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Fifteen years after the dotcom collapse we see another tech crash approaching. ‘Bubble’ and ‘unicorn’ are entering the mainstream vernacular. We are becoming comfortably numb with tech company overvaluations, says Victor Basta, managing partner at Magister Advisors…
The vocabulary has changed (for ‘dotcom’ read ‘unicorn’), the dynamics are different (largely private rather than public), but the impact on the tech sector, and the choices companies should be making now, are no less profound as the coming crash slowly unfolds.
The signs are already here that a serious correction is in the air:
• VC investment pace is blistering
With most investors believing that small-sized and mid-market buyout funds currently present the best opportunities in private equity, this article from Preqin Private Equity Spotlight, August 2015, examines whether the size of a buyout fund has any significant impact on returns.
According to Preqin’s latest investor survey, carried out in June 2015, over half of LPs (51 per cent) surveyed see small-sized and mid-market buyout funds as currently presenting the best opportunities in private equity. In contrast, just 10 per cent of investors believe that large-sized and mega buyout funds present the best opportunities.
Despite this investor view, private
PwC is continuing to invest in its corporate finance deals team with the promotion of two new equity partners and four directors.
Reflecting ongoing investment in PwC’s Aberdeen Centre of Excellence for Oil and Gas and the team’s continuing support of the industry as it responds to opportunities and challenges arising from the low oil price landscape, Jon Shelley has been made an equity partner.
Shelly joined as a graduate in 2002 and, over the years, has gained extensive insight into the international deals market and the oil and gas industry. As firms continue to adapt to a changing environment,
SS&C Technologies Holdings has acquired Citigroup's Alternative Investor Services business, which includes Hedge Fund Services and Private Equity Fund Services, for USD425 million, subject to certain adjustments.
"This acquisition is solidly in line with SS&C's strategy of combining organic growth with select, high quality acquisitions. Citi Alternative Investor Services clients can be assured of SS&C's commitment to continue to serve them with world class people, process and technology. We are excited about adding these talented employees and look forward to the ideas and passion they will bring to our organisation,” says Bill Stone (pictured), Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, SS&C
The business of asset management has grown exponentially more complex over the last decade. As system technology and data management improves, managers are devising ever-new investment strategies to find that elusive source of alpha.
Bank loan funds, direct lending funds, liquid alternatives, separately managed accounts that offer institutional investors sub-sets of a manager’s equity long/short strategy for example; all are bubbling away in a heady alchemical mix. This is putting an incredible strain on the operational model; one that no longer holds water compared to a decade again when the product universe was simple and managers operated free of regulation.
Private equity firm GTCR has completed the previously announced sale of its portfolio company Cord Blood Registry (CBR) to AMAG Pharmaceuticals (AMAG), a specialty pharmaceutical company that focuses on maternal health and haematology, for USD700 million.
Founded in 1992, CBR is the world’s largest newborn stem cell company, entrusted by parents with storing over 600,000 stem cell samples. CBR is dedicated to supporting the clinical application of cord blood and cord tissue stem cells by partnering with institutions to establish FDA-regulated clinical trials for conditions that have no cure today. The Company provides services which enable expectant families to preserve
Mooreland Partners acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Proxibid on a growth equity financing led by Primus Capital. Based in Omaha, NE, the Proxibid Marketplace is the leading online marketplace for highly valued and specialised goods.
"This financing highlights Mooreland's ability to help fast growing internet companies raise growth capital from sophisticated, value add investors. The Proxibid Marketplace is poised for rapid growth in the US and abroad due to its robust ecommerce product suite and fast growing customer base. Primus is an ideal financial partner for the business based on their experience scaling companies of this stage,"
Mesa West Capital has provided an affiliate of The EMMES Group of Companies a USD130 million in first mortgage debt to recapitalise 1 Columbia Place, a 556,000-square-foot Class A office complex in Downtown San Diego.
A majority of the proceeds from the five-year, non-recourse loan will be used to refinance the CMBS loan Emmes assumed when it acquired the 27-story high rise in 2012. Funds have also been earmarked for additional leasing costs and to continue EMMES’s capital improvement program that will complete a USD20 million renovation and repositioning of the re-named Columbia Center located at 401 W A Street.
Monadnock Resources has secured a USD100 million equity commitment from Kayne Anderson Energy Funds and members of the firm’s management team.
Monadnock is being formed to target the acquisition and development of oil and natural gas assets in North America.
Monadnock is a newly formed independent oil and gas company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The Monadnock management team is led by Matt Gentry, President and CEO; Adam Howard, Vice President of Engineering; David Williamson, Vice President of Geoscience; and Kelli Roach, Vice President and General Counsel. Management has extensive technical and operational experience across several North American basins. Prior to
HIG Middle Market is to acquire HelpSystems from current investor Summit Partners. The completion of the transaction is subject to regulatory and anti-trust approval.
Headquartered in Eden Prairie, MN, HelpSystems is a leading provider of system & network management, business intelligence, and security & compliance solutions. With over 9,000 customers across a broad range of industries, HelpSystems is the market leader within system & network management for the IBM-i operating system and is rapidly expanding its presence on the Windows, Linux, and Unix platforms.
Fraser Preston (pictured), Managing Director at HIG, says: “We are excited to partner with Chris Heim,
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