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Institutional investors are turning their favourable attitudes about the marketplace lending industry into action, increasing their investment in the sector over the past year, according to a new report by Richards Kibbe & Orbe LLP and Wharton FinTech.
Their 2016 Survey of US Marketplace Lending finds that half of all institutional investors surveyed have made some form of investment in marketplace lending, up from less than 30 per cent just one year ago.
The second annual survey illustrates solidifying confidence among investment funds in the disruptive industry of marketplace lending, which challenges the traditional bank lending model by connecting borrowers
Tim Draper, founder of DFJ and the Draper Venture Network and early investor in Skype, Baidu, Tesla, TwitchTV, Hotmail, Cruise Automation, and Thumbtack, has closed a USD190 million early stage venture fund under the brand Draper Associates.
Draper Associates has historically been a personal investment vehicle for Draper, and this fund represents the first time the opportunity has been offered to outside LPs. “We believe that the venture capital business and finance generally is going through a transformation and we raised this fund to lead that change,” says Draper. “We have created an ecosystem that we believe will give Draper-backed
A GBP1 trillion coalition of 54 institutional investors, including Aviva Investors, Natixis, ACTIAM, Mirova, Coller Capital and Strathclyde Pension Fund, has launched an engagement campaign with ten of the biggest US and UK restaurant chains, to call for an end to non-therapeutic use of antibiotics important to human health in their global meat and poultry supply chains.
The companies include J D Wetherspoon, McDonald’s and Domino’s Pizza Group, which holds its AGM later this month (20 April). The coalition has been brought together by the Farm Animal Investment Risk & Return (FAIRR) Initiative and responsible investment charity ShareAction, with the
Livingston-based Touch Bionics, the developer and manufacturer of upper limb prosthetic technologies, has been sold by its shareholders – including Archangel Investors, Scottish Investment Bank and management – to Össur Hf, the Iceland-based provider of prosthetic, bracing and supports solutions, in a GBP27.5 million deal.
Touch Bionics was the first company to develop an electrically powered prosthetic hand with five independently powered fingers. Its products now include electronic prosthetic hand and finger solutions as well as passive silicone prostheses that closely match the natural appearance of the wearer. The business employs over 120 people and has operations in Scotland, Germany
Seventure Partners has further strengthened its Life Sciences team with two new appointments; Professor Denise Kelly joins as an Investment Advisor whilst Oxana Kukhaneva has been appointed Venture Partner.
Kukhaneva joins Seventure from Inventages Venture Capital, where she was Investment Manager of the investment team. Oxana brings over 12 years’ experience in private equity investment in venture and growth in healthcare, nutrition and consumer goods. Born and raised in Russia, she started her career in project finance and business development, working for a software start-up company. Kukhaneva holds a BA in International Relations and Affairs and a BS in Economics
Fund finance partner Liz Soutter has joined Mayer Brown’s Banking & Finance practice in London. She was formerly at Dentons, where she was a partner.
Soutter provides debt financing solutions on both mainstream and alternative asset classes to investment funds across a range of sectors, including private equity and financial institutions. In addition, she has considerable experience advising on investor call bridging, management fee line facilities and portfolio acquisitions. Soutter’s clients include domestic and foreign lenders, borrowers and sponsors.
Co-leader of the Global Fund Finance practice at Mayer Brown, Zac Barnett, says: “We have a preeminent fund practice in the
The UK was the number one major European economic target for inbound deals from the emerging markets during the second half of 2015, according to KPMG’s Cross-Border Deals Tracker.
The dataset analysed deal flows between 15 developed economies (or groups of economies) such as UK, US, Oceania, and Hong Kong and 13 high growth economies (or groups of economies), such as Brazil, Central & Eastern Europe (CEE), India and South Africa. It found that UK companies were involved in 45 inbound, completed deals during July-December 2015 – an increase of 10 (nearly 30 per cent) from the previous six months.
Octopus Investments’ Octopus Titan Venture Capital Trust (Titan VCT) has raised a record GBP100 million. This is the largest ever fundraise for Titan VCT, the UK’s biggest Venture Capital Trust (VCT).
The news follows swiftly on the heels of the latest figures from the Association of Investment Companies, which revealed that the VCT sector raised GBP457.5 million in the 2015/2016 tax year – the highest amount since 2006.
This is further evidence of the growth in investor demand for VCTs and mirrors recent market commentary. As new restrictions on lifetime and annual pension investment limits come into force from
Capital Dynamics has developed a new model for measuring performance attribution in private equity. By applying the model to two pension fund portfolios, the resulting study reveals that adherence to a strategic asset allocation is the primary driver for strong performance.
As one of the first studies on performance attribution in private equity portfolios, the study asserts that whilst active management can generate alpha, the impact of asset allocation on performance is larger than commonly believed.
The study shows that asset allocation is crucial for building a solid private equity portfolio. Following the strategic asset allocation enhances value and facilitates
Law firm Paul Hastings is advising COSCO (Hong Kong) Group Limited (COSCO HK) on its acquisition of 67 per cent of Piraeus Port Authority SA. COSCO HK is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company.
This marks one of the most high profile Greek privatisations of recent years and successful execution of the deal is a key part of the plan to turn Piraeus into a logistics hub for Chinese exports to Europe.
Paul Hastings has demonstrated significant strength over the years in acting as international deal counsel for Chinese buyers, including acting for WH Group (formerly
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