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CMS’s 8th annual M&A Study predicts an uncertain year despite the record levels of deal value in 2015. In the study, CMS analyses over 2,000 of its non-listed European public and private company deals between 2010 and 2015.
The uncertainty is attributed to a number of grey or black swan events including the long predicted slowdown of China’s economic growth and the greatest migration to Europe for a century across a fragile Schengen zone. The report also indicates that US interest rates and the clampdown on inversion deals, the divisive US election, a more aggressive corporate tax climate and the
NVM Private Equity (NVM) has appointed Charles Winward to its investment team. Winward will be responsible for sourcing, transacting and managing VCT investments.
Winward was previously a director at IP Group plc, where he was the Managing Director of its fund management and advisory subsidiary. Over seven years at IP Group (during which time they moved from AIM to the FTSE 250), he assisted in creating and developing several spin-out technology companies from university intellectual property, with notable successes being Tracsis plc (University of Leeds), Xeros Technology plc (University of Leeds), Boxarr Limited (Universities of Southampton and Bristol) and hVivo
Private debt specialist Old Hill Partners has appointed former GE Capital executive Shila Ray as Financial Officer.
Ray will be responsible for overall finance and fund accounting functions at the company and has been named to the firm's investment committee. Ray has over 20 years of experience in finance leadership roles. He served as CFO and in various global leadership positions for businesses within GE Capital. He has extensive experience in scaling up enterprises and has been instrumental in leading the finance function for various global and domestic operations. After GE Capital, Shila served as CFO of an alternative finance
Asure Software has acquired Mangrove Employer Services, a Tampa, Florida-based cloud SaaS vendor in Human Capital Management (HCM) applications.
The company develops, and implements HR, Payroll, Benefits, and Talent Management software solutions. Mangrove’s HCM suite of solutions is designed to be easy-to-use, with fully integrated HR/payroll applications to help companies recruit, manage, pay, and analyse their workforce more effectively.
The acquisition enables Asure Software to alter the marketplace of Human Capital Management by offering a comprehensive solution that brings workforce and workspace management together. These two workflows combined in one unified management platform increases company bottom-line performance through greater employee
AITV, a US-based venture capital firm that invests in early-stage and medium-growth software companies, has made a follow-on investment in LiveAction's recent USD36 million Series B financing, alongside Insight Venture Partners and Cisco Investments.
As part of the investment, founding general partner, Bill Malloy, joins the LiveAction board as an observer, alongside already presiding board member and founding general partner, Brian Nugent. The funding proceeds will allow LiveAction to focus on expanding operations globally and accelerate feature product development, further establishing the company as the visibility software standard for the Forbes Global 2000.
"Our follow-on capital into LiveAction not only
Richards Kibbe & Orbe has appointed Vincent Basulto as a partner in the corporate department of the firm’s New York office.
Basulto was previously Managing Director of Macquarie Group’s credit markets division and General Counsel for one of the investment bank’s investment advisers. Prior to joining Macquarie, Basulto was a Senior Vice President in the Office of the General Counsel at Lehman Brothers, responsible for fixed income credit products.
“Vincent brings with him 15 years of in-house experience and we are very happy to welcome an attorney of his reputation and background to Richards Kibbe & Orbe,” says firm
YFM Equity Partners (YFM) and Octopus Investments (Octopus) have sold their stake in Callstream Group Limited (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. Today’s 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,
By Meghan McAlpine – Given the uptick in new funds being raised, competition for investors’ capital has increased significantly. Investors are being more thorough in the diligence process and almost always requesting more information than what’s presented in a standard DDQ. In order to compete for this capital, fund managers are providing a substantial amount of information to investors.
The industry as a whole is seeing an increase in transparency, which has been insisted upon by investors over the past several years. Performance, while a very important factor, is only part of the criteria that investors are considering when determining whether or not to
Aurelius Group has appointed Ben Paice as Operations Manager to its UK operational team. Paice begins his role at Aurelius with immediate effect where he will be placed at Allied Healthcare, the UK market-leading domiciliary care business acquired from Saga plc in December 2015.
This appointment, which is the third hire to Aurelius’ UK operational team in the last 12 months, gives Aurelius further operational expertise to commit to its growing portfolio of investee companies.
Paice has almost 10 years’ experience in advising businesses on restructuring and operational improvement. Prior to joining Aurelius Ben worked as an Associate Director
William Blair, a global investment banking and asset management firm, has formed a strategic alliance with Allier Capital, an Australia-based independent financial advisory firm.
As part of the strategic cooperation, William Blair and Allier Capital will offer clients in Australia access to a range of investment banking services in global markets, including public offerings in the U.S. securities markets, mergers and acquisitions, advisory services, and private placements, among others.
“After working with Allier for the last couple of years, we are delighted to formalise our relationship,” says Brent Gledhill, global head of Investment Banking at William Blair. “This partnership
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