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The recent launch of Blackstone Infrastructure I demonstrates the long-term trend towards capital concentration in the unlisted infrastructure market, says Preqin, with investors looking to commit more capital to fewer fund managers.
This means that while fundraising as a whole is at record levels, the majority of it is secured by a small coterie of firms.
Funds closing with USD1.5 billion or more in investor commitments have accounted for three-quarters of the total capital raised in 2016 and 2017 so far – mega funds alone account for half of 2017 YTD fundraising.
Furthermore, the record for the
Alternative capital is becoming more mainstream, at least in the UK mid-market, according to a panel of capital providers assembled by mid-market M&A association, ACG UK.
The ‘Trends in Alternative Capital’ panel debate, the latest in ACG UK’s ‘Trends in…’ series, revealed broad agreement among the panellists, who represented the banking, private debt, asset based lending, private equity and corporate finance communities, that the funding environment for mid-market and SME businesses has evolved rapidly over the last five years.
This is resulting in closer collaboration between the different capital providers and more flexible and tailored financial solutions being
Eastspring Investments, the USD146 billion Asian investment management arm of Prudential, is to invest an undisclosed amount in Watsun Infrabuild Private Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Continuum Wind Energy.
The transaction is likely to close by June 2017.
Watsun is constructing a 150 MW wind power project in Tamil Nadu, India comprising 75 advanced Vestas V100 2.0 MW wind turbines to be commissioned in two phases of 54 MW and 96 MW each.
The capital invested by Eastspring will be used to fund the construction activities of phase II of the project.
Vestas has been
Direct Healthcare Group (DHG) has completed its second bolt-on acquisition in 12 months after acquiring Kirton Healthcare, a UK manufacturer of specialist seating products, from NVM Private Equity.
Based in Caerphilly, DHG specialises in the development of clinically effective solutions for harm-free patient care. With 190 employees and turnover of GBP21 million, the group consists of pressure area care business Direct Healthcare Services and bariatric rental specialist, Nightingale Care Beds.
The acquisition of Kirton Healthcare is the group’s second bolt-on since private equity firm NorthEdge Capital supported an MBO in April 2016.
Kirton, based in Haverhill, has
UK private equity investor LDC has exited its investment in international hosting group UK2 in a sale to The Hut Group (THG), one of the world’s largest online health and beauty retailers and brand owners.
The transaction value has not been disclosed.
LDC originally backed a management buyout of the UK2 Group in 2011 from Cloud Group, supporting the expansion of its portfolio of hosting products whilst accelerating the development of its added-value 100TB offering.
The sale does not include UK2 Group’s US based e-sports business, Digital Chaos, which remains under LDC’s ownership.
THG says the
UK law firm Shepherd and Wedderburn has acted for Safestay in its GBP18.4 million debt restructuring and refinancing with HSBC.
The Shepherd and Wedderburn team also acted for the group in completing sale and leaseback transactions on Safestay’s hostels in Edinburgh and London’s Elephant & Castle.
Those transactions raised gross cash proceeds of GBP12.6 million.
Safestay is best known as a provider of premium affordable tourist accommodation in city centre hostels across Europe.
Scott Ritchie, partner in Shepherd and Wedderburn’s real estate team, says: “The combined drive and ambition of Safestay is truly impressive, and we are delighted
From a structuring perspective, infrastructure funds are most frequently established as either a limited partnership or a limited company. Partnerships are the familiar vehicle for private funds, whereas companies will be used for listed vehicles.
Obviously there will be nuances, depending on the asset class and the type of investors being targeted. “You can give limited companies characteristics that resemble a limited partnership, particularly in offshore jurisdictions like Guernsey, but generally it will be one of the two options described,” says Craig Cordle (pictured), investment funds Group Partner from Ogier in Guernsey.
There are some inherent difficulties with infrastructure funds,
YFM Equity Partners has appointed Andy Thomas as investment director.
Based in the Manchester office, Thomas will be focussed on sourcing and leading new investments as part of the Northern team led by David Gee.
Thomas joins from Maven Capital Partners, where he helped to establish the Greater Manchester Loan Fund as well as undertaking private equity and VCT investments.
Prior to Maven, Thomas worked at RBS in various structured finance roles, most recently leading the Williams and Glyn corporate transactions team.
David Hall, managing director of YFM, says: “Andy has considerable experience successfully originating and
Ebury, one of the fastest growing fintechs for corporate cross-border payments and growth lending, has received an investment from NIBC bank.
The new partnership will open up cross-border trading opportunities for NIBC customers.
Ebury will provide NIBC bank customers with a platform for payments, risk management and funding.
Many mid-size businesses do not have access to compelling international banking solutions or expertise, thus limiting their possibilities in cross-border trade. Both NIBC bank and Ebury will enable customers to gain an international business banking solution including solutions in most emerging markets; allowing them to benefit from international trade to accelerate
The industry is likely to experience the largest competitive re-alignment in asset management history through merger and acquisition activity from 2017 to 2020, according to a whitepaper from asset management strategy consultancy Casey Quirk, a practice of Deloitte Consulting.
According to its new Investment Management M&A Outlook, “Skill Through Scale? The Role of M&A in a Consolidating Industry,” Casey Quirk expects strong merger and acquisition activity in 2017 with a continued historic pace of deals through 2020.
Among the factors driving this brisk activity in 2017 and beyond are an aging population, affecting industry asset levels and flows, as well as a
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