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Gide is acting as lead counsel to Zhejiang Semir Garment Co (Semir Garment) on its acquisition of children’s fashion company Kidiliz Group, whose brands include Catimini, Absorba, Z, Paul Smith Junior, and Kenzo Kids, for EUR110 million.
The two groups, with about EUR2 billion in combined sales, announced they signed a put option agreement on 3 May and are set to enter an equity transfer agreement following customary consultation procedures under French law. Upon completion of the transaction, Semir Garment will acquire the entire Kidiliz Group with the support of its management to form the world’s second-largest pure player in
Julian Masters has become a managing partner of mid-market private equity firm Bowmark Capital, alongside Kevin Grassby and Charles Ind. At the same time, Luca Mastrodonato has been promoted to the position of business development director while Tom Keen has joined the firm as an investment manager.
Masters joined Bowmark from European Capital in 2008. He has played a key role in the firm’s development over the past ten years, including leading its media and financial services practices. He has been responsible for a number of investments across a range of industries, and he currently sits on the boards of Aston Lark,
Quilam has made a multi-million-pound investment into 1plus1 Loans limited, a technology-led niche consumer finance platform. The business was originally a finance broker, however they commenced lending about five years ago and are now poised for significant growth.
Founded and run by an entrepreneurial father and son team, 1plus1 provides guarantor loans to UK consumers. 1plus1 focusses on the affordability and the appropriateness of the loan, working hard to make sure their service, reliability and pay-out times are as quick and efficient as possible.
The investment made by Quilam Capital will help facilitate the next stage of growth for
MatchPlace has launched a peer-to-peer Invoice Financing service for companies, called MatchPlace IF.
The new service is designed to help SMEs more efficiently manage their working capital by selling their outstanding invoices to investors.
The invoice financing facility allows companies to submit their invoices through the MatchPlace IF platform for verification and receive from MatchPlace IF’s registered investors a sum of up to 85 per cent of the invoice face value.
It provides access to capital for business development or new projects at a typically lower cost of funds than traditional lenders.
MatchPlace IF also offers investment opportunities for
Atalaya Capital Management, an alternative asset manager focused on opportunistic credit and special situations investments, has closed its fourth Asset Income Fund (AIF IV) at its USD900 million hard-cap, exceeding its USD750 million target.
AIF IV’s investors are primarily public and corporate pension plans, foundations, and endowments.
In the first six months of the investment period, AIF IV has already closed on 12 investments and called more than 20 per cent of its capital commitments. Atalaya attributes the relatively high velocity of capital deployment to the Firm’s deep pipeline of existing counterparty relationships and long-standing industry experience, as well
By Keith Parker, Link Asset Services – The Irish funds industry had another bumper year with total assets for 2017 growing by EUR298 billion – a 16 per cent year-on-year increase – to a record high of EUR2.4 trillion1, a substantial figure and testament to the attractiveness of Ireland as a global funds domicile. Of this total just over 76 per cent represents UCITS funds’ assets, the balance representing alternative assets. More than 900 fund managers from 50-plus countries have assets serviced in Ireland.2
There are many service providers that form part of the Irish funds industry; these include custodians,
By Mark Crossan, Bridge Consulting – Irish Funds are on the move again. Every couple of years there is a new product evolution. In 2015 we had the introduction of the ICAV (Irish Collective Asset Management Vehicle) and 2018 is shaping up to be no different. Not only could this year be the year that Ireland gets its eagerly awaited revamped Investment Limited Partnership (ILP) structure, but it looks like other changes are afoot as well.
In years gone by, the majority of new funds travelled down the self-managed fund route. This was the de facto standard fund structure in
Although most institutional investors are comfortable with the idea of fund managers outsourcing middle- and back-office functions while they focus on managing the investment strategy, they are taking great care and attention at the pre-allocation stage, as part of the ODD process.
Whilst they understand that there are numerous cost benefits and efficiencies to be gained using hosted platforms, they want complete confidence in who the platform provider is.
John Hynes (pictured) is CEO of HedgeFacts, a leading provider of middle- and back-office solutions to alternative fund managers. He notes that the cloud has become a significant game changer for managers
By Gayle Bowen & Aongus McCarthy, Pinsent Masons – Under new rules implemented by the Central Bank of Ireland (“Central Bank”) last month, Irish Loan Originating Qualifying Investor AIFS (“L-QIAIFs”) are now permitted to adopt broader credit focussed strategies. Previously L-QIAIFs were prohibited from engaging in any activities other than lending and ancillary related operations. This restriction was generally viewed by industry as the main obstacle to their growth in the Irish market.
These new changes are widely anticipated to create new interest in the L-QIAIF product among asset managers.
What is loan origination?
The funding gap which followed the global
Interest in Ireland among private debt and private equity fund managers remains strong, especially with the highly anticipated amended Irish Investment Limited Partnership (ILP), scheduled to be formally approved later this year.
This is good news for Ireland’s asset servicers. U.S. Bancorp Fund Services, has continued to grow its market share in not only the familiar long/short equity, credit and managed futures segments but also private equity and private debt funds and reinsurance funds.
“Over the last 18 months our assets under administration have grown from USD117 billion to USD187 billion. A considerable portion of that growth has been in
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