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Palamon Capital Partners (Palamon) has agreed the sale of Towry to Tilney Bestinvest for GBP600 million, subject to regulatory approvals. The sale will result in total Sterling investment returns for Palamon of 13 times invested capital.
Towry is one of the largest independent wealth managers in the UK with more than GBP9 billion of client assets, 85 per cent of which are managed under discretionary investment mandates. Towry employs more than 900 staff across 21 regional offices and offers award-winning investment management alongside highly skilled financial planning. The combination of Towry and Tilney Bestinvest will create the leading UK wealth
Edison, the international equity research firm, has appointed Robert Murphy as its new Head of Investment Trusts as part of the division’s ongoing expansion.
Murphy joins the London office as head of investment trusts in the UK. Formerly a managing director of equity research at HSBC London, he led the coverage of the major global investment banks and worked on numerous strategic projects for Group and Global Banking & Markets.
A chartered financial analyst, Murphy has more than 25 years’ experience as a fund manager and equities analyst. Before HSBC, he was global financials analyst at Gladstone Partners, covering
Palatine Private Equity has backed the secondary buyout of holiday park group Verdant Leisure.
Verdant currently operates four holiday parks based in Southern Scotland and North East England with over 2,100 pitches, comprising of privately owned lodges and holiday homes, holiday lettings and touring facilities.
Established in September 2010 by an experienced management team led by CEO Graham Hodgson, Verdant has capitalised on the growing trend towards ‘staycations’ in the UK. To date the team has acquired four parks comprising of Thurston Manor and Pease Bay in September 2010, Viewfield Manor in July 2011 and Riverside in January 2012.
Palatine
IK Small Cap I Fund, advised by IK Investment Partners (IK), is to acquire Touristry AB, a provider of tourism related services in the Nordics, primarily focused on bus and boat sightseeing (Hop-On, Hop-Off). Financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
Headquartered in Stockholm, Touristry is a market leading operator of sightseeing buses and boats in the Nordic capitals as well as provider of tourism related services. The Company operates brands such as Red Buses and Red Sightseeing, and provides services to over 1.3 million tourists per year.
“We are very excited to partner with Micha and the
Venture capital company Rand Capital Corporation has closed on the sale of its largest portfolio holding, Gemcor II.
Rand had previously announced on 5 January, 2016, that it entered into an asset purchase agreement under which it had agreed to the sale of Gemcor.
Gross proceeds to Rand, which owned 31.25 per cent of Gemcor, are expected to be USD15.2 million. Net proceeds to Rand, after deducting taxes and expenses associated with the transaction, are expected to be approximately USD10 million.
Forno d’Asolo, an Italian producer and distributor of sweet and savoury frozen pastry products, backed by 21 Investimenti, has acquired Donatella, a filled pastry and bakery product specialist.
Founded in 1946, Donatella specialises in filled pastries and bakery products, most notably Tiramisu. Donatella is located in Venice, Italy and distributes its products through a network of agents and distributors focused on the food service channel.
In 2015, Donatella exceeded EUR15 million in sales, 30 per cent of which was generated from foreign markets (namely the UK, USA, France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland).
Including Donatella, Forno d’Asolo, will see
Rockpoint Group, a global real estate investment management firm, has held the final close of Rockpoint Real Estate Fund V at USD3.3 billion in total capital commitments, exceeding its USD2.5 billion fund target.
Investors in Rockpoint V, the firm’s most recent opportunistic real estate fund, include prominent public and corporate pension funds, endowments, foundations, sovereign wealth funds, and other governmental entities from the United States, Asia, Canada, Europe and the Middle East.
Rockpoint Real Estate Fund IV closed in 2013 with over USD2.3 billion of commitments and is fully invested. The firm’s lower-risk investment vehicle, Rockpoint Growth and Income Fund
Columbia Pacific Advisors, a Seattle-based alternative investment firm, has sold POW Gloves, Holden Outerwear and Spacecraft Collective, three active outdoor apparel brands under the POW Holdings, umbrella.
POW Gloves was sold to Rojo Australia, a snow apparel company based in Torquay, Australia, with strong international links in the snow market globally. Rojo has retained the executive team and is working on a business-as-usual approach for all markets. POW Gloves, a leader in cold weather gloves, was fostered out of the love of snow and outdoor activities and the need for no-nonsense hand wear that is built to last.
Holden Outerwear
Boutique asset manager Unigestion has held the first close of its private equity fund, Unigestion Direct Opportunities 2015 with commitments in excess of EUR100 million, is over half of the fund’s target size of EUR200 million.
In achieving its first close, UDO 2015 has attracted investor support from both existing and new investors, including UK investors North East Scotland Pension Fund and Clwyd Pension Fund. The fund is focused on investing in 12-15 privately-owned companies around the world, all of which are operating in the small and middle market, with enterprise values of under EUR1 billion.
The first two investments
GRESB, a provider of environmental, social and governance (ESG) benchmarking for real assets, has launched the 2016 GRESB assessments.
GRESB provides ESG data to institutional investors with over 8.1 trillion in assets under management. Assessment results and data is used by investors and others to understand the risk/return profile of real estate and infrastructure investments.
“Investors today are looking for companies with a high ESG performance and GRESB rating,” says Nils Kok, CEO, GRESB. “In fact, from what we’ve seen, companies with GRESB ratings have higher valuations and a larger pool of interested investors. GRESB’s goal is to provide investors
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