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New McKinsey research has shown private equity operating groups are playing a vital role in responding to the challenges created by Covid-19.Operating groups are employed by private equity firms to provide strategic direction and support to portfolio companies.
For PE firms, which often own businesses in multiple industries and geographies, the pandemic has meant there are complex decisions to be made, as they strive to safeguard employees, customers, and their companies.
Over April, McKinsey interviewed 12 heads of portfolio company operating groups at leading private equity firms and institutional investors across Asia, Europe, and North America. The picture that emerges
YFM Equity Partners has hired David Wrench as an investment director, as it continues to expand its investment team.Wrench is joining the team to invest in growth capital and buyout opportunities, and his appointment follows the recent raising of a new GBP80 million YFM buyout fund, the investment to support the buyout of Worcestershire-based Innovative Safety Systems, and the recent trade sale of Business Collaborator in Reading.
Wrench joins YFM from BDO, where he was managing director in the firm’s Reading office and focused on advising growing businesses in the UK lower mid-market. He led various transactions whilst at BDO
Taxfix, a digital tax app aimed at simplifying the process of filing a tax return, has raised USD65 million in a Series C round from investors including Index Ventures and Creandum.
The company will use the funds to grow its 200-strong team by another 100 people, as it broadens its range of products and expands into new countries later this year, including its operations in Europe.
The round was led by Index Ventures, with partner Neil Rimer joining the Taxfix board. Existing investors Valar Ventures, Creandum and Redalpine also participated in the round.
Taxfix was founded in 2016 in Berlin by Mathis Büchi
Fortino Capital Partners has held a first close on EUR45 million for the successor of its first VC-fund, Fortino Capital Venture II.
The fund, which will be focussing on early stage European software and tech companies with a regional bias to the Benelux, has a target size of EUR80 million. Including this fund Fortino Capital Partners now has three funds in its portfolio.
“We are living through uncertain and tough times and as an investment company we would like to, more than ever, send out a sign of hope and trust to young entrepreneurs. With our new fund we would
SANNE has announced three new senior appointments, including the promotion of Jason Bingham from Managing Director of Product Development to Chief Strategy Officer.Read the full story at Hedgeweek…
Legal & General Capital (LGC) announces that it has taken a 36 per cent stake in The Kensa Group, one of the UK’s largest players in the ground source heat pump technology sector, as it scales up its investments in addressing decarbonisation. Complementing Legal & General’s existing clean energy investment portfolio, which now includes low carbon heat, transport and power generation, the deal follows Legal & General’s increased stake in Pod Point, one of the UK’s largest electric vehicle charging companies, alongside EDF. Investing in sub-scale industries that it can use its platform to grow rapidly in the post-crisis period, the
BlackRock has held the final close of Global Energy & Power Infrastructure Fund III (GEPIF III) at USD5.1 billion, making it the largest alternative investment fundraise in BlackRock history. The final close value also exceeded both the original Fund target of USD3.5 billion and the original hard cap of USD4.5 billion.
“This milestone is a testament to BlackRock’s focus on helping clients achieve better investment outcomes,” says Edwin Conway, Global Head of BlackRock Alternative Investors. “Investors are looking to build resilience into their portfolios and ballast against equity market shocks by increasing their allocations to less correlated exposures in private markets.
Arbour Lane Capital Management, a private registered investment adviser focused primarily on opportunistic credit and special situation investments, has held the final closing of Arbour Lane Credit Opportunity Fund II at its hard cap of USD1.2 billion in capital commitments, exceeding its initial target of USD750 million.The Fund focuses on secured bank loans in mid-size structures and out of favor investments at the top of the capital structure, primarily senior secured debt and/or other first lien securities.
Arbour Lane’s management team has experience of credit investing and managing risk for over 20 years.
Cathay Capital has appointed Ricky Roman as a Vice President in the firm’s North American Private Equity team in New York.Reporting to Mark Woods, Partner and Head of North American Private Equity, Roman will be an integral part of the New York team, helping North American companies grow in their home markets and globalise by expanding their reach into China and Europe.
Prior to his masters, Roman was a Senior Associate at Wexford Capital LP, an opportunistic fund manager focused on direct middle-market private equity and public equity investments. While at Wexford, he closed a number of platform and growth equity
Growth-equity investment firm Edison Partners has completed the sale of Clearpool Group, a New York-based electronic trading provider and independent agency broker-dealer, to BMO Financial Group. The deal is Edison’s third institutional fintech exit to a strategic buyer this year, which also includes the sale of Scivantage to Refinitiv and Solovis to Nasdaq, and is the second portfolio company exit between Edison and Clearpool CEO Joe Wald.
The acquisition of Clearpool is set to deliver new capabilities to BMO’s electronic trading platform, as the nature of equity trading continues to move online. Clearpool will remain a separate brand under BMO and
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