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NewAlpha’s French fintech venture capital fund has made a EUR2.5 million investment in French P2P SME lender Unilend.
Unilend lets borrowers access a new form of simple, direct and unsecured funding via loans granted by individual and institutional investors.
In so doing, investors can diversify their investment portfolio by lending directly to SMEs and help to finance the economy.
Thanks to a community of 10,600 active lenders in France, which exceeds that of all other platforms combined, Unilend has made it possible to fund more than 270 French SMEs across all economic sectors, within less than three years.
Jean-Philippe Barade has been appointed as partner and head of the London office of consumer-focused private equity firm L Catterton with immediate effect.
Barade brings more than 15 years of experience in private equity with a focus on consumer and retail.
Most recently, he served as co-founding partner of B&B Investment Partners, a London-based investment fund sponsored by Walgreens Boots Alliance, focusing on growth investment opportunities in the consumer and healthcare sectors.
Before B&B, he spent five years at Morgan Stanley Private Equity as a managing director and partner, serving on the Morgan Stanley Capital Partners V Investment
European private equity investor Idinvest Partners has held the first close of its Secondary Fund III (ISF III) at its initial target of EUR350 million.
ISF III will follow its predecessor fund by focusing on mature secondary transactions in the European small and mid-market.
ISF III has already completed its first secondary transaction and Idinvest Partners is targeting a final close of EUR400 million for ISF III during the remainder of 2016.
The fund's 2014-vintage predecessor, ISF II, closed at EUR228 million and is now fully invested across 17 secondary transactions.
Christophe Bavière, CEO of Idinvest Partners, says: “We are very grateful
Dentons has advised the shareholders of Gravity Media Group, the owner of worldwide broadcast services specialist Gearhouse Broadcast, on a substantial investment by investment management firm TowerBrook Capital Partners.
The funds invested by TowerBrook will be used for future acquisitions by Gravity Media and to provide a cash return to the existing shareholders.
Nicholas Plant, private equity partner at Dentons, says: "With this investment into the business by TowerBrook, Gravity Media will be in a strong position to fulfil its strategy of bringing additional skills, expertise and services into the group through acquisitions, as well as ensuring value is
Granting Guernsey a “third country” passport under the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) would lead to increased investment in European infrastructure projects, research by the island’s financial services regulator has found.
The Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC) undertook a survey of Guernsey fund administration companies in response to a request from the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), to understand the potential impact of extending an EU AIFMD passport to Guernsey.
ESMA’s request, which was made before it published its non-EU AIFMD passport review findings, asked specifically for an evaluation of the “expected inflow of funds by size
Investors hunting for returns should closely monitor five trends that could spark an increase in corporate takeovers in coming months, according to asset manager AllianceBernstein (AB).
Mark Phelps, AB’s chief investment officer—Concentrated Global Growth, says that while the annual scale of global mergers and acquisitions was currently down on the past two years, the five trends could support a pickup in mergers and acquisitions activity as CEOs across regions and industries were compelled to consider deals to boost earnings.
These five trends are:
Cheap finance – “With interest rates at record lows, companies can easily find leverage to
Inflazome has closed a Series A financing round for up to USD17 million (EUR15 million), led by life sciences venture capital firms Novartis Venture Funds and Fountain Healthcare Partners.
Inflazome is developing inhibitors of the inflammasome, a biological target that regulates the innate immune response, now associated with a wide variety of diseases.
Following the closure of the financing round, Florent Gros, managing director of Novartis Venture Fund, and Dr Manus Rogan, co-founder and managing director at Fountain Healthcare Partners, have joined the board of directors.
Dr Matt Cooper, co-founder and CEO of Inflazome, says: “Inflammasome activation is
Hong-Kong based private equity firm NewQuest Capital Partners has acquired Integreon, a provider of legal, document, business and research outsourcing, from LiveIt Investments and Actis.
Financial terms of the deal have not been released.
Amit Gupta, partner and chief operating officer at NewQuest, says: “The Integreon transaction is an exciting opportunity to invest in a global leader with attractive growth prospects. Over the past few years, the business has achieved an exceptional market position and is poised to take advantage of its long-standing strong client relationships, its global delivery platforms, and deep experience in working with professional clientele. Integreon
Alternative asset managers are changing their business models and exploring a broader set of arrangements designed to improve the alignment of interest between themselves and their investors, according to a survey by the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA).
The study, titled “In Concert”, is the most extensive undertaken by AIMA into the design of manager remuneration, investment terms and other methods of deepening the relationship with investors.
AIMA chief executive Jack Inglis (pictured) says: “Managers want to build sustainable businesses and investors want the right kind of performance at a fair price. These are the interests that are being ever
Alternative investment firm Black Diamond Capital Management and alternative asset manager Spectrum Group Management have received a favourable ruling in their long running dispute with Yucaipa in connection with their investment in Allied Systems.
In a written opinion last week, Judge Sue L Robinson of the US District Court in Delaware granted their motion to dismiss a lawsuit asserting claims against the firms under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisation Act (RICO) by Yucaipa, finding there was "no plausible basis" for the claims.
Dismissal of the lawsuit is the latest in a series of favourable court rulings for Black
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