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Law firm Stroock has represented Atlas Merchant Capital as co-lead investor in the acquisition of Talcott Resolution, the run-off life insurance and annuity division of The Hartford.
The total consideration to The Hartford of USD2.05 billion was comprised of cash, a pre-closing dividend, transferred debt and a 9.7 per cent ownership interest in the acquiring company; the transaction generated total value to The Hartford’s shareholders of approximately USD3 billion. The deal closed on 31 May 2018. Stroock’s deal team was led by insurance M&A partner Bernhardt Nadell and private equity partner Bradley Kulman.
Other Stroock attorneys who assisted on
Sarah Zeng has joined Orrick’s M&A and private equity practice, resident in Beijing. Zeng has over 25 years of corporate law experience serving Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and US multinational companies, and most recently served as Managing Partner of Denton’s Beijing office.
Prior to that, Zeng was General Counsel of Hong Kong-listed Weichai Power, China’s largest engine manufacturer, and Vice President and Country Manager (China) for El Paso Corporation, a Fortune 500 energy company, where she chaired the boards of four major power plants owned by the company in China.
Zeng is the 18th partner to join Orrick’s Global
Mekong Capital’s Mekong Enterprise Fund III (MEF III) has completed an investment in mattress and bedding solution provider Vua Nem Joint Stock Company.
Hoang Tuan Anh, Founder and CEO of Vua Nem, says: “We are excited about this partnership with Mekong Capital. They are the leading private equity firm in Vietnam who has a strong track record of investing in top retailing companies such as MobileWorld and Phu Nhuan Jewelry. Our vision is to become the biggest retailer for mattress and bedding products in the country. Thanks to the partnership with Mekong Capital, we have had access to the value
Knight Corporate Finance, a specialist TMT corporate finance boutique, has advised the shareholders of Frontier Voice and Data on its sale to technology solutions provider, Chess ICT.
Frontier was owned and operated by industry veterans Peter Southgate and Sean Linehan who have built a number of successful businesses in the comms sector. Knight CF has a long standing relationship with Peter and Sean having also advised them on the sale of Cable Telecommunications and Pink Telecom also to Chess in 2012.
Southgate says: “After a career in comms spanning four decades, we appointed Knight with a view to realising
Bilateral deals sharply increased in 2017-18 according to data from Investec, as private equity firms increasingly seek out direct sales in an effort to deploy dry powder without the competition of an auction process.
An analysis of 587 deals from 2016-17 and 2017-18 shows that the number of bilateral deals increased by 71 per cent last year relative to the previous year. The value of these deals increased from GBP1.06bn in 2016-17 to GBP7.98bn in 2017-18, with bilateral deals accounting for 19 per cent of all deals by value in the last financial year.
Christian Hess, Head of Financial
Driven by the increased momentum in responsible investing, private capital firms are seeing rising investor demand for integrating ESG considerations into the investment process.
However, with a myriad of factors to consider, it is challenging to collect and monitor ESG and impact information across all stages of the private equity life cycle. With these issues in mind, Preqin Solutions has launched an ESG & Impact module.
The ESG & Impact module enables private capital firms to define and automate a structured responsible investment program. With it, general partners (GPs) can clearly outline their goals and choose KPIs by either
Goodwin’s Private Equity group led a multidisciplinary cross-border team as it advised long-time client GTT Communications (NYSE: GTT) on the completion of its acquisition of Interoute, for approximately EUR1.9 billion (USD2.3 billion).
GTT expects to complete the integration of Interoute within three to four quarters after closing.
The addition of Interoute significantly augments GTT’s scale, expanding its Tier 1 global IP network with one of Europe’s most extensive fibre footprints, strengthening GTT’s leadership in software-defined wide area networking and enhancing GTT’s global team with a world-class sales, operations and customer service organisation.
GTT Communications, Inc. provides multinationals with
Limited Partners (LP) taking stakes in GP management companies via specialist funds is becoming a mainstream dynamic in private equity, according to Coller Capital’s latest Global Private Equity Barometer.
One in six LPs already invest in this strategy, and this is likely to rise to over a third of LPs.
Another, recent development rapidly becoming mainstream is GP-led secondaries. From an almost standing start a few years ago, the volume of GP-led transactions has ballooned. The Barometer shows that such transactions are unlikely to dry up: four out of five LPs see GP-led secondaries becoming a routine part of
Cédric Lalain has joined Artemid as a Partner. Since 2017, Lalain worked as Head of Fixed Income at Assurances Crédit Mutuel and now joins the team which advises funds from the Artemid range.
These funds provide senior financing solutions, with maturities between five and seven years to European SME and mid-cap companies, both listed and unlisted.
“In view of the growth of our business and the success of our last fundraising, we are delighted to welcome Cédric Lalain, who will bring the expertise he has accumulated within the Caisse des Dépôts Group and the Crédit Mutuel Group,” says Annie-Laure
Despite private equity managers raising a record USD453 billion in 2017, it is estimated that the amount of dry powder has risen to USD1.3 trillion. Whilst PE managers search for the best investments, this dry powder sits idle, to the detriment of investors. This is pushing large institutions to increasingly go down the direct investment path, with blue chip names like BlackRock aiming to commit USD10 billion to direct investments under the moniker, BlackRock Long-Term Private Capital.
Many other large institutions, with Canadian pension plans leading the way, are building out their investment portfolios beyond merely holding LP stakes in
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