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Technology distributor Avnet has completed its acquisition of Premier Farnell in an all cash merger for GBP1.85 per share, which equates to an equity value of approximately GBP691 million.
The acquisition was approved by Premier Farnell shareholders representing 99.9 per cent of the votes cast and has received all regulatory approvals.
The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to earnings and, once the integration is complete, generate annual synergies of approximately USD70 million to USD80 million.
"The combination of Premier Farnell with Avnet's components business will create a truly unique distribution model that supports customers at every
Principal has hired Suresh Singh as head of funds distribution for Asia, based in Singapore.
Singh will be responsible for introducing the capabilities of Principal’s investment boutiques, covering specialities in equities, fixed income, real estate and alternatives, to key intermediaries, fund selectors and investment platforms.
Singh reports to the firm’s global head of wealth advisory services Nick Lyster and head of the south-east Asian region Celestine Khoo.
Prior to joining Principal, Singh was at BlackRock where he was responsible for the build-out of the dedicated wealth and asset management relationship management team for iShares ETFs, covering clients in
The Managed Funds Association (MFA) will host Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) chair Timothy G Massad at the Outlook 2016 Conference.
Massad will make a keynote address at the association’s annual leadership conference in New York on 21 October.
More than 400 investors, policymakers and other stakeholders are expected to attend this year’s conference, which will focus on public policy, institutional investors, global markets and key trends that foster change in the alternative investment industry.
Polaris has sold Car-O-Liner, a provider of hardware, software and training to equipment manufacturers and repair shops, to Snap-On.
Polaris acquired Car-O-Liner in 2012 and since then the company has developed from being a system provider to being a partner to equipment manufacturers and repair shops all over the world.
Via distributors and their own sales companies, Car-O-Liner is represented in more than 70 countries. The head office is located in Gothenburg, Sweden.
With Polaris as its owner, the company has seen a period of rapid expansion while simultaneously strengthening its position in the US and China. The
YFM Equity Partners, a private equity fund manager, has invested GBP2.5 million into Biz2Mobile (B2M), a provider of software for rugged and industrial enterprise mobile devices.
The investment was made by the British Smaller Companies venture capital trusts and leads total funding of GBP3.6 million alongside existing investors.
The funding will be used to accelerate the growth of B2M’s analytics tool Elemez, which enables firms to remotely monitor and measure their mission-critical mobile devices. The investment will support Elemez both in the UK and with its global partners.
Julie Purves, founder and CEO of B2M, adds: “YFM’s support
London and New York-based venture capital investor Octopus Ventures has appointed ecommerce entrepreneur and former management consultant Zihao Xu as an associate in the firm’s investment team.
The team is best known for backing the likes of Secret Escapes, eve Sleep, SwiftKey and Zoopla Property Group.
Xu joins Octopus Ventures from Roland Berger Strategy Consultants with six years of consultancy experience spanning across the aerospace, defence, automotive, industrials and private equity sectors.
Xu is founder of a sunglasses and lifestyle brand, Canopy Sunglasses. Founded in 2014, he has responsibility for every aspect of the business including strategy, sourcing, branding and web development. Canopy Sunglasses has
Cyprium Partners, a non-control private equity firm, has made a subordinated debt and equity investment in Irvin Automotive Products.
The investment was used to facilitate an acquisition of the business by Detroit entrepreneur Vinnie Johnson from Takata Corporation.
Irvin will operate separately from Piston Group, another automotive business owned by Johnson, and will continue to be run by Irvin's current management team led by Joseph Finn.
The investment is the 12th transaction from the firm’s Cyprium Investors IV fund, which closed in December 2014.
Founded in 1922 and headquartered in Michigan, Irvin is a manufacturer of automotive
Asset management has always been an information-based business and as such, managers are not immune to facing innovative and disruptive forces making inroads in other industries.
Such is the pace of technological innovation, and data volume, that fund managers now have the chance to leverage the same predictive capabilities as used by Google (and other search engines) into their organisations to better understand investor behaviour and derive insights across all facets of their business. But it’s no easy task. To do so requires having a clear data strategy in place to build value and ultimately improve the client experience.
Abacus Group, a provider of hosted cloud IT solutions for alternative investment funds, has opened a second London data centre.
Tom Cole, director of client services and business development in London, says the new data centre will allow Abacus to provide resilient services to current clients and expand its capabilities to onboard more alternative investment funds.
Abacus currently serves 18 funds in the UK and more than 300 globally. The company’s employee count recently exceeded 100.
Abacus, co-headquartered in San Francisco and New York, is adding London to its growing list of locations in Boston, Charlotte, Greenwich, Los
Private equity fund manager YFM Equity Partners has invested GBP5.3 million in TravelTek, a Scottish technology business which provides packaging technology to travel agents, tour operators and wholesalers worldwide.
The investment has been made by the VCT and LP funds managed and advised by YFM.
Founded in 2002, TravelTek provides travel retailers, agents and wholesalers with the technology to package together an extensive range of hotels, flights, cruises and ancillary travel services in one transaction.
TravelTek has delivered a near 250 per cent increase in sales in the last four years from its offices in Scotland, England, Australia
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