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AcordIQ, a specialist in automated Waterfall administration software and services for private equity fund managers and administrators, has announced a new cloud-based Waterfall verification shadow service.Waterfall calculations and associated fund administration tasks are one of the most important yet complex areas in private equity fund administration. Having an independent verification from a trusted source is a vital step for managers as they are all trying to keep pace through these extraordinary times with increased investor concern of their investments and regulatory scrutiny. Errors are quite common with the use of Excel and as a result, can often lead to operational
Northumberland-based transport management software provider Mandata has acquired the UK’s largest online haulage and freight exchange, Returnloads.net, for an undisclosed sum. The transaction was funded by LDC, the UK’s leading mid-market private equity investor. Debt facilities were provided by Santander.
Led by CEO Chris Rigg, Mandata designs and develops software that allows road transport operators to manage workflow and data more effectively. The acquisition of Returnloads.net will expand the firm’s customer base and breadth of digital services. It will also help Mandata’s customers win more work and drive further visibility and productivity through their own businesses and supply chains.
Oxford Capital’s portfolio company UltraSoc Technologies Ltd is to be acquired by Siemens. Cambridge-based UltraSoc is a provider of instrumentation and analytics solutions that puts intelligent monitoring, cybersecurity and functional safety capabilities into the core hardware of systems-on-chip (SoC). Siemens will integrate UltraSoc’s technology into the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio as part of Mentor’s Tessent product suite.
David Mott, Founder Partner at Oxford Capital, says: “We are delighted to have supported another deep-tech success story, and our second deep-tech exit in the space of 6 months, following the recent sale of Latent Logic to Waymo. Despite the Covid-19 crisis, international companies
Private equity investment trusts, which are traded on a stock market in the same way as listed company shares, can be used to address many of the challenges faced by retail investors looking to allocate to the asset class.New research published by Pantheon finds that incorporating listed private equity in the form of investment trusts into a private wealth asset allocation has historically demonstrated potential to improve returns and risk-adjusted performance for private wealth portfolios.
The authors of the paper, Mind the Allocation Gap, created a hypothetical benchmark alternative assets portfolio comprising equal allocations to gold, hedge funds and
BGF has invested in Bayfields Opticians and Audiologists. The investment will be used to support the independent opticians and audiologists group’s organic growth – including further roll-out of its audiology services – as well as its acquisition strategy to double the number of sites over the next four years.Royston Bayfield, founder and CEO of Bayfields Opticians and Audiologists, says: “In the last 15 years, the Bayfields group has grown exceptionally well, whilst keeping front of mind our values, our local relationships with clients and our high-quality expertise through our expanding team of optometry and audiology specialists.
“The deal completed in
GCA Altium, the European arm of global investment bank GCA, has seen significant appetite for cross-border deals since the UK went into lockdown on 23 March, challenging uncertainty surrounding global M&A markets during the Covid-19 pandemic.Globally, the business has signed 41 deals, more than half (21) of which have been led by the European team. Just under 50 per cent of these deals had a cross-border element and 10 of the transactions involved private equity, despite market predictions that this type of activity would be put on hold.
The majority of activity has been centred around the technology and
IW Capital has completed a GBP10 million investment round for Transcend Packaging, a specialist in sustainable packaging which is targeting the replacement of single-use plastics by making in demand paper and fibre-based alternatives. Transcend utilises state of the art digital printing and specialty coating technology allowing paper straws, cups, and food containers to fully replace their plastic counterparts. Since its founding, the company has seen significant growth and partnerships with leading consumer brands such as McDonald’s, KFC and Starbucks.
This lower mid-market investment from private equity firm IW Capital will be used to accelerate the Company’s expansion plan into new product categories
The African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (AVCA), the pan-African industry association which promotes and enables private investment in Africa, has released its inaugural report on VC, entitled Venture Capital in Africa: Mapping Africa’s Start-up Investment Landscape.The report analyses the exponential growth of VC in Africa over the 2014-2019 period, focusing on deal trends. Despite the relative infancy of the VC ecosystem across the continent, the sector has attracted significant international investment while local VC firms and innovation hubs have also expanded considerably.
Between 2014 and 2019, 613 VC deals were reported in Africa with a total value
MSQ Partners, an international marketing communications group, is to buy the Be Heard Partnership (LSE: BHRD) and three of its agencies (MMT Digital, Freemavens and Agenda21), subject to shareholder approval. Be Heard has agreed to sell its creative agency, The Corner, back to its management team ahead of the transaction concluding, again subject to shareholder approval.The deal values Be Heard’s equity at around GBP6.2 million and would create a combined group with over 750 staff in the UK, Asia and the USA and be led by MSQ’s CEO Peter Reid. MSQ is backed by LDC, the established UK private equity
eQ Asset Management has on 22 June 2020 closed eQ PE XII North at EUR190 million. Fund raising was launched in January 2020. As eQ’s previous Northern European focused fund raised EUR175 million in 2018, the new fund is eQ’s biggest North Europe fund so far. In addition, eQ has started investing four private equity separate accounts during the first half of 2020.
eQ PE XII North makes commitments to funds investing in unlisted, lower midmarket growth companies operating in Northern Europe. Further, the fund will commit 2/3 of its commitments to new primary funds and 1/3 of its commitments to
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