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Competition for private debt deals has never been higher with a record amount of dry powder in 2016 despite reduced fundraising, according to a report by bfinance.
Senior direct lending funds have become riskier over the past four years, with leverage creeping up and unitranche loans becoming increasingly dominant as managers try to keep IRR expectations on track despite spread compression.
Meanwhile the industry attempts to respond to investor appetite for purer senior debt vehicles and new European demand for US direct lending, says bfinance’s latest Market Intelligence paper “Direct Lending – What’s Different Now?”
The paper draws
Willis Towers Watson has launched a fund for institutional investors which is aimed at providing a compelling alternative to index-linked gilts in funding liabilities and enhancing returns.
The new fund, called the Secure Income Fund, provides institutional investors with an inflation-linked cash flow through investments which generate a better risk-adjusted return than investment-grade credit and index-linked gilts.
It encompasses a wide range of strategies across real estate, infrastructure, renewable energy and real asset debt and uses all implementation options including secondaries and co-investments.
Willis Towers Watson has been investing in secure income assets (SIAs) since 2006, and has
Two thirds (65 per cent) of small and medium-sized tech and telecom firms plan to grow dramatically or moderately over the next two years, according to a report launched by venture capital investor Albion Ventures.
Only 7 per cent think they will shrink or wind down.
Based on interviews with more than1,000 SMEs including 150 tech and telco firms, the fourth Albion Growth Report sheds light on the factors that create and impede growth in post-Brexit Britain.
With nearly half (48 per cent) of tech entrepreneurs planning to grow their headcount over the next two years, finding skilled
Wazoku, a crowdsourcing company and provider of collaborative innovation software, has received new venture debt finance from Barclays of GBP680,000.
A total of GBP2.3 million has been provided, with equity financing from existing investors, Cambridge Angels and Fig, to support Wazoku’s growth strategy moving forward.
This investment brings the total raised by Wazoku since it was founded to GBP3.6 million. The company has household brand customers including Aviva, Waitrose, John Lewis Partnership, Virgin Trains East Coast and Avis Budget Group.
“We are an early adopter of this new offering from Barclays and delighted to have secured their support,”
Global research platform Streetbees has raised USD5.1 million in seed funding.
BGF Ventures led the round and early investors including Octopus Ventures and LocalGlobe also participated.
Streetbees recruits “bees” – ordinary people around the world – who capture the moments from their lives via their smartphone sharing their habits, shopping preferences or political opinions for clients including Unilever, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, L'Oréal, Dyson, The Times Education Supplement, Vodafone and Amnesty International.
The market researcher wants to revolutionise the way that global companies connect with their consumers to gain insights by giving them access to anyone and everyone on the
Sentinel Capital Partners, a private equity firm that invests in promising companies at the lower end of the middle market, has sold Power Products, a provider of branded electrical products and systems.
Details of the transaction have not been disclosed.
Headquartered in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, Power Products designs, manufactures, and distributes branded electrical tools, components, and power conversion products and solutions. Power
Products primarily serves the electrical construction, repair and remodel, marine and recreation, industrial, power, and transportation end markets. Power Products owns a broad portfolio of brands including BEP, Blue Sea Systems, Del City, Gardner Bender, Lenco
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Türkiye Wealth Fund (TWF) have signed a memorandum establishing the Russia-Turkey Investment Fund.
The parties will work together to identify attractive investment projects that could strengthen bilateral economic ties and increase investment flows between the two countries.
According to the agreement, RDIF and TWF will invest up to USD500 million each in the Russia-Turkey Investment Fund.
Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the RDIF, says: “We are pleased that business activity gives impetus to the development of Russian-Turkish relations. RDIF is in close contact with its Turkish partners since TWF’s foundation. A common
Corporate and financial law firm Gattai, Minoli, Agostinelli & Partners has advised Bain Capital in the secondary buyout of Italian tyre distributor Fintyre from BlueGem, advised by Gianni, Origoni, Grippo, Cappelli & Partners.
Gattai, Minoli, Agostinelli & Partners assisted Bain Capital with a team composed by partner Cataldo Piccarreta, senior associates Lorenzo Fabbrini and Maria Pia Palma and associate Domenico Garofalo for the corporate profiles and by partner Cristiano Garbarini and associate Alban Zaimaj for the fiscal aspects of the transaction.
Studio Pirola Pennuto Zei & Associati advised Bain on the fiscal due diligence and business profiles, with a
Cairngorm Capital Partners had made a further investment in Stevenswood Trade Centres to enable Stevenswood’s acquisition of Truemans Holdings.
This transaction advances Stevenswood’s ambition to develop a national network of trade counters and completes strategic gaps in its presence in England.
The new combined group will continue to be headquartered in Livingston and will have over 30 branches across the UK, generating revenues of over GBP40 million and employing over 165 people.
A wholly owned family business established in 1997, Truemans is a rapidly growing trade counter group, operating four trade counters in Burnley, Doncaster, Sheffield and Crewe,
Last year the number of hedge fund launches globally fell by an estimated 40 per cent, but despite this there have been a number of positive developments for the funds industry in the BVI.
One is the creation of an AIFMD opt-in regime for the BVI, called the Securities and Investment Business (AIFMD) Regulations, as the BVI looks to seek approval from the European regulator, ESMA, for third country equivalence and introduces into the BVI an AIFMD equivalent regime.
"Secondly, there is fairly advanced work on updating the BVI's Partnership Act. This statute is due a refresh and expected to
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