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Connect Managed Services (Connect) has announced record financial results for the year to December 2017 as the firm targets further growth.
The LDC-backed business, which specialises in customer experience (CX), and unified communications (UC) technologies and services, achieved total revenues of GBP21 million in its latest financial year, up from GBP13.3 million the previous year. Over the same period, total EBITDA increased by 77 per cent to GBP2.3 million from GBP1.3m in 2016.
Connect delivers 24/7 CX and UC environments for global businesses including BP and Johnson & Johnson. The business was backed by LDC in a multi-million-pound management
Capricorn Private Investments (CPI) has appointed Manoj Soni as Chief Investment Officer.
Manoj was formerly Managing Director and Head of Absolute Return and Credit at Partners Capital. CPI is the private investment office of the Capricorn Group, a family-owned global alternative asset manager.
Geoff Snelgar, Chairman of Capricorn, says; “The hiring of Manoj represents a key milestone in CPI’s growth. With Manoj’s arrival we are very well placed to execute CPI’s strategy of extending our offering to a select group of private investors with whom we are aligned in our goals, values and objectives.”
“With someone of Manoj’s calibre
Venture capital firm Greycroft has closed Greycroft V, its core early stage fund at USD250 million in capital commitments. With the formation of Greycroft V, the firm now manages USD1.3 billion.
In recent years Greycroft has been more aggressively investing in seed stage companies in addition to traditional Series A companies. To accommodate the increase in global deal flow, the firm has grown its investment team, which now numbers over 20 investment professionals between New York and Los Angeles.
“We’re seeing so much opportunity in the current market environment on both coasts where we’re uniquely positioned, but also everywhere
Alternative fund manager Abacus Capital’s Hogi Hyun is stepping into the crypto world to bring investors a blockchain and tokenised investment grade diamond investment opportunity.
Abacus was established in Singapore in 1996 and has some USD1 billion in assets in special situations and private equity investments in commodities, natural resources and mining. It also has a family office fund platform.
Hyun’s new venture, the D1 Coin, is based on the physical delivery of an initial 1,500 investment grade diamonds from Alrosa, the world’s largest diamond miner. The diamonds will be used to support the new asset-backed token D1 Coin.
Hyun
Atalaya Capital Management, a private credit and special opportunities alternative investment manager, has closed a USD250 million senior construction loan and a USD65 million preferred equity investment to finance Flag Luxury Group’s construction and development of The Ritz-Carlton’s new flagship hotel in New York City.
This project will be the first ground-up hotel construction in New York City completed by Flag, which has developed numerous world-class hotels and resorts, including four Ritz-Carlton properties in Florida.
We are excited to be working with Atalaya, who worked diligently to structure a creative and comprehensive capital solution to facilitate the development of
Black Bay Energy Capital has held the final closing of its inaugural private equity fund, Black Bay Energy, with total commitments of USD224 million, exceeding its USD200 million target.
Black Bay’s investors include endowments, foundations, private pensions, fund of funds and family offices. Black Bay invests in companies led by talented entrepreneurs offering proven, next-generation products and services that help improve the economics, efficiency and safety of oilfield operations. Black Bay focuses on investments requiring up to USD30 million of equity capital.
“We are incredibly thankful and humbled to be partnered with such a knowledgeable and supportive group of
Cathay Capital has held a first close for Cathay Midcap II at EUR600 million. The fund, which is targeting EUR1.2 billion is backed by Cathay’s historical cornerstone LPs, China Development Bank (CDB) and Bpifrance, and a mix of sovereign funds, institutional investors and family offices.
Cathay Midcap II is also the first fund invested by the China-EU Co-investment Fund program, which was established by the European Investment Fund and the Silk Road Fund for the purpose of developing synergies between the Investment Plan for Europe and China’s Belt and Road Initiative .
The Fund was officially launched at the
Ciena Corporation has acquired Packet Design, a provider of network performance management software focused on Layer 3 network optimisation, topology and route analytics.
Drake Star Partners acted as the exclusive sell-side advisor to Packet Design in this transaction.
The acquisition of Packet Design helps accelerate Ciena’s Blue Planet software strategy by extending its intelligent automation capabilities beyond Layers 0-2 and into IP with critical new capabilities to help customers optimise service delivery and maximise network utilisation. Specifically, the combination of the Blue Planet software platform and Packet Design’s performance analytics and service path computation capabilities forms a distinct
Gridiron Capital has acquired a controlling interest in The Service Companies, a provider of managed services, food & beverage staffing, and specialty cleaning services for the hospitality and gaming industries.
The Service Companies’ management team will remain significant investors in the company as part of the transaction and will continue in their current leadership positions. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Comprised of Heart of House Services, Acrobat Outsourcing, and JRS International, The Service Companies is a leading provider of outsourced service solutions for the hospitality industry, offering a full scope of services, including turn-key housekeeping, public and
Ipes (Luxembourg), a provider of outsourced services to Private Equity in Europe, has been granted a Depositary licence by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF).
This authorisation, effective 18 July 2018, enables Ipes (Luxembourg) to provide full Depositary services.
Ipes Chief Executive Chris Merry says: “The extension of our Depositary offering to Luxembourg was a natural progression for us, enabling us to provide our clients with the widest possible scope of services.”
The new Depositary offering in Luxembourg will complement Ipes’ established Depositary services in London.
“We have strong interest in our Depositary services in
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