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Alternative investment management firm Tennenbaum Capital Partners has closed TCP Direct Lending Fund VIII and its affiliated vehicles (DLF VIII) with more than USD1.9 billion of investor equity commitments.
DLF VIII is a continuation of TCP’s more than seventeen-year track record in US middle-market direct lending. TCP is pleased to welcome a wide variety of existing and new investors including pension, endowment, foundation, insurance, sovereign wealth and family office commitments domestically and globally. We also welcome the participation of a wide range of investment consultants that recommended TCP to their institutional investor clients.
Lee R Landrum, Managing Partner of
White Oak Equity Partners (White Oak), a private equity firm that purchases minority GP interests in alternative asset managers, has acquired a minority interest in Blueshift Asset Management, a quantitative investment firm focused on statistical arbitrage and high-frequency trading strategies.
White Oak led a group of strategic investors who provided the equity capital to launch Blueshift’s business and trading activities. Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
Prior to launching the Firm, the Blueshift team, led by Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer Mani Mahjouri (pictured), managed the asset management activities of Tradeworx, a financial technology firm.
Coinsilium Group Limited, a blockchain venture builder and investor that finances and manages the development of early-stage blockchain technology companies, is launching a private fund to hold the the digital assets and tokens the Company has received to date in relation to its advisory services and investment activities.
The new fund, which will be 100 per cent owned by Coinsilium, will be established in Gibraltar which has just launched its Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) Regulatory Framework. The Company is being advised by Gibraltar blockchain specialist law firm ISOLAS on the formation and structure of the fund.
The second half
Private equity chief financial officers (CFOs), facing pressures including increased investor scrutiny and intensifying market competition, are seeking operational success via different pathways, according to the EY 2018 Global Private Equity CFO survey: ‘Operational excellence: one path or many?’
The fifth annual survey of 110 private equity (PE) CFOs – ‘Operational excellence: one path or many?’ – finds that many firms, especially larger firms with over USD2.5 billion in assets under management (AUM), consider technology transformation and talent development as key priorities, while smaller firms (under USD2.5 billion AUM) are more likely to view outsourcing as an alternative.
Mike
Vectra Co (Vectra), a portfolio company of certain funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, has signed a definitive agreement to sell its EaglePicher business to affiliates of private equity firm GTCR.
EaglePicher is a provider of power and energy solutions for mission-critical applications with over 170 years of materials and electrochemistry expertise. The company is focused on specialised applications within high growth areas of defence, aerospace and medical products. As part of the transaction, it is anticipated that the existing management team at EaglePicher and its approximately 800 employees will remain with the business upon the closing. Terms
Aspect Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm in Silicon Valley, has closed its second institutional venture fund of USD181 million, above the top end of its target range.
The firm will use the funds to continue to invest in early stage technology companies.
Aspect was founded in 2014 by industry veterans Jennifer Fonstad and Theresia Gouw and raised its first institutional fund of USD150 million in 2015. The firm boasts an impressive roster of over 25 portfolio companies. Fund I investments include cybersecurity providers Forescout Technologies, Cato Networks, and Exabeam, future of work-focused companies Crew, Gusto, Chime, and
Brand Industrial Services, known as BrandSafway, has acquired Venko Groep BV, a portfolio company of Mentha Capital, effective 1 January, 2018.
Moving forward, the company will operate as Venko, A BrandSafway Company and become a part of Brand Energy & Infrastructure Services (Brand) in Europe.
“We’re excited to announce the closing of the acquisition of Venko,” says Dave Witsken, President of Energy and Industrial for BrandSafway. “Venko is a leading offshore coatings maintenance provider for platforms in Europe. By leveraging the highly specialised knowledge and capabilities of Venko, we will be able to provide expanded coatings services to Brand’s European customers.
Tikehau IM, a subsidiary of Tikehau Capital, has arranged a EUR14.4 million add-on Unitranche to support Terratest’s acquisition of Geostructures, a US-based provider of ground improvement services for commercial, residential and institutional construction.
Founded in 1959 in Spain and majority owned by Platinum Equity since 2014, Terratest is a leading international provider of foundation work, ground improvement and micro-tunnelling services for large-scale international infrastructure projects, industrial, commercial and residential construction.
In May 2017, Tikehau led the refinancing of Terratest with a EUR60 million Unitranche. This transaction is another illustration of Tikehau IM’s expertise to offer private debt financing solutions
By George Ralph, RFA – Last year was all about the compliance; with MiFID II and GDPR, about understanding your data, knowing where it is, protecting it and how to extract what you need to report to the right authorities, within the nominated timescales.
This year may be a tough year for the alternative investment sector and for hedge funds, with Agecroft Partners, in its annual predictions post, suggested that as many as 90 per cent of all hedge funds do not justify their fees, don’t deliver good returns and could be in danger of closure in this overcrowded market.
The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) has published a GDPR Implementation Guide to help members understand and comply with new EU-wide rules that come into effect on 25 May.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which replaces the EU Data Protection Directive, represents the biggest change in EU data privacy law in a generation. Due to the GDPR’s extraterritorial scope, the Guide is relevant to alternative investment managers whether they are based in the EU or elsewhere.
The new rules cover how organisations process personal data and extend to the activities of non-EU organisations that offer goods or services to
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