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With interest in infrastructure investing increasing significantly in recent years, AMP Capital’s David Rees explains how asset managers are looking to new technology to bring PE-like rigour to the sector and add value for investors…
The McKinsey Global Private Markets Review 2019 (Private markets come of age) notes that infrastructure expanded ‘appreciably’ in 2018 and is part of a secular trend that has seen public and private spending grow 4.2 per cent annualised in recent years.
The telecommunications sector, in particular, enjoyed record growth in 2018, attracting approximately USD11 billion in global net equity inflows according to Infrastructure Investor.
Against this encouraging
UK-based videogame publisher Outright Games has signed a deal with specialist financier ExWorks Capital in order to support its expansion aims.
The funding will contribute towards Outright Games’ growth ambitions, helping to further their plans for global expansion and welcoming a host of exciting new partners. Founded in 2016, Outright Games works alongside some of the biggest entertainment companies in the world to deliver interactive games across all major platforms – including Xbox One, Playstation® 4 and Nintendo Switch.
With a global distribution network that covers multiple countries, Outright Games has launched titles from popular family entertainment franchises including How
Crypta Labs has completed a GBP2.7 million (USD3.4m) funding round led by Bloc Ventures and includes GBP1,000,000 (USD1.3m) debt finance from Innovate UK.
Crypta Labs is a quantum cybersecurity company which develops IP, hardware and related software using the quantum properties of light to secure highly critical data and communication devices embedded in critical infrastructure for the aerospace, communication, medical, military, and transport sectors.
The investment will allow Crypta Labs to further the development of its Quantum Random Number Generation (QRNG) IP portfolio and to bring to market the first Quantum-enabled Hardware Security Module (QHSM) ensuring critical infrastructure remains secure
Digital Assets Data, a financial technology and data company focused on the burgeoning cryptoasset industry, has closed its first equity funding round, led by North Island, the investment firm of prominent technology investor and Silver Lake co-founder Glenn Hutchins, along with his son, James Hutchins.
After launching the Digital Assets Data platform with a USD6 million raise in its seed round earlier this year, this new injection of capital is an extension to the seed foundation and brings the total funds raised by the company to USD9.2 million.
The Digital Assets Data platform provides asset managers and other market participants
Following participation in the FCA’s Sandbox initiative in 2018/2019, SquareBook has received regulatory authorisation under Article 25 (2) of the Regulated Activities Order to ‘make arrangements with a view to transactions in investments’.
The FCA approval enables SquareBook to provide new services in the Initial Public Offering (IPO) process to benefit firms looking to go public.
SquareBook is specifically designed to remove the conflicts of interest inherent in the current book building process – conflicts which affect decisions about who receives allocations of shares and which can also distort the pricing of shares.
Despite the attention generated by mega-deals such as
Deepbridge Capital has appointed two new Business Development Managers (BDMs) covering both the North West and North East regions.
Donna Battersby joins Deepbridge as BDM for the North West. Don Battersby na worked most recently within the tax-efficient investment space with Ingenious, following two decades of financial services experience with the likes of NatWest, Zurich and Aegon.
Matt Nelson joins as BDM for the North East. Nelson has previously worked with Deepbridge as an independent consultant but now joins the team in a full-time role. Matt’s previous experience includes roles with companies such as AXALife Invest and Ascentric.
Both will
Macfarlanes has advised a fund managed by secondary private equity firm Glendower Capital on the acquisition of a circa 40 per cent stake in the famous London department store Liberty in a deal valuing the business at around GBP300 million.
Liberty, which was founded in 1875, is a world-renowned store focusing on luxury items such as fabrics, jewellery and perfume.
Glendower Capital is leading the private equity-led consortium purchasing this stake from Bluegem Capital who invested in Liberty in 2010.
The Macfarlanes team was led by corporate and M&A partners Luke Powell and Stephen Pike with assistance from senior
Keensight Capital is to acquire a majority stake in Smile, a European specialist in digital and open source.
Keensight Capital, which has built a strong partnership with Smile over the years having first invested in the company from 2013 to 2017, will replace Eurazeo PME as majority shareholder. Eurazeo PME will also be reinvesting in the company, alongside the management team and the employees.
Founded in 1991, Smile has been a technology pioneer and is now the European market leader in digital based projects on open source technologies. The company combines technical and business expertise in areas ranging from digital technology,
Eurazeo has held the final closing of the EUR2.5 billion Eurazeo Capital IV investment programme, with Investment partners providing circa EUR700 million in funds, close to 40 per cent more than for the previous fund, Eurazeo Capital III.
In line with previous programmes, Eurazeo Capital IV enables Eurazeo to invest in mid-cap companies with strong growth potential both in Europe and the United States. Under this programme, Eurazeo Capital has already completed major investments in Europe (Iberchem, Albingia and DORC) as well as in the United States (Trader Interactive and Worldstrides).
This fundraising was subscribed by blue-chip international institutional
Mid-market private equity firm Equistone Partners Europe (Equistone) is to acquire Heras, a Netherlands-based provider of perimeter protection solutions.
The company’s management team will also acquire a minority stake in the business. Heras will continue to be led by Gilles Rabot, who joined the business in 2015. The financial terms of the transaction are undisclosed and the acquisition remains subject to clearance from the relevant competition authorities.
Founded in 1952, Heras provides mobile and permanent perimeter protection systems and products including fencing systems, manual and automated gates, hostile vehicle mitigation barriers and electronic perimeter detection products.
The company’s
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