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Hermes Investment Management has launched the Hermes Direct Lending Strategy with an initial commitment from a cornerstone institutional investor.
Hermes intends to follow this with the launch of a fund later in the year, subject to regulatory approval.
The strategy aims to provide access to the stable, low-correlated returns offered by predominantly senior-secured loans to small and medium enterprises. It will initially have a UK focus, where there is the largest and most creditor-friendly lending market in Europe, while maintaining flexibility to invest across the continent.
UK senior-secured transactions will be originated through partnership with Royal Bank of
Private equity is enhancing value in operating companies, according to analysis by CEPRES looking at thousands of PE-backed operating companies post the global financial crisis.
CEPRES has found that during the period there has been a steady and significant increase in average compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of EBITDA for PE-backed companies.
Further, CEPRES found that increase in valuation of companies post the financial crisis is driven more by EBITDA growth than prior years.
This evidence supports the view that activist PE fund managers are effective and able to deliver on the promise of delivering returns through value
Ellis Whittam, the Chester-based business services firm, has secured an investment from mid-market private equity investor LDC to accelerate organic growth and fund future acquisitions.
The business, which provides advisory and fully-outsourced employment law, HR and health and safety services, was founded in 2004 by solicitor Mark Ellis.
It supports more than 10,000 UK employers, including Pure Gym, Culina Logistics, Red Letter Days, The Chartered Management Institute, The Chartered Quality Institute and Toni & Guy.
For the financial year ending April 2016, Ellis Whittam generated sales of over GBP11 million and profits (EBITDA) of over GBP3 million. It
Clearwater International has advised the owners of Deku-Pack on its cross-border sale to UK-based DS Smith, a provider of paper, corrugated packaging and recycled materials across Europe and plastic packaging worldwide.
DS Smith operates across 36 countries and has more than 26,000 employees.
Denmark-based Deku-Pack specialises in point of sale (POS) and display solutions for in-store marketing. The business is focused on fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), retail and media markets and consists of five subsidiaries: Pro-Display, Deku-Stans, Vejle-Print, DM Plast and Emballage Form.
The transaction allows DS Smith to focus on FMCG and expand its offerings to
Tikehau IM has arranged a unitranche financing for the acquisition of Financière Rive Gauche (FRG), a subsidiary of Spanish group Martinsa-Fadesa, by the Atland Group, an investment of the Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners’ Winch Capital 3 fund.
This unitranche, fully arranged by Tikehau IM, will enable the Atland Group to double the size of its housing and property development activities.
The Atland Group is a global real estate player active in three markets: housing, hotels and corporate real estate through Fonciere Atland.
Golden Gate Capital has completed its acquisition of Pacific Sunwear of California and all of its subsidiaries (PacSun).
PacSun has restructured and reduced its long-term debt and annual occupancy costs, as well as improved its capital structure.
Golden Gate Capital has converted more than 65 per cent of its term loan debt into the equity of the reorganised company and has provided a minimum of USD20 million in additional capital to the reorganised company to support PacSun’s long-term growth objectives.
Wells Fargo has also provided a five-year USD100 million revolving line of credit, subject to certain conditions.
Nuxeo, developer of an Enterprise Content Management (ECM) platform which enables organisations to manage complex digital content at massive scale, has secured a USD20 million investment from Goldman Sachs.
This adds to the USD10 million commitment by Kennet Partners, announced in June.
Some of the investment will be used to fuel the continued development of Nuxeo’s content and digital asset management platform and expand sales and marketing capacity throughout North America, Europe and Asia.
“Today’s enterprises face increasing content and digital asset management challenges, especially when it comes to the increasing complexity, volume and diversity of digital content
Adams Street Partners has expanded its private credit team, building on the launch of the strategy by former Oaktree Capital executives Bill Sacher and Shahab Rashid in January 2016.
Frederick Chung, formerly a vice president at Goldman Sachs, has been appointed as a principal. Chung will be responsible for all aspects of the investment decision-making process, including sourcing, structuring, and reviewing deal opportunities, as well as participating in deal term negotiations.
Thomas Petty, formerly an associate at Morgan Stanley, has joined as a senior associate.
Michael Allen and Emily Shiau, previously analysts at JP Morgan Chase and Alvarez
ZENEDGE, a provider of cloud-based, artificial intelligence-driven Web Application Firewall and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) cybersecurity Infrastructure-as-a-Service provider, has completed a Series C investment led by growth equity investor Pilot Growth Equity.
Pilot Growth has led the round with a USD5 million investment, with additional funds coming from Zoho Corporation, as well as from existing investors TELUS Ventures and Yehuda Neuberger.
The financing will be used to fund ZENEDGE’s continued global expansion, sales and marketing activities and for further investment in its patent-pending technology.
William Lee, co-founder and managing director at Pilot Growth, will join ZENEDGE’s board
Stuart Bedford has joined LeapFrog Investments as general counsel, leaving his role at law firm Linklaters, where he was head of the London corporate division and the private equity group.
Bedford has led over USD40 billion of transactions across Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe – including major M&As, IPOs and placings.
Dr Andrew Kuper, CEO and founder of LeapFrog, says: “Stuart is a star performer and exceptional leader in his field globally, bringing deep pattern recognition and multi-market capabilities. His distinctive expertise further strengthens LeapFrog’s governance, risk management and transaction capabilities.”
Bedford joins as a partner and
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