Managers
Private equity firm Keensight Capital has completed the final closing of its new fund, Keensight IV, for EUR250 million.
Jean-Michel Beghin, managing partner at Keensight Capital, says: “The fact that Keensight IV reached its hard cap in less than six months and was significantly oversubscribed, demonstrates the relevance and attractiveness of our investment strategy based on creating value through the strong growth of profitable European companies. We are proud of the continued confidence of our historical investors, such as the Rothschild group, Bpifrance, the Banque Cantonale de Genève, and the EIF, while also welcoming around ten new European investors, including
Quantum Capital Partners, founded by turnaround specialist Steffen Görig, has held a first and final close for its inaugural private equity fund after less than nine months of fundraising.
The limited partners of the oversubscribed EUR55 million Quantum Opportunity Fund are a select group of US and European institutional investors. The Quantum team members have also made a significant personal commitment to the fund.
Based in Munich, Quantum Capital Partners invests in underperforming companies in a broad spectrum of industries, offering turnaround finance as well as operational support. Managing its own capital since 2008, Quantum has built a strong
UK peer-to-peer (P2P) lender RateSetter forged ahead in September, matching over GBP30m in loans.
The figure was the largest amount ever lent in a single month by any UK P2P lender, and continued a run of new record volumes for each of the last five months. This has helped RateSetter to secure the highest market share (19 per cent) of the platforms over the last three months.
Some GBP8m of this was in the first week of September alone. This compares with GBP7.4m lent in the first 12 months of operation.
Although P2P lending is a relatively recent
Dragon Capital Group, a Vietnam-based private equity fund management company, has made a partial exit from Vinamilk, the biggest dairy company in Vietnam.
Dragon Capital has realised part of the gains in its flagship holding with a 7x return.
“Vinamilk has performed exceptionally for both VEIL and VGF,” says VEIL portfolio manager Vu Huu Dien. “From an initial position of 10 per cent in both funds, Vinamilk has grew to over 33 per cent of VEIL and 40 per cent of VGF. Both funds have sold down several times, but Vinamik still accounts for over 15 per cent in
Tungsten Corporation, the global electronic trading network, has acquired DocuSphere, a provider of accounts payable automation solutions.
The acquisition, which was completed in September 2014, extends Tungsten’s invoice-automation technologies to help companies streamline their accounts payable functions, adhere to tax and regulatory compliance, and have greater transparency of the entire invoice-to-pay process.
The combined firm will enable companies to reduce invoice exceptions and increase straight-through processing.
Rick Hurwitz, CEO, Americas, Tungsten Network, says: “As a result of this acquisition, DocuSphere customers will gain access to Tungsten’s e-Invoicing network, Tungsten’s existing clients will benefit from an even more secure, smart
Mid-market private equity firm ECI Partners has sold portfolio company XLN Business Services to XLN’s management team, financed by vehicles managed or advised by GSO Capital Partners.
XLN was the first investment from ECI’s Fund 9 in September 2010 and this exit has yielded ECI a 3x return on its investment.
During ECI’s period of investment XLN made two bolt-on acquisitions: acquiring Card Processing Solutions (to provide a credit and debit card processing service to its customer base) and Shine Telecom (a smaller provider of fixed line telecoms to small businesses).
Frank McKay, former CEO of Travis Perkins
Hargreave Hale has announced a new offer for subscription to raise GBP20 million into Hargreave Hale AIM VCT 1 plc and Hargreave Hale AIM VCT 2 plc.
Launched in 2004, the Hargreave Hale AIM VCTs, which are co-managed by Giles Hargreave and Oliver Bedford, offer investors access to a diversified portfolio of small companies listed on AIM, with a competitive share buyback policy.
The VCTs target a tax free income of five per cent and offer investors an upfront tax relief of 30 per cent, providing sufficient income tax is paid and the shares are held for at least
Preqin evaluates investor appetite for liquid alternatives and managed account structures, and examines the reasons behind investors’ growing interest in these specialized structures, based on the results of surveys with 100 institutional investors in hedge funds and 150 hedge fund managers.
In recent years, demand for greater liquidity and transparency among institutional investors has led to growing appetite for liquid alternatives and managed account structures.
These fund structures offer investors an alternative to pooled hedge fund investments and help to make hedge fund strategies accessible to different investor groups which may have previously been unable to invest in the asset
Hampleton Partners has acted as financial advisor to the shareholders of Profit Software Oy on the sale of the company to Via Ventures Partners, Finnish Industry Investment Ltd and the company’s management team.
Profit Software delivers enterprise software solutions that allow insurers to manage all their services, business lines and processes.
The Finland headquartered company has operations in six northern European countries installing its applications on premise or as SaaS implementations.
“It was a pleasure working with Hampleton Partners. From beginning to end, they managed every aspect of the process and brought together the optimal transaction for all
Cushman & Wakefield and Spire Ventures have formed a strategic partnership with Pi Labs, Europe’s first property-focused technology accelerator company.
Founded by Faisal Butt (founder and CEO of Spire Ventures) and Umesh Kumar (former Techstars and Oxygen Associate) Pi Labs was created to assist start-ups focused on property and technology innovation.
The programme will accelerate the growth of these companies by providing them with access to investment, mentoring and business space.
From October 2014, property start-ups will be able to apply to join the Pi Labs accelerator programme which will be located within ‘Second Home’, a new 20,000
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12 November, 2026 – 8:00 am
12 November, 2026 – 5:00 pm
