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Arnoud Willems, International Trade partner at the law firm Sidley Austin, comments on the impact of the Leave vote on trade treaties and UK exports…
“While nothing is going to change overnight, if UK companies relying on exports haven’t started the planning process for a post-Brexit then they need to right now. Import duties on goods coming from the UK could be introduced within two years and so companies need to start thinking about negotiating a longer transitional settlement.
“In terms of trade deals, the UK is now in a position to negotiate better deals, more tailored for its market.
Henkel Consumer Goods is to acquire The Sun Products Corporation (Sun Products), a Vestar Capital Partners V portfolio company. The transaction is valued at USD3.6 billion.
Sun Products, based in Connecticut, has a portfolio of iconic laundry and household brands, such as all, Sun, Wisk, Snuggle and Sunlight. The company also develops and manufactures laundry and dish care brands for leading retailers in North America. In fiscal 2015, the company generated sales of approximately USD1.6 billion in the US and Canada. Sun Products employs approximately 2,000 people.
“This transaction is a major strategic move for Henkel. North America is one
Private equity firm Thoma Bravo has completed the acquisition of Bomgar, a leader in secure access solutions, from TA Associates. Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed.
“Bomgar has established itself as a leader and innovator in secure access software, driven by its suite of remote access and security products and years of unwavering dedication to customers,” says AJ Rohde, a partner at Thoma Bravo. “We’re thrilled to partner with Matt Dircks and the entire Bomgar team to accelerate the expansion of core remote access products, and achieve our collective vision of becoming the choice for integrated remote
Law firm Howard Kennedy is advising Lebanese restaurant chain Comptoir Group on its AIM listing, raising some GBP16 million.
Comptoir Group currently operates 11 Comptoir Libanais restaurants, together with further franchise outlets. It also operates two smaller Lebanese and Eastern Mediterranean outlets under the Shawa brand, and a further two standalone high-end restaurants called Levant and Kenza.
The restaurant group was created by Tony Kitous, who came to Britain in 1998 with just GBP70 in his pocket. He opened his first restaurant in 1993 after selling harissa and merguez sandwiches and home-made lemonade outside his local football club. Comptoir Group
Financial service firms and technology providers around the world will spend more than USD1 billion in 2016 in the race to bring blockchain to capital markets, according to a new report from Greenwich Associates.
Financial service firms believe that blockchain (also referred to as distributed ledger technology (DLT)) has the potential to transform global capital markets. Blockchain technology is revolutionary because it allows, for the first time, a digital asset to be securely transferred from one party to another in near real time, without the need for a third-party intermediary.
In its latest in a series of DLT focused
Alignable, the network for local business owners, has added an additional USD1.5 million in a strategic investment from Recruit Strategic Partners, the Silicon Valley based venture capital firm.
This brings Alignable’s total raise to USD13.5 million with the most recent prior round being USD8 million in September 2015 led by Mayfield Fund and existing investors Saturn Partners, NextView Ventures and Lead Edge Capital.
Recruit Strategic Partners is a 100 percent subsidiary of Recruit Holdings from Japan and has invested in innovative startups, including 99designs, Bench, Docusign, Kabbage and Shipbob, amongst others. The investment from Recruit Strategic Partners will be used
Brexit will have an effect on both the European and UK private equity and real estate landscapes, but it is only a number of issues facing managers, says David Bailey, Director of Marketing and Communications at private equity fund administrator Augentius.
Bailey points out that the European industry is in flux more generally, with ESMA due to report shortly on the extension of “passporting” to a number of third party countries, which itself could transform the way in which non-EU managers are able to access European investors.
“Two other things should be borne in mind,” says Bailey. “Firstly, with
Irish Funds, the representative body for the cross-border investment funds industry in Ireland, kicked off its annual funds conference on Thursday, celebrating 25 years of the Association.
Having already put Ireland on the map as a global centre of excellence for funds, the conference’s programme was designed to look at the opportunities which the industry should be embracing in the next 25 years. Hundreds of global CEOs and industry executives are being joined in Dublin today by European policy makers and regulators to explore and debate the key issues of the industry.
This year’s conference was opened by the
Financial institutions are facing a multitude of issues folowing the UK's vote to leave the EU, says law firm Eversheds, with passporting/mutual fund recognition likely to be a major concern for banks, investment managers and insuranace companies.
According to Eversheds, institutions which currently rely on “passports” under the Single Market Directives, such as the Capital Requirements Directive, Market in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), UCITS Directive, Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) and Solvency II Directive, may have to restructure their businesses.
Currently an institution, which the Prudential Regulation Authority or Financial Conduct Authority have authorised in the UK, has the
Estera has bolstered its risk and compliance offering with the appointment of Risk and Compliance Director, Tui Iti who will be responsible for ensuring the company consistently adopts the highest global compliance standards across each of its international offices.
The newly created role consolidates Estera’s strategic approach to the management of internal and external risk.
Iti brings more than 16 years of multi-jurisdictional compliance experience to the group, gained from working in both the onshore and offshore finance industries across a range of sectors.
Prior to joining Estera, Iti was Group Risk and Compliance Director for multi-jurisdictional fiduciary services company,
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