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Private equity (PE) managers in the US posted their strongest annual returns since 2013 in 2016, while US venture capital (VC) funds performed worse last year than they have since 2008, according to the benchmark indexes of the two alternative asset classes from Cambridge Associates.
The Cambridge Associates LLC US Private Equity Index returned 4.5 per cent for the fourth quarter of 2016 and 12.9 per cent for the full year. The Cambridge Associates LLC US Venture Capital Index meanwhile, posted a return of -0.1 per cent during Q4 2016 and 0.3 per cent for the full year.
“Private
Palamon Capital Partners is to acquire Business School24, the education and training unit of Il Sole 24 ORE, Italy’s leading business newspaper.
Palamon will acquire 49 per cent of the Company at an enterprise valuation of EUR80 million with a call option to acquire an additional 2 per cent in May 2018. The sale agreement has arrangements in place for Palamon to acquire additional equity with Il Sole agreeing to retain a minimum 20 per cent strategic stake in the Company going forward.
Business School24 is a leading player in the tertiary education segment in Italy and provides professionally-oriented education and training. Established
Investcorp has reported ‘significant progress in the execution of its growth strategy’ which produced a healthy level of activity across all its businesses in terms of investments, realisations, fundraising and portfolio performance, for the twelve months ending 30 June 2017 (‘FY17’).
According to the firm’s full year results, Investcorp made a profit for the year of USD120.3 million (FY16: USD90.1million), a 34 per cent increase over the same period last year. Gross operating income was 10 per cent higher at USD421.7 million (FY16: USD383.5 million), reflecting solid performance from core operations, including the newly acquired and fully integrated credit management business. Fully diluted earnings per share for
Funds advised by Bregal Unternehmerkapital have sold their majority holding in enterprise resource planning (ERP) provider proALPHA.
These shares were acquired by the management team and by funds advised by the international investment firm Intermediate Capital Group (ICG). Bregal will remain involved in the further development of proALPHA through a continuing interest. The transactions are pending, subject to approval by competition authorities.
proALPHA is one of the largest providers of ERP solutions for medium-sized manufacturing and trading companies in the DACH Region. Customers use its flexible and scalable ERP solution to control all processes along the value chain. Over
Columbia Pacific Advisors, a Seattle alternative investment firm, is to sell Talyst Systems, a market leader in pharmacy automation solutions based in Kirkland, Washington, to Swisslog Healthcare, asupplier of medication management and supply chain solutions and services.
The sale is a successful exit for Columbia Pacific Advisors’ growth capital strategy, which acquired Talyst Systems, LLC in 2015 and used its deep expertise in domestic and international healthcare management to strategically position the pharmacy automation company. Talyst’s service area of hospitals and long-term care facilities dovetailed perfectly with Columbia Pacific Advisors’ experience.
“We are excited for Swisslog Healthcare and Talyst
KKR is acquiring Covenant Surgical Partners (Covenant) from DFW Capital Partners, Iroquois Capital Group, PineBridge Investments, and other existing shareholders. Financial details of the transaction have not been disclosed.
Covenant is a leading acquirer and operator of ambulatory surgery centres (ASCs) and physician practices. The Company currently provides gastrointestinal and ophthalmic procedures through 37 ASC and physician practice locations across 17 states. Covenant works in partnership with its affiliated physicians to provide value added financial, operational, and ancillary services to enhance business and clinical operations.
“This transaction marks the next stage of Covenant’s evolution,” says Lew Little, Chief Executive
Overall European private equity deal volume rose by 11 per cent in Q2 2017, continuing the market’s rebound after a two-year decline that ended in Q1 2017, according to preliminary figures from unquote”’s Q2 2017 Private Equity Barometer, which is published in association with SL Capital.
The combined value of European private equity backed deals jumped 50 per cent to EUR42.9 billion, while the average deal value in Q2 2017 (EUR96.5 million) was up 35 per cent on Q1 2017 (EUR71.6 million).
Deal volume was the highest since Q4 2015 while deal value was the highest for a decade.
National commercial property consultancy, Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH), has been instructed by administrators, David Rubin & Partners, to market the business and assets of Spymaster.
The London based retailer of surveillance, counter-surveillance and personal protection equipment, which was founded in 1991, offers a wide range of high specification surveillance products from its Portman Square store and concessions in two department stores, and has a strong reputation for supplying state of the art equipment. The company is staffed by its own expertly trained personnel and in addition to its retail trade, works with many international organisations and security specialists.
The
Finles Capital is anticipating oversubscription for the EUR100 million ICO of FundCoin, the first ever ICO backed by investments in a private equity fund.
The proceeds of the ICO will be used to invest in the Finles Lowestoft Equities Fund, a Fund managed by Finles Capital Management an independent fund management boutique operating since 1977. The ICO will open up a new class of cryptocurrencies backed by a high-performance asset class rather than a single company or currency. It thus provides investors with a more diversified way to invest in blockchain through a structure that was previously only accessible to
UK private equity firm Sovereign Capital’s portfolio company Arachas Corporate Brokers (Arachas), an insurance brokerage operating in Ireland, has made its first acquisition – Capital Cover Group (Capital) – six months after Sovereign backed the management buy-out of the business.
Capital, an established broker of insurance products, brings a complementary product set to Arachas’ existing offering. Sovereign will continue to work with the management team to further grow and develop the business through a strategy of buy & build. The Capital Cover Group transaction is subject to approval from the Central Bank of Ireland.
Established in 2004, Arachas is
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