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Female start-up founders are missing out on billions of pounds of investment, according to the UK VC & Female Founders report, which reveals that for every GBP1 of venture capital (VC) investment in the UK, all-female founder teams get less than 1p. By comparison, all-male founder teams get 89p and mixed-gender teams get the remaining 10p.   The research, commissioned by Chancellor Philip Hammond at Budget 2017 and undertaken by the British Business Bank, together with Diversity VC and BVCA, identifies specific barriers faced by female-led firms in accessing venture capital. It will help inform ongoing government work to tackle
Vala Capital, a UK venture capital firm, is looking to shake-up fees in the EIS industry with the launch of its new EIS fund.   Vala Capital says the fund’s fee structure means investors will not pay any initial fees, annual management charges (AMC) or administrative, audit or custodian costs. The only expense charged directly to them will be a 20 per cent performance fee on profitable exits.   The investee companies themselves will cover ongoing administration costs through a one-off 6 per cent fee on cash invested.   Jasper Smith, Chairman of Vala Capital, says: “All three of the
Mid Europa portfolio company Hortex, a consumer business in Poland active in frozen and juice categories, is to acquire Jurajska. The transaction is subject to anti-trust clearance and is expected to close in Q1 2019.   Jurajska is an independent player in branded natural and flavoured mineral water in Poland. Jurajska water originates from a deep, geologically isolated source in the ecologically clean and protected region of Polish Jura, which results in unique characteristics – pristine purity, balanced and stable mineral composition rich in calcium and magnesium and low in sodium.   Paweł Padusiński, Partner and Co-Head of Mid Europa’s
Alternative investment managers have become increasingly active investors in the aircraft leasing industry as they seek to deploy capital into a growing sector that could provide attractive investment returns.   However, Fitch Ratings notes that the typically fixed-life nature of private equity ownership can increase long-term strategic and financial uncertainty for owned aircraft lessors while the business’s cyclicality and sensitivity to exogenous shocks exposes sponsors to heightened execution risk surrounding investment realisation.   Investing in aircraft leasing is not a new concept for alternative investment managers and, in fact, many of the largest aircraft lessors today were at one time
Duke Royalty Limited, a provider of alternative capital solutions to a diversified range of profitable and long-established businesses in Europe and abroad, has acquired Capital Step Holdings Limited and Capital Step Investments Limited (Capital Step). The acquisition more than doubles Duke’s royalty portfolio, increasing the Company’s core investments from five to eleven and thereby significantly accelerating the company’s growth plans and providing portfolio diversification benefits.   The new Royalty Partners are in a range of diversified industry sectors, including new investment sectors such as telecommunication services, media, recruitment, insurance broking and technology solutions.   The acquisition creates an implied enterprise
Tyler Technologies is to acquire Arlington Capital Partners’ portfolio company MicroPact, a provider of specialised, verticall- oriented case management and business process management (BPM) applications for government. Founded in 1997 by CEO Kristoffer Collo, MicroPact was formerly known as MicroPact Engineering, and since 2012 has operated as MicroPact through several affiliated entities. Arlington Capital originally acquired Iron Data Solutions, LLC in 2011 which was combined with MicroPact in 2015.   “We are very happy to join forces with Tyler Technologies, the clear leader in public sector software technology with an outstanding company culture focused on excellence in all things, including
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Global investor services provider SGG Group has appointed Serge Krancenblum to the new position of Group Executive Chairman and chair of the Group’s Supervisory Board and Mark Pesco as its new Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Both appointments are subject to regulatory approval.   Under Krancenblum’s leadership SGG Group has become the fourth largest independent investor services firm in the world, with the required scale and industry expertise across all segments.   As Group Executive Chairman, Krancenblum will chair the Supervisory Board of the Group and act as an adviser and a trusted mentor to Pesco, sharing experience, know-how and network.
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Eiger Advisors, a UK-regulated business assisting alternative and traditional asset management businesses, and Investeam, an established Paris-based third-party manager, have announced a new commercial partnership. It will support UK-based fund managers wishing to access the French, Luxembourg and Belgium institutional investors, and French, Luxembourg and Belgium-based fund managers wishing to reach British institutional investors.   These are cross-border markets that to date have not achieved the expected levels of penetration, particularly when considering the quality and performance of the fund managers in the respective countries and the size and diversification of the respective investment markets.   Eiger Advisors is a
London law firm Joelson has advised intelligent aircraft solutions specialist ADB Safegate on its successful acquisition of Ultra Airport Systems, a global provider of airport software solutions. The transaction will strengthen ADB Safegate’s data analytics capabilities and drive the provider’s transformation in becoming a Total Airport Management (TAM) solutions provider. With air traffic doubling every 15 years, the need for aircraft solution providers to use existing infrastructure more efficiently is growing. Achieving TAM status will allow ADB Safegate to operate as a performance-based provider, achieving greater integration of systems across the airports it serves.   The acquisition will enable ADB
International law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) has appointed Simon Beddow as the firm’s new Corporate Deputy Departmental Managing Partner. Beddow will be based in BCLP’s London office. A highly experienced and respected M&A and corporate finance lawyer, with extensive management experience and a long track record of winning business, Beddow is recognised as a leading individual for M&A by the Legal 500 USD250 million and above.   Beddow joins the firm from Ashurst where he was Managing Partner of their London office. During his more than 20 years as a partner at Ashurst, he also held a number of

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