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European private equity firm Cinven is to sell UK life assurance consolidation business Guardian Financial Services to Admin Re, Swiss Re's unit active in the closed life book business, for a total consideration of GBP1.6 billion.
Under Cinven's ownership, Guardian has become one of the most active life insurance consolidators in the UK and Irish markets and the UK's largest privately owned life insurance company. Today Guardian has GBP20 billion of assets under management and manages 900,000 policies.
Cinven's Financial Services team identified closed life books as an attractive consolidation opportunity in 2010 and Guardian as a highly attractive
Middle market private equity firm Calera Capital has appointed Paul F Walsh (pictured) has joined the firm as a Senior Managing Director.
For the past seven years, Walsh has acted as an Operating Partner for Calera Capital, serving in various operating and managerial roles for the firm’s portfolio companies.
“Paul’s experience and capabilities have allowed him to bring tremendous value to our portfolio companies,” said Jim Farrell, Managing Partner of Calera Capital.
“Calera’s strategy is to partner with founders and management teams and to help them take their businesses to the next level. Paul has proven to be
Ogier has appointed Bryon Rees as a partner in its unds and corporate practice in Guernsey.
Rees joined Ogier in 2005 and has a broad practice, although with a focus on investment fund, corporate, regulatory and finance related work.
Rees is a Guernsey advocate, South African attorney and English solicitor. Legal directories describe him as technically excellent with great communication skills.
Ogier partner Marcus Leese says: “Bryon Rees has played a central role in our investment fund practice in Guernsey, supporting its early growth and more recent development alongside partners William Simpson and Frances Watson. Bryon has particular
KKR is to back Roland Wessel, Colin Judd and Melvyn Horgan, founders and former management team of Star Energy, to launch Trans European Oil & Gas Limited.
Trans European Oil & Gas intends to build a portfolio of conventional onshore oil and gas properties in proven hydrocarbon plays in Europe, and apply its extensive experience in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques to optimise production.
Established in 1999, Star Energy made several acquisitions of producing assets and successfully applied EOR techniques. Star Energy grew to encompass 25 producing oil and gas fields and a commissioned 10 bcf gas storage facility.
Private equity and venture capital firm Insight Venture Partners has appointed Donna O Smolens (pictured) as a Senior Advisor. Smolens will work with Insight to enhance the firm's investor relations function, bringing the perspective of a long-time limited partner in private equity funds.
"We have known Donna for many years as a limited partner and proactive member of Insight's LP Advisory Boards, and we are thrilled that she has joined our team," says Jeff Horing, Managing Director at Insight Venture Partners. "She has extensive experience in private equity investor relations, due diligence and fund management and she will bring a broader
Harvest Partners SCF has made an investment in LAZ Karp Partners (LAZ Parking), a Connecticut-based national provider of parking management services. Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
LAZ Parking is the third largest parking operator in the United States with operations in over 2,100 locations across 29 states and 265 cities. LAZ offers a vast array of parking services including facility management, billing, collections, maintenance, valet parking and shuttles. The Company works with commercial and residential property owners and managers, government and municipal entities, hotels, universities, hospitals, stadiums and arenas, airports and transit authorities, and retailers and restaurants
Guernsey’s financial services regulator approved 18 new investment funds during the second quarter of 2015, resulting in a total of 112 additions for the year ending 30 June 2015.
Figures from the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC) also show that the net asset value of all funds under management and administration in Guernsey fell by GBP2.3 billion (-1 per cent) during the second quarter to GBP219.9 billion. The value of deposits held by banks in Guernsey increased by GBP0.2 billion (0.2 per cent) during the same period to reach GBP83.6 billion; representing a rise of GBP6.1 billion (8 per cent)
Drawing on data compiled for the recently-released 2015 Preqin Alternative Assets Performance Monitor, Preqin has created league tables of hedge funds that have most consistently delivered strong, stable performance. The league tables do not seek in any way to endorse these funds, but rather to illustrate those that have performed the most consistently over the period June 2010 – June 2015. Seven top-level strategies are represented – Equity, Macro, Event Driven, Credit, Relative Value, Multi-Strategy, and CTA – with all of the top 10 equity strategies funds scoring over 90 out of 100 across all metrics.
To identify the
Palatine Private Equity has exited Playnation, a UK supplier of amusement and entertainment machines, selling its stake to the NOVOMATIC Group, one of the largest integrated conglomerates of the international gaming industry.
The Runcorn-based business, which currently employs over 700 staff, owns and operates 20,000 amusement and entertainment machines across over 1,700 sites in the UK. The firm partners with high profile names in the leisure sector across holiday parks, motorway services, bowling centres and airports, with clients including Bourne Leisure, Park Resorts, Parkdean, Moto, Welcome Break and Roadchef.
The company was established in 2013, following a management
European growth private equity firm Keensight Capital is strengthening its team with the appointment of Jaana Grüter (pictured) as Associate.
Grüter brings seven years of experience in investment and M&A on a Pan-European level to her new role at Keensight Capita.l She began her career in 2008 within the M&A division of the Rothschild group, where she worked on multiple deals across numerous sectors and geographies out of the Paris office. In 2012, she moved to Five Arrows Principal Investments, a Western European mid-cap fund of the Rothschild group, where she focused on a series of investments within the Healthcare
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