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Investment banking boutique Zeus Capital has acted as nominated adviser (NOMAD), joint broker and joint bookrunner to student accommodation construction specialist Watkin Jones Plc on its GBP255 million AIM IPO, including a GBP131 million fundraise.
The directors of Watkin Jones intend to pay an annual dividend equating to a yield of 6 per cent, calculated on the placing price.
This follows a buoyant 12 months for the firm, which has advised on a number of high profile transactions including the GBP1.2 billion reverse takeover and IPO of BCA Marketplace, the GBP200 million reverse takeover of Matthew Clark Limited by
UniCredit and Anthemis Group have formed a new joint investment venture – UniCredit EVO (equity venture opportunities) – which will be a dedicated initiative focused exclusively on identifying and investing in best-in-class financial technology startups.
With an initial capital commitment of EUR200 million from UniCredit, the initiative will target mid stage startups and follow-on investments in more mature and established FinTech businesses, as well as early stage digitally native financial services startups working on more pioneering solutions.
The investment partnership with Anthemis will help UniCredit to accelerate the digitalisation of its banking group. UniCredit’s aim is to collaborate with
ORIX USA, a diversified financial services company, has formed IX Capital Partners, a new investment initiative of its majority-owned subsidiary, Mariner Investment Group LLC (Mariner).
IX Capital Partners – Private Equity is seeking to invest in equity capital in a variety of industries and special situations in North America. Its target equity size per deal is USD100 million with a range of USD50 million to USD150 million. This new team is based in Mariner’s New York City office, with an office also in Dallas.
Together with ORIX USA’s corporate lending and financing capabilities, IX Capital Partners will provide its investors
YFM Equity Partners (YFM) and Octopus Investments (Octopus) have sold their stake in Callstream Group (Callstream) for an undisclosed sum to J2 Global, Inc.
Callstream is a leading national provider of cloud-based call management technology to the UK insurance, travel and retail markets. The acquisition by J2 Global provides a full exit for all funds.
Callstream was backed by the Octopus Apollo Venture Capital Trust (‘VCT’) plc, advised by Octopus Investments (Octopus) and British Smaller Companies VCT plc and British Smaller Companies VCT2 plc, both advised by YFM Private Equity Limited (YFM).
Mick Crosthwaite, CEO of Callstream, says: “Callstream has
Duff & Phelps, has launch new cybersecurity services that assist financial services companies in identifying and reducing cybersecurity risk.
With Duff & Phelps’ enhanced service offering, the firm is now unique in its ability to manage cybersecurity risk at every stage of preparedness: identifying vulnerabilities and readiness through a comprehensive gap analysis; implementing best practices to avoid compromise; and recovering from cybersecurity attacks.
The firm’s cybersecurity efforts are led by Managing Directors Jason Elmer and Brian Lozada, who joined Duff & Phelps’ Compliance and Regulatory Consulting practice last month.
“Cybersecurity failures represent a tangible threat to a firm’s value,”
JumpStart has made a new USD1 million commitment to support the operations of the North Coast Angel Fund (NCAF) until 2022. The Cleveland-based venture development organisation – which helped underwrite the creation of NCAF in 2006 – has now committed a total of USD4.1 million in operating support to the angel fund over 16 years.
NCAF is Northeast Ohio's first professionally managed angel fund and has focused on early-stage technology investments. To date, NCAF and its members have directly invested more than USD30 million in 40 portfolio companies that have gone on to raise USD450 million in follow-on funding from
Sight Machine has raised USD13.5 million in Series B venture capital round led by Chicago-based Jump Capital with participation by GE Ventures, Two Roads Group and Pritzker Group Venture Capital.
"Sight Machine is developing the technology that will bring us closer to the realisation of the brilliant factory," says Karen Kerr, Senior Managing Director of Advanced Manufacturing at GE Ventures, a unit of General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE). "The ability to effectively manage and analyze manufacturing data will change so many industries, and we are proud to partner with Sight Machine to help grow and commercialise its business."
“Sight Machine is
IK Investment Partners (IK), a European private equity advisory group with Nordic roots, has closed its first fund focused on the small cap market, the IK Small Cap I Fund (“IK Small Cap I” or “the Fund”), at its hard cap.
The fund received strong support from existing and new investors, with total commitments of EUR277 million.
“The confidence expressed by investors demonstrates the appreciation of IK’s active ownership model focused on growth, internationalisation, professionalisation and operational improvement applied to the small cap space on a European scale,” says Christopher Masek, CEO at IK Investment Partners.
IK Small
Asset management firm Fiera Capital Corporation has formed a joint venture with Toronto-based Aquila Infrastructure Management, a manager of infrastructure investments.
The newly-formed alternative investment company, Fiera Infrastructure will have invested and committed capital of some CAD500 million and will benefit from a strong pipeline of investment opportunities.
"The infrastructure sector's importance to the global investment community cannot be overstated," says Fiera Capital Chairman and CEO Jean-Guy Desjardins. "This transaction is in line with Fiera Capital's strategy of expanding its current service offering in alternative strategies and enhances our ability to offer our clients the best possible investment opportunities in
Burford Capital has reported a 27 per cent increase in operating profit to USD77.2 millionfor teh year ended 31 December 2015 (2014: USD60.7 million) and 21 per cent increase in profit after tax to USD65.7 million (2014: USD54.2 million), contributing to a 16 per cent ROE.
Income increased by 26 per cent to a record USD103.0 million (2014: USD82 million), driven by 82 per cent increase in income from litigation-related investments to USD86.9 million (2014: USD47.8 million).
The company also saw strong growth in earnings per share, up 42 per cent to 32¢ (2014: 22¢), supporting 14 per cent increase
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