe-based fund managers believe that investor appetite has increased over the past year, with none stating they have seen a decrease in appetite. This has led to a large amount of capital focusing on Europe, and while transaction volumes are up, pricing is becoming competitive and it is now harder to find attractively priced assets,
Cabot Square Capital, the specialist financial services private equity investor, has acquired Blue Motor Finance, the car finance provider.
Blue Motor Finance will offer auto finance backed by equity investment from Cabot Square Capital and a newGBP200 million long term funding facility provided by a major international bank. The company has agreements with fifteen major dealer networks and brokers that will use Blue Motor Finance’s funding and plans on significantly expanding its introducer relationships in the coming months.
Blue Motor Finance will offer funding across the entire UK prime auto finance market, giving both dealerships and consumers a major
Mid-market private equity firm LDC has completed the sale of its stake in the UK’s leading average speed enforcement business Vysionics, in a multi-million pound deal with JENOPTIK AG.
Headquartered in Frimley in Surrey, Vysionics provides automatic number plate recognition (“ANPR”) traffic enforcement, access management and information systems to a wide range of private and public sector organisations both here in the UK and overseas.
The business’ diverse customer base comprises strategic highway authorities, construction contractors, local authorities, parking contractors, rail authority and police forces, and its market-leading products and services include temporary and permanent average speed systems for road
Corporate finance house Convex Capital structured and led the multi million pound sale of the UK’s largest independent brands in sports nutrition, PhD Nutrition, to UK based B&B Investment Partners (B&B).
Neil Worsley, Andrew Clarke and Gareth Lewis who structured the deal that valued the business at 10x EBITDA and delivered 83% of the consideration on completion led the transaction; Senior VP, James Edge, and Managing Partner, Neil Worsley originated it.
The transaction underlines Convex Capital’s excellence in advising sports nutrition brands and further emphasises the team’s ability to find great partners for their clients. It continues Convex’s unprecedented run
Events
12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
