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Cotton Creek Capital, a Texas-based lower middle market private equity firm, has added Blake Tilley to its investment team as an Associate.
Prior to joining Cotton Creek Capital, Tilley was a Financial Analyst in the Global Industrials Group at Robert W Baird & Co, a wealth management, capital market, private equity and asset management firm headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. During his tenure with Robert W Baird & Co, Tilley focused on mergers and acquisition transactions along with equity offerings across the industrial sector.
Tilley earned his Bachelors of Business Administration in Finance and Accounting from Texas Christian University’s Neeley
Global venture capital firm AXA Strategic Ventures is rebranding and will now be known as AXA Venture Partners.
AXA Venture Partners, a USD450million venture capital firm backed by AXA, has participated in 32 deals since 2016, making it the most active venture capital firm backed by an insurance company, according to Crunchbase. Recent investments have covered a wide range of areas, including cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, digital health, SaaS technology, insurtech/fintech.
The new positioning reflects the Company’s approach of establishing strong partnerships with its portfolio companies and other VC investors. Beyond capital, AXA Venture Partners acts as a conduit for
Audax Private Equity (Audax) has completed the sale of Wheel Pros to Clearlake Capital, a private equity firm based in Santa Monica, California.
Wheel Pros, headquartered in Denver, CO, is a leading designer, marketer, and distributor of branded aftermarket wheels, performance tires and accessories.
Geoffrey S Rehnert, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Audax Group, says: “Wheel Pros is a leader in the automotive aftermarket industry. The Wheel Pros team has demonstrated tremendous success in growing the business, and we wish both the management team and Clearlake Capital continued success.”
Jay Mitchell, Managing Director, Audax Private Equity, says: “Randy White, Jody
The Association of Investment Companies (AIC) has published the fundraising figure for the Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) sector, which raised GBP728 million for the 2017/18 tax year, the second highest amount since the inception of VCTs and an increase of 34 per cent on last year’s figure (GBP542 million).
It is also the highest amount ever raised at the current level of 30 per cent upfront tax relief.
The highest VCT fundraising figure was in the 2005/6 tax year when the sector raised GBP779 million, when the initial tax relief on investments was 40 per cent.
VCT assets
Aksia, a specialist research and portfolio advisory firm for hedge fund, private credit, and institutional investors, has appointed Ilya Riskin as a Senior Analyst in the firm’s Investment Research Team in New York.
Riskin (pictured), had been at Barclays for over 12 years, most recently as a Vice President in the Portfolio Management Group, where he was a fundamental credit research generalist and portfolio manager of an extensive bank debt book.
At Aksia, Ilya’s investment and markets experience will serve as a complement to the event driven and credit investment due diligence effort. Patrick Adelsbach, Head of Credit Strategies,
The focal point of institutional investors has changed over time with respect to how operational due diligence (ODD) or the risk assessment of non-investment functions is applied to private equity and real estate GP’s and Investment managers.
Although a well-established process in hedge fund investing, it is still a relatively new discipline in the closed-ended space. Back in the 1990s, the shock waves that emanated from the implosion of Long Term Capital Management (LTCM) sent hedge fund investors into a tailspin.
Terrified that if it could happen to LTCM then it could happen to anyone, institutions trained their sights on
A survey of US RIAs by PPB Capital Partners has found that while firms are encouraged to provide customised alternative investment solutions for high net-worth clients, such funds prove unwieldy and expensive to operate.
Among respondents, 62 per cent described operating private illiquid funds in their wealth management practice as moderately difficult, while 33 per cent described the funds as highly challenging to administer. Five per cent reported alternative assets easy to manage.
Respondents pointed to several operational areas that presented challenges including paperwork processing, reporting, compliance and complex tax issues. Others identified the time required to complete diligence
Offshore law firm Carey Olsen Bermuda has appointed Mary Ward as a partner in its corporate practice. Ward will join Carey Olsen Bermuda after 15 years at Conyers Dill & Pearman.
Prior to her arrival in Bermuda, Ward worked for international law firms Linklaters in New York and Slaughter and May in London. She was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1994 and the Bermuda Bar in 2004.
Ward advises on all aspects of commercial and corporate law, with extensive experience in securities law, mergers and acquisitions, restructuring of private and public companies and private equity.
Symphony Communication Services has raised USD67 million in new capital from new investors Barclays, Bpifrance, the French investment bank, and CLSA, along with a group of existing investors.
This brings Symphony’s total capital raise to date to over USD300 million from the world’s leading financial services firms, global venture capital funds, and technology companies.
Symphony’s secure team collaboration platform has reached critical mass with over 300 firms and 320,000 users. The raise validates Symphony’s leadership position in financial services and will enable the company to accelerate its product roadmap, expand its core offering for financial institutions and broaden its
Funds advised and managed by private equity fund manager YFM Equity Partners (YFM) have backed an investment into Eikon Group Limited, a cutting edge, end-to-end, digital post-production services for the motion picture and broadcast industry.
YFM’s investment comes from its two advised VCTs, British Smaller Companies VCT plc and British Smaller Companies VCT2 plc alongside the YFM Equity Partners 2015 Co-Investment LP.
EIKON Group Ltd was founded in 2014 by Peter Wright (CEO), Richard Fish (Commercial Director), Rick Corne (Innovations Director), Jon Gardner (Operations Director) and Russell Wetherell (Creative Director).
EIKON Group have cutting edge technology facilities in
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